Friday, January 04, 2008 Yap: Pretty plurality By Januar E. Yap Meanwhile
IN the name of civilized decorum, any Cebuano-speaker is not allowed to submit Jose Javier Reyes, director of the circus top-grosser "Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo," to the guillotine. Since his movie finds itself in what you call a "Metro Manila Film Festival," the artist in him perhaps finds it wise, or even naturally comfy, to capture his intended viewer's imagination with a slur directed at non-Tagalogs. It detonated your gladiator instincts, but honestly what can you do? That's where the poor fellow is coming from.
I am not sure if Voltaire is required reading in the Senate, but the philosopher's rather famous words ring true, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." In the context of the age we find ourselves in, there may be a deeper need to tolerate diversity, to respect free speech. Otherwise, you risk becoming an extremist.
But not so with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, who suddenly finds time to watch Juday. More than taking the movies' "ethnic slur" as personal, he positions himself as a staunch defender of the Visayan-speaking electorate. He wants the producers to "rectify" the "error."
Don't get me wrong. I find Reyes as a director in his baldest form. In his formative years as an artist, some Cebuano-speaking bully may have mistaken him as a skunk and suspended him on a tree, and thus the trauma and eventual vengeance. I have no idea.
But Pimentel's "rectify" is rhetorical. He can’t really force the producers to do so, much less Reyes himself, who I heard is showing no hint of going dainty with public opinion. Our movie industry, thriving under duress during Martial Law, finds a pretext from the strong anti-censorship causes of Lino Brocka and the gang of yore.
So you can’t force Reyes to “rectify” or even apologize for what he spun off the reels. If in the coming days he will do so, suspect it to be more of a marketing move. To beat that, boycott his movies. Mainstream Philippine movies today anyway only get a bonus during Decembers. The rest of the year, it’s a dying dinosaur.
In the battering-ram of public opinion, you can’t sharp-shoot anyone you find disagreeable. The least you can do is perpetuate the dialogue, no matter if it takes the nature of a forest fire. Just don’t bring Reyes to the guillotine. That will turn the fellow into instant martyr. Don’t give it to him.
I remember this scene from the Cesar Montano-produced “Panaghoy sa Suba,” set during the US-Japan war, in a “southern Visayan town.” A group offers help to the Visayan-speaking guerillas. Our hero doesn’t quite take this readily, he stands up, and right on close-up, says, “Ang mga Bisaya dili mga bogo.” There, and I didn’t hear any senator or radio commentator raising their voices in adulation.
This is probably the most unnecessary coin going into the already hefty bank of the slur issue. Rectify? I imagine a scene where a grandmother yells at the yaya, “Bakit pinalaki ninyong Bisaya ang apo ko?”
The nanny replies, “Eh kasi gwapo.” Happy new year!
