CHRISTS IN THE PHILIPPINES (December 27, 2010)

HERMANO PULE IMAGE

On the feast of Immaculate Conception last 8 December, we got an e-reminder about the Bicentennial Birth Anniversary of our Kristo Tagalo -- Apolinaro de la Cruz – who was born on 22 July 1814 in Lucban, Tayabas (now Quezon)!

As usual, it came from the ever-concerned and capable Ryan Palad, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Museo ng Sining manager and memory man behind the 200^th birthday of Hermano Puli to be celebrated on 23 July 2014.

But, as early as today, he would like us to prepare for the Cofradia de San Jose's founder's death anniversary on 4 November 2011 and 170^th anniversary of the 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutiny on 21 January 2013 by doing a dozen things: (1) to ask or task the National Historial Commission of the Philippines and/or the Hermano Puli Memorial Committee to spearhead the project; (2) to allot a budget by, say, Gov. David Suarez to each town in Quezon Province as a cultural priority; (3) to create a monument or a marker in Rizal Park or Fort Santiago that witnessed the 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutiny; (4) to name a street or two after Apolinario de La Cruz and 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutinywith the help of our mayors and their Sangguniang Bayan; (5) to call for a Hermano Puli Commemorative Conference in November next year or the Commemorative Conference on 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutiny in January of 2013 or an International Conference on Social Movements in July or November of 2014; (6) to initiate a Hermano Puli Bicentennial National Painting Competition in 2012 so that it can be a travel exhibit in different schools and communities in Quezon until 2014; (7) to build a museum in honor of Hermano Puli, Cofradia de San Jose and 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutiny; (8) to issue a Hermano Puli Commemorative Stamp in cooperation with Philpost; (9) to produce a film or a play about the biography of Hermano Puli; (10) to start an arts and culture festival in all Quezon towns where students and out-of-school youths can freely interpret his life and times; (11) to publish a book about Hermano Puli and 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutiny; (12) to collaborate with the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education in the inclusion of legacy of Hermano Puli and 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutiny in our curriculum.

In his capacity as Tayabas Studies and Creative Writing Center founder, Ryan took the heroic role in putting a string around the finger of individuals and institutions supposedly responsible for teaching us the lessons from our past.

Ryan, too, invited us to deliver a paper about Hermano Puli last 19 October – as part of the 1^st Lecture Forum on Hermano Puli sponsored by Atty. Gilbert Camaligan and the Office of Hermano Puli Memorial Committee and by Mrs. Gloria Potes of the Dep Ed Division of Quezon.

We were considered because we had been writing poems and prose about Hermano Puli and 1843 Tayabas Regiment Mutiny since we wrote a column for The Coconut, the official student organ of Quezon National High School, where we had our Pearl Anniversary threeunion last May and before this year ends.

Last year, before the year ended too, our wife was diagnosed that she had ruptured angiomyolipoma.

So, we turned to two patrons.

First, to her nephrologist, Dr. Nelson Patron, who gave her a second leash on life, after she was given five years to live by another doctor, a week after she gave birth to our panganay, Psalma, on 24 August 1997! Then, to our patron – The Black Nazarene – to whom we prayed as hard as our pamamanata during His Feast Day last 9 January.

While we were in the thick of Jesus Nazareno things, little did we know that others, like Khavn de la Cruz and Michael Noer, were into little too, as in Baby Jesus.

Yes, as we followed the footstep of the dying, or dead, Christ, the two filmmakers were running after the alive and kicking Son Of God!

SOG is literally small – a midget with a golden crown over his blond wig, with a typical face and tongue of a Waray, dressed up more like a Sto. Niňo de Cebu than anyone else, holding a plastic gold cross glued on sequined styrofoam discoball, and a crooked staff with a bul-ol on top, which you can easily buy insouvenir shops in Banaue.

From Quiapo, they tracked down SOG's whereabouts in Kamias Road, Quezon City where he had his faith healing sessions and other rituals that would include lipstick wearing.

Filipino and foreign patients were interviewed about his godly powers until an old lady did a Susana Pangilinan act -- carrying Jose Corazon de Jesus' heart in a bottle -- interrupting his show by accusing him a fake healer who killed her son!

Guilty to the max, SOG ran away from everyone, except from the eagle-eyed Khavn and Michael, who shadowed him in his hideout/home, crying to death, craving for the need to seek refuge in the New Jerusalem in our province – Mt. Banahaw!

There, in the sacred mountain, SOG had to face trials and tribulations in his pamumuwesto.

After his rebirth, the focus shifted to Michael, who suffered from unexplicable pain that eventually disappeared like SOG.

He would reappear, after the documentarists and their team found him, in Cebu during the Sinulog Festival!

When “Pit Senyor!” died down, his image as the SOG passed away.

And he would be seen last as a plain and simple father of two!

All the verbs above would stay in the present tense since everything was canned by Khavn and Michael.

Last Wednesday, Khavn celebrated his birthday by having a Manila premiere of his post-modern miracle work, entitled Son of God, at Cubao Expo's Mogwai Cinematique in Cubao, Quezon City. This an hour-and-a-halfish film – that had its world premiere last 30 August at the 2010 My World Images Contemporary Arts Festival in Copenhagen – will be shown again in the Rotterdam International Film Festival next year.

It is a product of the talent workshop which Khavn and Michael attended in 2009 with Lebanese Corine Shawi and Danish Nikolai Larsen who produced Jet’aime Infiniment (“I Love You Forever”) and Rwandan Yves Montand and Finnish Iris Olsson who made Memory. Called Dox Lab 1, it is commissioned by the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival as a talent development and production program in which filmmakers, in teams of two, are “challenged to think differently and find new approaches in making films aesthetically and economically” since they are only given approximately 11,000 euros (about US$14,100) to cover production expenses.

Before he entered it to the Kino Otok-Izola Film Festival in Slovenia last September, Khavn had a screening at the U-View Cinema in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. The said film was shown last 29 August, during the first death anniversary of Fil-Canadian film critic Alexis Tioseco and Slovenian freelance film journalist Nika Bohinc who were murdered in 2009. Featuring Gertjan Zuilhof and Lourd de Veyra,Cameroon Love Letter is a musical shot during Khavn’s trip to the Republic of Cameroon, where surprisingly Pangako Sa ’Yo and its lead actors Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa are stars in their own right.

Tomorrow, in commemorating Niňos Inocentes, the National Council for Children's Television's Cine Pambata will begin, at 10 am, at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. At 7pm, NCCT will give NCCT-Dep EdLingkod TV Awards to the Most Child-Friendly TV Shows,Personalities,and Institutions at Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila.

TEXT SUPPORT:

TEENS: You have all the time and energy but no money.

WORKERS: You have the money and energy but no time.

OLDIES: You have all the time and money but no more energy.

CONSIDER THIS:

Enjoy all the things you have at the moment because you cannot have everything all at once.