back when there were too many massacres

WARNING: NOT A VERY HAPPY ENTRY.

My early teen years took place at a dark, bloody time in our country's past. A recounting of growing up in the '90s would not be complete without mentioning this period that made our mothers gasp and fathers go tsk, tsk, tsk. It also explains why, in muffled paranoia, our curfews were set a few hours earlier for a while.
I was around twelve when the slaughter of the innocents began - a stretch of time in the early nineties, in which occurred several unrelated murders, mostly of youths. I'd rather not go into the details, but if anyone would be interested, I'm sure Google can find the related articles. There were so many cases that it seemed like everyone in the city knew someone who knew someone somehow connected to a victim's family. Inspirations overflowed for crappy Carlo J. Caparas movies starring Kris Aquino, the ones with awkward subtitles under the awkward subtitles (something idiotic like Karumal-dumal: The True Story of the Downtown Massacre: God Save the Little Angels).

But seriously. There were random shootings and kidnap-killings, rapes and rape-slays; chop-chops, salvages, and massacres; frat initiations gone awry. AM radio was abuzz about one heinous crime after another - the victims, the suspects, masterminds - and the messy trials that followed.

There was the 1990 murder of Cochise and Beebom. A UP Law student and his girlfriend (a graduating senior) were nabbed during a date, killed, violated and dumped. It was said that Cochise was mistaken for someone else; Beebom was collateral damage.

There were the UPLB students Allan and Aileen, who suffered a similar fate at the hands of a city mayor.

Then there were quite a few fraternity hazing fatalities - promising students of the best universities, snuffed out by unnecessary violence.

In 1991, there was the 25-year old random target of road rage. He was gunned down by a self-important a*****e going the wrong direction on a one-way street.

There was the Hultman-Chapman double murder in the same year. On their way home from a party, two young men and a 16-year old girl were shot by the son of a former chief justice. Chapman was killed instantly; Maureen Hultman died in an Intensive Care Unit months later. She was just a few years older than I was.

Images of Maureen became all too familiar as media appealed for prayers and justice. I recall there was a clip of her that seemed to be a screen-test, showing her as a beautiful and healthy aspirant model. That image was repeatedly juxtaposed with a shot of her in her hospital bed, hardly recognizable, head shaven and crusted with blood, near-dead on a respirator. That latter image, I recall, used to flash every now and then on ABS-CBN with the text, "Justice for Maureen".

That image also became easy reference for parents whenever their teenaged kids asked for permission to attend a party.

The most sensational of all was (and still is) The Vizconde Massacre. Estrellita, her daughters Carmela, 18, and Jennifer, 7, were slain on June 30 1991. It was a high-profile, grossly sensationalized case, in which suspects were a Senator's son and a few other young men from well-to-do families. Everyone tuned in to what was dubbed as "the trial of the century" and had opinions on this and that.

This multiple homicide was jolting because it was too close to home. Literally. We lived in the same city where the massacre took place; family friends whose house we frequented was on the same street as the Vizcondes. What was extra disturbing was knowing that the crime occurred right at the victims' residence, within earshot of many neighbors, in the evening when everyone was home and still awake, in an exclusive village that supposedly had high security, while there was a security guard on duty. On top of the feeling that not even our own homes were safe, it cemented the ominous sense that evil-but-influential people could manipulate things to their own ends.

What was even closer and eerier for me was the butchering of a girl named Katrina. Her story was not as well-known as the others - it did make it to the news, though not the headlines. It was a terrible murder nonetheless.

I knew about her because we went to the same school. She was the friend of a classmate, a few batches ahead of us. I never knew her personally though I met her younger sister and brother, and I'd been to a party at their house. That same house where she died. It was hard for me to swallow that this girl who wore the same uniform that I did, walked the same halls, ate the same awful cafeteria food, did not just die but was murdered. Was actually murdered. She was hacked to death by their trusted gardener, in an act of misdirected rage. She was just fifteen.

All of the killers in the above cases were eventually put away. Due also to those odious crimes, legislators were compelled to review the death penalty. Sadly, in the past several years, a lot of those sociopaths from the high-profile cases were acquitted, for what purpose no one knows, all thanks to a certain crooked former president -- and that is a whole other story.
Now that I am older and have been a guardian of sorts to teenagers, I reckon it was a valid reaction for our parents to have been so concerned about our gimmicks, our associations and late-night parties in those days. There may have been bit of an overreaction from a few moms and pops, but I suppose it was hard to shake off the fear that their son or daughter could go next.

Since I was a kid during that time, I didn't quite grasp that those victims were young, because they were much older than I was. In relation to my age now I see how extremely young they really were. They had entire lives yet to live, but were rubbed out far too soon. They could have been today's leaders, today's parents, educators, fighters for justice, advocates of tasteful arts and so on. Due to a couple of unscrupulous bastards, they never grew up to be who they were meant to be. Let's hope and pray nothing like this ever happens again.

back when the world watched charles and diana

Media are currently all abuzz about the upcoming Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. Their names have recently become ubiquitous and redundant as the world's curiosity is stoked by this union.

We who were alive in 1981 can't help recalling the other royal wedding - the one of William's parents, HRH Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

Photos from here and here.

I was too young at that time to have more than a vague recollection of it now, but I do remember that the world gushed over them for years. It was often referred to as a fairy tale romance between the heir to the throne and "a mere commoner" (or so media people said*).

* I don't know why it was ever said she was a commoner; Diana was the daughter of an Earl and was born into an aristocratic family. Oh well.

I also remember her wedding dress - a voluminous gown with the puffiest sleeves and the longest train ever - I mean, who could forget that?

Photos from here and here.

Younger people might find it hideous today, but fluffy, massive gowns used to be considered beautiful. Her gown was coveted by brides and knocked-off by couturiers throughout the 1980s.

There was also much ado about her haircut, her tiara and the engagement ring.

Image from here.

I remember there were even numerous Princess Diana dolls, including a meticulously-detailed Franklin Mint collectors-item porcelain replica of her on her wedding day.

People went crazy over Diana. There was just something about her; she was regarded in her day as a paragon of beauty and charm and grace and all things (wholesome) that one would want to see in a woman. Plus, she managed to nab a prince. Little girls wanted to be her.

But of course, we know how the fairy tale ended. And I'd rather not say anything about that.

back in 1994, when miss universe was held in our country

I didn't realize that it's been a month since I last updated this blog with my reminiscing. :p Anyway, I return to my fond remembering today with something from 1994.

This morning, I watched the 2010 Miss Universe pageant on the telly. I was happy to see that the Philippines' Venus Raj made it as far as fourth runner-up. Congratulations pa rin! Venus looked really gorgeous; she could have done better in the Q&A, but she still did pretty well.

Is it just my imagination, or are these beauty pageants a bit faster-paced now? Ah, well.

After watching, my memory rolled back to the time that Miss Universe was held right here in the Philippines back in 1994. It was a big thing, and I kept hoping we pinoys wouldn't do anything embarrassing during that whole period. It was all good.

For the opening production in which the candidates paraded one by one, the beauty queens sang and danced to a techno number with samples of Gary V's Hataw Na. I'm not so sure that was a good idea, but it kept viewers entertained at least. But even more cringe-worthy was a duet between Peabo Bryson and then-reigning queen, Puerto Rico's Dayanara Torres - they did a sucky rendition of A Whole New World , pinoy variety-show style, which was pretty much unnecessary to the program.

Miss Philippines 1994 Charlene Gonzales was a real charmer. Even the spokesmodels at the side count her as one of their favorites.



Big hair and immaculately-lined lips were glamorous then, and it wasn't so bad not to be a skinny waif. She was pleasantly witty too:

Host: ... You guys have a bunch of islands here. How many islands are in the Philippines?
Charlene: High tide or low tide?

That answer of hers became a catchphrase and a punchline for several months.

In those years, it was an annual Miss Universe tradition to have little girls (dressed up as little Miss U candidates) sing that You Are My Star / When You wish Upon a Star medley in the final evening gown competition. Charlene wore a strapless yellow-and-gold number, and to this day that's the mental image I have of her.

Charlene only made it to the top six though. She didn't get to answer the final question that made Sushmita Sen India's first Miss Universe: What is the essence of being a woman?

Even beyond the pageant, after most of the candidates and organizers left, there were still bits of Miss U aftershocks in the country in the following few years. For one, Charlene succeeded in penetrating showbiz promptly after, so we saw a lot more of her. She confessed this to be one of her goals for joining Binibining Pilipinas / Miss Universe.

Her career is still successful to this day. And I think she looks a lot prettier now that she's older:


Miss Australia 1994 Michelle Van Eimeren gained fame as an actress here as well, but she is mostly remembered as actor Ogie Alcasid's ex-wife. In the touring period before the pageant itself, Ogie acted as the jeepney-driving tour guide to the candidates, and I'm guessing that's when they fell in love (I remember watching a talks show [cheap of me, I know] guesting Ogie and the favorite candidates, including Michelle; Ogie was asked about a rumored blossoming romance with Miss Australia and he gave a generic we're just friends answer. Michelle's reaction was captured on camera - she didn't say a word but she was looked pretty much betrayed). Lately Michelle Van Eimeren is back in local showbiz news due to Ogie's engagement to songbird Regine. Since Michelle was a celebrity here for a while, gossipmongers thought of thickening the plot by phone-patching Ogie's ex-wife all the way from Australia.

Who could forget Miss Mauritius Viveka Babajee? She remained in the Philippines for some reason - maybe she hoped to be lucky here - but that proved to be a mistake. She was villainized as a pawn of Lolit Solis in the infamous Metro Manila Film Fest scam, for which she is remembered for the words, "Take it! Take it!". Solis went to jail and I think Babajee was shamefully deported after that.

We also saw a lot more of Miss Universe '93, Dayanara Torres, since she chose to remain here after the 1994 pageant. She too had a career of hosting, singing, dancing and (bad) acting. She had a thing with actor Aga Muhlach for a while - whether it was a real off-screen romance or just a love team to sell their crap movies, I don't know.

Aga is now happily married to Charlene by the way. See photo above.

This reminds me - Dayanara Torres was our neighbor for a short time. She wasn't the friendly neighborly type, and neither were we, so there isn't much to reminisce about that. Still i think that'll be the topic of my next entry. :) Cheers!

back when edsa happened

Photo mine.

I was too young to fully grasp the gravity of what was really happening, but I was old enough to understand something was going on.

I was eight years old. It was 1986. I wasn't sure what all the commotion about but I was happy that school was canceled for several days. All I understood at that time was that the whole nation was divided about Marcos and Cory. As a kid I always thought of President Marcos as a nice guy; my grandfather sorta knew him. And there was this nice lady named Cory who was running for president against him.

All I knew as a child about Cory was that she was the widow of Ninoy, the guy who they said was shot by Marcos' guys a few years earlier (I didn't quite get it then but I saw videos of his bloody body in the news; he was shot in the head and the bullet exited through his chin, my classmate told me). And she always wore yellow, Ninoy's signature color. And that the First Lady looked down on her for her umanicured fingernails (I even remember a cleverly laid-out magazine spread showing a photo of a smirking Imelda beside a shot of a smiling Cory holding up her hands to show her nails). Everybody seemed to like her, so i decided that I liked her as well.

A lot of people seemed to start hating Marcos. Before school got canceled, it was fashionable for kids to ask each other "Are you for Marcos or for Cory?," even if we didn't quite know what the heck we were talking about. I assumed that because he was the current president I was supposed to be for him, so without thinking I had answered, "Marcos". That was when my young activist friends educated me about his evils. I heard that he stole a lot of money and had a lot of people killed. Exactly how and why he did that, I didn't know how or why. I just started seeing him as evil incarnate, and out of peer pressure, I switched my vote to Cory.

There was Marcos-Tolentino, red and blue, on one side.
Cory-Doy, yellow and green on the other.

It was that time that I heard terms like "snap elections"and "democracy".

Songs like "Magkaisa", "Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo" and "Bayan Ko" floated about, even until the next few years.

Yellow was the color of the day.

I didn't exactly know why we didn't have classes, but as the adults at home were glued to the news, I knew there were crowds in the streets, and tanks and soldiers. And nuns. June Keithley kept us constantly updated on Channel 4.

My mom participated in some of the crowd activity. I heard later that she had a serving of tear gas.

As for my dad, i didn't see him for days. He was in the military and worked in the Department of National Defense. I learned later that he was one of the first RAM boys, or those men in the Reform the Armed Forces Movement - rebels in the eyes of the administration, heroes to everyone else (At that particular time, it was a good thing to be in the opposition, that was Cory's side). My Dad was detained by his work for days at Camp Aguinaldo with Defense Minister Enrile (back then, they were called "minister" instead of "secretary"), General Ramos and a number of military men.

After a few days of Papa's absence from home, Mama gathered some of his shirts and stuff in a plastic bag and walked to the Camp Aguinaldo main gate (the house where we used to live was in a village just beside Camp Aguinaldo, it must have been one or two kilometers' walk). The gate was barred, enforced and heavily guarded; people were having a ruckus just outside. Mama went up to the gate with her plastic bag (she was never intimidated by soldiers, she grew up seeing them since my grandfather was a general) and slung it over to the top of the bars, where Papa was perched waiting for her delivery.

I would have considered that real sweet, except that only I learned about it after they were already separated, so there.

During this whole historic going-on, Papa dropped by the house briefly once; he just had to grab some stuff and then return to work immediately. I missed him a lot so I greeted him with a hug, but I pulled away as soon as I realized he stank from days without a shower. He showed us the Philippine flag patches that they wore on their arms: on the sleeve of his thick, rough uniform was a square of sturdy fabric with a print of the flag, red side up (It wasn't sewn on; it was held by four safety pins). And then he was off again, gone for another while. I wondered if I was wrong to worry if he could die in all that. Well, he didn't - it was a peaceful revolution, after all. He came home after a few more days, smelling worse.

After the whole revolution was over, my aunt showed me Papa's name in the newspaper, saying, "Do you know, your dad's a hero!"

By the way - Papa has numerous People Power souvenirs, a lot of them more interesting than stuff in most people's collections. He not only has button pins, Cory-Doy campaign merchandise, coffee table books and People Power comics. He was keen to make himself a photocopy of the yellow pad Enrile and Ramos used as a sign-up sheet (Papa's name was signed right there on the first page). He had the button pins and paraphernalia that RAM boys used; he also kept those flag fabric-patches that he wore, as well as the safety pins. He even has an Enrile-autographed book, and shrapnel from the scene.His souvenirs were later useful for me in high school when our class put together a People Power memorabilia exhibit for Social Studies.

Newsmen kept tabs on Enrile, Ramos and the RAM boys at that time that they were standing off against Marcos. On television were clips of uniformed men with large guns on the roof of the buildings of the Department of National Defense and AFP Headquarters in Aguinaldo. The likes of Gringo Honasan, Red Kapunan and Tiger Tecson became celebrities.

There is this clip that became iconic and popular, and has been used for documentaries on the Edsa Revolution: Enrile was on the telephone with Marcos one evening, surrounded by soldiers and media men. In a precise but emphatic manner, like a scene in a movie, he said, "Mr. President, your time is up." My dad happened to be in that very room and witnessed - participated in - that actual event.

As we were all committed to our TV set, keeping updated, we pretty soon saw images of kids and nuns giving flowers to soldiers on Edsa, rioters vandalizing paintings in Malacanang. It was utter anarchy, but there was a whole sense of happiness going on. News reporters and TV personalities weeping and hugging each other.

My brother and I, young as we were, made an appearance at Edsa too, with my mom, her friends and some relatives. I didn't even know what was going on, it just seemed real big; I didn't even know it was important, or historical. I have a vague recollection of things, which includes a memory of Cardinal Sin making a speech and a mass of yellow balloons. Street vendors were selling yellow button pins, yellow ribbons and headbands, yellow Cory shirts, Ninoy shirts that said "Hindi ka nag-iisa", Cory dolls, Cory everything. I took home a little Cory rag doll - which looked nothing like her, but you knew it was her because of the yellow dress, the curly black yarn for hair and the looped-wire glasses.

I caught a tiny glimpse of the real Cory by the way, at the PMA graduation in Baguio a few weeks later - a little yellow speck behind a waving yellow flag. Everyone seemed so happy at that time, like it was a massive national celebration.

And oh, I had some photos taken with Gringo, who was then a hero (but was later a national nuisance, and then a fugitive, and then a Senator, and then a wanted man again).

The following schoolyear, students had new details to memorize for Philippine History class - names, dates and events in relation to the People Power Revolution. Details that were apparently immensely important enough for publishing houses to produce updated textbooks immediately for the next semester.

The Philippines made world headlines for awhile for People Power, the peaceful revolution, as well as for the goings-on that led up to it.

February 25 became a new Philippine holiday.

Cory became the first woman president in the world. She became Time Magazine's Person of the Year. She brought back democracy, they say; she gave a fresh start for the Filipinos.

In a while, the Cory magic seemed to fade. People were verbally bashing her left and right, there were numerous coups, fiery oppositions and counter-cases for libel. The image of Cory the hero seemed to have disintegrated into Cory the intellectually-challenged housewife. I then wondered what made people change their minds about someone they previously venerated, why and how someone so adored became someone so widely hated. I thought maybe it was partially her annoying youngest daughter who suddenly became an actress who couldn't act.

Of course, years and other presidents later, I came to understand.

The magic was reignited last August 2009 when she came to rest, and people forgave her her wrongs. Yellow flooded the streets again, yellow ribbons were ubiquitous - I found it fascinating that designers coincidentally decided that yellow was the color of the year (even before her death). People brought out their "Edsa" stories and souvenirs, "Magkaisa" was again given airplay. The whole country was once more glued to their television screens to witness a common event - this time, it was Madam Cory's funeral. From the glorious sendoff the citizens gave her, it is clear she will always be a symbol of freedom in this country, despite all the bad memories she left us with.

Photo mine. Taken at Cory and Ninoy's site at Manila Memorial Park.

On the 24th anniversary of People Power, i find myself not really caring. Perhaps I was too young when it happened so I don't ever get emotional about it. I just saw Ramos and some personalities walk arm-in-arm, Edsa style, toward the People Power monument. I've been watching studio-23 telecasts of A Dangerous Life, an HBO miniseries on the Edsa Revolution and the events leading up to it (It's boring, but informative. But i heard it's more fictional than factual, so I take it with a bit of salt). I suppose that next year, the 25th Anniversary, there will be a huge celebration coinciding with the release of a compilation album and the opening of several exhibits.

back when there were those december amusement fairs

Like those magical lands at the top of Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree that visit for a time and then disappear, these wonderlands of sorts came by for a few weeks every holiday season: Payanig sa Pasig, Big Bang sa Alabang. Even Star City used to be just a Christmastime fair then. I used to go go together with my friends or cousins, thinking it was such a big thing to be allowed to stay until after midnight. Since the weather got chilly as soon as the ber months rolled in (and I mean really cool by Manila standards, the whole day, not just nippy in the mornings and evenings), our parents would tell us to bring jackets for practicality, and we brought them for pormality. It gave us a chance to show off our cardigans - the looser, the slouchier, the better. We would crumple the sleeves upward to expose our forearms or tie them around our waists- that's how jackets were worn back then.

Those fairs were utter amusement for a child - rides, games, lights, food, shops, fireworks, the occasional celebrity sightings, those geeky production number featuring people in silly tinfoil-laced costumes. Parents who tagged along to babysit from a distance amused themselves with the tiangge while we kiddies hopped from ride to ride.

My favorite rides were the roller coaster and the octopus. In those days, we haven't yet heard of rides conking out mid-transit, or kids losing their limbs or dying from faulty machinery. Lawsuits against carnival operators were unheard of.

I also liked checking out whatever horror train or horror house there was. That was probably one of the first things I'd ask to go to because I liked how the UV lights made white things glow.

The non-ride feature I enjoyed the most has got to be the giant maze - it was absolutely safe, risk-free, mentally challenging and physically fun, especially if we raced with each other. Plus points for getting to punch the guy in the ape costume.

The giant slide was the main attraction of Big Bang, which I think was imitated by the others. It remained popular in spite of the high ticket price and the rumors going around that some kid's neck snapped on descent. I tried it out a few times and would have gone a few more if it wasn't so pricey.

During the down-time, we'd stroll around the shops and see if there were any interesting trinkets worth buying - glow-in-the-dark shoelaces, plastic digital watches, those cylindrical glass pendants with tiny plastic flowers and colored water in them, those heart-shaped balloons with teddy bears inside. When we got hungry, we'd stop by a Burger Machine. I personally preferred Smokey's because it had those wrap-around dogs.

At the end of the night, we'd have a hard time locating the car that we came in because it'd be covered with dust - well, that's what you got when the parking space happened to be an unpaved lot with several hundred cars that went to and fro. We'd noisily chatter about how this guy fell on his butt as the giant ape chased him, how mirrors must have been used for that shifting ghost effect in the horror house, how surprised we were that Richard Gomez and Joey Marquez were so tall pala, how cute that stranger at the ticket line was.

The lot where Payanig used to be held every year is now an MC Home Depot. Where Big Bang used to visit now stands the elaborate Town Center complex. Star City has become a year-round feature of Pasay City and has since faced lawsuit after lawsuit for from disgruntled customers for faulty machinery, including one that allegedly resulted in the death of a child.

I didn't even notice when these December amusement fairs stopped coming by, and I didn't even notice what we did in place of going to those places during the holidays. I didn't even notice that ATC was in the Big Bang lot (until someone pointed it out to me just recently). It must have been the time when Enchanted Kingdom opened in Sta. Rosa and distracted the amusement-fair patrons. Ah, well.