UT IN OMNIBUS GLORIFICETUR DEUS.

UT IN OMNIBUS GLORIFICETUR DEUS.

UT IN OMNIBUS GLORIFICETUR DEUS.

UT IN OMNIBUS GLORIFICETUR DEUS.

UT IN OMNIBUS GLORIFICETUR DEUS.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

'Harana.' food and memories

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

These past weeks and months I’ve been watching stage productions, documentaries and films, attending events and gatherings that dealt mostly with our human rights and the tyrants, despots and plunderers that oppressed us in times past, on how to be vigilant so that we will not be in shackles ever again.

So it was quite a change to receive an invitation to a “harana songfest” honoring and serenading one of the country’s celebrated cooks, Teresita Reyes, better known as Mama Sita, who is celebrating her 100th birth anniversary in culinary heaven. The invite came via Virginia R. Moreno, poet, playwright and many things else, whom one does not refuse especially if the event is at the Cine Adarna of the University of the Philippines Film Center which she midwifed into being — and no one is to dispute that.
“Harana Para Kay Mama Sita” is “Pasasalamat at Paggunita sa Isang Ina, Kababayan at Kusinera” presented by the Mama Sita Foundation and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. It was an evening of thanksgiving and remembrance for this mother (of more than a dozen children), Filipino and cook. No euphemisms for this denizen of the national kitchen. (“Kusinera” means cook.)


It was also a celebration of a life spent promoting the Philippines’ culinary heritage. Mama Sita created and perfected Filipino dishes not only for her large family but also for homesick Filipinos in the diaspora who craved the flavors of the native land. Long before the title “chef” became de rigueur and much coveted, Mama Sita was already kitchen bound, interested only in feeding people through her joyous cooking. She “lived, loved and cooked,” and she loved God, her family and her country. And so the musical tribute had to be just as flavorful, a banquet of folk songs, love songs and patriotic songs that brought back the yesteryears.

The music makers were The Andres Bonifacio Concert Choir with composer Maestro Jerry Dadap conducting (even while at the piano), and the RTU Tunog Rizalia Rondalla conducted by Prof. Lino Mangandi. In all, there were almost 100 of them on stage. (I spotted Inquirer contributor Amadis Ma. Guerrero in the choir, clad like a katipunero.) The soloists held their own with their solo numbers.

Before the show, while savoring the merienda (santol sherbet with a sprinkling of salt, anyone?) and while going over the exhibit/sale of Mama Sita food products and recipe books (I bought a copy of “Mama Sita Homestyle Recipes”), I bumped into Dadap who told me he would spring a surprise toward the end of the show.

The show (all in Filipino), directed by Victor Sevilla, was brisk and crisp, with inserted biographical vignettes lyrically recited with images projected on screen. The Filipino folk songs were followed by “harana” love songs then capped by rousing patriotic songs. National Artist Lucio San Pedro’s “Kayumangging Malaya” (lyrics by Rodolfo de Leon) shook my soul, as it always did in the past when it was sung in Masses celebrated by the late Fr. Ruben Villote. But with a 40-member choir and a 40-member rondalla bringing the music to a crescendo, my patriotic juices leapt and rushed to the sea.

To fete Mama Sita, Dadap composed a serenade: “Sita, Iniibig Kita,” and nationalistic songs “Awit ng Pagkakaisa” and “Alay sa Inang Bayan,” plus religious songs sung before and toward the end. Then a postre of a march, “Awit ng Pagkain, Mama Sita March.”

Oh, the surprise: While the choir was singing “Bayan Ko” (Constancio de Guzman), in came a soloist, three-year-old Eumie Maurin, in Filipino costume and all, who sang with gusto and hit the notes right like it was nobody’s business. I did take a photo of her singing but I kick myself for not turning on my camera’s recorder. (Anyway, famous cinematographer Romy Vitug and his team were recording).

Congratulations to you, Eumie, and to your parents Junnel and Edelyn (both members of the choir). Yes, Eumie is three years old! Backstage, her father was carrying her like a baby. I asked her parents’ permission to post her photos (with this article) on Facebook and they said yes.

So you see, patriotic fervor burns well with the kitchen fire. Food and freedom! #

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Preists, religious fought Marcos tyranny

 
Etched on the Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani are the names of 27 priests/pastors and religious (women and men) who fought the Marcos dictatorship. A number of them died violent deaths or are counted among the desaparecidos (the disappeared). Many of them fought and died without seeing the dawn. The others continued the fight to end tyranny and died after freedom had been won.
 
They are among the 287 individuals who are in the Bantayog ng mga Bayani’s roster of heroes.
 
Know more by visiting the Bantayog website (http://www.bantayog.org/) and reminisce about those you knew and struggled with, or learn about many on the list for the first time. Or better still, physically visit the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City (corner Edsa and Quezon Avenue, near the Centris MRT station). And why not also visit http://martiallawmuseum.ph/?
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The list here is by no means complete if we include lay church workers who also gave up their lives and have made it to the Bantayog list. Alas, this column space has its limits. (Anyway, yearly and almost without fail, I write about the latest additions to Bantayog’s list of martyrs and heroes from different sectors.)
 
Today, 45 years after the declaration of martial law that ushered in a repressive regime that lasted 14 years (1972-1986), I list here the names of the heroes and martyrs from the church sector, they who held up the light during those dark times under tyrannical rule. 
 
I present their names in the hope that readers would recognize their contribution to the restoration of freedom in this country. And so that those who knew them personally (as I did a good number of them) would pause to remember and emulate their courage in these present times as we gaze, once again, at the darkening sky.
 
9 WOMEN RELIGIOUS 9 (CATHOLIC)
 
  
 
+ SR. MARY CONSUELO CHUIDIAN RGS
+ SR. MARY CONCEPCION CONTI RGS
+ SR. MARIANI DIMARANAN SFIC
+ SR. MARY VIRGINIA GONZAGA RGS
+ SR. MARY BERNARD JIMENEZ CM
+ SR. MARY CATHERINE LORETO RGS
+ SR. VIOLETA MARCOS AMP
+ SR. ASUNCION MARTINEZ ICM
+ SR. MARY CHRISTINE TAN RGS
10 ORDAINED DIOCESAN PRIESTS, RELIGIOUS AND DEACONS (CATHOLIC)
+ FR. ZACARIAS G. AGATEP
+ FR. GODOFREDO ALINGAL SJ
+ FR. PEPITO BERNARDO
+ FR. TULLIO FAVALI PIME
+ FR. PACIFICO ORTIZ SJ
+ FR. ROSALEO ROMANO CSSR
+ FR. NILO VALERIO SVD
+ FR. ROBERTO SALAC
+ DEACON TRIFONIO ANDRES
+ DEACON CARLOS TAYAG OSB
PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT CHURCH, PROTESTANT
+ FR. JEREMIAS AQUINO
+ DEACONESS FILOMENA ASUNCION
+ BISHOP LAVERNE MERCADO
+ PASTOR CIRILO RIGOS
4 BISHOPS (CATHOLIC)
+ BISHOP JULIO LABAYEN OCD
+ BISHOP ANTONIO FORTICH
+ BISHOP MIGUEL PURUGGANAN
+ JAIME CARDINAL SIN
Tomorrow, I and several other martial law survivors will be speaking at a forum organized by the Ateneo University’s Faculty Association, School Forum, and Ugnayan ng mga Makabayang Guro — their way of “keeping our faith and hope in a repressive time.” Their objective is “to draw lessons from the lives and experiences of those who not only lived through the dark days of martial law, but also contributed in their own ways to the restoration of democracy in our country. Our hope is for the community to listen to stories of endurance and good so that those of us who feel helpless may cultivate inner resources that will help us to confront the moral issues of our time, including extrajudicial killings.” #

Thursday, September 14, 2017

'Pagsambang Bayan, the musical': liturgy of the masses

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by MA. CERES P. DOYO

In 1977 I watched the staging of Bonifacio Ilagan’s “Pagsambang Bayan” at the University of the Philippines and was blown away. Martial rule was then in effect under the Marcos dictatorship. But Ilagan, just freed from detention, came up with the daring opus. That version was directed by Behn Cervantes who was rearrested and jailed soon after.
After 40 years, “Pagsambang Bayan” is again on stage, this time as a musical and directed by Joel Lamangan and performed by Ang Tag-ani Performing Arts Society. Ilagan is this updated version’s scriptwriter, librettist and executive producer, supported by composers and arrangers. Watching it last week at the Irwin Theater of the Ateneo University brought a rush of memories that stoked still burning nationalistic embers.
Unlike “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the hit rock musical based on Jesus’ last days, or “Godspell” that tackled, through songs, the parables in the Bible, “Pagsamba” is a “mass,” with the songs, prayers and liturgical structure (all in Filipino, of course) hewing close to the Holy Mass as Catholics and others of allied churches know it. (A working definition of liturgy is “the official, public worship of the Church,” with emphasis on the word “public.”)

From start to finish, the musical tries to get the viewer on worship mode, but not in prayerful self-absorption. The opening song invites: “At tayo ay maglalakbay/ At tayo ay sasapit rin/ Doon sa Lupang Pangakong/ Nakalaan sa may pananalig.” (Let us journey together, and we will reach the Promised Land prepared for those who believe.)
It is a common journey toward freedom of an oppressed people. Their call: Come be with us.
The cast as worshippers/singers represents different sectors: the youth, urban poor, indigenous peoples, religious, workers, human rights victims, professionals, farmers, with some of them doubling as characters in the parable of the Good Samaritan. And there is the priest, the main celebrant. (Conrado Calnea Ong III, a seasoned tenor, was the priest when I watched. Eric Cabrera alternates.)
 
The musical has the basic structure of the real Mass with some tweaking. Except for a couple of Mass songs by Jesuit Eduardo Hontiveros that lend familiarity, the rest of the music are originals.
The prologue: a video of last year’s funeral procession of the long-dead dictator Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Cemetery for Heroes) as justified by President Duterte. Flashbacks on the 1986 People Power that ousted the dictator and the Marcos family’s eventual return.
Then a discourse on Mr. Duterte’s winning the presidency and his bloody war on drugs and the killing of more than 10,000 persons.
A bamboo crucifix is brought in amid a rousing chorus of voices, and the Mass begins. In one part the people decipher the meaning of Genesis 1:26, what it means to be “in God’s image.” And after the gospel reading about the Good Samaritan, the priest is not able to deliver a homily in the way he knows how.  Instead, he listens.
For Catholics and other Christian groups with Eucharistic rites, the Mass is “the central act of worship, the source and summit of Christian life.”  The Mass is indeed a great medium or platform for artistic creations. Consider the Masses composed by Faure, Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart, to name a few, and in modern times, Andrew Lloyd
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Weber (“Requiem”). From my 1986 visit to Nicaragua I brought home the fiery “Misa Campesina” (Mass of the Peasants) by Carlos Mejia Godoy (I played it just now). But these are all music to be performed in auditoriums and real Masses in churches.
In contrast, “Pagsamba” is a musical stage production, with the stage as altar and the altar as stage. The altar—where the plaints and pains of the world are offered and distilled, where the journey is ended and begun.
The denouement and great reveal: The priest undergoes a dramatic transformation. Ite missa est. The real journey with the masses begins.
Play dates: Sept. 21, CCP Little Theater. 8 p.m.; Sept 22 and 23, 3 p.m., 8 p.m.; Sept. 27, Holy Angel U in Angeles City, 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets available at TicketWorld (8919999) and the CCP box office. Special showings can be arranged.


Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/107112/pagsambang-bayan-musical-liturgy-masses#ixzz4tkOoPU6E
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