June 6, 2011
I: Padayan
In Cebuano, the word ‘Padayan’ means ‘to continue.’ Peace Corps originally designed the program, and it is done in many countries throughout the world. In an effort to promote youth leadership in countries where leadership skills are often lacking, the ‘Padayan’ model encourages youth within the community to learn and practice leadership and mentorship. To begin the training, several Peace Corps Volunteers hold a leadership training for local youth in the community. Afterwards, the youth plan and hold their own youth camp for younger kids. The Padayan model is for the youth to learn and immediately practice their leadership skills.
Having heard of this model, the city government of Vigan requested for a Padayan camp. Ate Stella, from the Vigan DSW office, took charge of much of the planning, while I hosted the event and helped with planning. Three other volunteers were invited to Vigan to help host the event as well.
The theme of the camp was centered on Conservation and Preservation. The Heritage city of Vigan is the oldest remaining example of a Spanish Colonial town that exists in all of Asia. Walking down its aged cobblestone streets, one can enjoy the sounds of kalesas (horse-drawn carriages) clip clopping down the lane. The buildings aligning the streets are Spanish fortresses of aged concrete. Their capis-shelled windows and wooden arches have remained for several centuries. During the Spanish colonialism of the past 4 centuries, the Philippines had many Spanish-looking towns. However, World War II brought the demise of all of these cities, except one- Vigan, Ilocos Sur. During the war, the Filipina lover of a Japanese army General resided in Vigan. Thus, the Japanese army vowed not to bomb the city. Today, Vigan is revered as a World Heritage Site and tourists from all over flock to the city to take a trip back in time.
Forty-five local youth leaders were scheduled to attend the training. However, only 23 of them showed up. Andrew, Jane, Mary, and I gave icebreakers to start the morning, before presenting a series of activities. The biggest challenge on day one was really their shyness. It felt like no matter what I did, I could not get them to speak. A majority of them was in college, yet they were so extremely shy. We even encouraged them not to speak in English, and to use a language they felt more comfortable in, such as Tagalog. By the end of the day, I felt exhausted by their taciturn glances and having to drag every single response out of them. Many of them would not look at me in the eye at all. (This is something about this culture that I will never be able to adjust to comfortably.)
Day two brought about less shyness, more small group work and the result was better, as many of them were able to express themselves better, be it in Tagalog. As facilitators, we talked about the qualities of a leader and the best ways in which to expresses these qualities.
I was especially impressed with day three. The youth leaders planned and prepared for the youth camp they would give the following day. They decided upon a theme of ‘Kalikasan’ (nature) and ways to protect the environment. Us facilitators divided the youth leaders into groups to plan each aspect of the two-day camp. Together, the youth leaders planned every activity of the camp.
The next day, we held the camp at my high school’s gymnasium. Around 75 participants showed up for the camp. For the two-day camp, the youth leaders had to organize and facilitate the entire camp. Once registration, nametags, and introductions were finished, the youth leaders facilitated a series of activities, including dancing, pass-the-bouquet, relay races, and a sack race. In the afternoon, the participants competed in an “Amazing Race” in the schoolyard. Some of the activities included trash pickup, separation, and recycling, as well as trash art contests stationed at different booths points during the race.
To conclude the camp, the students prepared for a Mr. and Ms. Kalikasan 2011 pageant. A participant from each team had to design a costume out of trash or from nature and compete in a pageant. The students busied themselves preparing for pageant, spending hours practicing team cheers, dancing, and gathering various materials for costumes. The kids were pretty ingenious, creating their costumes with leaves, trash bags, flowers, vines, and bamboo. In the final afternoon, they haled the pageant, and I watched the tiny Filipino children parade across the stage, naked beneath layers of leaves and taped-together trash bags. After lots of waving, walking, some painful high notes, and a few nosebleeds during the Q & A, Mr. and Ms. Kalikasan were awarded.
The final two days Padayan were led by a guest speaker, a professor from a university in Manila. Initially, I expected his lecture on conservation and heritage preservation to be a bit boring, but I was very wrong. Mr. Eric Zerrudo, a flamboyant and brilliant professor, kept us giggling and intrigued by Philippine History and Heritage.
One of the most memorable moments of his visit was a teamwork activity wherein the youth leaders had to construct their own Vigan city Plaza. Each group was assigned to build a particular building within the plaza, such as the church, the City Hall, the bell tower, and the market. However, in order to do this they had to purchase their building materials (wooden dowels, tissue paper, glue, and tape) from Mr. Zerrudo, using their own clothing as money. At first, we all thought he had to be kidding. Yet, the youth started to remove panties, bras, pants, and shirts in an embarrassed panic. Boys walked around in boxers and girls wrapped shirts around their exposed bottoms in an attempt to cover themselves. Midway through the activity, Mr. Zerrudo, the tyrannical bank owner, moved the bank, thus forcing them to walk outside the classroom to buy their final items. Meanwhile, (in the same building as our camp), the induction ceremony for the newly elected Congressmen was taking place. Just imagine the politician’s faces to see their youth leaders scampering around half-naked trying to build a paper building!
Overall, the camp went remarkably smoothly and it was great to see the youth leaders interact with the kids. Many of them really came out of their shells and took a leadership role. As facilitators, we were really proud of the youth leaders- most especially the unique increase in their confidence throughout the span of the camp.
II: The Genius of Juan Luna
For me, the most memorable part of Mr. Zerrudo’s visit was a lecture he gave on Philippine art and the famous Filipino artist Juan Luna. Luna’s painting, “The Parisian Life,” was bought by the Philippine government for a staggering 46 million pesos!
Why? It has become one of the most famous Filipino paintings of all time; yet it remains mired in ambiguity.
Painted in 1892, it shows a picture of a young prostitute sitting in an awkward, dejected position inside a Parisian cafe. A wrinkled coat is situated next to her. She is being eyed from behind by three of the most influential Filipinos in history: Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero and scholar of the Philippines; Juan Luna himself, the first Filipino master painter and Ambassador; and Dr. Bautista, the Filipino doctor who found a cure for Cholera. In the painting, it appears the three men are trying to pick up the dejected whore.
An initial and basic interpretation of this painting provides a commentary on the male Filipino’s notorious infidelity. Yet, this interpretation does not address Luna’s reasoning for the whore’s awkward and dejected seated posture, nor does it provide reasoning why Luna chose to paint three of the most prominent Filipinos within history as subjects of the painting. For years, scholars have analyzed and debated the meaning of this painting.
Years after its initial creation, scholars stumbled upon another interpretation. It was discovered that Luna had shot his own wife and her family upon his discovery of her infidelity. The woman in the painting becomes a representation of this infidelity and the black top hats worn by the men represent the ‘wearing’ of this infidelity, a symbol of Luna’s own anger and dejection. Upon recognition of this interpretation, the name of the painting was changed for the fourth time in the painting’s history.
For almost a hundred years, this interpretation remained, until a group of students at the University of the Philippines attempted to answer several ambiguities that former interpretations did not address. First, it is evident that the dejected prostitute is the central focal point of the painting, as she is illuminated at the front of the painting, while the three Filipino men remain mired in shadow in the background. (Previous interpretations placed the men as the focal point of the painting.) Second, the woman’s odd physical shape and awkward seated position remained a looming question. Finally, the symbolic meaning of the wrinkled jacket beside the woman was absent in both the previous two interpretations.
So how did these students unlock these ambiguities?
To understand their interpretation, we must first look at Philippine history. It is a politesse to say that during the almost 350-year colonization by the Spanish, the Filipino people were treated as subordinates, as many would claim that Filipinos were, in reality, slaves to Spanish rule. Spanish culture and language completely undermined the language and culture of the Philippines. For most of its history, the Philippines has had its identity stolen and its natural resources squandered for Spanish profit. After Spanish rule, the Americans just continued to whitewash and exploit both the country and culture for our profit and military might. Finally, in 1946, the Philippines gained its ‘freedom,’ a term I use loosely here, and in the following years, the country struggled to scrape together its mangled identity and culture.
During this reclamation, the Philippines attempted to salvage its many national treasures. Juan Luna, unarguably the most famous of Filipino painters, was awarded the title of ‘Master Painter’ for his prodigious rendition of “Spolarium.” The Filipino government attempted to reclaim this painting from Spain, yet Spain refused, claiming that when Luna painted it, the Philippines was under Spanish rule, and therefore Luna was not a Filipino but a Spaniard. Years later, after an arduous struggle, Spain finally agreed to return one of Luna’s greatest works back to the Philippines. When the painting arrived, the Filipinos found Luna’s most precious painting torn in 3 pieces.
In an attempt to address the numerous ambiguities of Luna’s “Parisian Life,” a group of students at the University of the Philippines uncovered a few shocking details. When laid side-by side, the figure of the woman resembles the outline of the Philippine islands. In fact, when the outline of the Philippine islands was turned backwards and overlaid upon the woman, it exactly matched her awkward seated posture- from her tiny waist of Northern Luzon and her breast of Eastern Isabela province, to the ruffles of her long skirt of Mindanao and her outstretched leg of Palawan. Her awkward, black-trimmed neck is not a part of her dress, rather a noose around her neck. The lady in the painting is the Philippines herself. She sits next to the clothing of her deserted user, the wrinkled coat of Spain. She is a dejected mistress for the Spanish with a noose around her neck.
But why is the woman, the outline of the Philippines, backwards? It is only the three Filipino heroes in the background, looking at her from behind, who can see her true shape; the rest of us have merely been viewing her from the wrong angle.
This interpretation came about one hundred years after ‘The Parisian Life’ was painted, almost 100 years after Luna’s death, and after a 50-year battle with Spain to rightfully bring over and bury Luna’s remains within his own country of the Philippines.
So just why did the Philippine government pay 46 million pesos for this small and ambiguous painting? As Dr. Jose Rizal wrote, “Genius knows no country.”
Pioneers! O Pioneers! 