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Dear Reader:

KATIPUNAN is proud to announce that our third issue, an August-September double issue is now available for download at www.katipunan.com.ph!

Our double issue is currently being printed, and will soon copies will be distributed all over campus and the Katipunan area.

We would also like to inform you that KATIPUNAN is in dire need of financial support. In case you don’t know, KATIPUNAN, being a fully independent campus news organization, is not an accredited organization of the Ateneo, and therefore does not receive any financial or logistical support from the Ateneo de Manila. This secures an independent editorial and financial policy for us, allowing us to give you the best possible reporting and issue analysis. We remain committed to giving out free copies of our magazine to anyone who asks.

This, of course, means that we have to rely on advertising and donations to keep our publication going. We believe that Ateneans deserve only the best, and we would like to give you the best campus news source that you can have. If you believe in this cause, please log on to our website. Download our issues. And if you really like what you get to read, then please, give to KATIPUNAN by sending us an e-mail at the.katipunan@gmail.com . If you know anyone else who might be able to help support our publication, then please, forward this message to that party. Any amount will do. We believe in Atenean generosity, and believe that with your support, we will be able to serve you as you deserve.

Parties also interested in advertising in KATIPUNAN can also send us an e-mail to the above address.

The revolution in independent campus journalism needs your help to keep going.

Thank you very much.

–
RAMON MIGUEL C. SAMSON
Editor in Chief, Katipunan

In other words, this is why I’m not in the official school paper (well, sort of). Don’t quote me on this because I don’t know the whole story but from what I’ve heard, a huge group of people quit the school paper last year because they were unhappy with the people who were chosen to be the Edboard (Editorial Board). This year, I joined both the school paper and Katipunan and got accepted for both. I’m a lot happier in Katipunan though, mainly because the people in the Edboard are the kind of competent leaders that inspire you to follow. And admittedly, the Katipunan does come out with better articles–and I’m not just saying this because I’m biased. I haven’t done shit for the school paper so far and I’m surprised that my editor there hasn’t yelled at me for that; I’d actually have more respect for her if she did. But she hasn’t, so oh well.

I really should get around to resigning from the school paper soon. This is going to get me into some trouble with student politics.

A few days ago, I borrowed a Filipino graphic novel called Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah by Carl Vergara. It’s basically your garden-variety superhero comic book about battling garden-variety alien invaders–except that our “superhero”, Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah, is really a parlor gay who becomes a transsexual upon swallowing a magic stone (like Darna, the most famous female Filipino comic book superhero). Since I have done quite a bit of research on Filipino gay culture for a group paper on homosexuality for a Theology class, I was able to read Zsa Zsa with some background on local gay culture. And I will make my comments on the graphic novel with this knowledge in mind. (Let me make a disclaimer though, that all I know of Filipino gay culture is based on observation and information from a book called Philippine Gay Culture: The Last 30 Years by Neil Garcia (from UP Press).)

Homosexuals in the Philippines are referred to as bakla or bading. The bakla is basically your loud, effeminate, parlor gays (think the gay guys from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy except noiser) or transsexuals. In Filipno culture, bakla and homosexuality necessarily connote each other. During the sixties, which was the birth of Filipino gay culture, it was popularly believed that a bakla is a male whose sexually desires another male, but by virtue of this choice, loses his masculinity and begins to turn female. But this transformation to another gender is never fully accomplished because what the bakla can only do is become a “fake woman”.

With time, Filipino gays gained a favorable reputation through the field of arts and entertainment–theater, fashion design, show business. But alhtough it seemed that the although it seemed that bakla were celebrated and welcomed by the predominantly heterosexual Filipino society, people came to the impression that bakla will always remain aberrations because they cannot partake in the experience of bearing children. Since they are handicapped in this sense, the bakla has less chance for happiness than others.

In other words, homosexuality in the Philippines boils down to a reversal of gender roles. They dress up as females or act effeminately and have creative jobs like interior design–jobs that are usually designated to women. It is also the average bakla’s dream to be loved, accepted, and enter into a relationship with “real man”. Like women, baklas treat each other like sisters and thus, do not date each other because this would be something like incest. Ironically, Filipino gays, while marginalized by the heterosexuals, practice a form of discrimmination of their own. Silahis is a Tagalog word that roughly translates to “bisexual”. But for the bakla, who assert a feminine identity, a silahis is a male who looks and acts like a “real man” but who, deep inside, wishes to become effeminate. Because the silahis is not effeminate, he is misconstrued by the gay culture as behaving in a masculine manner to avoid the stigma on effeminate identity. It was also the opinion of the gays that the silahis were merely fence-sitters waiting out the war against homophobia. Thus, the silahis were considered to be traitors to their cause.

So what does all this have to do with Zsa Zsa? In the graphic novel, Ada–the bakla who eventually becomes Zsa Zsa–is in love with a guy named Dodong, and the story ends with Dodong falling in love with him. If what I just said about Filipino homosexuality is still holds true today (and I actually wouldn’t know since I don’t have any gay friends), then I just don’t see this happening. Look at it this way. Baklas want to be in a relationship with a “real man” but the fact of the matter is, heterosexual guys would do anything to avoid being seen in the company of a bakla, usually because they find the gender role reversal disgusting and unnatural, and because they fear that other people might think they are bakla as well. And if the bakla think that the silahis (the manly gay man) is some sort of a traitor to kabaklaan, then I think they’ve reached a dead end. But again, let me clarify that my conclusion is not fact; just the result of a little research and personal observation.

As for what I think about the whole gender role reversal of Filipino gays, I admit that sometimes I find it disturbing and slightly annoying. I don’t understand why they feel that they are “women trapped in men’s bodies”. I find it annoying how they tend to screech too loudly, and scary how they can be bitchier than the bitchiest women. And yes, it’s gross how some gays act like the most goddamn arrogant queens but just don’t have the looks to pull it off. I realize that this isn’t a very fair evaluation of them and but the reason why I feel this way towards them is because I don’t have any gay friends. Not because I don’t want to, but simply because I’ve never had the opportunity to know any Filipino gay people. I’ve been told that they have a great sense of humor and are as loyal a friend as another woman but since I don’t know any gays I haven’t seen this side of them yet. Perhaps someday I will. But if the bakla can be as trecherous as the average woman (see this entry), then perhaps I can’t have a lasting friendship with one.

(This is probably asking for it, but I’m leaving the comments open.)

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This week marked the release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in Japan. Thanks to the Internet, my friend Pam, and English subtitles, my friends and I were able to watch it at school yesterday - way before anyone else we knew saw it. It meant that everyone at the Table (those who were able to catch it, anyway) missed their noontime classes, but I think it was worth the cut. We all needed a break from schoolwork, anyhow.

Well. What can I say? I have mixed feelings about the movie. On the one hand, the FF7 fangirl in me is still jumping around like a giddy child and screaming that Advent Children was SO FUCKING AWESOME. The first ten minutes of the movie was spent alternately shrieking and trying to pick my jaw off the floor. To describe the animation as wonderful, impressive, detailed, and beautiful would just not be enough to let someone else know how fantastic it was–it is something that has to be experienced. From the wonderful animation, everything else I loved about the movie follows. The fight scenes - and there were a lot of them, much to the delight of the Igorot headhunter in me - were fast-paced, breathtaking, and literally left me hanging off the edge of my seat. So much explodey action! Although I must admit that some of the events were a tad unrealistic (Cloud gets shot point blank but he only gets a scratch - what the fuck was that?), those still have to be the best fight scenes I have ever seen.

(begin fangirl moment here)

Oh, and can I just say that everyone in the movie was SO FUCKING HOT!?!??!! All your favorite characters from the Final Fantasy 7 game are computer-generated into these gorgeous, almost-subhuman creatures. It made me want to weep, and potentially become a lesbian if I were single and girls in real life were as hot as Tifa and Aeris (and not at all bitchy and backstabbing). I mean, look.

Are they not the hottest girls you have ever laid your eyes on? Oh, and if you thought Vincent Valentine in the game was cool, check this out.

Even my male friends found him rapeable. (Okay fine, male friend who happens to be bisexual.)

(end fangirl moment here)

But delicious eye candy and explodey action aside, I got around to thinking about Advent Children and I realized that without the hot people and the fight scenes, I wouldn’t have liked it at all. I think that Advent Children was made to please the fans of FF7 who couldn’t get enough of the game; if you have not at least played the game, you won’t be able to appreciate the movie (unless you’re just watching it for the girls). The plot takes off two years after the game ends and really, the main point is that Cloud is still feeling a lot of wangst over Aeris’ death and the whole story is geared towards him trying to get over it. But while watching Advent Children, whatever plot goes flying out the window because you’re too busy drooling over the women and the cinematics to care. I mean, I didn’t even notice until way after the movie that story-wise, Advent Children is very lacking.

But because I had such a great time watching it, I will give the movie a rating of 4/5. I think that the animation more than makes up for the lack of any real plot. But this is coming from a fan who loves seeing things explode and was utterly delighted at seeing the game’s characters in perfect, computer-generated human form.

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