kultura

Literary cliques, patronage politics, and the publishing mafia: The Philippine Book Festival

When you’re a writer anywhere, the kind that was not served publishing contracts or writing gigs on a silver platter, one of the first things you learn about is power. And not so much that you don’t have any of it—that seems normal enough for when you’re young and new in any industry–as it is how power (and opportunity, cultural capital, funding, etc. etc.) is in the hands of a very small group of people. In the Philippine writing and publishing sector, this surfaces simply as an exclusive clique, a cabal, a mafia (take your pick) that is called the literary establishment. This is your big publishing houses, putting out work by mainstream writers, who are also the leaders/consultants on the payroll of your national and local government agencies, teaching in your schools and creating syllabi and required readings, and founders/members of your writing organizations. It all ties together into a neat little package called power, and as a by-product of that, money. At the very least, undeniable cultural capital.

But as with politicos denying they have power and wealth and want more of it, so does the literary establishment deny that this cliquishness and exclusivity is something they nurture—sharing the few seats on that table with those outside their circle is not an option, and generosity is an illusion. As with the most corrupt politicos insisting that the work they do is about “nation” and “constituency”, so do the worst of the literary establishment claim that this is about “writing” and “literature” and “book development”. And as with politicos always denying their unethical and unjust practices, so does the literary establishment pretend the cabal doesn’t exist.

Sometimes though, it is surfaced for all to see. Ladies and gentlemen, the Philippine Book Festival. (more…)

komentaryo

InSecurity Bank #bankingcrises

Across the holidays, and until now, we saw a rise in even more stories of OTPs being requested out of nowhere, and scams happening through and across our banking system. It seems important to finally talk about my own story from early 2023, one that I feel is important to serve a public that is generally at the losing end of problems like this one which, by the way, is not necessarily the subscriber’s fault. Note too that I had the privilege to have legal assistance, and my lawyer had quickly sent word to the bank to contest their decision not give me back the money I lost.

That bank being Security Bank.

For a bit of context, I hold accounts across BDO, BPI, Metrobank, and Security Bank. This is not a measure of how much cash there is (haha), as it is a measure of how much interbank transfers cost (a whooping P25 pesos, at least), which is huge if you get, say, P900 peso cheques for your writing.

Now let me start by saying that across all these four banks, for the longest time, it was Security Bank that was my favorite. I thought it was the most secure bank across all the others I had. They call you to tell you when your ATM’s been cut because of questionable activity, and then tell you when the new card’s ready for pick-up. I had family who believed in Security Bank’s, uh, security, and I even got insurance with them because of it. It was for that reason that I also had most of my savings there, and have had it there for years. It’s also important to point out that when friends started to experience unauthorized transactions from other banks pre-pandemic, none of it was happening with Security Bank. So it was easy to believe that, well, it was secure.

Until it wasn’t. Early in 2023, when other banks already had multiple cases of OTPs being asked for by mobile numbers not connected with the banks themselves, I received a phone call that talked about my Security Bank account. The person knew all my details with the bank, including the last four digits of my account, the last time I did an online transaction, the last time I did a face-to-face bank transaction, even who I talked to in the bank to get my insurance. There was no reason to think this person was not from Security Bank. But here was the clincher: when the person asked for an OTP, it was not sent to my mobile number through an unknown or regular mobile number — which would have made me suspicious. Instead the OTP was sent through the number of Security Bank. The same one that sends me confirmation of my online transactions, the same number that sends OTPs. (more…)

radikalchick.lit

Disquiet #2024

We go through the motions, I think, as we shift from one year to another. There is little to celebrate outside of the personal, and when we are self-reflexive about our privilege, the middle class guilt can only kick in. We refrain from posting food photos. We keep from the usual displays of celebration. We stay distant from the predisposition to overshare on social media.

There are a multitude of reasons, of course, to tell the world the year was good for you. And gratefulness is a good thing. For some of us though, it almost feels excessive to put it on display. This is not to question what others are doing, as it is to lean into why it is that this shift from 2023 to 2024 has demanded differently of the self. It isn’t why has it been hard to celebrate, but how it’s been difficult to put that on display. It isn’t about why there is a refusal to flex, as it is about how this denial of the reflex to share speaks to a specific kind of processing of the present.

That this sensing of the act of biting one’s tongue, almost as if (and ironically) in resistance, is happening on the first month of a new year is expected — what better time to find these words than in preparation for how we re-live the coming year?

(more…)

komentaryo

“Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world” #FreePalestine

Excerpt from Bethlehem Pastor Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac’s sermon, during the Church service, 23 December 2023*

Christ under the rubble.

We are angry. We are broken.

This would have been a time of joy.

Instead we are mourning. We are fearful.

More than 20,000 killed. Thousands are still under the rubble.

Close to 9,000 children killed in the most brutal ways.

Day after day. 1.9 million displaced. Hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed.

Gaza as we know it no longer exists. This is an annihilation. This is a genocide.

The world is watching. Churces are watching. The people of Gaza are sending live images of their own execution. Maybe the world cares. But it goes on. (more…)

komentaryo

Ponder propaganda: Fueling the Duterte machine

If there’s anything that one has consistently been reminded about throughout 2023, it is that we still do not know how to deal with the propaganda landscape that the Duterte leadership had established for six years, and which, regardless of the Dutertes’s “lesser” position politically, is the game we are all stuck playing.

I speak of 2023 because in 2022, we were all just in a post-election haze, regardless of where we were / are on the political spectrum. If you were on the side of Marcos-Duterte, you were just on a high, doing the parties, enjoying the perks that come with having campaigned for the winner. If you were on the side of Robredo-Pangilinan, then you would fall under either of two groups: the ones who disengaged completely from politics and governance, maybe in disgust, probably as a by-product of despair; or the ones who tried to keep the anger going by carrying on as if nothing had changed — after all, a Duterte is still in power, and Duterte himself seemed to have set the stage for a Marcos win.

Presidential sister Imee has said it in so many words: President Duterte had eradicated their enemies.

But also, and this seems important to realize for all of us, Duterte had set the stage for this present, where the opposition, at best, has completely lost its footing, regardless of where we are on that spectrum that spans the Liberals and the Left. (more…)