A poignant music video about OFWs
I don't particularly like hip-hop music but when I watched the well-conceptualized music video for "Walang Natira" on MYX (Ch. 23 on Sky Cable) and listened to the lyrics, I made an exception.
The song, performed by Gloc-9 with Sheng Belmonte, is a sad commentary on the travails of our OFWs. According to his mini bio on Wikipedia, Gloc-9 is 33-year-old Aristotle Pollisco. The late Filipino rapper Francis Magalona once called him "a blacksmith of words and letters, and a true Filipino poet." Gloc-9 has also contributed to the soundtracks of several films, including Star Cinema's "Jologs" and "Trip."
The song starts with Sheng's vocal, making a statement about the shrinking number of Filipino nurses in the country:
Napakaraming nurse dito sa amin
ngunit bakit tila walang natira ahh
nagaabroad sila ahh
gusto kong (yumaman 5x)
In the succeeding vocal portions that precede Gloc-9's rap, Sheng sings about our country's lack of engineers, carpenters, teachers, laundry women and why they go abroad, "gusto kong yumaman." Pollisco's genius is very evident in the rap portions which contain telling insights on the negative effects of Filipinos going abroad on the families they leave behind. Some of the lyrics:
mga kabayan natin ay lumilipad, lumalabas
para pumunta ng ibang bansa at doon magtamas
ng kamay para lamang magkakalyo lang muli
ang pahinga'y iipunin para magamit pag-uwi
dahil doon sa atin mahirap makuha buri
mabahiran ng chokolate ang matamis na ngiti
ng anak na halos di nakilala ang ama
o ina na wala sa tuwing kaarawan nila
basta kumita ng dolyar na ipapalit sa piso
ang isa ay katumbas ng isang dakot ng mamiso
ganyan ba ang kapalit ng buhay ng Pilipino
kung lilisanin ang pamilya ang amo na kahit na sino
gugtumin, sasaktan, malalagay sa peligro
uuwing nasa kahon ni wala man lang testigo
However, each stanza ends on a somewhat hopeful note "darating kaya ang araw na ito'y magiiba/ kung hindi ka sigurado magisip-isip ka na." Then he ends with a plea for our countrymen to realize that this country is worth staying home for: "napakaraming tama dito sa atin/ ngunit bakit tila walang natira ahh." At the same time, he is also calling on the government to improve the economy so that Pinoys don't have to go abroad to earn a living.
A story of three fathers
ABS-CBN's "Storyline" took a different approach when it tackled the Vizconde massacre case. While a crime show like "SOCO" may have chosen to focus on the gruesome details of the carnage, "Storyline" looked at the human interest angle. Instead of focusing on Hubert Webb, the principal accused who has been exonerated, the show opted to aim its cameras at the three fathers identified with the case: Lauro Vizconde, the father of the murder victims; Freddie Webb, Hubert's dad; and Gerardo Biong, a co-accused in the case.
Unlike other documentaries, this one had no narrator. It was the three dads who moved the story along helped by relevant archival videos. We discovered how the 15-year-old-case affected them. There were shots of the trial as the judge sentenced Hubert and his companions to life imprisonment. Lauro collapsed while Freddie had a glum look on his face.
Of that day, Freddie reacted this way: "He's alive but I lost him." After the Supreme Court acquitted his son and Lauro and other sectors protested the decision, Freddie said, "Both of us are victims. We long for justice but justice is elusive." Lauro disagreed and asked if Freddie would like to change places with him. Although he still professed his innocence, Biong accepted his fate and said that God wanted to teach him a lesson.
"Storyline" had no opinion on the case and left it up to the viewer to decide for himself. Its only objective was to look at how the case affected the three fathers.
Disclaimer: The views and observations of the author do not represent the position of Yahoo! Southeast Asia on the issue or topic being discussed.
Photo by Jerome Ascano, NPPA Images
