A Bishop's Banana

A Catholic bishop is now fretting over a “Banana” and he wants it banned! It’s the title of a novelty song now becoming a hit, perhaps, unwittingly, due to the attention brought to it by Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñegez.

In a radio interview, the adamant prelate labeled such songs “immoral” and “against the teaching of the Church” for their alleged explicit or obscene double meaning lyrics that might encourage young people to engage in casual sex particularly the other hit song “Nagmamahal Ako ng Bakla”.

It seems once again, though awkwardly, the Catholic Church asserts its hegemonic moralizing dogma -- so backward, sexually-repressive, homophobic, discriminatory and hypocritical. The songs are too shoddy for my taste but I believe these things aren’t enough to drive the ordinary Filipino to promiscuity and other depravities, relatively, in the same way rigid Catholic moral dogmas on sex failed to restrain a significant number of Catholic priests all over the world from fornicating, raping and molesting children while bishops participated to cover them up; and neither did it prevent our population from continuously exploding through their so-called natural family planning method as they mislead our poor women by labeling contraception as “abortion” and “immoral.”

This is not the first time that such songs have come out in recent pop culture. It is endemic in every culture where human sexuality is both taboo and celebrated. In fact, these types of songs have already proliferated and sometimes dominated our music industry for decades often parodies or lampoons on Filipino sexuality as a means to channel our anxieties as a people who bravely face socio-economic-political instabilities and religious repression with laughter.

If indeed Bishop Iñegez interprets the said novelty songs as obscene for their so-called duplicity or double meaning, therefore the Song of Solomon or Canticle of Canticles, inter alia, within the Bible which is also replete with double meanings, could be also treated as obscene or “immoral?” I find this verse racy and kinky -- “Canticles 5:4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him....” No doubt Solomon was a prolific fornicator.

The bishop was quoted to have said regarding the songs: “it goes against the teaching of love and our respect for sexuality.” Gee, isn’t the song “Nagmamahal Ako ng Bakla” (I’m Loving a Gay Man) about love and sexuality? How can someone preach love and respect when one doesn’t have it? How could the Church assert its moral high ground when it’s already eroded? Single-outing gays, lesbians or homosexuals only goes to prove that the bishop and the Church are really living homophobic artifacts.

If the bishop merely wants to speak about love and respect, or social justice, then why doesn’t he speak against those who traffic and enslave women and children as prostitutes, mail-order-brides, pornography and cheap labor instead of nitpicking some cheap songs over the radio.

I think Bishop Iñegez misjudges and belittles the Filipinos’ capacity for love and respect as much as their intelligence in understanding and choosing songs they want and ought to listen in the same way the Catholic Church had demonized and repressed sexuality since the Dark Ages in the tradition of blind faith, dogma, misogyny and homophobia.

Nobody has the right to impose one’s opinion as the truth for certainly someone will always disagree with it. Human values – be they theological, ethical, social or political – have their source in human nature, experience and culture.

OF GAY FIESTAS, LIVELY ORCHESTRAS AND INTELLECTUAL SIESTAS: AN EVENT IN LA UNION

Last January 2, 2009, Joshua Lipana, the 17-year old President of the Center for Inquiry Philippines was the guest speaker in our barangay fiesta here in the small sleepy town of Tubao in the northern Ilocano-speaking province of La Union. I invited Josh together with my dear friend Poch Suzara to be our guests but sadly the latter didn’t make it due to his scheduled surgery the following week. Poch is no stranger to La Union since he is personally close to the VALEROs, a prominent business and political clan here.

The kid was both excited and petrified since that was going to be his “baptism of fire” in public speaking and outside his turf in Manila. That was his first mission – a real one – facing an unknown crowd of mixed audience in the grassroots level, young and old, rich and poor, the erudite and the ignorant…

The speaking event was only the first of two nights of our fiesta celebration in our barangay POBLACION, the town center in our municipality of Tubao. But the fiesta was not your typical “barrio fiesta” because it was always grand, colorful and festive from the start. The event was set off by a beauty pageant organized for gays by the youth council or SANGGUNIANG KABATAAN. In fact, even our town mayor, Dante S. Garcia, could not afford to miss it for he knew the excitement and the crowd would be large on such events.

Joshua came with his family in full force. Driving all their way from Manila for more than 200 kilometers to La Union, I knew Josh really meant business when he accepted our invitation. I was honored to welcome his family. This must be the coolest and luckiest kid I have ever met I thought since his grandparents, aunt and mom traveled all the way with him to see him speak in public for the first time. His mom, Arleen, whom I thought was Josh’s sister because of her youthful looks was really the hidden ace in his sleeve. With her intellectual savvy and being a former political activist herself, she was indeed the greatest influence behind this young genius. Like any stage mother, she made sure Josh delivered his best that evening.

Before the speaking event on the eve of January 2, Joshua arrived the night before with a prepared speech in his laptop and was even revising and polishing it the following morning. But we had some brainstorming late during the day and decided to shelve the speech an hour before the program started and he took off with an extemporaneous laid back discourse much to his mom’s approval.

After introducing Josh to speak, I was apprehensive if the crowd could connect with him. He was having butterflies in his stomach moments before his speech, his hands were sweating and cold. But I saw the fire in his eyes, his excitement upon seeing the large crowd that awaited and stared at him as he climbed up the stage and fired his opening salvo…

Joshua took off like a space shuttle. Though he couldn’t speak the Ilocano vernacular, he articulately drove his point in conversational Taglish like a hammer against a nail. Taking cue from the stigma and violence brought by religion and the Church against gays and homosexuals, he relevantly captured the subject of his speech that night.

Revisiting the violent history and proselytizing of Christianity on these islands several centuries ago with the cross and sword by imperialist colonizing Europeans, Joshua cited religious contempt and discrimination against gays in the bible, dogma and official stand of the Church. He said that decades ago, such beauty pageants or explicit display of homosexuality in public was taboo and would induce violent reaction from the homophobic clergy and ignorant religious believers. Citing Islam as another Abrahamic religion that condemns homosexuality and condones misogygny, he deplored how religion could breed violence such as 9/11 and utter disrespect for human rights. He pleaded that gays or homosexuals shouldn’t be treated with contempt and ridicule and should be accepted as a natural aspect of human sexuality.

Joshua moved on to speak about secularism and the importance of the separation of the Church and State in the country. He talked about the meddling of the Catholic Church on the passage of the Reproductive Health bill by misleading the public into believing that it was a bill condoning abortion then he went on to elaborate that it was in fact a step by the government in improving its services on the reproductive health of poor Filipino women especially on contraception and family planning. He reiterated that the Church had always been against everything that was good because progressive ideas always posed a threat to its power, authority and infallibility; and that every human being can be capable of compassion, kindness, altruism and goodwill without belief in a deity or religion. At that moment, I felt and heard the crowd squirming and buzzing on their seats getting a mild dose of electric shock for never in their lives had they heard in public a guest speaker so young and articulate spoke about such defects in their faith, society, government and Church.

For the next eight more minutes or so, Joshua went on to speak about the dark ages, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars, the murder of Jews and burning of women accused as witches in Salem and in Europe. All in all, he summed up the crimes of the Vatican and its hypocrisy. Though most did not care or were not aware of these histories, I noticed that there were people in the audience who knew such things and often nodded their heads in agreement to the statements made by Josh in his speech. Finally, Josh ended his fifteen-minute speech by rallying the youth, freethinkers, secular humanists and progressives among the audience to speak out and join the Center for Inquiry Philippines in its advocacies of secular humanism, reason, science and freedom of inquiry. It was a well-delivered speech. Josh was well applauded and even Mayor Dante Garcia stood up and shook his hand to congratulate him.

Many young people in our town that night was impressed and inspired by Joshua Lipana’s wit and bravery to come out and speak about the defects of blind faith and dogma. Later on that night, I introduced Joshua to La Union Provincial Board Member Henry Bacurnay who also happened to be a guest that evening though he arrived late. Henry Bacurnay was the former Secretary-General of the Liberal Party. He was also a political activist and an outspoken dissident fiscalizer. He had ties with Amnesty International and traveled extensively abroad attending international conventions on democracy and human rights. He ran for congress years ago in our district but unfortunately and narrowly lost his bid to a moneyed and powerful politician. The event ended with Josh and his family handing the awards to the winners of the gay pageant.

Joshua stayed behind for the next evening’s affair while his family left ahead for Manila. We enjoyed the second and final evening of the fiesta. Here, Joshua met another Provincial Board Member in the person of Atty. Pablo Olarte, a philosophy professor and former mayor of the adjacent town of Agoo. We had a very interesting discussion early that evening about secularism, philosophy, religion, politics and the prospect of CFI La Union chapter. Atty. Olarte even volunteered to be our legal adviser.

It was a long and beautiful evening. The lively and catchy music was provided by two orchestras that played until six o’clock the following Sunday morning -- a few minutes before the nearby church tolled its bells to open its official business day. What a night, and the nostalgia almost deprived us of our much needed siesta from the fiestas, the orchestras and swooning gay señoritas…

Secularism in the Constitution?

Religion and politics in our country are interwoven like a fabric that separating the two threads would amount to taking the whole piece apart. The majority of the people who drafted the Constitution, specifically the 1987 version were all devout Catholics. Majority of our lawmakers, judiciary and government executives who legislate, interpret and implement laws respectively, are Catholics raised and educated in the tradition of their forefathers. If there were a fraction of Muslim, other Christian sect or even secular individuals in these institutions, their positions and opinions were merely accommodated to give our government and constitution the impression of plurality and diversity. In reality, secularism in our constitution is just a watermark that our government IGNORES.

From 1987 up to the present, our government has been dominated by Christian democrats like Cory, Ramos and Arroyo. Their brand of conservatism though moderate, depends largely on christian principles which according to their aim could solve the social problems in the country by constantly waltzing with dominant Christian religious powerblocks like the Catholic church, the INC, the Protestants, the Charismatic El Shaddai, the JIL, etc. Though Cory, Ramos and Arroyo had made efforts in recognizing the Muslim block, being non-muslims themselves make it hard for them to be sincere in addressing the political, socio-economic, cultural and religious autonomy in Mindanao.

Since we are not racially different from our Muslim brothers in Mindanao, I would never favor that our country be dismembered by religious and cultural differences. On the other hand, let us be reminded that the Muslim insurgency in Mindanao is a spontaneous reaction against centuries of external religious proselytization, invasion, colonization, exploitation, assimilation and marginalization that started from the Spaniards, Americans to the present central government in Manila.

The betrayal of secular values within the constitution itself is a manifestation that secularism in the Philippines is a long shot from accomplishing the task of bridging the religious and cultural disparities that threaten to dismember this country today and the near future.

In a country where even the passage of a reproductive health bill that would empower poor women to decide over their reproductive rights is hounded by religious bigots and charlatans, I wonder how a secular proposal to remove brazen images of a virgin and child cult from government and public institutions would fare….?

*This post is a rejoinder to a post in Philippine Atheists Blog entitled: “Secularism for the Philippines.” For the complete article, visit the link: http://philippineatheists.org/%202008/09/26/%20secularism-%20for-the-philippines/

Ahmadinejad's Jab

I watched the interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by Larry King at CNN and I found nothing anti-Semitic in his position with regards to the Jewish occupation of Palestine as well as his address at the U.N. I think he desires to articulate the plight of the Palestinian people which is commonly misrepresented, ignored and suppressed by the western powers that were behind in the creation of Israel as an atonement for their guilt by the holocaust.

I abhor and condemn the atrocities committed against the Jews for centuries. But to subjugate, deprive and displace a people (the Palestinians) as an expense and/or reparation for immeasurable atrocities committed on another people (the Jews) by oppressive and dominant empires or nations is pallid hypocrisy and downright evil.

In one of Christiane Amanpour’s documentaries, most Jews, particularly the orthodox ones view Israel’s occupation as fulfillment of God’s oath to his chosen people of the ‘promised land.’ In fact, they cling to their religious scriptures to justify the occupation and settlement of Palestine. On the part of the Palestinians and neighboring Arab counterparts, they justify terror attacks against Israel and the West through Islamist ‘jihad’ because of the occupation and presence of these ‘infidels’ on their lands which resulted in the killings and death of Arab muslims. The Intifada is the direct result of the unjust land grabbing, and occupation of Palestine sponsored by the West. Isn’t this the very foundation of the terrorist efforts of the western-educated and former western ally Osama bin Laden against the West? They just don’t want ‘infidels’ to make shit on their land and oppress their people! The domineering and daunting presence and occupation of American and western military forces in the middle east is enough motivation for these fundamentalists to rally and find a common cause to strike against Western political and economic chauvinism. The same motivation that made them fight and drive the Soviets from Afghanistan decades ago.

I don’t care about the antediluvian “freedom and democracy” clichés of ambitious, imperialist American foreign policy spins. That has been around long enough since they humiliated Spain’s fading colonial empire more than a hundred years ago in a war that brought America to the world stage of neo-colonial capitalist imperialism. Who would ever thought then that America would become what it is now… It has gone really far.

How come we don’t see their military intervening in Darfur to protect “freedom and democracy?” What is happening there is just beyond humanitarian crisis. It’s a TRAGEDY and CATASTROPHE the world has afforded to ignore the same way it has ignored the plight of the Palestinian people for decades. Is it because there is no oil in Sudan?

I think it’s time for western powers particularly the United States, without preconditions, to respect and listen to the position of Iran, Syria and other Arab countries in the middle east in their quest for leverage in behalf of the Palestinian and Arab people. It’s mighty appalling that the western powers had stifled long enough the collective screams for “self-determination” of the Palestinians and the Arab world. If the United Nations were able to allow the creation of the state of Israel, why can’t it allow the creation of a Palestinian state? A state within a state? What about the Vatican in Italy?

Iran is willing to sit down and talk as expressed by Ahmadinejad in his interview . In fact, Iran is influential and looked upon in the region. With U.S. and world economies in peril and largely dependent on Arab oil; a resurgent Russia flexing its military muscles in southeastern Europe and latin America; an obstinate North Korea; a costly, disastrous and dragging war in Iraq; an elusive bin Laden and a resilient Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan growing mass support in Pakistan; and if some stupid American religious right wing neo-con will get elected this November to the White House in Washington who will continue to demonize Iran and push for an invasion because it claims Iran is a nuclear threat to Israel and the United States, then the worst of times is still ahead of us.

Ten Natural Family Planning Methods Recommended by the Catholic Church

1. Use a Jesuit chastity belt – tie a lead around the head of the penis to stop it from having an erection.

2. Trade your Viagra pills for papaya from the garden of the ‘convento’ of your friendly neighborhood parish priest.

3. Screw menopausal nuns or religious spinsters. In case they get pregnant, pass it for a miracle by the Holy Spirit.

4. Screw sister Maria on her red-letter days, ooops, not advisable for Iglesia ni Cristo followers.

5. Use pig intestines for condom – a very ‘natural’ method but not advisable for muslims and other Christian fundamentalist groups.

6. Try pederasty as practiced by some Catholic priests.

7. Masturbate while indulging in voyeurism on teenage girls – a method by Padre Salvi.

8. Molest little boys and girls in the fashion of Fathers Oliver O’Grady and Sean Fortune.

9. Fellatio or oral sex – a common preference of Catholic priests like Rev. John Banko.

10. Abstinence.

*The last item is optional for depraved and fornicating Catholic clergy.

A Solomonic Solution

It is very distressing and exasperating to read and watch the news about this endless debate between the Catholic church and the government in the Philippines over reproductive health policies.

Since I’ve been reading newspapers in grade school, this issue had often surfaced like a painful sore in the ass for both the church and the government whenever a sudden boom in the population was projected or a new bill was about to be passed in congress regarding population management or family planning methods – an eternal stalemate.

There is currently an aggregate bill in congress being sponsored by several congressmen to provide funds for the disposal of free modern contraceptive methods and reproductive health services for the people. As usual, it attracted strong opposition and intense reaction from the conservative Catholic clergy. They lost no time bullying the politicians in congress vowing to “hale them to court and deny communion” ludicrously calling the bill "anti-life" and "pro-abortion" measures. The Church even organized a prayer rally among its religious followers and organizations to condemn and lobby against the bill.

I think the source of our current problem lies both in these social institutions – the Church and the government. The ever-arrogant, backward, sexually-repressive, hypocritical and profiteering Catholic church is not the most reliable authority to preach about morality and life. They claim that the use of contraceptives is “immoral” and “anti-life” yet one observes these pompous bishops and priests building luxurious palatial homes for their families and surreptitious whores, driving expensive vehicles while their pockets and bellies grow fat and big from the fodder of an exploding and starving population of ignorant, unclothed brood. To make matters worse, the predatory politics in our government plays a large part in the formulation of vague and deceptive policies to hide its plunderous, corrupt and inept condition. For decades, these mainstream institutions have incessantly failed to provide and support the proper education for the Filipino family which is the basic institution in raising awareness about reproductive responsibility.

The CBCP or the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has a lot of crap to say regarding their “strong policy against artificial birth control.” They’re moving heaven and earth (pun intended) to influence even the President to support their stand. I suggest they change their organization’s name into the Contra-ceptive Bishops Conspiracy of the Philippines (pun intended again).

One can’t stop people from copulating or having sex much less stop depraved and licentious clergymen from fornicating. As the most intelligent species on this planet, humans copulate not only to procreate but to form and express strong bonds of intimate relationships which is necessary in a healthy and strong society where the needs of every individual are met. Responsible and healthy sex is not immoral. Contraception is not a modern invention. Even the oldest civilizations in human history had employed ancient contraceptive methods to protect their society and reproductive values.

The Filipino people should be given the right to choose the methods to use in carrying out their reproductive responsibility. However, relevant education and access to information on reproductive health is the first step towards an amicable solution to this lingering debate.

Our country is a few years away from reaching the hundred-million population mark. There is already a looming global crisis on climate change, energy, water and food shortage. An extra of ten million more Filipinos being born to unleash an enormous ecological footprint on our ailing planet to compete for food and resources without the adequate sustainable support from our society and government is disastrous, immoral and degenerative.

I therefore suggest to every pro-Choice Filipino to make a wager or challenge to the Catholic church that we will give up our stand on the use of contraceptives and will neither resort to abortion (I will convince my wife to quit her oral contraceptives and I would refrain from using condoms), on the condition the Pope would sign a papal bull or any official document to that effect stating the Catholic church would subsidize every unwanted or accidental pregnancy in the Philippines as a result of natural birth control method…

Touché!

Wonderboy’s Not-so-wonderful Life & Death

Late in the afternoon last Saturday, two local police officers came and informed my mother that a relative was shot dead in the nearby town of Agoo here in La Union. The dead relative was my dad’s cousin. Being the Chairman or head in our village, my mother immediately informed the family of the deceased and assisted in the retrieval of the body.

Being shot dead point blank at the head in public is not unusual here in La Union. In fact, there were already dozens of cold cases committed in the last few years usually out of political and personal vendetta or of a shady deal gone wrong. Occasionally, there is always one murder victim with a bullet hole in the head, stabbed, chopped and dumped somewhere in the remote corners of this province. I hope I would not be misconstrued writing a negative publicity for La Union since I’m aware that there are other places in the country where vendetta killings, tribal war and violent political feuds are common. It happened that the victim was personally known and close to me that the mundane becomes exotic.

The victim was popularly known as “Wonderboy” or “Wonder” by his relatives, peers and enemies alike. He earned his moniker as a pejorative from my grandfather during his teenage days when he would do some “wonders” or notorious shenanigans such as stealing dogs, chickens and goats in the neighborhood for “pulutan” or food for drinking with his buddies.

Notably, Wonderboy had two other brothers who also died violently – one was accidentally shot by a cousin and another was stabbed by an unknown assailant. Both died when they were still in their teens.

Wonderboy had a streetwise reputation for shrewdness. Despite his talent he lived a poor and tough life. Dropped out of school early in his youth, he decided for the happy-go-lucky life of a bum scraping a living out of every petty and shady deal he could chance upon in the street. On occasions, he was a skilled butcher and a cook -even doing it for a living sometimes. He had nine children from his wife and three from another woman. One of his children from the other woman managed to get into college yet seemed to had dropped out of it too. A daughter works in Lebanon as a domestic helper while the rest have no education and no stable jobs. His eldest son currently languishes in the National Penitentiary for a crime he allegedly did not commit. He has sixteen grandchildren that are most likely going to end up like him if their parents do not make a decisive turn in their lives. He was a broken man of 61 years…

Perhaps, his greatest misfortune was not his murder but the economic stagnation he had floundered and squandered on himself and his family all his life.

According to the police they are currently working on a lead about the suspects and the motive for the murder. There are no witnesses so far. This is not surprising since even if there are actual eyewitnesses, they are either scared or apathetic. I know there are countless other people who secretly celebrate his demise – people whom Wonderboy had wronged and offended throughout his life. Who would care for a dead wretched poor old man? Not even a God - whom a country full of dying wretched poor old men are praying to.