KAHAPAN

When they die in battle we call them fallen heroes, when
they misbehave in public places and hurt innocent civilians we call them human
rights violators, when they complain of abusive superiors, exploitation within
the ranks and long overdue benefits we call them mutineers.

 

Philippines has about 10 Army Infantry Division distributed
all throughout the country and each division has an estimated 5,000 Army
personnel and figures don’t include the special support units such as service,
technical and coordinating staff units and groups as well as those assigned at
the main headquarters.

 

Their numbers give us the idea the general strength of the
Philippine Army in protecting our country from external threats but
unfortunately the geographical distribution and alignment indicate that our
Army is focused in addressing internal threats.

 

I had a brief chance visiting my late father’s birthplace in
Silang Cavite and proceeded to where he grew up in Laurel, Batangas.

 

My relatives toured me around and I discovered that most of
my relatives’ neighbors are producers of Army soldiers and majority are
assigned in Mindanao.

 

An old couple approached me and inquired about the situation
in  Mindanao because two of their eight children are assigned in Cotabato City and Sulu province.

 

They showed concern over the fate of their children while
another young woman that appeared to be around 20 with four kids said her
husband is presently assigned in Basilan.

 

Out of her excitement meeting a Mindanaoan, she immediately
called her husband and we had a brief long distance talk for about a minute.

 

It was sort of a “pulong-pulong” with relatives and families
of Army soldiers and a lot of them expressed interests and concerns about Mindanao.

 

They heard and shared stories about the “promised land” and
I have to admit that most of the tales they heard either from their husbands,
children or brothers are “terror and horror” accounts.

I told them that I am not a cannibal and I don’t walk around
carrying a bolo, a kris or a gun. I don’t abduct, behead or shoot my enemies on
site and there are no Abu Sayyaf, Moro rebels walking around the streets of
Mindanao fully armed and there are no flying bullets or dropping bombs all
around Mindanao.

 

Their faces showed disbelief about my sharing. In fact one
of them questioned me and challenged “ikaw ga’y nakakita na ng totoong
sundalo?”

 

I really wanted to laugh but with all diplomacy I explained
to them that my work entails dealing with soldiers, rebels, businessmen etc
directly and it means I see soldiers everyday outside my house, when I go to
market, when I do some groceries or even watching movies, do some swimming.

 

It’s not the rebels or terrorists that move around towns of Mindanao fully armed  fully armed but soldiers from different
branches. They don’t believe me with this statement.

 

A young boy about 9 years old asked me how does soldier
looks like when in uniform and fully armed and turned his question back to him,
“sa tingin mo ano nga ba ang kanilang hitsura?”

 

I was really surprised because the boy could hardly describe
how a soldier looks like “si tatay masyadong pormal pati buhok gaikling pulgada
at may malaking itim na relos, wala gang armas sa baywang.”

It really struck me that people from Luzon hardly see soldiers moving around except for what they call tulisan (bandits)
and parak (cops in blue).

 

When I had a long trip from Tanauan up to Laurel  see men in uniform other than those cops guarding a lonely detachment or a security guard either in white or
blue white uniform. But soon as I got back to my town, I could see soldiers in
uniform around.

 

Its obvious the some people in Luzon especially in some
villages of Laurel, Batangas, they only have limited idea of what is Mindanao and how different people from various faith
communities co-exist and work together.

 

Even Army soldiers find meaning in their short-lived
deployment in Mindanao. Their commitment
ranges from combat to community development work and mingle with different
people, it may be good or bad experience, still they form part of what is Mindanao today.

I just wish that these soldiers soon as they step on their
own homes could at least share their beautiful encounters, not the ones at the
battlefront. There are beautiful people, places, events, histories and cultures
in Mindanao.

 

Me as journalist, I see soldiers not just mutineers,
protectors, educators or human rights violators but I admire a number of them
where I don’t even have to wait for them to die to honor them as heroes.

 

In some of my old photos, I want to show the people that
soldiers are also human beings where they also dream, cry, laugh, fight, think,
eat etc. like anyone else.

 

Since my college days, its always been Tracy Chapman and Jackson
Browne. I learned to appreciate other artists when I started to open up with other friends. Those friends I’ve got before always considered me alien. They call me names like Taray, Negra, Baluga, Rebelde.

Even during my younger years those were the names they preferred to call me. There was once during my elementary years when my classmates and neighbors loved to tease me "Christy Love."

Actually it was foreign action movie where the heroin was a black woman.

Since then, I started I appreciating black music but I carefully choose music with lyrics that shared my feelings and sentiments.

I am sharing some of Tracy Chapman’s lyrics here actually those music found in my "Crossroad Album".

Later when I became active with the College Editors’ Guild and student council, my appreciation of music widened.

 

 

ACROSS THE LINES

 Across the lines
Who would dare to go
Under the bridges
Over the tracks
That separates whites from blacks

Choose sides
Or run for your life
Tonight the riots begin
On back streets of America
They kill the dream of America

Little black girl gets assaulted
Ain’t no reason why
Newspaper prints the story
And racist tempers fly

Next day it starts a riot
Knives and guns are drawn
Two black boys get killed
One white boy goes blind

Little black girl gets assaulted
Don’t no one know her name
Lots of people hurt and angry
She’s the one to blame

 

 CROSSROADS

 All you folks you own my life

But you never made any sacrifice

Demons are on my trail

I’m standing at the crossroads of hell.
I look to the left
I look to the right

Hands that grab me on every side.

All you folks think I got my price
At which I sell all that is mine

You think money rules when all else fails

Go sell your soul and keep your shell.
I’m trying to protect what I keep inside

All the reasons why I live my life.

Some say the devil be a mystical thing

I say the devil he a walking man.
He a fool
he a liar
conjurer and a thief

He try to tell you what you want

try to tell you what to need.

Standing at the point
the road it cross you down

What is at your back? Which way do you turn?
Who will come to find you first?
Your devils or your gods?

All your folks think you run my life

Say i should be willing to compromise.
I say all your demons go back to hell

I’ll save my soul
save myself.

I’ll save my soul
save myself. (4 x)

 

TALKIN’ BOUT THE REVOLUTION

Don’t you know
They’re talkin’ about a revolution
It sounds like whisper
Don’t you know
They’re talkin’ about a revolution
It sounds like whisper

While they’re standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what’s theirs

Don’t you know
You better run…
Oh I said you better
Run
run
run…

BABY CAN I HOLD YOU

Sorry
Is all that you can’t say
Years gone by and still
Words don’t come easily
Like sorry like sorry

Forgive me
Is all that you can’t say
Years gone by and still
Words don’t come easily
Like forgive me forgive me

But you can say baby
Baby can I hold you tonight
Maybe if I told you the right words
At the right time you’d be mine

I love you
Is all that you can’t say
Years gone by and still
Words don’t come easily
Like I love you I love you

 THE PROMISE

 If you wait for me then I’ll come for you
Although I’ve traveled far
I always hold a place for you in my heart
If you think of me If you miss me once in awhile
Then I’ll return to you
I’ll return and fill that space in your heart
Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I’ll find my way back to you
If you’ll be waiting
If you dream of me like I dream of you
In a place that’s warm and dark
In a place where I can feel the beating of your heart

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I’ll find my way back to you
If you’ll be waiting
I’ve longed for you and I have desired
To see your face your smile
To be with you wherever you are

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I’ll find my way back to you
If you’ll be waiting
I’ve longed for you and I have desired
To see your face, your smile
To be with you wherever you are

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I’ll find my way back to you
Please say you’ll be waiting

Together again
It would feel so good to be
In your arms
Where all my journeys end
If you can make a promise If it’s one that you can keep, I vow to come for you
If you wait for me and say you’ll hold
A place for me in your heart.

 

THE NEW BEGINNINGS

The whole world’s broke and it ain’t worth fixing
It’s time to start all over make a new beginning
There’s too much pain too much suffering
Let’s resolve to start all over make a new beginning
Now don’t get me wrong I love life and living
But when you wake up and look around at everything that’s going down
All wrong
You see we need to change it now this world with too few happy endings
We can resolve to start all over make a new beginning
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

The world is broken into fragments and pieces
That once were joined together in a unified whole
But now too many stand alone - There’s too much separation
We can resolve to come together in the new beginning

Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

We can break the cycle - We can break the chain
We can start all over - In the new beginning
We can learn, we can teach
We can share the myths the dream the prayer
The notion that we can do better
Change our lives and paths
Create a new world and

Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

The whole world’s broke and it ain’t worth fixing
It’s time to start all over, make a new beginning
There’s too much fighting, too little understanding
It’s time to stop and start all over
Make a new beginning

Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

We need to make new symbols
Make new signs
Make a new language
With these we’ll define the world

And start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over …

 
THE RAPE OF THE WORLD

Mother of us all
Place of our birth
How can we stand aside
And watch the rape of the wold
This the beginning of the end
This the most heinous of crimes
This the deadliest of sins
The greatest violation of all time
Mother of us all
Place of our birth
We all are witness
To the rape of the world

You’ve seen her stripped mined
You’ve heard of bombs exploded underground
You know the sun shines
Hotter than ever before
Mother of us all
Place of our birth
We all are witness
To the rape of the world

Some claim to have crowned her
A queen
With cities of concrete and steel
But there is no glory no honor
In what results
From the rape of the world
Mother of us all
Place of our birth
We all are witness
To the rape of the world

She has been clear-cut
She has been dumped on
She has been poisoned and beaten up
And we have been witness
To the rape of the world
Mother of us all
Place of our birth
How can we stand aside
And watch the rape of the world

If you look you’ll see it with your own eyes
If you listen you will hear her cries
If you care you will stand and testify
And stop the rape of the world
Stop the rape of the world
Mother of us all
Mother of us all
Mother of us all
Mother of us all

 
BANG, BANG, BANG

What you gone do
You got give the boy a gun
Now there ain’t no place to run to
Ain’t no place to run

When hi hold it in his hand
He feel mighty he feel strong
Now there ain’t no place to run to
Ain’t no place to run

One day he may come back
Repay us for what we done
Then where you gonna run to
Where you gonna run

But one fine day
all our problems will be solved
Bang Bang Bang
We’ll shoot him down

Give him drugs and give him candy
Anything to make him think he’s happy
And he won’t ever come for us
He won’t ever come

But if he does
And if there’s no one else around
Bang Bang Bang
We’ll shoot him down

If he preys only on his neighbors
Brothers sisters and friends
We’ll consider it a favor
We’ll consider justice done

But if he comes for you or me
And we can place a gun in his hand
Bang Bang Bang
We’ll shoot him dead

What you go and do
You go and give the boy a gun
Now there ain’t no place to run to
Ain’t no place to run

Now we’ll all be at his mercy
If he decides to hunt us down
cause there ain’t no place to run to
There’ll be no place to run

And if he finds himself to be
A reflection of us all
Bang Bang Bang
He’ll shoot us down

Before you can raise your eyes to read
The writing on the wall
Bang Bang Bang
He’ll shoot us down

Before you can bridge the gulf between
And embrace him in your arms
Bang Bang Bang
He’ll shoot you down

 

A friend sent an email message this morning and his question
was “Why David, of all people in the world why picked David?”

This friend works overseas for over ten years now and he is
expecting me to feature local officials, showbiz personalities that sort of
stuff. 

I told him that David is one of the journalists in Zamboanga  City that I deeply respect despite our
endless “tarayan” over SMS.

 

He is also one of the closest friends I have since most of my
bestfriends left to work abroad while the others are either in Manila or elsewhere in the country.

 

One thing is that David understands how I feel and deal with
every issues which I hardly see or notice from our other fellow journalists
here.

 

My son Kenjo also admired him not just one of my friends who
oftentimes visit our abode, but sees him as his father figure.

 

Although Kenjo and David keep on arguing for some
trivialities whenever they see each other or talk over the phone which I prefer
to keep it to myself.

 

It’s like sharing the same wavelengths and we’ve been to
several field coverages in the past and we kind of know each other better.

 

He is my friend way back college days. In fact we came from
the same department at the Western Mindanao State University.  He pursued
his dreams not to become a successful architect but as today’s famous painter
in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

Rameer Tawasil is a native of Karundung Island in what the military described as "war torn" area of Kalinggalang Caluang  in Sulu.

 

Despite his success he keeps on getting back to his roots in
Kalinggalang Caluang to visit his old folks, play with his childhood friends,
trying to save one of his cousins from warrantless arrest or served in the
election.

 

One time late at night, Rameer called worried about one of
his cousins mistaken as member of the Abu Sayyaf Group. His cousin was later
freed but the frail body was heavily bruised.

 

But for Rameer, he admitted that he can never be an activist
or a rebel, “I don’t want to become one of them, I love my place and I love my
people but all my emotions will simply be put into my artworks, let the people
judge me thru my paintings and share with me their emotions. I don’t want to
talk just let my canvas conveys my feeling.”

In this blog, I wish to feature some of his great artworks stemmed from his own experience.

 

 

Probably a lot of friends will wonder why I changed my
account in this friendster site.

 

First I was really surprised when all my friends ended up as
my fans when in reality, all those people I chose to be in my bookmarks are my
idols.

 

Probably I left my page without “login-out” so maybe some
cyber guys altered everything. I always blame the unreliable power source in
our city that’s why I could hardly save all the settings and properly quitting
from the site.

 

I even featured some friends and I have some reasons for
giving a portion of my page to them.

 

I am not that “techy” person where I can easily modify
anything in my page so I decided to open a new account and start with some few
friends unless all those old ones accept my invitation.

 

Anyway my new account will be more of people, places and
events I’ve been to and my private photos are intended for my closest friends
and family members well including me.

 

I would like to protect some people in my page because some
of them are quite controversial or should I say “under threat.”

 

So with this new page, I just hope more friends will get in touch and share their thoughts.