One Too Manny Things

Boxer/actor/singer/pastor/politician. Today, the iconic boxer adds another title to his name — pro basketball coach. And it's very likely we'll see player as well.

So Manny Pacquiao decided to be a coach of a professional basketball team. It was a complex mix of feelings for me personally. He has been one too many things apart from being a boxer in the past years — movie star; singer; cock-fighting debonaire; a high-rolling gambler; born-again; pastor; Congressman... the list goes on. (I swear to God the moment he becomes president is when I know that it's time to give up on the Filipino people). I honestly didn't know if I was amused or saddened about it. But one thing that's certain is that I don't like it.

 I love Pacquiao and these are just the personal sentiments of a a Filipino fan who has seen how much he has done for the country.  I love shooting him and he's the most hilarious, kindest celebrity here in the local scene. I've seen how much pride and joy he brings to the faces on our countrymen even at their worst. But a basketball coach? Even the everyday Filipino would just shake their heads in disagreement. Go on, try it. More or less you will get the same answer. This isn't because I don't think he'll ever succeed or I don't want him to, but it's because I think he's doing too many things that actually prevents him from what he is already great at — being the country's biggest source of inspiration.

From abolishing the crime rate to giving disaster victims renewed morale, Pacquiao's effect on a nation is unprecedented.

In a country that seems to keep trying to be many things — politicians becoming rock stars; rock stars and celebrities becoming politicians; media men trying to be rock stars and celebrities (you get the picture), he has already transcended all of these. I wish he just stays at what he's great at. Not just because it's good for the country, but it's certainly seems like it would be good for him as well. It's understood that he can't box forever, but that is the very reason why he should just focus on that now while he still can.  Give this country a couple more reasons to be intoxicated with pride and joy. We do not know when we will have something like it again.

Stick to being an inspiration and a source of pride, not ridicule, Manny. While you still can. This country needs you to do so. 

We Will All Tire of Yolanda

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A typhoon Haiyan survivor looks for items that can be traded for cash in a dumpsite in Palo

 We will all tire of Yolanda. One way or another.

            Doctors are still operating with insufficient equipment and staff to the point that they double as nurses. Members of the MMDA have been working around the clock, clearing the debris that seemingly has no end. Business owners strive to reopen and operate the hotels, restaurants and shops despite the enormous struggle to provide service in the midst of the ruined city. Teachers take on the role of cleaning up the campuses with the hope that classes can “hopefully” start soon. 

        There is a group that is called Task Force “Cadaver” in which I personally do think is an example of how appropriate a usually inappropriate coinage can be.   For the first time they claim that different sectors of the government have decided to collaborate and help each other out for a shared goal. They are comprised of men from the Fire Bureau who have gone way beyond their mandate to of fighting fire to retrieve each body that they see or hear about. Every solitary one they could get their hands on. It was already an uninviting task until I witnessed what the members of the NBI and the DOH were doing. They painstakingly open each and every cadaver bag to make sure that they are properly tagged and “re-bagged." They are the people who hold the key to providing the families of each body with the hope of closure or even just a burial that does not hold a semblance to lines sacks of rice being dumped in a hole. It will be a long and painful process of tagging each and every body they have. But even they know that this only will go on if they get sufficient support to fund the process.

         Virtually all the NGOs from around the world are there too and are giving it everything they can each and every day just to give a random survivor a new lease in life just by trying providing the very basic things that a human being needs to get by.  I have met civilians who even flew from different countries on their own just to give what they can. They had no experience in conducting aid and relief missions and simply just took leaps of faith as they felt letting the calls of the survivors lead them to places they never imagined they would ever reach or see. They themselves struggled to survive just to be able to give what they can. Nothing is small here.  Anything will make a difference.

    Journalists are exhausted from churning out stories that will help to hold the world's attention. There is no shortage of important stories to tell, but there is such a thing as audience fatigue, and I believe that it is fast catching up on those who once devotedly followed Yolanda.

        I confess that I am tired of seeing dead bodies in full detail.  The bodies that I have seen in person, with each one I have photographed and taken back with me to Manila. I struggle to keep my eyes open and focused on the frame as I now edit. The greatest weight will never hit you immediately. It only hits you days or weeks after, when you are back in your personal reality. You realize that you are no longer the same. It has grown hard for you fit in and to exist in the same way as before. Nevertheless, what the hell it is I am tired of is nothing in comparison to each and every profession that has been mentioned above. The thing is they will all get tired as well and would just have to walk away from all this, even just for a while.

        And then you begin to consider how tired the survivors are. It is quite amazing how they can still have so much hope and optimism despite the virtually hopeless situations each and every one of them is facing. Their strength puzzles me. Maybe reality hasn't sunk in yet to them. Maybe this is resilience at its best, and we are actually seeing and bearing witness to it. Probably it's the absence of choice that triggers that human instinct to survive that is making resiliency possible.

      They will get tired too — tired of hoping, fighting, surviving. The world has been strong for these people who have lost more than a person could imagine and it has allowed them to slowly rise up from the impossible. But for how much longer can the world stand behind them?

        The fight has only just begun. The news value of this has gone. However, it hell does not mean that it's over. It's the long-term and underlying issues that are now presenting themselves one after the other. And these are factors that can easily make all the world's preliminary efforts completely useless.

        This is why this story still matters. This is why i think that the world should still continue to care. Humanity doesn’t stop because we are tired. It must go on. Even if we are all exhausted we should not look away, we have to keep our eyes within the frame.

Living With the Dead

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The rotting stench of an estimated 30 corpses have prevented the residents of Barangay 83 in San Jose, Tacloban from properly rebuilding their homes as they have been fearing for their health - both physically and mentally.

The children used to swim at this spot. It used to be a place where they would just jump off the pier and into the crystal clear waters to cool themselves off from the heat of the sun.

Now they have become “tour guides” of death bringing us to the spots where the dead lay.

“A skull sir, would you like to see a the skull of a baby that has decomposed?” The photographer in me was eager to the possibility of a strong image. The human in me was shocked at how casually the words rolled off his tounge of a young boy barely past puberty. 

The residents of Barangay 83 in San Jose, Tacloban have been trying to bring this matter to attention because they just want to start rebuilding again. But the stench of the estimated 30 decomposing bodies have prevented them from doing so. It has become unbearable to the point that they fear for their health both physically and mentally. They have begged SOCO (spell out the acronyms- people won’t know who SOCO is) and the authorities they have seen picking up cadavers during clean-up operations. The only answer they got was that it was the coast guard’s duty to retrieve the bodies that were ashore. Up until today they have been living with the stench and the sight. 

What personally bothers me is how normal and casual it is for the children. When I asked if it affected them emotionally, a boy timidly answered that he sees the dead just before he sleeps and gets nightmares whenever he goes back. He answered this with such shyness that it seemed as if he didn’t felt like he had the right to be affected by these things.

This is still the reality here.  And this is why I plead for the appropriate authorities to take action.

Missing the Familiar

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Having photos published in major publications around the world inevitably becomes a typical occurrence for a wire photographer. So typical that it becomes rare to find one who bothers to keep even half the clippings where his or her photos were featured.

Though it felt mundane while it was my job back then, I am grateful for my time in the wires. Everyday was an opportunity to produce the best possible photos and to show it to the world. Knowing that you shared this with best news photographers around the world kept on setting my standards for myself higher. Even the simplest assignments taught you to move faster, work harder, be better. Looking back, it was a nice feeling of accomplishment, to see your photograph on the front pages of a newspaper. A space which a thousand other photos could have easily claimed. It is something I only appreciated now that I'm not in that kind of work.

It has been one of the things I wish I didn't take for granted while working for the wires. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate it. It was because I thought I would be collecting them for the rest of my life. It is rare to find a wire photographer who keeps even half his clippings, but it's a good thing I have parents who held onto mine.