moonglowMontserrat
December 16th 2008 04:37
“Monte”; “Mountain”; “Ser” “To be”; “Sierra” “Land”... These are what her name suggests -- my Filipina friend from Madrid who cooks Paella with a Passion.
She is worried about WHALE SHARKS who LOST THEIR WAY (“Migrated to more hospitable waters”, I thought) due to the GLOBAL WARMING’s effect on Ocean Currents.
She hails from SORSOGON where the GENTLEST CREATURES ON THE PLANET the Plankton-eating whale sharks (we locals call “BUTANDING”) have migrated making the place a tourist trap all year round.
After cavorting in a deep cove with the friendly whale sharks, a tourist can take a banca ride down a river lit up like the Louvre at night lined on either side; not by romantic french streetlights but by fireflies populating the riverbank trees. The banca ride ends by entering not a Gothic Cathedral but a Cathedral Cave. I have gone as far as the cavorting part but the banca ride we missed and my high-school friends are planning a trip there and I am sorely tempted to come.
We are from a country where the MOST CHILDISH & MOST CHILD-LIKE PEOPLE ON THE PLANET, the Filipinos, hail from.
Not two years ago, the VATICAN declared that it was FINALLY LEGAL for Filipinos to VENERATE the CHRIST-CHILD (we locals call THE SANTO NIÑO and we have been dressing up the CHILD in all manner of garment and feasting in HIS NAME for centuries).
A place called “Muntinlupa” (meaning “little earth”) an hour’s ride to the South of Manila prides itself in its town fiesta celebrating the feast of its patron, the Santo NiÑo, with 40 brass bands parading the narrow streets each year and every home serving a welcoming feast (according the financial capacities of the hosts but a feast, no less) to all the visiting relatives and friends.
To this day, with little less than half the population allegedly living below poverty line, one can die very early from cholesterol overdose and/or liver failure and/or diabetes if one makes a career out of attending town fiestas in this country.
Culturally, we are the FRENCH in this part of ASIA. (Yes, people, I am entitled to my opinion.) Haute Couture and other arts we RULE in this part of ASIA. We are natural Fashionistas and the UKAY-UKAY is a GODSEND because with it we can indulge our HUNGER for ART IN CLOTHING.
We are the largest Per Capita consumer/user of CELLPHONES and PRE-PAID/POST PAID MOBILE LINES WORLDWIDE. But this is also a GODSEND because with it we keep in touch and keep our beloved safe despite the harsh environment we have allowed ourselves to live in -- because of our CHILD-LIKENESS.
We are the largest Per Nuclear Family (at least one from each family) EXPORTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES WORLDWIDE and our relatives abroad survive on the highest EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT to adapt to and survive any and all prejudice and strange cultures/situations that are encountered.
It used to be the FRENCH MAID that was the trés chic acquisition; now its the FILIPINA DOMESTIC (but watch out how you treat them, they have a large FAMILY pining at home for them).
The downside is that the new generation of "export products" undergo a Diploma-Mill-Far-Away-From-Ho me process locally and that hardly equips them with the required EQ survival kit. (A cellphone is nothing with no one at home who understands what your text message is saying.)
We Love MANNY PACQUIAO and when he’s in a fight, the whole country coops itself up indoors and the crime rate dives down to zero to watch the fight.
But IF we are a country and IF we are ONE people, what is Heaven's name does a country of children do when they finally decide to GROW UP?
Home is an ARCHIPELAGO which is a very fragile ecosystem ... forested watershed to headwaters to rivers and streams emptying into deep bays where BUTANDING open their gargantuan mouths to filter krill. And they CANNOT eat silt and mine tailings along with it.
If the world’s gentlest whale sharks leave our shores where do they go next?
And what do we do when the richest soils (“Give us the island of Mindoro and we can feed your whole country; give us the island of Mindanao and we can feed the world” -- anonymous Israelite); the longest, most ecologically diversified coastlines (Tubattaha Reef); the gentlest and most charming people (CAREGIVERS All, born and raised in the Retirement Hub this side of the World), FINALLY GIVE OUT from SYSTEMATICAL ABUSE with politician CHILD-ABUSERS holding the reins of power plotting to sell out to LARGE-SCALE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN MINING?
We look to MONTSERRAT and all who are like-minded and morally-fibered as she for the answer to that question.
Those "MAY LAKAS-LOOB" (Tagalog term meaning "possessed of inner strength") Filipino men and women whose salt & pepper hair, reading glasses, paunchy midribs brisk-walking around but stubbornly refusing to use sidewalks while doing mental wallet accounting on their way to buying ginko biloba for short-term memory loss who no longer consider the advance in age a problem but has appreciated this as actually being part of the solution to the country's daily grind.
With visibly greying hair they can literally slap (if necessary) some sense into the lost youth and the corrupt latak (Tagalog for what’s left under your coffee cup after you drink un-strained brewed coffee) who have taken over the country BY DEFAULT with little or no repercussions given their age. These days they even stand to gain a modicum of respect after the scandalous event.
We call on the MONTSERRATs of the WORLD to EXTEND YOUR CHRISTMAS VACATIONS INDEFINITELY to save the bled & still bleeding Motherland.
We don't want your life-savings; WE NEED YOU ON THE HOME-FRONT.
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