My bus selfie
Posing beside a tourist bus with my nom de guerre / nom de plume namesake of “Lakan”, while in Barangay Santa Cruz, Antipolo City.
I adopted the nom de guerre / nom de plume “Lakan” in the 1990s as to reflect the leadership roles that I had been assuming in work and in the art world. The name “Lakan” is the rank of a leader or chieftain among the pre-colonial ethnic groups from the island of Luzon, which can be consider similar to the honorific title of “Datu”, as used by the ethnic groups of the Visayas and Mindanao.
In fact, the Philippine presidential palace of Malacañang derived it name from the root word of “Lakan” that indicates “May Lakan dyan” or “A leader resides there.”
Now my students are lazily calling me the shortened version of “Sir Laks,” which may make sense in relation to the coconut rum Lambanóg brand of Lakan and connect it to the word “laklákan” which means act of guzzling a drink, usually alcohol.
This picture was taken circa 2016, while visiting our acupuncturist.
