Heneral Luna and the Gorechos

After watching the much talked film "HENERAL LUNA" , i am posting this selfie pic as i give salute to Gen. Antonio Luna's statue at the town plaza of Luna, La Union. 

 Heneral Luna, directed by Jerrold Tarog and starring John Arcilla, is about General Antonio Luna’s attempts to lead an often-fractured early version of the Philippine Army against a superior American force. Set a few months before his death, the movie explores Luna’s life, his uncompromising nature, and how his unflinching loyalty to his vision of what the Philippine Republic should be led to his downfall.

The film depicts Luna as a deeply uncompromising man, who believes that Filipinos should start to move away from petty regionalism and be united. Towards the end of his life, Antonio Luna declared that the Filipinos’ biggest enemy is not the Spanish or the Americans, but ourselves

 Heneral Luna explores the main character’s faults and use it to define his story. John Arcilla portrays Antonio Luna as a deeply flawed man, and the movie never shies away it. He is abrasive, offensive, arrogantHowever, that arrogance is not just hot air. Luna is a deeply uncompromising man, who believes that Filipinos should start to move away from petty regionalism and be united. The movie masterfully shows both sides of Luna and how each side feeds into the other.

. The area was once called "Namacpacan", which is an Ilocano word meaning “one who feeds".On 18 October 1906, during the terms of Governor Joaquin Luna and Mayor Primitivo Resurrección Novicio, the town was renamed Luna by virtue of Philippine Commission Act No. 1543 to honour the famous Luna brothers: Revolutionary General Antonio and Spoliarium painter Juan; their mother, Doña Laureana Novicio Luna, was a native of Namacpacan. 

On September 22, 1892, Juan Luna killed perhaps one of my ascendants, Juliana Gorricho Pardo de Tavera, the mother of Paz Pardo de Tavera (Juan Luna's wife) , Both of them were killed by Juan Luna due to extreme jealousy, a crime of passion they say. I am still doing my research that Gorricho perhaps is a variation of my surname Gorecho. Juliana gave the lamp to Jose Rizal where the paper of "Mi Ultimo Adios" was found.

LESSONS IN HISTORY: THE GREAT LEAN RUN

        

  

“The next best thing to being free is the struggle to be free”. A memorable quote from Lean Alejandro, one of the icons of UP Activism.

 

I was born two years before President Ferdinand E. Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law on September 21, 1972, . The declaration issued under Proclamation 1081 suspended the civil rights and imposed military authority in the country. It became unpopular as excesses and human rights abuses by the military emerged. Torture was used in extracting information from their enemies. Martial law was lifted by President Marcos on January 17, 1981. In the following years there was the assassination of Ninoy Aquino in 1983, the Snap Elections of 1986 and the People Power Revolution or EDSA Revolution in 1986 which led to Marcos, with the advice from the U.S. government, left the country and Cory Aquino becoming president.

A notable intellectual and activist who openly criticized the Marcos administration,  Lean was killed Sept. 19, 1987. After the failed coup attempt led by Col. Gregorio Honasan, Lean  announced plans for a major demonstration against the return to fascism. Returning by car to the headquarters of BAYAN, he was fired upon by a gunman, instantly killing Lean.

Lean  died during my freshman year in UP Diliman. Sad to say, I never realized his importance that time perhaps due to my personal struggle  or preoccupation to adjust myself with the UP culture. Apolitical perhaps was the right word that time. Years later, i became part of SAMASA, a political alliance which in a way became my justification for using "sandals" or tsinelas during my UP days. 

From 1987 to 1991, i became one of the so-called "Iskolar ng Bayan" as  part of the UP Diliman studentry when i took BS. Economics.  Basically, I became attached to  my organizations  Philippine Collegian or KULE, and SAMASA Alliance .My relatives and friends usually asked me "bakit ka ba naging aktibista". Perhaps my answer will be because UP is the perfect place to grow in all aspects, whether it be politically, socially, etc. Yes, I myself became part of UP Activisim movement. And i am proud that it made me a better person.

 The Great LEAN Run is an experiential run using a historical approach to teach the new generation lessons on martial law. The Run is scheduled on  November 12, 2016  (Saturday) at the UP Diliman Sunken Garden and Academic Oval. 

 “The 3.7-kilometer run is a special distance experiential run that includes a especially-designed obstacle course, race, and chase production. It is an innovative approach to teach lessons to the new generation who has never experienced martial law. Each participant will experience life under martial law and step into Lean's slippers,” Atty. Susan Villanueva, Sandigan para sa Mag-aaral at Sambayanan (Samasa) Alumni Association chairperson, said.

“It is a celebration of the life of Leandro L. Alejandro, one-time UP student council chairman, and the most popular youth leader during the turbulent martial law years,” Villanueva said.

The 3.7-kilometer run starts at the UP Sunken Garden and covers the entire UP Diliman Academic Oval and a portion of the University Avenue. Opening ceremonies will begin at 4:30 pm at the Sunken Garden . The first wave of runners will begin at 5 pm.

   

 The event hashtag is “BeLean,” making the “Great Lean Run” also a call to healthy living

Lean  was instrumental in setting up the UP Samasa student political party, which was active and a key political force in UP campus politics during the martial law years and beyond.  UP Samasa aims to “re-introduce” Alejandro, his ideals, and his works to the current generation of student activists through the fun run.  It is  hoped that  Lean will become an inspiration to the younger generation

Here are some of the famous quotes of Lean: 

 - “The line of fire is a place of honor”

- "It is in the struggle that we fully realize what it means to be alive, and the more we struggle, the more we see the beauty and profundity of life."

-  “I am sure you will agree with me when I say that the greatest adventure on earth today is our struggle for freedom. The pain and the sacrifice are staggering. The battles are historical. And the victory shall be truly glorious indeed.”

Fellow Kule Boying Pimentel said in his article "Lean’s was a short, eventful life, full of meaning and passion. He was the young firebrand who led to us on those many marches on Mendiola toward Malacanang, who led us in defying the brutal dictator. He was the young idealist who risked his life in the quest for meaningful social change and freedom from oppression. He didn’t die.Lean Alejandro lives on.

Participants will “experience running in Lean’s shoes during the 3.7-kilometer trail, from the UP Sunken Garden to the UP Academic Oval and back,” Villanueva said.  “Lean continues to be a prime example of how the youth can effect change through critical thought and social involvement."

 Each runner will have to wear a belt with three ribbons: life, liberty, and property. During the run, elements of an authoritarian regime will try to grab the ribbons from the participants, as was the practice during Martial Law. Participants are being challenged to complete the run with at least one ribbon, an indication that he or she survived the martial law years. 

 With a registration fee of P350 for students and P800 for non-students, The Great Lean Run is jointly organized by the Samasa Alumni Association and the UP Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (UP OVCSA).

 For details, please visit the Great LEAN Run Facebook page.

#Kanser @35 the musical

What was i doing when i was 17 years old?  I was  still enjoying my freshman year  in UP Diliman for my B.S. Economics course. And my good friend Jomar Fleras has gained fame as  a playwrite for his piece "KANSER".

In an interview by Curtain Call Manila , Jomar narrated  "  I started writing plays when I was still in high school. I was a Martial Law baby and it was that era when freedom, including free expression was suppressed.  But we all had to be creative in bringing the message of the people out there. And so I turned to playwriting as a way to dramatize the plight of our people as well as to use the power of theater in awakening them from apathy and complacency." 

Noli Me Tangere is Dr. Jose Rizal’s expose of corrupt friars from who have made the Catholic religion as instrument for enriching and perpetuating themselves in power by seeking to mire ignorant Filipinos in fanaticism and superstition. Instead of teaching Filipinos true Christianity, according to Rizal; they control the government by opposing all progress and persecuting members of the ilustrados unless they make themselves their servile flatterers. The novel lampooned, caricatured and exposed various elements in the colonial society.

Over the years, this work of fiction have had many incarnations and considered, as one of its most important versions is KANSER, which Gantimpala Theater Foundation Inc. produced back in 1979.

           

In “Kanser (Noli Me Tangere),” Crisostomo Ibarra returns home after his European studies and rekindles his romance with childhood sweetheart Maria Clara. His return triggers an old rift with the town friar, Padre Damaso. As the play progresses, Ibarra realizes that the malady of oppression and colonial brutality has been killing not only his town, but his motherland as well.

  The Gantimpala Theater Foundation production of Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere,” retitled “Kanser” and written by my good friend Jomar Fleras, has been around for some 35 years now since it was first produced in 1979. “Kanser” is being reincarnated as a full-length, sung-through musical, with music by Jed Balsamo.Lead roles are played by singing heartthrob Michael Pangilinan and Jacob Benedicto as Crisostomo Ibarra, and Myramae Meneses as Maria Clara. Bodjie Pascua is Pilosopong Tasyo.

"Kanser has always been focused on the discourse between reform and revolution. My vision of Kanser from the very start is that it should be able to show parallelisms between the social realities of Rizal’s era with that of the present." Jomar said.  "Kanser has actually evolved into a musical through the years. Every now and then, we would insert songs and music. And now, it is a full musical which I believe will be classic on its own. This will be my legacy and contribution to Philippine theater."

xmas countdown: September 6

xmas countdown: September 6: 109 days to go! Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.- Mother Teresa