Or make that Filipina version. This is such a hilarious video, but what I really love about it is that it totally represents the Philippines - the hopes of the Filipino people, its culture, its livelihood, the life of the majority, and of course, the beautiful places of Manila City.
Here's the real thing:
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In the Philippines, printmaking as an art form that still has to take root, perhaps because of the wrong notion that prints are easily reproduced, so one could not really claim that what he has is an original, which is what collectors really go for.
Its like photographs, which although are beautiful, the fact that it can be reproduced by anyone and everyone who has the file (negatives, for those who still use film) has lessened its value, which for me does not really complement the artists' talent. Sad to say.
The Holy Family (2012), Celso Duazo Pepito
Although many Filipino artists are into printmaking, if one still has no name in the industry, one's works would really not fetch a good price, or even the attention of people. In Cebu, we have Radel Paredes and Josua Cabrera who are also known in this genre of work.
Birds in waiting (2012), Sonia de la Torre Yrastorza
And in the Philippines we have Manuel "Mang Maning" Rodriguez, Sr., who despite his many awards and accolades, remain to be a virtual unknown in the country. Perhaps this is the reason why until today he has not been given the National Artist recognition, and to think he has brought honor to his country countless of times.
Life is worth it (2012), Celso Duazo Pepito
One of the reasons, as artist Sonia Yrastorza related, is the fact that he relocated to the US in 1976, but that doesn't mean that he stopped working. In fact many of his works were exhibited in the US and the Philippines, helping bring Filipino artists to the world's attention.
Jade II (2012), Darby Alcoseba
The exhibit, aptly titled Homage, hopes to bring to the attention of the Philippine award giving body the contributions of this great man in the hope of giving him the most deserved title of National Artist. If ever, he will be the first National Artist from Cebu and the first for printmaking. This centenarian artist is considered to be the Father of Printmaking in the Philippines.
Dahong Laya (2012), Guido Lubanga
Because of this, several artists under the auspices of Cebu Artists Inc. (CAI), decided to do a workshop on printmaking. These artists, although already recognized for their craft, were excited to learn this new genre in the hope of highlighting the contributions of Mang Maning in Philippine art and at the same time bringing attention to printmaking as a mature art form.
November Print (2012), Guido Lubanga
The exhibit carried some of the works of Mang Maning together with Cebu artist's first venture on the art form. One who is familiar with the works of the artists who participated would still see that even with printmaking, their works still carry their signature: Celso Pepito's geometric spaces, Sonia Yrastorza's solitary subjects, and Cesar Castillo's elegantly adventurous strokes.
Spring (2012), Sonia de la Torre Yrastorza
The exhibit will run until December 21 at the Art Center of SM City Cebu.
Spring (2010), Radel Paredes
San Pedro Calungsod 1 (2012), Jess Dinglasa
San Pedro Calungsod 1 (2012), John Dinglasa
It sucks (2012), Joseph Ong
Siamese (2012), Joseph Ong
Parables of not one less (2012), Fr. Jason Dy, SJ
Cosmos II (2012), Remy Rault
Handaan (Undated), Manuel Rodriguez, Sr.
Nipa Hut Madonna (Undated), Manuel Rodriguez, Sr.
A new beginning (2012), Cesar Castillo
The artist, Cesar Castillo, with his work.
Salingsing (2012), Josua Cabrera
Seeking serenity (Undated), Manuel Rodriguez, Sr.
Market day (Undated), Manuel Rodriguez Sr.
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Christmas with Angels
Had a very busy yet very fulfilling day yesterday.
Woke up at 4 am to prepare for The FREEMAN Foundation's Christmas with Angels project in Don Andres Soriano (Lutopan), Toledo City. That's like one to two hours by car from where I live.
Since seven years ago, The FREEMAN, through The FREEMAN Foundation, would identify a certain community, or barangay as we call it, from where we would get the children who would then be the beneficiary of the project. The kids gets to enjoy a fun-filled day of games and great food. This year, we gave out school supplies, toys, and groceries for every family represented and the beneficiary was Brgy. Biga of Toledo City.
Exactly a year ago, it was in Brgy. Biga where three very young kids were taken hostage by their uncle. One of those kids had to have an arm, from the shoulder down, amputated. Since that incident happened The FREEMAN have been helping the baby and it was for this reason that the community was chosen for this year's Christmas with Angels.
We had a lot of fun, with all the games and everything. Well, except for the time when we distributed the groceries for each family and one mother angrily went to the front and harangued our doctor who happened to be the coordinator of the Foundation because she thought that some received more than her.
Ungratefulness is really not a new thing with these charitable activities. I always see it during free medical and dental missions and other activities that I have joined, where the beneficiaries think that it is your responsibility to give them these goods and if they feel uncomfortable in the process, like if they had to go on queue, its your fault and complaints come like a deluge. I approached the lady and gave her a lecture on gratitude, and she responded by leaving the building, perhaps in shame or of anger.
Well, you can't please everybody.
Coal mining
On our way home, we passed by a side road snack station and noticed people from the community, including small kids and women, carrying sacks and sacks of coal from an apparently illegal coal mine just near the road.
I don't blame these people. They get something like P75 (US$ 1.5) per shovel, and how many shovels would it take to fill a sack? Government should provide them with a sustainable source of income and these illegal activities would stop.
A tribute to a great artist
When we reached home after our almost all day activity, I went straight to the Art Center of a mall north of Cebu. There, several Cebuano artists have come together to help raise awareness about Manuel Rodriguez, Sr., a centenarian artist who is considered as the Philippine's father of printmaking.
All of them are my favorites: Celso Pepito and wife Fe, Cesar Castillo, and Sonia Yrastorza, to name some. There's also Jesuit priest Fr. Jason Dy who's famous for his bottle installations, and one of Cebu's famous photographer, Joseph Ong.
These artists were not really into print, but through the University of San Carlos and with artist/writer Radel Paredes as their mentor, the mentors became mentees. The works on exhibit was the product of this workshop, and as Celso said, it opened his door to a new medium that would further enhance his craft.
The exhibit was opened by our very own Executive Lifestyle Editor and my mentor, Madam Marlinda Angbetic Tan, together with other beautiful art patrons of the Aboitiz and Osmena families.
More on this on my next post.
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CEBU, Philippines - In 2011, the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region 7 recorded 748 cases of child abuse.
Of this number, 401 were cases of abandonment and neglect, 132 were cases of sexual abuse while 116 were cases of physical abuse, battery and maltreatment, according to data from DSWD-FO 7.
Although these numbers are smaller in total than the 1,047 cases served in 2010, DSWD-FO VII child and youth welfare head Emma Patalinghug clarifies this does not mean that incidents are getting fewer.
In fact, Patalinghug admits that these figures are not an accurate representation of the situation in the region, as they do not include cases handled by non-government agencies and other charitable institutions.
The wide acceptance of physical abuse and maltreatment as a form of discipline has also significantly reduced reports on these cases, she says.
What is certain, Patalinghug says, is that the numbers show the urgency of the need to address the problem.
Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act defines child abuse as maltreatment of a child, habitual or not.
These acts include psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment; any act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being; unreasonable deprivation of his basic needs for survival such as food and shelter; or failure to immediately give medical treatment to an injured child resulting in serious impairment of his growth and development or in his permanent incapacity or death.
Child abuse and Politics
Politics, too, is considered a major factor in the battle against child abuse.
When politics played a significant role in the dumping of the positive and non-violent discipline ordinance authored by opposition councilors in Cebu City, child welfare advocates felt their efforts were invalidated.
Last June 27, the Cebu City Council passed the "Cebu City Ordinance Promoting Positive and Non-Violent Discipline of Children" with 14 councilors voting for the legislation and two against it. The ordinance was authored by Councilor Lea Japson who sits as chair of the committee on family and women, as well as Councilors Alvin Dizon, John Philip Po II and Margarita Osmeña, herself a child's rights advocate and former head of the Cebu City Task Force on Street Children and a member of Operation Second Chance.
In his State of the City Address (SOCA) last July 2, however, Mayor Michael Rama described the ordinance as anti-poor as it carries with it a fine of P5,000 or the penalty of six months imprisonment. When interviewed by members of the press after his SOCA, however, Rama admitted that he has not read the ordinance just yet.
In his veto message, he made mention that the measure is not "just, fair, non-oppressive, and non-confiscatory."
Japson denied this, saying that the penalty is not for first time offenders. She explained that the provisions in the ordinance gives the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) the option to refer the offender to the city's Social Welfare Service Office for assessment and intervention, which may come in the form of counseling for parents who violate the ordinance and their children, as well as seminars on children's rights and positive and non-violent discipline of children.
Child welfare advocates who believe that corporal punishment is a form of child abuse think that more than just punishing guardians, parents, and other adults who would physically, verbally, and psychologically inflict harm on the child as a form of discipline, the measure is a step forward towards positive discipline, which is more effective based on research and other scientific studies on behavioral science.
Patalinghug relates their struggle in making people and politicians understand the ordinance. She laments that the lack of implementation of national laws concerning child welfare is also rooted on the lack of localized measures that best address the particular circumstances of the locality.
"Like in Cebu, we have here plenty of cases of verbal abuse and flagging," she says.
The positive and non-violent discipline ordinance was supposed to help in the fight against domestic child abuse in the context of Cebu City wherein the most common manifestation is physical discipline.
Another area that is becoming a concern for children's rights advocates is the alarming increase in child internet pornography.
What makes it difficult to report and respond to these cases, Patalinghug says, is that the act is usually committed in the homes of the victims and the perpetrator.
"The moral values of people are deteriorating," she says, pointing to the fact that parents themselves are the one pushing their children to engage in such lurid acts.
"They think that because their child is just doing it in front of a camera and not with an actual person, it's ok," she says in Cebuano.
Patalinghug cites the 2011 cases in Cordova town wherein parents encouraged their five minor children to perform lewd acts in front of the camera. She says that because the parents are there, the children, trusting of their parents, believed that there was nothing wrong with what they were doing. Worse, they remained oblivious to the fact that they were already being exploited.
"They thought that they were just playing," Patalinghug says.
Education
Patalinghug believes that until society is educated on the rights of children and what it can do to help protect it, there will always be hurdles to face.
For this, she says awareness and education campaigns are at the top of their to-do list in the implementation of national laws concerning children's welfare, and in pushing for the localization of these laws. Still, more work has to be done, considering the disproportionate number of staffs that their office has to their area of coverage.
With this, Patalinghug suggests that the Department of Education must promote values education for children aggressively.
Patalinghug also believes that in order to address cases of child abuse, local governments must learn to aggressively push for local measures that could help address the issues. These measures, she says, must be implemented fully at the grassroots level like in the barangays.
"When it comes to laws, we have plenty of them, but one of our weaknesses is full implementation," she says.
Parents, too, have a big role to play and must be educated themselves.
"There should be continuous advocacy for parents," she added. "They need to know their duties and responsibilities."
She says that in 2010, aggressive information campaign on child abuse resulted in an increase in the number of cases reported.
That year, DSWD-FO VII recorded 305 cases of various child sex abuse compared to the previous year's 258 or this year's 155. What would be significant this year is that DSWD recorded 18 cases of cyber pornography, an increase of eight cases from last year's 10 cases.
"We had a program at SM City Cebu on child sexual abuse and we included all the students from the different schools," she says.
Local social workers should also undergo continuous capability building seminars including case management. This would, however, entail cost and as such, Patalinghug says efforts should be multi-sectoral, coming from the community itself and with the support of both the private and public sectors.
Multi-sectoral efforts would also make more and more people aware of the problem and, hopefully, generate more helping hands. (Edited by Joeberth M. Ocao/The FREEMAN).
Also read: Losing innocence: Victim of sexual abuse speaks, hopes for others to break silence (1st of 2 parts)
First saw print in The FREEMAN on November 26, 2012 as Losing Innocence: The continuing struggle against child abuse (second of 2 parts), and subsequently published in PhilStar.com. Video from YouTube. Photo from the net. Presentation from SlideShare.com
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Marco Polo Plaza Cebu really knows how to throw a party. I've always looked forward to their events not just because of their food, that's just simply superb, but also because of their out of the box entertainment numbers.
The first Soiree Beaujolais that I attended was when they invited French street performers over, and although I honestly is not much of a fan of accordions and such, I still enjoyed that show. That was like six or so years ago.
Last week my boss, Mr. Bhoy Mendoza, gave me his tickets to this year's Soiree Beaujolais, and although I would have preferred to give the tickets to a valued client, who I'm sure would have enjoyed the show, the lack of time to choose whom to give the tickets to plus my deep secret desire to go made me decide to go use it for myself, and honestly I was totally happy that I did it.
The magicians imported straight from France were awesome, but what really rocked the evening, aside from the amazing food, was Ms. Giselle Sanchez, who, despite the mature topics that she discussed on stage, was just so perfect. She sure had the audience at her fingertips. We didn't even notice that we were standing for like four hours!
Here are a few more pics:
With one of the Philippine's society hosts, Mr. Johnny Litton
With the beautiful Giselle Sanchez
With my cousin and cheese master Richard Poirier
With The FREEMAN's food columnist, Dr. Nestor Alonzo
With power couple, socialite Amparito and France's Honorary Consul Michel Lhuillier (parents of designer Monique Lhuillier)
With my cousin, May
They also had some slot machines all over the place.
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