I love you in spite of...

I love you in spite of…

I love you in spite of all your flaws,

and all my flaws.

I love you in spite of what you’ve been through

in spite of all the things I have to go through to be with you.

I love you in spite of all the righteousness you bear 

despite the wrongness that were already there.

I love you in spite of all the other people you love and who love you

despite the uncertainty that in the future, it will just be me and you.

I love you in spite of your unwillingness to fight for us,

when I went through hell and high water and 

fought through false judgments in choosing you.

I love you in spite of all your hardships

that only I can see through and even went through with you.

I love you in spite of your measurable way of loving me.

I love you despite the fact that you got tired of loving me.

How do we want to be loved?

I always thought that how we love other people is the same way we want others to love us. Growing old has taught me that the amount of time, compassion, care and love you give to another may not always come back to you. It is always either more, or less.

You might ask, if this is the case, then there is no use in exerting too much effort, spending more time investing in a relationship, right? The hardest thing to learn is to let go of all expectations. Give until it hurts, and do not ever expect anything in return.

This is the sad reality. 

The hardest thing to hear is to have someone tell you to your face that he can only love you this much, without any plans on fighting for you or sacrificing even a bit of himself to truly deserve your love.

Those are the harshest words you can ever slap someone with, and the most difficult to bear and accept most especially when you are willing to go to hell and high waters for that person.

Then you ask yourself, am I not worthy?

Then we go back to letting go of all expectations and giving until it hurts. That is because this is the only way you know how to love.

The Day I Set Foot on NYFA-AD Grounds

Last 16 Feb 2015, I have realized one of my greatest dreams, that is, to be “schooled” by either New York University or the New York Film Academy. I could still remember how happy I was to receive a packet of their brochures which they give out and mail for free.

I, along with my grade school friend, Sheryl, attended a free Scriptwriting Workshop by Allan Nichols and Scott Hartmann at the NYFA-AD compound just behind our residence. Talk about a dream come true!

The workshop was comprised of about 40 people, to which the speakers were surprised because they did not think that people residing in the UAE aren’t that interested in filmmaking.

The set-up in the “Spielberg” room was pretty much reminiscent of our underground film rooms in the UP College of Mass Comm and the UP Film Institute. It was a very casual discussion and throwing of ideas from both the speakers and attendees from which we have really learned a lot.

The speakers started out with the proclamation that “Everybody has a story to tell.” From there, lots of information were shared and it has been the most educational 2 hours of my day. The speakers got excited that they plan to hold more workshops such as this one. I am surely be waiting for it.

That Thing Called “Less is More”

I was finally able to watch the “phenomenal” original CinemaOne movie “That Thing Called Tadhana” starring Angelica Panganiban and JM de Guzman. And when I say that I have finished a Tagalog movie with my beau – from start to finish – says a lot about the film. Well, fine, Honey, has a crush on Angelica which might be the reason why he also “enjoyed” the film but the main reason why we liked the film is because it is both very emotional and funny sans the over-acting of actors and cheesy dialogue usually found in mainstream Philippine Cinema.

For starters, the acting of both the actors are so natural and candid, it seems like they are just on their normal day-to-day lives. We don’t see a male actor crying like a baby under the rain (who does that?) or a female lead who is hysterical over the most trivial things. Err, Angelica has some “hysterical” scenes of her making a scene in the movie but she made it comical but still heartfelt which made her character endearing. I read somewhere in Facebook that when she read the script when the role was offered to her, she immediately shouted a resounding “Yes, akin na’to!” Maybe it was also due to the numerous references of this movie to her current boyfriend, John Lloyd, that made her decide that this movie hits close to home.

Many of us can relate to the simple and uncomplicated premise of the story which by the way is like a Richard Linklater, roadtrip kind of movie. The writer-director Antoinette Jadaone had successfully woven the story in the most simplistic way as her story of the heart pierced through the arrow but was still able to evoke lots of emotions from the audience, myself included.

This is why “Less is More” rings true for these kinds of movie. This is the kind of movie that has been peeled off of the many layers of predictable, melodramatic, pretentious storylines.

To Our 44 Heroes

I know I have very little voice or authority, or none at all, in the recent Mamasapano Collision. After all, I am just an Iskolar ng Bayan turned OFW so that I can provide a good life for my family and national issues just like this one should be none of my concern, right? Wrong!

The mere fact that I graduated from UP makes me responsible and indebted to the country that gave me education and that sent me to where I am today. And as an OFW who left my family in my home country, I am scared for the safety of those I left behind in case the country decides to go moro-moro.

I won’t pretend that I know even a fraction of what this war is all about so just like my i-don’t-like-but-i-have-to relationship with the subject of Math, I will try to share what information I find out through numbers so that I can contribute in the little way that I can to open the eyes of my fellow men about this “idealism bomb” waiting to explode and send the whole country to war. I will leave the complicated analysis to the experts and just start with the basic information and statistics that could ignite the will for Filipinos to search for truth and to act to achieve the right government and real progress for the Philippines.

Let us first start with the Terms:

Bangsamoro - The Moro people, or Bangsamoro, are a population of ethnically indigenous Muslims in the Philippines, forming the largest non-Catholic group in the country, and comprising about 5% of the total Philippine population.

(for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_people)

Philippine Politics - The Philippines has a democratic government in the form of a constitutional republic with a presidential system.  It is governed as a unitary state with the exception of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which is largely free from the national government. There have been attempts to change the government to a federal, unicameral, or parliamentary government since the Ramos administration.

The bicameral Congress is composed of the Senate, serving as the upper house, with members elected to a six-year term, and the House of Representatives, serving as the lower house, with members elected to a three-year term. The senators are elected at large while the representatives are elected from both legislative districts and through sectoral representation. The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, composed of a Chief Justice as its presiding officer and fourteen associate justices, all of whom are appointed by the President from nominations submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council.

Philippine President - The President functions as both head of state and head of government and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected by popular vote for a single six-year term, during which he or she appoints and presides over the cabinet.

Military - The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the military force of the Philippines that is responsible for national security and is composed of three branches: the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Army, and the Philippine Navy (includes the Marine Corps). Currently, The Armed Forces of the Philippines' manpower is a voluntary force meaning it acquires its personnel from volunteers through recruitment however, according to the Section 4, Article II of the Constitution of the Philippines, conscription may be possible. Civilian security is handled by the Philippine National Police under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao – the largest separatist organization, the Moro National Liberation Front, is now engaging the government politically. Other more militant groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the communist New People's Army, and the Abu Sayyaf which have been reported of kidnappings of foreigners, where victims are held for ransom, particularly in the southern island of Mindanao, but their presence has decreased in recent years due to successful security provided by the Philippine government.

(for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines#Military)

Bangsamoro Transition Commission  - is a commission created on December 17, 2013 by the virtue of Executive Order 120 signed by President Benigno Aquino III. The commission is tasked to come up with a draft on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which would serve as the basis of a new Bangsamoro political entity, in accordance to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro. The Bangsamoro Transition Commission shall be disestablished upon the enactment of a Bangsamoro Basic Law.

(for more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangsamoro_Transition_Commission;

http://www.rappler.com/nation/special-coverage/peacetalks/76400-bangsamoro-basic-law-primer#cxrecs_s;

http://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/PH_121015_FrameworkAgreementBangsamoro.pdf)

Ceasefire - a state of peace agreed to between opponents so they can discuss peace terms.

And now, we go to the numbers…

7 Centuries – since Muslim missionaries landed on the shores of Tawi-Tawi in the southern Philippines.

1457 - the introduction of Islam led to the creation of Sultanates. This included the sultanates of Buayan, Maguindanao and Sulu, which is considered the oldest Muslim government in the country until its annexation by the United States in 1898.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_people)

494 years since the conflict with Moros since the Spanish Era.

The Moros had a history of resistance against Spanish, American, and Japanese rule for over 400 years. The violent armed struggle against the Japanese, Filipinos, Spanish, and Americans is considered by current Moro Muslim leaders as part of the four centuries long "national liberation movement" of the Bangsamoro (Moro Nation). The 400 year long resistance against the Japanese, Americans, and Spanish by the Moro Muslims persisted and morphed into their current war for independence against the Philippine state.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93Moro_Wars)

1960s and 1980s - Islamic Insurgency in the Philippines.

8 Presidents since the Islamic Insurgency in the Philippines: Carlos P. Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III.

According to the late Senator Ninoy Aquino, father of the incumbent president Pnoy Aquino, he tallied the cost of the Mindanao wars between 1974 to 1981, alone:

    From 10,000 to 11,000 government soldiers killed

    Over 100,000 Filipino Muslims killed

    Over 1.2 million displaced and homeless

(http://raissarobles.com/2015/01/30/the-slain-police-commandos-and-the-moro-problem/)

Sulu, Mindanao, Palawan, and Sabah - the territory claimed as Bangsamoro Land.

194,511.13 Square Kilometers total Land Area claimed as Bangsamoro Land by the MILF.  

120,880.13 km2 of the 300,000 km2 total land area of the Philippines are being claimed by the MILF, that is 40.29% of the total land area of the Philippines.

55 Peace Agreements passed by the Philippines to the United Nations, majority of which are for Mindanao and the MILF.

The succeeding information are from:    

http://ploughshares.ca/pl_armedconflict/philippines-mindanao-1971-first-combat-deaths/.

5 Muslim separatist groups: Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement/Fighters (BIFM/F), and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The fifth is Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional organization with ties to al-Qaeda, its objective is to establish an Islamic state across the arc of Southeast Asia.

120,000 lives claimed from the time Nur Misuari established the MILF in 1971.

The following table is just an estimate of the no. of deaths, hostages and displaced people in the Mindanao conflict based on what were published and broadcasted to the public.

YEAR	DEATHS			HOSTAGES	KILLED HOSTAGES	DISPLACED
	CIVILIAN	MILF, MNLF, ABU SAYYAF, BIFF	AFP, PNP, GOVT OFFICIALS, JOURNALISTS, US ARMY
2013	253	311	99	100		100,000
2012	11	93	33			45,000
2011		40	61			20,000
2010	33	33	13			5,000
2009	50	70	100	3
2008		200	209			610,000
2007			125 (including civilians)
2006		300 (including soldiers & rebels)				20,000
2005	350 (including soldiers & rebels)
2004	135 (including soldiers & rebels)
2003	300 (mostly civilians)					40,000
2002		800 (including soldiers & rebels)
2001		1,000 (mostly rebels)
2000	600 (including soldiers & rebels)	471	222	58
1999	100 (including soldiers & rebels)
1998
1997		150  (including civilians)
1996		100 (including soldiers & rebels)
1995		100 (including soldiers & rebels)
1994		100 (including soldiers & rebels)

  

$1,184,400,000.00 approximately, since 2002 was allocated by the Government and the United States for Supply of Arms to the Philippines.

I will never be a fan of war because I am a peace-loving person first and foremost, and I value life very much. This is why I am deeply concerned about what is happening in Mindanao. In some of the comments in the news, people say that the President and other people who judge our Muslim Brothers in Mindanao, should go there and see what the REAL situation is to understand what they are fighting for. As for me, we are all human beings, one homeless beggar from Mindanao is not any different from a beggar in Manila. One Muslim leader is not any different from a Catholic Leader if both aim for the progress of their people and not their demise.

No matter how many ethnicities, religions, interracial relationships, foreign histories, that blanket our culture, we are one nation, in one geographically linked country which should follow one Government. This is why if the Government will continue in passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law, they might as well hand-over the whole Philippines in a silver platter to the Bangsamoro who has a track record for violence and rebellion and for trying to separate themselves from the Philippines and from the Filipinos or then-called indios.       

It is very disturbing to think that this conflict with the Moros has lasted this long. So much blood has been shed, many lives were sacrificed and peace was challenged so many times, why? It is because of Corruption of Power. In order to restore peace and order, we must eradicate corruption and all Filipinos will profit from what the Philippines, as a nation, can offer.

We, as one nation, should set aside our differences and try to work together. It may seem as a tall order but with our continuous prayers, hunger for information, willingness to act and contribute, wisdom in choosing our leaders and search for truth and peace, WE CAN DO IT.