#litfili

[timeisfast-blog]

What is a “family?”

A “family” is a group of people related by blood or marriage. But this definition can further expand to a genetically related family adopting a child/children, or living with one or more persons to whom they share tight bonds with. There is a line from the Internet, which says, “It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us a family.” This is an example of a healthy family trait that is still present until now.

There are good family traits that started in the past, and continued to branch out up to this day. But there are also traits that are being forgotten through the course of time.

[timeisfast-blog]

Here comes Technology

To start off, technology is one aspect of radical change in our society. Families in the past, let’s say the 70’s, had simpler lives with simple resources unlike today. Mode of communication back then was not as advanced as what we have today. Writing letters to families and friends took long lead-time. Nowadays, almost every teenager and adult own a cell phone or has access to the computer and internet for instant messaging and social networking.

[timeisfast-blog]

Games of Change

Children used to play outdoors with friends. Playing outdoors increases a child’s self-esteem, and becomes more social and open to new faces. But now, due to technology, the children would rather sit at home and play video games. Though they are not all bad. “Video games with positive goals inspire positive behavior and improve health in the individual playing it.” -@uberfacts on Twitter

[timeisfast-blog]

The Filipino Hospitality

Filipinos used to be so hospitable and accommodating to household guests by offering them loads of home-cooked meals and ask them to dine with them. This trait is still seen today but not as grand as thirty years ago. Two of the causes is the price of food nowadays due to the hard economy the Philippines is facing today, and time value of people because people work harder and longer hours just for additional income to sustain and support their families. We sometimes just “take out” food from fast-food restaurants and groceries to adapt to this situation.

[timeisfast-blog]

Religion and Faith

Ever since the Spanish influence, Filipinos have been very religious, especially Christians. Many Pinoy families then and now are still prayerful and still attend mass at least once a week. The only difference is what we wear to the House of the Lord. There have been instances where some young women wear very short shorts and sleeveless tops, while there are both some men and women using cell phones during mass. These acts show disrespect to God and to others who are diligent inside the Church.

[piyong-blog]

Yours, Always

Baler Movie Review

The movie started out with 15-year old Daniel (Played by Philip Salvador) experiencing horrible and traumatic experiences through Spanish soldiers. These soldiers hurt him and abused his sister in front of him. These occurrences triggered him to despise and fight against the Spaniards in the later years of his life. He also married and had children; one of them was the beautiful lass, Feliza (Anne Curtis). Daniel was not able to prevent Feliza from Celso (Jericho Rosales) because they hid each other’s feelings from him. Celso and Feliza’s love for each other quickly developed despite all the conflicts and hardships they had faced. One of theses conflicts was the war at Baler, which lasted for 377 days. The Filipinos were able to fight back against the Spaniards and trap them in a church. The Filipinos soon became confident and they did not let their enemies get out and outsmart them. Lope, Celso’s friend, also had a Filipina lover outside who were friends with Feliza. There was an instance where the two young men would sneak out the church to meet the love of their lives and get a bit food and hurriedly go back to their camp, the church.

Feliza sent a letter to Celso secretly informing him that she was pregnant, and he was the father. The sad part is that Celso wasn’t able to be there for Feliza during her labor.

After several months, the Spaniards raised the white flag and surrendered because they came to a point that there was no more hope for them if they continued to make pride the center of their decisions. The Spaniards set out their camp and stood still in front of the Filipinos. Feliza approached them and looked for Celso. She entered the church. She was shocked to what here eyes saw, the love of her life tied and left bleeding. It was too late; he passed away because his comrades executed him due to his action of trying to finally escape.

The battle at Baler finally ended in victory for the Filipinos. The movie ended by showing Feliza holding here child. She named the boy Celso.

Their love for each other remained true and faithful despite being apart for a long time.

[fayetanjuaquio-blog]

History repeats itself

One of the films I liked that shows the alternative history of the Philippines is the Aishite Imasu. It is a combination of drama, romance and war during the Japanese Occupation in the Philippines. Inya, Edilberto and Ignacio are the main characters in this movie. They are best of friends. Inya and Edilberto already love one another since childhood. Ignacio is gay in the movie and he secretly likes Edilberto but he didn’t pursue it because when they grew up Inya and Edilberto ended up together. Ignacio dresses up like a woman everytime he’s going to sing in the stage. When Japanese came to the country, Ichiro, a Japanese Captain got attracted to Ignacio. He thought Ignacio is a real girl. Edilberto is part of the guerilla. He convinced Ignacio to continue acting as a woman so that he can spy the Japanese. Ignacio agreed because he loves Edilberto.  Because of Ignacio, the guerillas were able to know the plans of Japanese. As time passes by, Edilberto was more focused to the battle instead of his relationship with Inya. Ignacio is already falling in love to Ichiro so he stopped spying. The guerillas thought Ichiro sided to Japanese.

The story is mainly about the friendship of Inya and Ignacio that despite of what’s happening their friendship remain. It is also about Edilberto’s love to the country, he really dedicated his self for the country. The historical about the story is how relationships were handled and what happened during the occupation of Japanese in the Philippines. This story is also about the relationship of Edilberto and Inya and how their relationship survived even though Edilberto is busy with the war. It is also about Ignacio’s relationship with a Japanese Captain.  The movie showed how Japanese treated the Filipinos badly. Japanese are so cruel that time. The ladies during that time were being used for Japanese sexual needs.

I think the movie is accurate with the things they showed that happened during the Japanese Occupation in the Philippines. The film showed realistic situations. My grandmother also tells story about that war and some of the scenes in the movie really happened during that time. The story really portrayed how brutal Japanese were to the Filipinos.

This is important because it will help the Filipinos remember and visualize what happened in the past. We know that people will appreciate it more if they can see it visually than just reading it from books. We could also learn from this. How to value relationships despite of different conflicts we may encounter. It is important to the next generation because we don’t know what might happen. This kind of situation might happen again. There are a lot of lesson from the movie that people should absorb and learn so that when it happened again they can do better and doesn’t repeat the mistake from the past.  

[piyong-blog]

The Wind of Change

Change is one of the most constant things that happen in our everyday lives. It may be good, or not. But everything happens for a reason. Events in the past make up what we are today. Strife and conflict we have experienced are truly hard and stressful, but there will always be that memory or person that makes you go on with life, endure its trials and difficulties, and have a smile at the end of the day. We just have to look hard enough.

Some of the major events in Philippine history are the Spanish, American, Japanese Colonization, and World War II. These events became inspirations for Filipino Feminist writers to get out of the box, live without gender racism, and write stories of empowered female characters.

In today’s modern life, the Philippine population consists of around 50% of females. Women nowadays can work and live as equals with men. In fact, the jobs like attorneys, doctors, and politicians are now also open to women. Women also have sparked change in the development of their country. Gabriela Silang, Gregoria de Jesus, Lualhati Bautista, and Cory Aquino from the Philippines are good examples of empowered women.

Besides the rise of strong women, technology has also advanced. In the past, mode of transportation and method of communication had long lead-time and was not as comfortable as what we have now. Mobile phones, portable computers, cars, and improved public transportation are some of those drastic changes through people's developing intelligence and through the course of time. Technology is good for man, but what makes it bad is how some abuse its capabilities. I would like to borrow a line from the movie Spiderman 2 that was launched 8 years ago. "Intelligence is a gift to be used for the good of mankind." This is short but delivers a lot of meaning. The gifts we receive should be used for good purposes for us to achieve development beyond boundaries.