Agaw-Dilim (Twilight)

AGAW-DILIM 

Ni: Jose Corazon De Jesus (HUSENG BATUTE)

Namatay ang araw
sa dakong kanluran,
nang kinabukasa’y
pamuling sumilang,
ngunit ikaw, irog, bakit nang pumanaw
ay bukod-tangi kang di ko na namasdan?

Naluoy sa hardin
ang liryo at hasmin,
Mayo nang dumating
pamuling nagsupling,
ngunit ikaw, sinta, bakit kaya giliw
dalawang Mayo nang nagtago sa akin?

Lumipad ang ibon
sa pugad sa kahoy,
dumating ang hapon
at muling naroon,
ngunit ikaw, buhay, ano’t hangga ngayo’y
di pa nagbabalik at di ko matunton?

Ang tulang ito ay isinulat ni Jose Corazon De Jesus o mas kilala rin sa tawag na Huseng Batute. Upang suriin ang tulang ito, gagamitin ko ang teoryang Social-Exchange Theory.

Sinasabi ng teoryang Social-Exchange,  ang pagkakaroon ng pakikipag ugnayan natin ay resulta ng isang proseso ng pagpapalitan. Ang dahilan ng pagpapalitan na ito ay upang palawakin ang mga benepisyo at tipirin ang ibinibigay na kapalit. Ayon din sa teoryang ito, mas binibigyang halaga ng tao ang mga benepisyong matatanggap kaysa sa maaring ipamahagi. Kung ang pagkakataon ay hindi pumabor sa tao at hindi niya nakuha ang kaniyang benepisyo, iiwanan niya ang proseso ng pagpapalitan.  (Thibault, J. W., & Kelley, H. H. 1952)

Ang buong tula ay mensahe ng isang mangingibig sa kaniyang sinisinta. Hindi sinabi kung ang mangingibig na ito ay babae o lalaki. Pero ayon sa teoryang Social-Exchange, makikita natin na ang dating magsing0irog na ito ay nagkaroon ng proseso ng pagpapalitan. Sa unang saknong makikita natin ang pagihintay ng mangingibig na ito sa kaniyang sinisinta ngunit ang kaniyang sinisinta ay hindi na muling nagbalik. Ikinompara niya mula sa una at ikalawang saknong  ang kaniyang sinisinta sa mga bagay o pangyayari na nawawala ngunit nagbabalik pa. Ngunit ang hulang saknong ay tumutukoy sa kaniyang buhay na hindi na niya matunton.

Sa pag gamit ng teoryang Social Exchange makikita natin na sa relasyon ng dating mag-kasintahan na ito ay may umalis sa proseso ng pagpapalitan o relasyon. Marahil ang kaniyang sinisinta ay hindi nakaramdam ng “benepisyo” at hindi nito nakamit ang kaniyang gusting maramdaman kaya naman iniwan niya ang kaniyang irog at hindi na muling nagbalik pa. Sa huling saknong na kaniyang tinukoy, ang “buhay” ay maaring tumukoy parin sa kaniyang irog. Ang taong minahal niya ng lubos at itinuring na niyang buhay ay hindi na muling nagbalik matapos siyang iwanan.

SOURCES:

Agaw-Dilim By Jose Corazon De Jesus (http://tagaloglang.com/Philippine-Literature/Tagalog-Poems/tula-agaw-dilim-twilight.html)

Social Exchange Theory (http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/interpersonal/socexch.html)

Turista sa Sariling Bayan

Intramuros!

Manila Cathedral. Our meeting place.

I don’t know but it seems like this is my first time to go inside the Intramuros though I have been there before. I just cannot remember when.

So this escapade happened because of our subject requirement for online writing. It was really fun doing this because you get to discover things while doing your requirement. Studying should be fun right?

It was 3:00 in the afternoon when we’ve gone there. There are many ways on how to get to Intramuros; it depends on where you are coming from. I think the easiest way to get there is through LRT line 1, you can stop at Carriedo station and ride a jeepney going to Lawton. You’ll know that you’re there when you saw the Manila Cathedral Church. As for us, our meeting place was the Manila Cathedral Church. While waiting we saw a news team from TV 5 conducting a documentary. And being as enthusiastic as we are, we pry on what the team was doing and later on we were asked if they can interview three of our classmates.  Natalie, Jonel and Alen were asked about their opinion on Condom advertisements.

 Jonel being asked by TV5 news reporter about his opinion on Contraceptive Advertisements

After that, we’ve decided to part ways and explore the place on our own. We can go wherever we want. I’ve gone with Rizza and Kim and I should say it was a long walk.

I wonder if their uniform was the same uniform that the Guardia Sibil wore before. 

But the walk was fun because you won’t realize that you’ve been walking for such a long time because of the beautiful sight. The ambiance of the Intramuros reminds me of the movie Letters to Juliet. Even though I know that there are a lot of bad things happened there, I can’t help not to think about romantic things because as I’ve said, it reminds me of the movie. And it was days before Valentine’s Day so please forgive me. J

This reminds us of the play we did, Viva El teatro Porvenir.

As we were walking, we passed by this monument built somewhere inside the Intramuros. It was built in memory of the people who died during the war, I am not sure what war it was and who we (The Filipino People) are fighting against but I think it was the fight against the Spaniards. The monument was built on February 1995. The Statement in the monument goes like this

                “The monument is dedicated to all those innocent victims of war. Many whom went nameless and unknown to a common grave. Or never even knew a grave at all, their bodies having been consumed by fire or crushed to dust beneath the rubble of ruins. Let this monument be the gravestone for each and every one of the over 100,000 men, women, children and infants killed in Manila during its battle of Liberation February 3-March 3, 1945. We have not forgotten them, nor shall we ever forget. May they rest in peace as part now of the sacred ground of this city, The Manila of our affections”

The Papier Tole Shop

After that we’ve passed through this vintage-looking shop. And it was vintage-looking because it was an antique shop J Inside you can buy souvenir items but I think the price was a little bit up there because I’ve seen the same items in Cubao expo with different designs though but they are not as expensive as there in Intramuros. Maybe it was expensive because of the place and it was a tourist’s spot.

During our walk I realized one thing, I am guilty of feeling that I am a tourist because in fact I should not be. Being a “turista sa sariling bayan” (being a tourist in your own country) is something you should not be proud of. I felt that way when I saw a lot of tourists around. I should be happy about it because they get to discover our country but there was this feeling that something bad happened there that we should be reminded of what our ancestors did in that place, somewhere in Intramuros way back before maybe there was Katipunera or a Filipina girl who got raped or something like that. I don’t know but I just felt that way while we were walking.

We were looking for a place to eat when we bumped into Francis and company. We decided then to go with them and contribute for our food.

 The restaurant we chose seems to be pricey so some of us chose a partner for our chosen food. We‘ve chosen the restaurant near the Silahis Antique shop: The Illustrados. As for me, my partner was Kim and we bought Carrot cake. A slice costs PHP90.00 but it was worth it because aside from the fact that it was one of my favorites, it taste nice. Seeing a carrot cake make me happy so I think I am being biased to this one but it was really tasty! J

This photo is from Ryca Jean Canlas' DSLR camera. Did it made you happy? Just looking at it makes me happy. Haha!!

 

Inside the Illustrados Restaurant

The ambiance was cozy and the paintings were nice because it'll remind you about what happened before. I like restaurants like this who chose to have designs such as paintings and statements. 

My favorite part was when we saw a NCCA art gallery inside the Intramuros. I didn’t know that they have an art gallery there so it was exciting to go inside. There’s a place inside intended for the awards given to Filipino artists by Local and International Festivals. It was really inspiring to look at them because I’ve always wanted to create or be a part a protest theater. Looking at those awards given to Filipino people especially to those who created their craft to educate people makes me wonder, on what genre of art am I going to excel at or where do I belong.

I am really happy that I’ve visited Intramuros and I hope to get back there with my little brother some other time. J

We saw this couple while we were talking about Valentine's day hahaha!! What a "coincident"!

Ang pagbabago ay hindi hawak ng iisang tao.
January 29,2014

OFW: Biktima

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/06/25/957885/sex-abuse-story-confirmed-dfa

Nakakalungkot ang nangyaring pananamantala ng mga Labor Officers sa mga Pinay sa Kuwait noong nangangailangan sila ng tulong, sa halip na tulungan ang mga agrabyadong OFW na ito ay sinamantala ang kanilang pangangailangan at ginamit sila sa sex trafficking. At ang mas nakakalungkot pa dito, ang mga sangkot ay ang mismong Labor Officers ng DFA sa Kuwait. Ngayon ay napauwi na raw ang mga Labor Officers na ito na sangkot sa sex trafficking at ang iba pa sa kanila ay retired na. Hinihintay na lamang ang kasong ipapataw sa kanila.

Sana ay mabigyan ng kaagarang solusyon ang bagay na ito dahil iniisip ko na baka matabunan na ito ng iba pang mga isyu na dapat lutasin sa bansang ito at baka makalimutan ito. Ang mga sangkot dito ay mga taong inaasahan ng mga mamayang nagtratrabaho sa ibang bansa sa oras ng pangangailangan at sila rin ang isa sa may mga kapangyarihan sa gobyerno. 

Hindi maipagkakailang mabagal ang proseso ng hustisya dito sa Pilipinas, noon pa man, mabagal na talaga. Pero kahit mabagal, sana ay nabibigyang solusyon ang mga kasong kagaya nito. Hindi natatabunan at tuluyang nakakalimutan. Kung ang mgg suspek na sibilyan ay nabibigyang hatol kahit sa mabagal na proseso, sana ay ganoon din sa mga suspek na kagaya nila.

Marahil ngayon ay nawala na ang tiwala ng ibang OFW sa mga Labor Officers dahil sa nangyari pero ito rin ang panahon upang patunayan ng Department of Justice na walang kinikilingan ang hustisya natin dito. Bilang isang estudyante, ako ay nawawalan ng tiwala sa mga Public Servant sa gobyerno, hindi ko nilalahat ngunit kung titignan natin, sangay din ng gobyerno ang magbibigay solusyon sa isyung ito kaya nakakatakot kung hindi natin malalaman ang katotohanan kasi maaring maulit na naman ang ganitong pangyayari.

Siguro kung may magagawa kaming kabataan (at alam ko na meron) ay laging maki-alam sa mga pangyayari at maging bukas ang mata para hindi makalimutan ng mga “matatanda” ang mga isyung ito.

Sources:

Photo (http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/06/25/957885/sex-abuse-story-confirmed-dfa)

Video Blog January 2014

Hi! I trimmed some parts from the game in order to compress this video into 5minutes because we have rules to follow for this requirement BUT I played longer which makes me not to win this challenge. I hope that I could create more vlogs and play again without time limits. Salamat sa assignment na ito :)) May gusto ka bang ipalaro sa'kin? :))