THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES

Photo by Jaime Hernandez.

I want to express my deepest and utmost gratitude to all those who made the Philippine Earthquake Relief Fund benefit for the Aeta communities in Central Luzon a beautifully moving and generous gathering of artists, musicians, activists, community leaders, and concerned citizens on July 3, 2019 at saGuijo, Makati. 

The highlight of the evening beyond a doubt were the Aeta tribal leaders who came with staffmembers of Alay Bayan-Luson, Inc. all the way from the hinterlands of Pampanga. They spoke truth and strength to our gathering. Theirs were not the faces and voices of victims, but of warriors persevering through centuries of oppression, injustice, marginalization, persecution. They came to witness for us boldly, with conviction, with steadfast unwavering faith in the righteousness of their cause, with strength of purpose in the struggle that they continue to wage against mighty multinational corporations wreaking havoc upon Bathala's creation all in the name of profit, with complete disregard for the needs of the local people in that area who are still in the midst of crisis. Accompanied by Karl Ramirez of Pordalab on acoustic guitar, Fridie Saplala, Piping Dela Cruz, Palak Abuque, and Tokaya Trajano lead the community in a couple of revolutionary anthems "Buhay at Bukid" and "Awit ng Pag-asa." In their voices was the sound of uncompromising determination, unquestionably willing to put their lives on the line to save their people and preserve their way of life. They then blessed our gathering by dancing the traditional Aeta unity dance.

In all of my years of organizing, I must say this was the most intensely beautiful thing to take place in any event I have been involved in. What a blessing for our gathering to be able to witness an ancient dance and hear their voices of leadership in struggle. By giving them the space and opportunity to express the Aeta vision for the community, they granted us inspiration that we will carry in our hearts for years to come, inspiration to do more in this struggle for justice, equity and freedom for all.

The Aeta families continue to live in makeshift shelters under tarps. This is where they sleep, cook, eat, and go to school. Years ago, this community made the decision to abandon the traditional nipa hut design for their homes. They shared with us that the modern concrete structures with cinder block walls and corrugated aluminum roofs they thought would better protect them from the elements actually collapsed on top of many of them, causing unprecedented death and destruction during the earthquake. The Aeta now want to return to their traditional designs that had been used for hundreds if not thousands of years. The funds we raised are just a drop in the bucket of what this community needs. But the most important outcome of fundraising events like this is immeasurable in material terms, and the true benefit will play out over time.

We must continue our work. The next Philippine Earthquake Relief Fund benefit concert for the Aeta communities will be on September 7 at Super Happy Fun Land in Houston, Texas. Artists coming together for the Houston edition - Karina Nistal, Free Radicals, Kasama, Music4Life featuring Phillipidon & Moe, Bird of Peace, The Sea Sick Fish, and The Presidents. A new event page is in the works as details continue to coalesce. In the meantime, please read more about the cause on the July 3 event page - click here Philippine Earthquake Relief Fund.

I would like to thank the sponsors of this fundraiser for their ongoing support - Alay Bayan-Luson, Inc.; International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines; Baybayin Buhayin; Rock and Roll Machine with Cousin Hoagy; Musika Publiko; Austin Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines... If you are a non-profit grassroots organization, a local business, or an advocacy group interested in expressing your solidarity with the cause, please join us as a sponsor! Contact Kokoy at presidentscrucial@gmail.com. 

I want to thank the members of the Central Luzon Aeta Association and Alay Bayan-Luson including officers Aprilyn Perido, Radz Ybañez, and Marvz Natividad, and the Aeta tribal leaders who drove several hours to join us in solidarity. The next day, Pordalab vocalist Boogs Villareal, who also volunteers for Alay Bayan-Luson, shared with me that speaking and performing at our event really boosted the morale of the Aeta leaders. That news in itself made it all worth the hard work in putting the event together.

I want to thank the wonderful staff at saGuijo for hosting the event and making sure that everything went smoothly. Off the saGuijo menu, I highly recommend Jackie's Famous Siomai - Thai style sprinkled with crispy crushed garlic chips with a succulent homemade sauce on the side. One order has eight or ten siomai (I can't remember how many I counted, but it was a good amount). Order it with a generous mound of garlic fried rice and Red Horse on the rocks. If you're lucky, Ate Jackie herself will serve it right to your table. 

I want to thank Pastor Jay Enage for opening our event with a heartfelt prayer. Pastor Jay is the Chairman and founder of Baybayin Buhayin and spearheads the movement to revive the traditional Filipino script into the common vernacular after it was interrupted and virtually extinguished by centuries of colonial rule. I want to thank the other members of Pastor Jay's Baybayin Buhayin leadership team who came to the event in solidarity and shared some of their photos - Justine Louise De Vera, Jaime Hernandez, and visual artist Arlene Seraspi. (Later in the week, Pastor Jay was interviewed by my brother Howie, who also came to the event in solidarity with the Aeta people, for a segment of his award-winning documentary series i-Witness on the GMA-7 television network. That segment will air on August 25, 2019 during the annual Buwan ng Wika - Filipino Languages Month.)

I also want to express utmost thanks for members of Initiatives and Hearts for Indigenous People who came to hang out, including musician Cecilia Garcia Artates and former Philippine National Team football players Ludwig Fuentebella and Elmer Lacknet Bedia. As core members of IHIP, they volunteer as youth football coaches in economically disadvantaged indigenous communities, using the beautiful game to mentor their players out of poverty. I am honored to be associated and to work with such a distinguished group of football coaches.

Many many thanks also for many members of the Musika Publiko collective who came en force. Musika Publiko is a network of musicians, composers, performers, and enthusiasts advocating socially relevant music making - creating and performing songs in various styles and genres that articulate people's issues and highlight aspirations for real change and development for the many. Special thanks to Musika Publiko photographers Markuss Javier, LJ Pasion, and Belle Jarligo who took some awesome shots at the event. (Many are featured below.) 

Finally, deepest gratitude to all of the musicians in the bands, each of whom put on an inspired and spirited set - Bopek, Elemento ni Lirio Salvador, Tropical Depression, Talahib People's Music, Yohi, Pordalab, and my kayumanggi Pinoy rock band players.

Here are links to some cool videos posted by various people from the event:

Scenes of destruction in the Aeta communities of Pampanga - shot and posted by Marvz Natividad of Alay Bayan-Luson

Jaime Hernandez went live with the Aeta leaders

Highlights reel created by Darrel Roberto of Talahib People's Music

Tropical Depression - Mahal Kita Bilog Na Naman ang Buwan and an untitled Excerpt 

Makibaka by Pordalab and Yohi

Below are some choice images from the evening. 

(All photos below by Kokoy Severino unless otherwise indicated.)

Pastor Jay Enage opens the festivities with a prayer...

Alay Bayan-Luson Officer-In-Charge Aprilyn Perido speaks passionately on the current conditions endured by the Aeta communities in Pampanga...  

Aeta Tribal Leaders Fridie Saplala, Piping Dela Cruz, Palak Abuque, Tokaya Trajano 

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Arlene Seraspi.

Photo by Arlene Seraspi.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Bopek

Photo by Justine Louise De Vera.

Photo by Jaime Hernandez.

Elemento ni Lirio Salvador

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Cecilia Garcia Artates.

Photo by Justine Louise De Vera.

Photo by Justine Louise De Vera.

Tropical Depression

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Arlene Seraspi.

Talahib People's Music

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Yohi

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Pordalab

Photo by Musika Publiko. 

Photo by Musika Publiko.

kayumanggi Pinoy rock band
with Anna Marie Santos on flute, Bo Bismarck on lead guitar, Cocoy Dimala on drums, Shariko Pascual on bass, Tan Cuenca and Ryan Ignacio on percussion, and special guests Boogs and Yohi

Photo by Arlene Seraspi.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

Photo by Musika Publiko.

See you on September 7 at Super Happy Fun Land, Houston, Texas...

PROPOSAL: Philippine Earthquake Relief Fund Concerts for the Aeta Indigenous Communities Devastated by the Earthquake of April 2019

Philippine Earthquake Relief Fund

Concerts for the Aeta Indigenous Communities Devastated by the Earthquake of April 2019

featuring a global lineup of bands

Kokoy Severino legaspi12d1@gmail.com 832-814-4053 (U.S.) 09204120628 (Philippines)

FROM: Kokoy Severino, Event Coordinator

TO: The Presidents

RE: Proposal to perform as a top billing in a benefit concert at a local live music venue featuring socially conscious world music bands, to raise badly needed funds for and awareness of the plight of indigenous Aeta communities in Pampanga, Philippines whose homes have been devastated by the recent earthquake. Proceeds from the concert go to the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center’s Alay Bayan-Luson, Inc., a grassroots organization serving communities in need in central Luzon, Philippines including the Aeta people. For more information, http://www.cdrc-phil.com/abi/ http://www.cdrc-phil.com/

TARGET DATES OF EVENTS:

Sunday June 9, 2019 in Austin, Texas

Saturday July 6, 2019 in Makati, Philippines

Sunday September 1, 2019 in Houston, Texas

PROPOSED VENUES:

Austin: Sahara Lounge, Radio Coffee and Beer, Spider House Ballroom

Houston: Warehouse Live, Avant Garden, Super Happy Funland

Makati: saGuijo

OTHER ARTISTS TO BE INVITED: Via Rosa, Atash, Free Radicals, Karina Nistal, Lois Albez, kayumanggi Pinoy rock band, Paloma Jaceldo, other socially conscious world music bands

GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS TO BE INVITED AS SPONSORS: International Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines

SUGGESTED COVER CHARGE AT THE DOOR: $2.00, but no one will be turned away. All sales from bar and kitchen go to the venue, all sales of band merchandise go to artists at their discretion. Our goal is for 500 or more people to donate an average of $2.00 each.

PUBLICITY: The event will be publicized globally through social media online, and locally through various formats including print and radio. The event not only aims to support the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center’s Alay Bayan-Luson, Inc.’s immediate cause to provide relief for Aeta earthquake victims through fund-raising, but also by drawing attention to the organization’s mission as well as to the general plight of indigenous nations who are among the most persecuted communities in the Philippines.

The Coordinator, Kokoy Severino, will be traveling to the Philippines in July and November and can deliver the funds directly to the CDRC.

ONE OF MY FONDEST MEMORIES WITH DAD...

...is when I couldn't have been more than six years old. Dad is just a couple of years or less into his first foreign assignment in Washington DC, and he is called upon to be a member of the Philippine delegation to the United Nations during its annual General Assembly. I can't recall how long Dad has to stay in New York for it, but Howie and I can't miss school, so we stay in DC with Mom. On one of those weekends, Mom takes us to New York to visit Dad. One of the few vivid memories I have of this trip, indeed of this stage in my life, is when Dad leads us on an exclusive tour of the United Nations Headquarters for an inside look at what goes on in the most important international body in the world.

Up on the balcony where observers view the proceedings on the General Assembly floor, each seat is equipped with a set of headphones. One turns a dial to select the language into which you need the proceedings translated. I don the headphones and begin searching through the various languages - Spanish, French, Mandarin, Russian, Japanese, Swahili, Arabic, Urdu... The one particular language that I am looking for is missing. 

Disappointed and curious at the same time, I turn and looking up at Dad I ask, "Dad, why isn't Tagalog on here?"

He chuckles lightly and smiles to me, "We Filipinos don't need translation, because we already speak English."

With that very simple and very direct statement, Dad launches me on my lifelong journey of cultural and socio-political consciousness; such was the power of Dad's words. He was blessed with a profound dignity of language that could heal divisions, transcend deep protracted historical conflicts, forge friendship across not just nations, but entire regions. He teaches us how peace is maintained on a complex and diverse planet, all the while a model of humility and gentleness. Dad was a genuine peacemaker of rare authenticity, vision and articulation. 

In the Gospel: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." 
- Matthew 5:9

In the Midrash: "The only reason that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world was so that there would be peace among humankind." 
- Bamidbar Rabbah 12A 

In the Quran: "It may be that God will grant love between you and those whom ye hold as enemies. For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Merciful." 
- Quran 60:7

In the Bhagavad Gita: "Without peace there can be no happiness." 
- Bhagavad Gita 2:66

In the Dhammapada: "Happy is the devotion of those who are at peace." 
- Dhammapada 194

In the Old Testament: "O LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us." 
- Isaiah 26:12

Peacemakers have a divine ordination. While Dad is no longer of this Earth, the legacy of his vision remains. From him arise  generations of peacemakers he has inspired, and upon whom he will continue to shed timeless light. In a world in which men who have the capability to inflict unprecedented levels of destruction upon the world are routinely threatening each other, the work that Dad has begun in his lifetime is now more critical than ever. We who are left with his legacy must carry on...

1965, the moment it all began - Dad, center, being sworn in to the diplomatic service by his father Rodolfo Sr. (my Lolo Dolfo), right, who himself is legendary among the first generation of Philippine foreign service officers after independence in 1946. (Photo from the Severino family archives.)

More than two decades after that pivotal moment in the observation balcony of the United Nations Headquarters, I compose with my Presidents bandmates a song I dedicate to Dad based upon that experience. For those who would like to listen to "U.N." recorded live at Fitzgerald's, Houston in 1992, please click here 
https://soundcloud.com/the_presidents_crucial/06-track-6

TO MY MEMORY, ONE OF DAD'S FINEST HOURS

(Originally posted on June 19, 2016 in Kokoy's Soccer Blog shortly after Dad's 80th birthday...) 

It would be a difficult endeavor indeed, for Dad has over half a century's worth of global accomplishment, but if I were to try and narrow it down to a single event that best exemplifies to me his strength of character, it would have to be an event that began in the wee hours of the morning one day in July, 1976.

Dad was less than a year into his assignment as Minister-Counselor and Chargé d’Affaires at the newly opened Philippine Embassy in Beijing, China. At that time, China was still very much in the throes of the Cultural Revolution. There was a deep-seeded institutionalized suspicion of the outside world, particularly of Western countries and those governments allied with them. There were very very few foreigners living in Beijing at the time, the overwhelming majority of them diplomats and their families. We lived in residential enclaves exclusively reserved for diplomats, apartment buildings, luxurious by Chinese standards back then, in compounds separated from the local population by high cement walls and big iron fences. At the gates of these exclusive residential complexes stood guardposts, manned 24 hours a day by People’s Liberation Army soldiers, many armed with AK-47s. The running joke was that we weren’t quite sure if these guards were there to keep out the locals or to keep an eye on us foreigners. The consensus was a little of both, such was the nature of the Chinese government’s relationship with the outside world at the time.

The year 1976 was particularly tumultuous in modern Chinese history. My brother Howie, sister Gina and I joined Dad in Beijing in early April, after the Ateneo school year had ended. In January of that year, just several months before we arrived, Zhou En Lai had passed away. The capital was still in a state of mourning, with Red Guard parades winding solemnly up the empty Chang An Boulevard to Tien An Men Square. There was much speculation of a power struggle taking place in the upper echelons of the Communist Party, not only as a result of Zhou’s death, but also in anticipation of Mao Ze Dong’s impending demise, as his health was also reportedly failing. Key figures in the Party were jockeying for position and consolidating their power. China was entering a period of grave and precarious uncertainty, the future unknown and unpredictable, requiring cautious vigilance from Beijing's few foreign residents.

1975, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (foreground left) toasts with China's Premier Zhou En Lai to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Less than a year after this moment, Zhou would pass away leaving a vacuum in the Communist Party leadership and a power struggle to fill it. (Photographer unknown, print from the Severino family archives.)

Chinese society was deep into the frugal communist lifestyle, which dictated no nightlife for the common people. There were no bars, no Starbucks open until midnight, no 24-hour McDonald’s drive-throughs, no discotheques with Filipino cover bands, and no traffic. It was de facto a curfew for the locals, who had better have a good reason to be out after dark. Aside from security personnel, the streets of Beijing were typically dead by 9 or 10 in the evening. The city was silent at night, not the kind of silence like the tranquility depicted in classical Chinese landscapes; it was the silence of repression, palpable as we foreign teenagers biked home from lavish parties thrown by various embassies, the only nightlife available to diplomatic personnel on weekends. In the wee hours of the morning one day in July of 1976, as Beijing lay in silence, asleep in the midst of this political upheaval, the capital of the most populous country on the planet would be violently awakened by an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude.

Dad and I were the only ones in the apartment, as Howie was already living in Cervini Hall dormitory on the Ateneo de Manila campus, and Mom and Gina were also back in Manila for some reason I can’t recall - I think they were packing and preparing our things to be shipped to Beijing. Dad and I escaped with our lives (obviously), along with the rest of the diplomatic community, a testimony to the strength of the residential buildings built by the communist government for the foreigners. The rest of the city, however, remained a mystery. Trying to project China as a global superpower, any information released by the authorities was always carefully censored to meticulously articulate the Communist Party line, and the last thing they wanted to do was reveal any vulnerabilities in government, including the way natural disasters were managed. Thus, with transparency in the state-controlled media non-existent, little to no information was forthcoming about conditions in the rest of the city. I vaguely remember Dad discussing with his officers and his counterparts from other embassies the question of who might now be in charge in the Chinese government and which agencies were still functioning. 

Strong tremors and aftershocks continued for days after the initial quake, so Dad had to manage the safety and security of the embassy’s entire staff and their families, a community of Filipinos living in China during the most precarious period in the country’s history since the communists took over. Some of the families had very small children. I myself was only 13 years old, and the closest thing to a natural calamity I had experienced until then was a blizzard in Maryland during Dad’s assignment in Washington DC from 1967 to 1974. Snowfalls back then meant it was playtime for Howie and I. Snow was about building snowmen, snowball fights in the back yard with our neighborhood friends, and Dad taking us out sledding in the nearby hills of Silver Spring. It was nothing remotely close to what Tita Menchu and Tito Jimi have been experiencing there in recent winters. In 1976 China though, it wasn’t just the continuing aftershocks we had to worry about. Given the political circumstances under which the government leadership was currently engulfed, there was a real possibility that the city could descend into chaos.

Until 1976, the closest thing I had ever experienced to a natural disaster was a blizzard in Maryland, which was no disaster at all. Snow meant it was playtime for Howie and I. (Photos by Dad.)

Dad converted the undamaged Philippine Embassy into a makeshift shelter for the staff. I remember sleeping on a folding military cot in the chancery hallway, waking up repeatedly to tremors causing the capiz chandelier to sway. Dad’s leadership in this time was critical. The entire community of diplomatic officers, staff and families serving under him looked to Dad during these frightful days, when little information was forthcoming. Dad’s leadership was steadfast, resolute, calm, and most importantly, reassuring in his decisiveness.

Dad (in white) surveys the embassy grounds, converted into a makeshift earthquake shelter. (Photographer unknown.)

When the Chinese authorities finally ordered the evacuation of all foreigners out of the city, Dad stayed behind to keep the embassy open with a skeleton crew of staff members, but not before he arranged our transport to Guangzhou in the south of China. My memory now is hazy about how long we were holed up in the Guangzhou Hotel, which served as a high-end evacuation shelter for diplomats from Beijing and their families. I do remember countless afternoon hours spent playing football in the courtyard with kids from all over the world, one of my first experiences with the transcendental and therapeutic quality of the beautiful game; many of us couldn’t speak the same language, but we could all play the same game. Our stay at the Guangzhou Hotel ended when a Philippine Airlines jet came to pick us up and take us home to Manila, along with a Bayanihan dance troupe whose China tour had been cut short.

The scale of the earthquake’s destruction was made clear to me after I returned to Beijing in late August. Life seemed to be back to normal and Dad took me on a weekend trip to Bei Dai He, a beach resort on the coast about five hours’ train ride from the capital, famously reserved for diplomats and Communist Party bigwigs. The train route passed through the industrial city of Tangshan, the location of the earthquake’s epicenter, at which point it measured 8.2 on the Richter scale. Dad guessed that railway officials would not want us foreign passengers to get a good view of what had become of Tangshan after the earthquake, and anticipated that the train would not stop. So he made sure we sat and watched out the window of our cabin to catch at least a glimpse as we entered the city. Indeed, the train seemed to speed up as it rolled through Tangshan’s heart. 

Northeastern Chinese cities are built on the Manchurian plateau, and thus like Beijing, Tangshan was topographically very flat. From the vantage point of raised train tracks, one could see all the way to the horizon. For as far as my eye could see, this city of a million people had been completely flattened to the ground, block after block after block of nothing but rubble, heaps of concrete that were once inhabited buildings. It was complete comprehensive devastation of Biblical proportions. To a 13-year-old boy, such an image would be both unforgettable and unfathomable.

On the balcony of the Bei Dai He guest house. Our train from Beijing to the coast rolled through the heart of Tangshan where the earthquake's epicenter was. (Photo by Dad.)

It would take me a few years until I got a little older and wiser to fully understand the implications of what I saw in Tangshan, where over 600,000 people had perished in 16 seconds in the wee hours of the morning one day in July 1976, in what would go down as the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century. That image of devastation underscores for me how meaningful Dad’s leadership was during those critical days, as he navigated through that period of uncertainty with little information to go by, overseeing the safety of an entire community of families in the midst of a natural calamity - with a steadfast, resolute, calm, and reassuring decisiveness. To my memory, this was one of Dad’s finest hours.

In years to come, as I navigate the positions of leadership with which I have been blessed in my own career, I thank God that I can look back upon instances like this for inspiration. Thank you Dad for being the great role model you are for so many people, especially me…