Duterte: Umamin na totoong siya ang pinuno ng DDS hit squad na nasa likod ng mga kaso ng EJK?! (At may libreng libro dito!)

Ah okey. Eniwey, may sinulat din kasi akong koleksyon bago pa ng pag-amin ni Rodrigo Duterte sa Senado* nitong nakaraan lang. At ito ay binubuo ng kanyang mga "pag-amin" simula sa mga kaganapan noong kanyang kabataan hanggang sa pagbaba niya sa puwesto. Kathang isip lamang pero base sa mga balita't statements niya. Mga tula ito na base pa rin naman sa mga resibo, ika nga. (Parang talambuhay at psychological insight sa kanyang pagkatao.) Bale una ko na siyang "pinaamin" sa koleksyon na ito, haha! Sa wikang Ingles dahil isa ito sa mga proyekto ko bilang 2024 International Fellow ng International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) na ang punong tanggapan ay sa New York, NY, USA. I-click dito para sa libreng digital copy ng medyo maiksing babasahin: Datuterte: Imagined Confessions 2024 (IHRAM 2024). Ito ang aking munting kontribusyon para sa karapatang pantao at demokrasya sa ating bansang Pilipinas. Dedicated sa mga biktima't naulila ng extrajudicial killings (EJK) noong panunungkulan ni Duterte. Sana'y makamit nila ang hustisya! 

(Cover art by Kaleb Sevilla)

Mga ilang positive reviews:

If there is anything you will read today, make it Karlo Silverio Lagman Sevilla III's free digital poetry collection, Datuterte. It's a unique, honest, and powerful collage of first-person poems spoken from Rodrigo Duterte's viewpoint, using real-life statements during his bloody six-year regime as Philippine president. It offers an encompassing grasp of his violent political term and is a product of Karlo's fellowship at International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM).

- Gretchen Filart, poet, Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Nominee

. . . Karlo Sevilla, has a new book out and it pulls no punches. Assembled largely from public record, the poems reveal something tragic about their subject.

- Christian Smith, editor, The Isthmus 

More about the book from my previous post here.

At isa pang libreng libro, mahabang tula, base sa sigalot sa Palestina: The Boy On the Hill (IHRAM 2024).

*Binawi raw ni Duterte yung mga inamin niya, joke lang daw. Bale nagawa pang magbiro ng loko kahit under oath? Sabi naman ni Mon Tulfo, high daw kasi sa fentanyl. (Si Mon Tulfo nagsabi niyan, ha? Hindi ako.)

Maraming salamat! ✊

"Datuterte: Imagined Confessions, 2024" by Karlo Sevilla (WTF is this?!)

Trigger warning: various shocking contents. Read it here for FREE!

(Cover art by Kaleb Sevilla)

• Published June 10, 2024, this is the first of three individual poetry projects that I committed to complete as a 2024 International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) International Fellow.
• What I wrote to IHRAM Executive Director Tom Block upon submission:

For this collection, "Datuterte: Imagined Confessions, 2024," I assumed the (despotic, brutal, chauvinist, misogynist, condescending, foulmouthed, etc.) persona of the previous Philippine president, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and via a series of portrait poetry and prose attempted a fictional autobiography which narrative arc begins and ends with his contemplation on his current situation: now that rumors are rife about the imminence of his arrest by the International Criminal Court over his alleged crimes against humanity, mainly the extrajudicial killings committed during his brutal “war on drugs” that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Imagined but based on the subject’s actual statements and reliable news reports, the persona narrates his childhood, young adulthood, and his political career that began with his appointment as OIC vice-mayor of Davao City and ended when he finished his six-year term as president of the Philippines. In his stories, he speaks of the multitude of fatal crimes under his separate administrations as mayor then president; including the ones he purportedly committed himself – straight from his own mouth as factual statements, or tough talk to pander to his fanatical supporters, or both.

The fictional narration delves into the psychology and personal background of an autocrat, along with the social and political milieus within which each select slice of the storyteller’s life was lived, and the crimes he committed personally and/or under his leadership. Insights are also shared on how and why a significant number of a populace end up embracing fascistic propaganda and supporting tyrannical and (therefore) anti-human rights policies as possible solutions for social ills, preponderantly for the perceived or actual breakdown of law and order.

At the very least, I hope that this small collection will serve as a quick reference for any student of contemporary Philippine history, specifically about the administration of the 16^th president of the republic (2016 to 2022) that is now widely considered as the most murderous and with the highest number of human rights violations when it comes to state-sanctioned violence.

• A positive review from Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Nominee poet Gretchen Filart:

If there is anything you will read today, make it Karlo Silverio Lagman Sevilla III's free digital poetry collection, Datuterte. It's a unique, honest, and powerful collage of first-person poems spoken from Rodrigo Duterte's viewpoint, using real-life statements during his bloody six-year regime as Philippine president. It offers an encompassing grasp of his violent political term and is a product of Karlo's fellowship at International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM).

And, again, you can read "Datuterte: Imagined Confessions, 2024" by yours truly here for FREE.

One-Minute Hirit 19: Ang Pagkulong at Paglitis ng ICC kay Ivory Coast E...

Kaya maaari namang mapawalang-sala ang mga nililitis ng ICC, at pwede namang huwag silang masyadong maihi sa kanilang mga salwal.

 Si Laurent Gbagbo ang pinakaunang dating head of state na nilitis ng ICC.

One-Minute Hirit 18: Sa Isyu ng Comfort Women, Nagturo Rin ang United Na...

"Move on"?! Matuto muna sa madilim na nakaraan -- at huwag baluktutin o pabanguhin ang mga naging atraso ng mga makapangyarihan! Never again!

“. . . as remembrance is critical to a sensitive understanding of the history of human rights violations endured by these women, to emphasize the importance of advancing human rights, and to avoid recurrence.” - UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

One-Minute Hirit 12: Tunay na Unity? Noong Tumutol ang mga Manggagawa sa Maharlika Fund Version I

 

Mula sa description box ng video:

Unity ba kamo? “. . . noong tumutol ang sambayanan, pati mga pro-BBM, sa unang bersyon ng Maharlika Investment fund. Mantakin mo: gagamitin daw yung pension natin para isugal bilang puhunan?” Handa na ba kayong magretiro nang nakanganga? Binabago na raw nila ang proposed MIF, pero kaduda-duda at may mga butas pa rin, tsk-tsk.

One-Minute Hirit 10: Paalala: May Jurisdiction ang ICC sa Anumang Posibleng Kaso ng Crimes Against Humanity sa Pilipinas Hanggang March 16, 2019

Mula sa description box ng video:

1. Ayon sa Article 127(2) ng Rome Statute ng International Criminal Court (https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default...

Its withdrawal shall not affect any cooperation with the Court in connection with criminal investigations and proceedings in relation to which the withdrawing State had a duty to cooperate and which were commenced prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective. Pagsalin sa Filipino: “Ang pag-atras ay di makakaapekto sa pakikipag-kooperasyon sa Korte kaugnay ng mga imbestigasyon sa krimen at mga paglilitis ukol sa kung saan ang umaatras na Estado ay may tungkulin nang makipag-kooperasyon at ang mga ito ay nagsimula bago pa man ang petsa noong naging epektibo na ang pag-atras.” (Welcome po ang sinumang makakapagbigay ng mas angkop na pagsalin. Paki-komento na lang po sa baba at bibigyan ko kayo ng acknowledgement sakaling i-edit ko ito nang ayon sa kontribusyon ninyo. Salamat.) 2. Mula sa page 87 ng Supreme Court Decision G.R. Nos. 238875, 239483, and 240954, July 2021 (

https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/20238/): Withdrawing from the Rome Statute does not discharge a state party from the obligations it has incurred as a member, Article 127(2) provides: “A State shall not be discharged, by reason of its withdrawal, from the obligations arising from this Statute while it was a Party to the Statute, including any financial obligations which may have accrued. Its withdrawal shall not affect any cooperation with the Court in connection with criminal investigations and proceedings in relation to which the withdrawing State had a duty to cooperate and which were commenced prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective, nor shall it prejudice in any way the continued consideration of any matter which was already under consideration by the Court prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective. A state party withdrawing from the Rome Statute must still comply with this provision. Even if it has deposited the instrument of withdrawal, it shall not be discharged from any criminal proceedings. Whatever process was already initiated before the International Criminal Court• obliges the state party to cooperate.

One-Minute Hirit 8: Ang Solusyon Ni Toni G sa Pamboboykot Laban sa Kanya (No Bashing; Analysis Lang)

Naging maugong ang panawagan – lalo na mula sa mga Kakampink - - na kanselin o boykotin si Toni G. dahil di nila nagustuhan ang political choice at career move niya noong nakaraang eleksyon. Political choice niya, BBM for president. Showbiz career move, yung maging major, major entertainer sa campaign rallies ni BBM. Kaya yung mga dating fans niya raw, na mula sa burgesya na mga Kakampink, eh di inabandona’t tinatabla na siya. Pero may alas si Toni G: at ito ang pagiging makalimutin ng mga Pinoy. Hintay lang at lilipas din ito. Eh di ba alam din ni BBM iyan? Eh yung mga human rights violation noong martial law, yung pandarambong ng pamilya niya, yung crony capitalism, etcetera ay nabaon na nga sa limot, eh itong isyu pa kaya kay Toni G?

 

Alpas: Short Film and Website Featuring My Poems

The following is a revision of my LinkedIn post earlier today:

First, congratulations to InnTechGreat, a group of Bachelor in Multimedia Arts students at FEU Institute of Technology for their successful final thesis defense recently. Secondly, thanks to them for choosing my poems as material for their thesis on how to promote Philippine poetry via multi-media arts.

And their thesis is Alpas, a 1) "live-action and hybrid animated short film showcasing the art of poetry" (again, "incidentally," my poems) and 2) an accompanying website of a collection of (more) poems from the same poet (and, again "incidentally," it's yours truly).

The film's current version, November 2022.

The film’s story is about “a young adult writer trying to overcome his past trauma through writing poems,” and weaves through my three previously published poems. Below are the poems and the respective times when each appears in the film, with links to the original pages where they were first published):

• 04:39: First Shot of the Philippine-American War - Unlikely Stories Mark V, July 18, 2019 (This poem, for this film, was slightly revised from the original for historical accuracy and posterity.),
• 08:01: Because fighting was his element - I am not a silent poet, August 21, 2016, and
• 10:28: The Insignificant Other - Small Orange poetry journal and its first anthology, 2020.

Screenshot of website's homepage.

The website features my politically-oriented poems – all previously published, with the exception of one, in literary magazines and/or my first full-length poetry collection, "Metro Manila Mammal" (Soma Publishing, 2018). Here's the link to the sole exception, Atty. Hermon C. Lagman:, a rhyming quatrain in Filipino that I wrote last September in time for the 50th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines. It is about a prominent human rights abuse/enforced disappearance victim during that dark era under the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The film can also be accessed through the website’s homepage.

And previously, I talked about this project in part 1 of my interview (October 3, 2022) with Thomas White for his poetry mini interviews blog.

Note: Both the film and the website are still works in progress. The panelists advised the students to make a few revisions on the film, and the website is still incomplete (a few credits are still missing, among others). Thank you and ever onwards for humanity – and poetry!

 

Walden Bello: Ang Kanyang Pagsusuri sa Resulta ng Pambansang Halalan 2022

Ang sumusunod ay ang aking transkripsyon ng maiksing bahagi lamang ng mensahe ni Dr. Walden Bello noong “PASASALAMAT AT PAGSULONG, Kasama ang mga kandidato ng PLM - Partido Lakas ng Masa” na ginanap sa University of the Philippines Hotel noong ika-2 ng Hulyo, 2022. (Ang mga salita/paglilinaw sa loob ng mga panaklong ay mula sa akin.) Ang video ng kaganapang ito ay mapapanood dito sa post ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) sa kanilang Facebook page, at mapapanood si Dr. Bello na isinasalaysay ang bahaging ito ng kanyang mensahe mulang 39:28 hanggang 4:55 ng video. – K.S.

(Itong litrato ay kuha ko noong “PASASALAMAT AT PAGSULONG, Kasama ang mga kandidato ng PLM - Partido Lakas ng Masa” noong ika-2 ng Hulyo sa UP Hotel. - KS)

And (the young) people react to what they feel, and not some memory of martial law that they did not have any experience of. Of course, nandito na rin yung pagkakamali ng educational system natin, na wala talagang nabigyan ng education (on martial law). Noong 2013, yun po yung first attempt to legislate education on martial law. Yun ho yung ipinasa namin, yung Marcos victims compensation act. Meron hong parte roon to tell the people, educate them around martial law and to make that concrete . . . 2013! Yun ho ang first attempt to legislate education around martial law. That was too late. So, ang punto ko lang ho rito, is (to) explain yung seduction of the electorate, yung success ng Marcos propaganda in the electorate, that can be explained mainly by the failure of the EDSA Republic to deliver on its promise of greater equality . . ."

Inaresto si Dr. Bello kahapon ng hapon, ika-9 ng Agosto, 2022, at heto ang panawagan ng Laban ng Masa para sa kanyang paglaya: 

Was the killing field, green?

"Greenfields," by The Brothers Four, favorite song of my maternal uncle, Atty. Hermon C. Lagman (http://nameless.org.ph/lagman), labor lawyer, journalist, poet; desaparecido, on record as the first lawyer in the Philippines to suffer enforced disappearance under the Marcos dictatorship in the 70's. Perhaps ironic that, as in the song's lyrics, we "keep on waiting." And that he may have been buried alive in one of those -- and remains there, still.

This coming May, the 40th anniversary of what has been so far a futile search for his remains. Still, our family searches -- in fields green or otherwise.

Atty. Hermon C. Lagman

(Date of Birth: February 12, 1945, Date of Disappearance: May 11, 1977)

From his profile courtesy of Bantayog ng mga Bayani:

He was among the lawyers arrested after the declaration of martial law. He was kept in prison for two months without charges. From detention, he wrote to his mother Cecilia:

“At sunrise today, while standing idly in the morning cold, I saw two sparrows perched together … (They) looked at us human beings here, and I looked at them. They seemed to have more understanding than some men … At noon today, two clients came … They cried .. They will be calling the house for the schedule of their cases … I always dream here of all of you. We have a surfeit of energy for dreams.”