BIKINI, PINOY STYLE

I’m not sure now where this piece got published. It may have been the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the one referred to in the second paragraph as “this paper.” But this is actually a translation and an updating of something I originally wrote in Filipino for my column, “Kung sa Bagay,” in the short-lived newspaper Pinoy Times, published by Inquirer founder Eggie Apostol. That particular column item was entitled “Bikini para sa Totoong Pinay,” and it came out in the Pinoy Times issue of May 1, 2000.


Bikini, Philippine Style

IT’S SUMMERTIME, and the living isn’t exactly easy, which is why a lot of us are fleeing from the enervating heat—and cooling off in the hot springs of Pansol or on the hot sands of countless beach resorts.

The hot news for the season relayed a little while back by the lifestyle section of this paper came to me as a bit of a shock. The hottest-selling item at department stores right now, according to the report, is the bikini.

Yup, the bikini, the swimwear made out of two bits of cloth and named, according to my usually unreliable sources, after an island that got split into two islets by an atomic-bomb test.

When I read that item, I realized that I belong to the tribe described in the song “Ang Boyfriend Kong Baduy” as in na in, pero out pa rin. In fact, I may be out na out altogether, because I can’t recall being in waters that the buyers of the bestselling bikini swim in.

I’m curious to find out if it’s Filipinas who are buying these bikinis. And of course I’d like to know on what beach or in what swimming pool in which part of this archipelago they’re wearing the bikinis they’re buying.

You’ll probably say: Boracay. That doesn’t count. As far as I know, Boracay has succeeded where the Abu Sayyaf has failed. It has seceded from the Philippines. It is now an independent republic ruled by backpackers from Europe, it has decreed that there shall be only one official season (endless summer), and its chief source of income, the business that fuels its economy, is bikini competitions.

Not counting Boracay—and of course not counting the beerhouses with names derived from the criminal underworld (Kakosa, Bartolina, Iwahig, for instance), and not counting that Piel Morena movie that got an X rating a couple of times because the heroine’s bosom kept overflowing from the itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie bikinis she was made to wear—I can’t think of any place where the swimsuit of choice is the bestselling item at department stores.

I realize that the reason for this could be that I don’t get to join the in crowd at the in resorts. I’ve never been to Boracay, for one thing. I’ve never seen genuine Pinays in genuine bikinis on a genuine beach.

The Social Weather Stations hasn’t made a survey of the phenomenon, but I’m willing to bet that genuine Pinays, or at the very least the vast majority of Philippine womanhood, still belong to the mahinhin variety. They haven’t lost most of the old-fashioned modesty they’re supposed to have inherited from Maria Clara, that friar’s daughter who became a nun and then committed suicide because she couldn’t buy a bikini in the nunnery.

I say this, and I hope modern-day feminists won’t crucify me for saying this, because the swimsuit that I see the vast majority of Pinays wearing on the beaches I’ve been to is a two-piece outfit of a different sort—namely, T-shirt and walking shorts.

In reality, this is really a three-piece, because usually there’s a one-piece Olympic-style bathing suit underneath the T-shirt and walking shorts.

When I first made this observation in another publication, a friend informed me via email that the shirt-and-shorts combination is not uniquely Filipina, because you can find it in New York stores, where it’s called a tankini. Judging from its name, however, the tankini may still not be acceptable to the modern Maria Clara. Its upper half is probably a tank top, which bears as much resemblance to a T-shirt as a micromini does to a malong.

I wish to put it on record that I have absolutely no objection to bikinis. I like leafing through the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated as much as any red-blooded male animal. When I speak of T-shirts and walking shorts as the Philippine-style bikini, I am simply describing current reality, not endorsing it.

But that being the current reality, I think something has to be done about it. The usual T-shirt-and-shorts combination I’ve seen is a catch-as-catch-can affair, with no flair or imagination or sense of style whatsoever.

If I were a Filipino fashion designer, I wouldn’t go aping Western inventions like the bikini. Instead, I would venture into new territory, designing tasteful color-coordinated combinations of T-shirts and walking shorts for the Maria Clara of the new millennium. I’m sure such a swimwear line is going to be an even bigger bestseller than the bikini.

Bench for Her can take it from here. I shall not demand royalties for my brilliant new concept.

MARIANG MAKILING

MARIANG MAKILING

Nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata.
Managhoy man tayo'y hindi siya lalabas.
Ang ibig niya'y isang taksil na binata.

Pagsapit ng dilim ang mga bintana
ay dapat isara; dapat nang mag-ingat:
nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata.

Walang masabi ang mga manghuhula,
kahit sino'y walang magawa, sapagkat
ang ibig niya'y isang taksil na binata.

Matapos ang unos, sino ang gagala
upang aluin ang mga sawimpalad?
Nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata

at ngayon ay hindi na nababahala
kung ang mangangaso'y maligaw ng landas.
Ang ibig niya'y isang taksil na binata.

Laganap sa buong bayan ang balitang
tulala siyang lagi't tuhod ang kayakap.
Nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata
pagkat ang ibig ay taksil na binata. -

--JOSE F. LACABA

Mula sa MGA KAGILA-GILALAS NA PAKIKIPAGSAPALARAN: MGA TULANG NAHALUNGKAT SA BUKBUKING BAUL (Kabbala, 1979; second edition: Office of Research and Publications, Ateneo de Manila, 1996). Muling nalathala sa KUNG BAGA SA BIGAS: MGA PILING TULA (University of the Philippines Press, 2002; second printing, 2005).

Ang villanelle na ito ay kabilang sa mga tulang sinulat ko sa pagitan ng 1965 at 1969. Naalala ko ito nang mapabalitang ang artista at mang-aawit na si Karylle ay nag-pose bilang Mariang Makiling para sa mga pintor, iskultor, at potograpo. Ang event na iyon--na inisponsor ng Maria Makiling Foundation ng University of the Philippines--ay nagsilbing paglulunsad ng kampanya na pangalagaan at iligtas ang Mount Makiling sa Laguna.

Maria Makiling ang pangalan ng foundation, at madalas ding gamitin ang pangalang iyan ng iba, pero ang nakagisnan kong pangalan ng diwata ay Mariang Makiling.

Maria Makiling
Drawing by Rev Cruz (Brush pen on bond paper)
Artwork from:

http://revcruz.blogspot.com/2007/08/legilimens-peek-inside-my-moleskine.html

Reprinted with the artist’s permission

Narito naman ang “Legend,” ang sarili kong salin Ingles ng “Mariang Makiling.” Isa ito sa ilang salin sa Ingles ng sarili kong mga tula, na ginawa ko noong 1979 sa Iowa University, Iowa, U.S.A. Napunta ako sa Iowa nang mapasama ako sa International Writing Program, sa ilalim ng isang grant na ipinagkaloob ng U.S. International Visitors Program.

Ang salin sa ibaba, at ang kasunod na editorial note, ay nasa 1996 edition ng libro kong Mga Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran.

LEGEND

Our nymph is back in her forest lair.
However much we wail, she won't come out.
All she wants is a faithless lover.

When darkness falls, all our windows
must be shut; we must now take care:
our nymph is back in her forest lair.

Nothing is known by the fortune tellers,
nothing can be done by anyone, because
all she wants is a faithless lover.

After a storm, who will walk around
to comfort all the unfortunate?
Our nymph is back in her forest lair

and now she doesn't care a whit
if a hunter loses his way.
All she wants is a faithless lover.

The news is all over town that she's
always blank-eyed and hugging her knees.
Our nymph is back in her forest lair
because she wants a faithless lover.


LEGEND. This is based on one of the best-known Philippine legends, about a wood nymph, Maria of Mount Makiling, who falls in love with a mortal. In this particular version of the legend, she's jilted by the mortal; in another version, she loses him to Spanish colonial conscription. Mount Makiling, to this day, is the center of native messianic cults, some of which revere heroes of the 1896 Philippine revolution as saints, and have a trinity composed of God the Father, God the Mother, and God the Son. Slightly different versions of this translation were previously published in The Spirit that Moves Us (Volume 6, Number 1, 1981, Iowa) and Tenggara: Journal of Southeast Asian Literature (No. 12, 1981, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).




In his book Waiting for Mariang Makiling: Essays in Philippine Cultural History (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2002), Resil B. Mojares reprints this poem and the translation, and quotes me in a footnote:

“On the writing of this poem, the author says: ‘I wrote the poem after dropping out of college but before the First Quarter Storm [the wave of antigovernment protest actions in 1970]. I think I had already written it before I joined Free Press, which narrows the writing period to between January and September of 1965.’ He calls the poem ‘a skirmish in my continuing engagement with folk and popular culture’ (personal communication, Jose F. Lacaba, 31 October 2001).”

Click the link below for Resil’s reading of the “Mariang Makiling” poem:

http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=An-ggOOAqAUC&dq=resil+mojares+mariang+makiling&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=i24cUV7CEz&sig=OoyG_M683F6Fe3nzv314xwCUkHw&hl=en&ei=lY_ySfedG5KUkAXr9-jaCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 - PPA13,M1

2 AWIT MULA SA SISTER STELLA L

Ngayong 2009 ang silver anniversary o ika-25 anibersarsyo ng pelikulang Sister Stella L., na unang ipinalabas noong Hulyo 1984. Produksiyon ito ng Regal Films na dinirek ni Mike de Leon at starring sina Vilma Santos, Jay Ilagan, Gina Alajar, Laurice Guillen, Tony Santos, at Liza Lorena.

Credited sa screenplay: Jose F. Lacaba, Mike de Leon, Jose Almojuela. Ang nangyari ay sumulat ako ng first-draft screenplay na na-shelve. Wala pang malinaw na prodyuser noon. Ang tanda ko, nang ipasiya ni Lily Monteverde ng Regal Films na saluhin ang proyekto, out of the country ako at ang pinagkakaabalahan ko pa ay ang screenplay ng Kapit sa Patalim (shown later as Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim), kaya hindi ako available para mag-revise at mag-condense ng sobrang mahabang first-draft screenplay. Si Mike na at ang kanyang assistant director na si Jose "Peping" Almojuela ang nag-finalize ng script.

Nitong nakaraang Marso 20, 2009, muling ipinalabas ang Sister Stella L. sa Cine Adarna, ang Film Center ng University of the Philippines. Ang sponsors ng palabas at ng programang pinamagatang "Sister Stella L.@25: Tuloy ang Pakikibaka" ay ang Film 280 Class ("Philippine Film Industry") ng UP Film Institute at ang Vilma Santos Solid International (VSSI). Naging okasyon iyon para magreunion ang mga artistang sina Vilma, Laurice, Raquel Villavicencio, at Rody Vera, at ilang naging involved sa produksiyon, kabilang sina Lily Monteverde, producer; Cesar Hernando , production design; Ding Achacoso, musical direction; Fernando Modesto, art direction; Amy Apiado, production coordinator; Ellen Ongkeko, script supervisor and additional dialogue (direktor na rin ng pelikula ngayon); at Peping Almojuela at ang inyong lingkod, screenplay. Wala ba akong nakalimutan?

Tatlong kanta ang ginamit sa Sister Stella L. Ang isa, "Manggagawa," na kinanta ni Rody Vera sa pelikula (at sa programa noong Marso 20), ay ikini-credit sa akin kung minsan, pero ang talagang sumulat ng lyrics niyon ay si Peping Almojuela, at kay Ding Achacoso ang musika. Ang mga kantang ginawan ko ng lyrics (kinanta ni Pat Castillo, kay Ding Achacoso din ang musika), ay ang sumusunod.


2 Awit na Pampelikula
Mula sa Sister Stella L. (1984)
Titik: Jose F. Lacaba
Himig: Ding Achacoso


1.
SANGANDAAN

Walang komplikasyon
Ang buhay mo noon:
Kalooban mo’y panatag,
Kalangitan ay maliwanag,
Ang daan ay tuwid at patag
Sa buhay mo noon.
Ngunit bawat pusong naglalakbay,
Dumarating sa sangandaan:
Ngayong narito ka,
Kailangang magpasiya.
Aling landas ang susundin ng puso?
Saan ka liligaya, saan mabibigo?
Saan ka tutungo?

Kay daling sumunod
Sa hangin at agos:
Aasa ka na ang dalangin,
Gagabay sa ‘yong damdamin.
Ngunit saan ka dadalhin
Ng hangin at agos?
Alam mong bawat pusong nagmamahal,
Dumarating sa sangandaan:
Ngayong narito ka,
Kailangang magpasiya.
Aling landas ang susundin ng puso?
Saan ka liligaya, saan mabibigo?
Saan ka tutungo?


2.
ALING PAG-IBIG PA

Aling pag-ibig pa
Ang hihigit kaya
Sa pag-ibig ko sa iyo,
Bayan ko?
Sa hirap at ginhawa,
Sa ligaya’t dalita,
Ako’y kasa-kasama mo.

Kung ang gintong palay
Ay kumakaway,
Katabi mo ako sa bukid,
Bayan ko.
Kung tigang ang lupa
At di ka makaluha,
Ako ang magdidilig.

Kung ang bulaklak
Ay humahalimuyak,
Igagawa kita ng kuwintas,
Bayan ko.
Kung namiminsala
Ang bagyo’t baha,
Ako’y may kubong ligtas.

May pag-ibig pa bang
Higit na dakila
Sa pag-ibig ko sa iyo,
Bayan ko?
Wala na nga, wala.
Wala na nga, wala.
Wala na nga, wala.


Nalathala sa aking kalipunan ng mga tula, SA PANAHON NG LIGALIG, Anvil Publishing, 1991.

Footnotes, 25 years later:

1. Ang isang linya sa kantang "Sangandaan"--"Saan ka tutungo?"--ay idinagdag ni Ding Achacoso dahil parang bitin daw ang ginawa kong lyrics.

2. Ang "Aling Pag-ibig Pa?" ay isa sa mga kantang sinulat ko para sa isang "Brechtian musical" o "Brechtian zarzuela" na gagawin sana namin nina Mike de Leon at Ding Achacoso as an independent film (although hindi pa uso noon ang terms na indie at alternative). Set sa panahon ng Hapon ang istorya, pero malinaw sa amin na panahon ng martial law ang talagang pinapaksa namin. Natapos ko ang lyrics ng lahat ng kanta, at saka ang sequence guide, pero na-shelve din ang proyektong ito. Iniisip namin ni Ding na ituloy as a stage play, kung may maglalakas-loob na magpondo.

3. Ang mga panimula at pangwakas na linya ng "Aling Pag-ibig Pa?" ay hiniram o ninakaw ko sa "Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa" ni Andres Bonifacio. Sa loob-loob ko, hindi naman siguro magagalit si Ka Andres.

4. Ang uncredited story idea at unang storyline (sa probinsiya ang setting, sa halip na siyudad), na siyang pinagkunan ko ng inspirasyon ng ginawa kong storyline at first-draft screenplay, ay galing kay Mon Isberto, na ngayo'y isa nang top executive sa Smart at pati yata sa PLDT.

WALANG HANGGANG PAALAM, circa 2001

An indie film entitled Walang Hanggang Paalam, written and directed by Paolo Villaluna and Ellen Ramos, and starring Lovi Poe, Joem Bascon, and Jacky Woo, was in the news early this month (February 2009) after it got an X rating from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board on first review, reportedly because of a fellatio scene and an ejaculation shot in a gay love scene between actors Jake Roxas and Rico Barrera. The rating was changed to R-18 on second review, after the filmmakers revised or cut out the shots that the MTRCB objected to.

“Walang Hanggang Paalam” is also the title of one of the best-known songs of ethnic-folk-rock icon Joey Ayala, but I understand from Paolo Villaluna that the song was not used in the movie.

Anyway, the news about the indie film reminded me that I did a screenplay with the same title, Walang Hanggang Paalam, back in 2001. The script, meant for actress Maricel Soriano, was commissioned by director Joel Lamangan on behalf of GMA Films (or whatever it was called back then). It went through the usual writing stages—storyline, detailed sequence treatment, first-draft screenplay—and I had several meetings with Joel, his pre-production staff, and GMA-7’s Jimmy Duavit, but in the end, the project got shelved, for reasons that I can no longer remember. I don’t know if it will ever be made, but if it does, it will probably have to get another title.

Joey Ayala’s song is a crucial part of my Walang Hanggang Paalam screenplay, but not long after I finished the script, the song was used in the Marilou Diaz-Abaya film Bagong Buwan. When I told Joey about this, he sent me, as possible replacement, the lyrics of a song called “Pag-uwi,” which he had written for Louie Ocampo. I think the song won an award somewhere, but it never really became as popular as “Walang Hanggang Paalam.”

Here’s the storyline that I wrote, along with excerpts from the sequence treatment.



WALANG HANGGANG PAALAM

Storyline
by
Jose F. Lacaba


ENRIQUETA “ERIKA” TENORIO, a registered nurse in her mid-30s, has come home to the Philippines. This is her first visit to the country of her birth since she migrated to Canada 12 years ago. She’s home to attend the first anniversary of her father’s death, and at the same time to fetch her widowed mother who’s supposed to be going to Canada with Erika on the return trip.

The balikbayan’s visit to the hometown where she is still known as Quetang, or teased as Ketong, revives the usual nostalgic memories, especially since she’s invited to countless clan gatherings and class reunions and videoke get-togethers—where she gets to sing what used to be her favorite song, Joey Ayala’s “Walang Hanggang Paalam.” (Sample lyrics: “Ang pag-ibig natin ay walang hanggang paalam, / At kahit magkalayo, magkalapit pa rin ang puso.”)

At the same time, the visit rekindles sibling rivalries and filial hurts. The youngest of four children, the eldest of whom is a desaparecido, Erika finds herself entangled in the domestic problems of her surviving brother and sister and her assorted in-laws. In particular, she needs to sort out her relationship with her mother, ALING CARING, 69, a headstrong woman who owns an eatery, Caring’s Carinderia, and refuses persistent offers to convert it into a McDonald’s outlet.

Erika finds it difficult to explain to her mother why she couldn’t leave her job to take care of her father during his last bedridden years, or even just to come home for the funeral a year ago. After all, Erika was perceived to be her father’s favorite. On the other hand, in her relationship with her mother Erika has at times felt neglected and unwanted, the one who was born when Aling Caring no longer cared to have children. This is partly the reason why Erika has always tried to reach out to her mother.

Aling Caring has already been “petitioned” and granted a visa but has dilly-dallied about leaving the country. With her imminent departure, one grandson who lives with her suffers a nervous breakdown, and another turns violent and gets shot in a frat war. Both grandsons are the troubled children of the desaparecido, who was perceived by the other children to have been their mother’s favorite. As a result of her grandsons’ problems, Aling Caring begins to change her mind about moving to Canada. Erika sees this as additional evidence that her mother has always discriminated against her.

Accompanying Erika on this trip is her daughter AYA, 13, born in the Philippines but now thoroughly Canadian in manner and outlook. Feeling a need to reveal a painful truth she has managed to keep hidden from her daughter for years, Erika brings Aya to a nearby province to introduce her to a sister the young girl never knew she had. It turns out that Erika has a 16-year-old daughter from a premarital relationship. This other daughter is mentally retarded and being taken care of by a foster family, which receives financial support from the girl’s father.

The visit to the special child is traumatic for both Erika and Aya. Erika must confront her own feelings about being a mother, and in the process she learns to appreciate her own mother’s dilemmas and coping mechanisms. Aya, for her part, is so shocked she refuses to talk to Erika for several days. Things get a little bit complicated when the first daughter’s father, now a small-town politician, and still single, comes visiting and seems intent on reviving his friendship with Erika. Aya puts in a frantic long-distance call to her own father in Canada to apprise him of the situation, but he can’t take a sudden leave from his job.

In the end, things should get all sorted out without benefit of a miracle, and Aling Caring is persuaded to try life in Canada with Erika. We reveal in an epilogue that Aling Caring lasted two cold winters and then, bored with baby-sitting Canadian kids, decided to come home.

[END]
2001 July 4


EXCERPTS FROM THE SEQUENCE TREATMENT

9. EXT. BAHAY NI CARING. GABI.
Magpapaalam ang mga hindi tagarito: si Boni at ang kanyang pamilya, sina Jing at Diday. Ugaling Pilipino: walang-hanggan ang paalaman. Naghihintay na si Boni sa kotse: “Ba’t ba kung kailan pa uwian na at saka humahaba ang kuwentuhan?” Ang mga pamilya nina Rachel at Norie ay nakapisan kay Caring. Maiiwang nakaparada ang dyip sa garahe. Magkakasarilinan sina Erika at Caring. Erika: “Handang-handa na tayong pumunta sa Canada?” Tatango si Caring. Sa isang sulok ng garahe, mapapansin ni Erika ang isang kinakalawang nang pedicab. Mangingilid ang luha niya. Yayakapin siya ni Caring. Makikita sila ni Aya.

42. EXT. BAHAY SA SUBDIBISYON. ARAW.
Minsan pa, walang-hanggan ang paalaman. Rosita (kay Caring): “Buti ka pa, balae, makakarating ka ng Canada. Gusto sana naming makita man lang ang Niagara Falls, pero ngayon, hindi na puwede.” Mapapaiyak si Atty. Reyes.

48. EXT. BAHAY SA BULACAN. ARAW.
Nakaupo si Caring sa loob ng pedicab, kandong ang nahihimbing na si Ani. Ipapaliwanag niya kay Aya ang kahulugan ng pangalan nilang magkapatid: “Ani, harvest, pero ang talagang full name niya ay Halina, attractiveness. Ina ang dati niyang palayaw, binaligtad. Aya, kagandahan, pero ang full name mo ay Haraya, imagination. Lolo mo kasi, nationalistic. Siya’ng nagpangalan sa inyo.” Kay Mau: “Ang tatay mo naman, subersibo at fan ng Beatles, kaya ganyan ang mga pangalan ninyo. Si Len ay Juan Lenin, ikaw ay Pablo Mao.” Aya: “E sina Caissa?” Erika: “Caissa, goddess of chess. Alekhin at Botvinnik, mga sikat na chess players noong araw. Ang Tito Boni n’yo, naging chess champion ng Aguho. Elmyrah, pangalan yata ng Moro princess, hindi ko na maalala.” Aya: “Kaya pala kami puro wirdo, hindi kami binigyan ng mga normal na pangalan.” Mau: “Lahi tayo ng mga abno.”

49. EXT. BAHAY SA BULACAN. ARAW. (TIME LAPSE)
Oras na para umuwi. Muli, hindi matapos-tapos ang paalaman. Mangiyak-ngiyak na yayapusin ni Erika si Ani, pero kakalas ang dalagita at tatakbo kay Caring. Kukunin ni Marta ang umiiyak na si Ani. Magyaya si Django sa dinner: “Paunahin n’yo na si Jing. Sa akin na kayo sumabay, air-con ang van ko.”

69. INT. BAHAY NI GRACE. GABI.
Reunion ng high school class ni Erika. Ang tawag ng mga dating kaklase kay Erika ay E.T.--initials ng Erika Tenorio. Si Aya lang ang bisitang bata, pero may halos kaedad siya sa mga anak ni Grace. Kaunting ballroom dancing, kaunting kantahan. May gitara si Grace, at hihimukin niya si Erika na magduweto sila sa isang lumang kantang paborito nila noong araw, ang “Walang-Hanggang Paalam” ni Joey Ayala: “Ang pag-ibig natin ay walang-hanggang paalam/At habang magkalayo, papalapit pa rin ang puso./Kahit na magkahiwalay, tayo ay magkasama/Sa magkabilang dulo ng mundo.”

70. EXT. BAHAY NI GRACE. GABI.
Hindi na naman matapos-matapos ang mga paalam. Ngayon pa maiisipan ni Grace na magkukuwento tungkol sa mga nakakatawa niyang karanasan nang magtrabaho siya bilang domestic sa Singapore.

96. EXT. BAHAY NI CARING. GABI.
Magpapaalam si Jerry kay Caring: “Pa’no, Nay, sa Canada na uli tayo magkikita?” Caring: “Ano ka, sinusuwerte?” Pero nakangiti si Erika: “Sa Canada na ang susunod na birthday ng Nanay.” Jerry (pabiro): “Nay, sa Canada kayo magsi-sixty-nine? Sarap naman.” Naghihintay sa kotse si Boni, na siyang maghahatid. Bubusina siya. “Bayaw, baka maiwan ka ng eroplano. Tama na ang mga walang-hanggang paalam.”