Barrio Stories and Other Tales

Barrio

Purita Pilipit



I'm writing this while resting in the gym. I've recently returned to my daily cardio and weights work-out, it's about time. Life in America is always busy and stressful - my current school term is over, haven't slept much the past week, learned how to create database in Access even with my eyes closed and I also learned how to do Systems Analysis. I'm almost done, I'd just take Advanced Cobol next term (mainframes --- I know I know... I told my Systems Professor "Cobol is dead" and she nearly tore me to smithereens) and I should be done with schooling after. I am satisfied with the computer languages I've learned so far and would like to do my own happy programming on my free time (or whatever free time is left for me). I won't leave Physical Therapy. A Physical Therapist will always be a Physical Therapist. I'd be working on Christmas, darn, you bet, patients don't have holidays. Maybe I'd just spend New Year's in my sister's place (if she ain't working). Ah life in America!

My busy schedule is reflected in my writing - I'd be very restless if I don't finish this article in an hour. I am not proud of my grammar and structure ... some famous Filipino writers and editors 'invited' me to write for anthologies. I was excited but how can I send something like this article for an anthology? No, I apologize for ignoring the calls. I just can't find the time to write something for a book. Even my novels remain in my drawer for ages now. Yeah, an hour is all I have. And don't ask me questions anymore - it's just the way it is. Life is just the way it is.

But I'm re-building my muscles again, I'm bringing back my running power. Glad I got this Bally lifetime membership card. I think it's the best card I got. The reason I went crazy working-out again is because of my high cholesterol. The so-called fried foods-adobo-tuyo-patis-baboy-plus-stress kind of cholesterol. I am defying it. I will never let my cholesterol subdue my health. So here I am, another body beautiful - school, work-out, work, web designing, writing - well, honey, my life in the Philippines was paradise compared to my life here. But healthier here.

One thing I can tell you though, lots of Filipinos in America have cholesterol even higher than mine. Enough to give us cardiac arrests and strokes before the age of fifty! I am wondering how the Filipino health is nowadays. Are we healthy people? Are we concerned about our health?

In case we aren't, I'd like to share with you a tale about one of my inspirations in life - my town's eccentric queen of research, intellect and analysis - Purita Pilipit.

No one paid much attention to Purita Pilipit until the day she took her laundry paddle and started pounding on her TV set until it looked like a can of sardines ran over by a truck. People sighed, "My goodness, how can a woman destroy a TV set just like that? Only a crazy woman can do such a thing!"

Even my mother burst into tears - Purita could have given that TV to her.

But Purita Pilipit had her reason, analysis and intellect. We all came rushing towards her house in the event she would do another crazy stuff, like burning her house. And we don't really care about what she does next. We just want to see it.

In my town, we don't want to handle things. We just want to see them.

I remember when Tonito was hit by lightning - he was dead instantly and we all rushed - to see how it looked like to die of lightning strike.

Upon learning of his death, Indang Sepang, his mother, came running howling and crying. No one tried to comfort her. In fact, we all wanted to see how she cried and howled.

And after Tonito's body was lifted and given proper burial we started making jokes about it all. I know, we're a sick people - we joked about how ugly it is to die of lightning strike and how ugly it is to cry and howl in public like Indang Sepang did. Later on, when kids would start playing in the fields and it is thundering, we'd tell them they'd look like Tonito if they were hit by lightning. Then we laugh. And people would try to control their howling in burials because they don't want to look as ugly as Indang Sepang. And so forth and so on. We don't create town rules and sayings using some scientific and factual formulas. We use examples.

For example, when I tried to dip into the church contribution basket to steal a few centavos, my mother gave me the worst pinch. She said, "if you steal from the church you will become like Ka Tino, you know Ka Tino? He is limping, his eyes aren't straight, he can't hear and he can't talk because when he was a kid, he tried to steal a diamond from our Lady Virgen delos Remedios."

She pinched me so painfully again I was ready to burst crying. "And if you cry, you'd look like Indang Sepang on the death of her Tonito."

Anyway, let me return to my tale about Purita Pilipit --

It is the same curiosity that made the townsfolk run to Purita Pilipit's house. We stood in front of her house very very quietly. Not a breath could be heard. In her balcony, she was slumped in her rattan chair but very calm. Like a woman who just murdered an abusive husband. Her head was bowed and when she raised it, she got startled and almost screamed at seeing the entire town looking at her. "What happened?" she asked. "Why are you all in here?"

And all of us, like a symphony orchestra, like a dance chorus trained to get our acts together in perfect unison, moved our eyes towards the right side of the balcony where the TV set laid like a can of sardines ran over by a truck.

Realizing what we were all curious about, Purita Pilipit cleared her throat and stood up and addressed all of us like some Queen and from then on I called her a queen. She addressed us:

I can't handle our entertainment anymore. I am up to my neck in my humiliation every time I watch that TV. It just tells me how these entertainers regard me - to them I am a stupid, brainless, body-curious, beauty-conscious audience. The last straw is that beauty contest: I never saw so many young Filipino girls who show great ability to parade bodies and walk like sophisticated ones until you knock at the doors of their brains and there is nothing, nothing in there! Are these the role models we're asking our young people to emulate? The ones whose hobbies are singing and dancing and modeling? Modeling my ass! I can't take it anymore! My analysis of this society is one of doom. With these types of Filipino youth bearing the torch of our future, I see nothing but dark clouds and rains. No wonder we're nothing to the world but maids and whores and mail order brides! I can't even imagine how our people can tolerate this abuse to the minds and upbringing of our kids.

Look at our newspapers and reading materials - is there anyone asking how the Filipino thinks, lives, dreams, asks, studies, lives, regards health? Damn me but in God's name, since when did we start charting our future with no guidance but hunches. That's all we have - hunches. Hypotheses, theories, faith, feelings - don't we have statisticians and researchers and scientific investigators? And if we do have them, where are their study findings published? I can't bear to read another newspaper whose only concern in this world is the politician here or there.

There are people in this country that need to be analyzed and thought of and cared for. Sure... we have are opinion makers who talk of saving the public, serving the public, doing something for the public IN THEORY. Then what? How can you do anything about public's poverty (for example) when there is no study at all about our poor, when our newspapers and magazines are more concerned about incidental poverty, talking about the incident of this or that poor person (because it is more dramatic and sellable) but not the general poor, the trend of the poor, the wants of the poor, the imagination of the poor, ALL ABOUT the poor?

How can we establish any trend about the intellect of our kids if we don't evaluate it year after year and correct what's missing?

How can we establish a significant cultural development in our society when no one studies it, evaluates it, publishes its findings in major newspapers or magazines? Are we that devoid of resources?

How can we develop a baseline about the health of our people if we don't even care to analyze the food we eat and how to improve the kinds of food we feed our people with?

How can we improve our medical care when there is no general study about it, a study available to all?

Oh my townsfolk, perhaps I am too prude and too confining without any sense of humor or common sense but I am just sick of this. Sick of this town that is so devoid of research and studies; devoid of respectful entertainment that treats its audience with intelligence. We can never progress in anything unless our scientific and social and economic and statistic scientists develop analysis about our lives and lifestyle and culture and unless our writers, news people and publishers direct the people towards a more intellectual-reading against the entertainment-reading they espouse. Who cares about the politicians - politicians will always be politicians. All I care about is this society - this is the Temple God has given me to take care of. And that Temple has to be strong, clean, healthy, intelligent and capable. And I will not be able to do that unless I analyze it first.

No, I don't regret destroying this abusive TV, and I will not hesitate to burn every useless newspaper and reading material that comes my way. I am just telling you that I will never let anyone treat me like a stupid audience. If you want to sway me to your side, then I need facts, data and trends.

I am a Filipino audience and reader who think. Have no doubt about that!

Well, that's the last time I heard about Purita Pilipit. Her name is rarely used as an example in my town. But when it is used --- for example, my mother would say, "Alex Maskara, if you keep reading so many books you'd become Purita Pilipit". My mother never lets me get near her TV set.

But it is a big compliment. A real big compliment.

Alex Maskara

Barrio Tales