Film Director Reunion with His Pinay Yaya

Singaporean director, Anthony Chen reunites with his Pinay yaya, who inspired Cannes-winning film just recently.( www.interaksyon.com). A Pinay yaya is the family maid that takes care of the children. She can be a surrogate mother and can bond with the kids forever. I could identify with this story because I have also a Yaya when I was a child. I bonded with her and I have never forgotten her until she died. It is sad however that after she left the services of our family when the Japanese-American war started in the Philippines in 1941, I was never able to reunite with her. As I grew up, I learned to forget about her. However, once in a while I will remember incidences in my childhood years reminding me of how I bonded with her. I would remember that at that time I love my Yaya more than my mother. Now on with this true story that shed a tear or two in my eyes.

"During the 66th Cannes International Film Festival held last May, Anthony Chen’s feature film debut “Ilo Ilo” became the first film from Singapore to win in the world’s most prestigious festival. After earning a 15-minute standing ovation during its gala premiere, it was awarded the Camera d’Or, given to the best first feature film presented in the Official Selection, International Critics’ Week or the Directors’ Fortnight section where it was an entry.

The film focuses on the relationship between the Lims, a typical Chinese-Singaporean family, and their newly arrived maid, Teresa or Terry, an OFW from Iloilo (hence, the title), in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. The maid was played by Filipina independent film actress Angeli Bayani.

As it turns out, the story was based on the director’s childhood and inspired by the Pinay domestic helper whom Chen and his two younger brothers referred to as, yes, Auntie Terry.

As reported by the Chinese-language newspaper of Singapore, Lianhe Zaobao, Chen embarked on a search for the real Auntie Terry shortly after winning the Camera d’Or for his film. With the help of Iloilo natives or Ilonggas as we know them, it did not take long before Auntie Terry (real name: Teresita D. Sajonia) was found still living in, of course, Iloilo.

“Sometimes, even after years of separation, there are those who are destined to meet again. On Sunday 23rd July, in a small hut in the village of San Miguel in Iloilo Province, Anthony and Christopher were reunited with the real Auntie Terry after a 16-year separation. Words were unnecessary as they embraced. It was an emotional moment for all who were present,” according to Lianhe Zaobao as translated by the movie’s Facebook site from the original Chinese report.

Now 56, Auntie Terry was also described in the report as looking a lot older with ragged clothes, greying hair and wrinkled face, a far cry from how Anthony Chen remembered her: “a cultured, young, and beautiful lady who loved to dress up and listen to cassette tapes of ‘Evita’ and ‘Miss Saigon’”.

Her current living conditions are also hardly what anyone would consider as that befitting a former OFW. The report further revealed that Auntie Terry now lives in a foul-smelling run-down house that’s akin to “a chicken shack” in their village. Characterized by wooden planks, bamboo materials, muddy floors, well water, no toilet and lit only by a small light bulb, Auntie Terry’s place only has an old radio for its only appliance.

According to the report, Auntie Terry is one of the classic cases of OFWs who worked hard to support their family but in the process, forget to look after their own welfare. When she was working in Singapore, she sent most of her salary to her family, setting aside P80,000 for herself.

The Chen siblings, Anthony, Justin and Christopher, had very fond memories of their Auntie Terry during the eight years that she worked for their family.

“After she returned to her village, Teresita missed the three boys very much. She didn’t marry and had no children. Up till today, she still carries photos of the three boys with her, as if they were her own children. She wrote to the Chen family once, but unfortunately the family moved to a different address and they lost contact,” the report continued.

When she returned to the country due to health reasons 16 years ago at the age of 40, Auntie Terry went back to Iloilo and never returned to Singapore. Now living with a partner who, like her, suffers from poor vision, she lives a hand-to-mouth existence bartering her chickens for fish and usually eats just bread twice a day.

Fortunately, the Chens did not forget her. “There are many domestic helpers working in Singapore. We thought when they return home, they’ll be able to afford a big house, or run a small business. But the truth is not always the case,” Anthony said in the same report.

When the Chen brothers found Auntie Terry, they gave her money, vitamin supplements and bought her a pair of glasses, some clothes, T-shirts, jeans and shoes.

Thanks to the efforts of businessman Charles L. Lim — a Singaporean himself who has been living in the Philippines for many years and learned about Auntie Terry through “Ilo Ilo” — Auntie Terry and her partner only known as Mr. Jhunie will be flown to Singapore free of charge to attend the film’s premiere in the city-state.

This will mark the first time in 16 years that Auntie Terry will set foot again in the Lion City, as well as her first time to watch a movie in a cinema — a movie whose story she inspired".

Note: A heart warming story indeed! I am looking forward to see the movie, once it is release here in the United States. The current living conditions of Teresita is sad and her relatives that benefited from the money she sent to Iloilo while she was still working should help her.

Iloilo-A Singapore Film Won Cannes Festival Award

Last May, Anthony Chen, a Singaporean filmmaker debuts his film Iloilo at Cannes Film Festival. The film was set in Singapore during the 1997 financial crisis. Iloilo (happens to be the province of my birth in the Philippines) is about the Lim family and their new house help Teresa; The film depicted how their already problematic family ties evolve; and how different cultures crash. The movie won the Camera D'Or first place award just recently.

Chen was asked how he came about for the film’s title. Here is his answers:

“When I was much younger, my mother hired a Filipino maid to look after the children. Teresa was with us for a long 8 years until I was 12 years old. We called her Auntie Terry. When she left to return home, it was hard to bear, but we got used to her absence and somehow lost contact. I believe the universal experience of children growing up with maids is one of having a “”surrogate”” mother, a friend and a confidant. The one thing that has stayed with me after all these years is the name of the place she was from, Iloilo, a province in the Philippines. That is how the title of the film came about.”

As it chronicles the filmmaker’s family life with their Auntie Terry, the film also depicts the life of a Filipino domestic helper overseas– their sacrifices, their hardships and the simple joys they get from the children they treat as their own. Though not a Filipino film and entirely shot in Singapore, Iloilo somewhat gives delight to the Filipinos especially those working overseas. More than the money they earn, nothing else makes them feel all the sacrifices are worth it but to feel appreciated and loved in a land strange to them. And this film makes them feel special and appreciated in so many ways.

Please take time to watch the trailer. It feels overwhelming to have a foreigner appreciate a Filipino worker even after a decade or so has passed. People like Teresa dignifies a job that is often deemed cheap and low. As this film takes over the International scene, we hope our OFWs and Domestic Workers could also receive the same respect as the foreigners would give to Auntie Terry. We wouldn’t know for sure, but this film might change how the world sees the Filipino domestic workers .Not only because this a film about a Filipino maid, but because the foreigners would be seeing it from a perspective of a non-Filipino.

Knowing she have touched hearts and transformed lives, and that a film was made about her, Auntie Terry could not be happier today wherever she is.

The film synopsis is as follows:

Set in the mid 1990s in Singapore, IloIlo chronicles the relationship between three young brothers (Weijie, 10; Weiming, 8; and Weicong, 6) and their maid from Iloilo, a province in the Philippines.

The three children of working parents Teck and Hwee still seem unable to take care of themselves or one another while the couple is at work and so the mother hires a maid.

The arrival of Teresa, the new Filipino maid, presents a new situation for the family as the brothers try to adapt to the presence of a stranger at home, a challenge particularly for the youngest Weicong who shares a room with her.

Having gotten used to Auntie Terry (as they call her), the often demanding and spoiled kids overwhelm their maid with errands and chores, relying on her to do the simplest of tasks. The dynamics of this relationship changes when Teresa asserts parental control to discipline the mischievous children. She has gone from stranger to servant and now surrogate mother and friend – one who dotes and cares, yet disciplines and educates. This leads to subtle jealousy from Hwee and an increased tension between the two maternal figures.

The unique bond between the foreign maid and the children continue to develop and soon she has become an unspoken part of the family, until financial circumstances resulting from the recession in 1997 mean the family can no longer afford her.

The children struggle to come to terms with the decision but eventually are forced to deal with Auntie Terry’s departure.

Personal Note: I could identify with the bonding experience of Anthony Chen and his two brothers with their Yaya (Auntie Terry). I had a personal Yaya from birth and until I was 7 years old. The childhood memories of my Yaya I will never forget and will always remember it as long as I live.

The Pork Barrel Scandal in the Philippines

The anonymous author of this article describing in detail the modus operandi of the pork barrel scandal in the Philippines requested that it be shared to the whole world. I urged all Filipinos that it is now the time to abolish this source of corruption in the Philippines.

"Janet Lim Napoles has strong ties before with the late Emilia Boncodin, DBM Secretary. Emilia is the one that keep Janet in the loop whenever a budget or SARO is approved and to which senator or congressman.

Gringo Honasan is a dear friend of Janet’s husband, Jimmy Napoles. I was surprised when I read somewhere online when Honasan was interviewed and he said that he doesnt know the Napoles family.

During the coup in Cory’s time, Jimmy Napoles was driving a tank on the way to Camp Crame when he’s tank was hit by a mortar.Jimmy is operating the .50 caliber machine gun and the soldier driving the tank died during the blast. Jimmy survived and was jailed along with Honasan. If you can get clear photos of Jimmy Napoles online, you will see that part of his face and his arms show burn marks.

Their wealth started to build up during the late 90′s when they engaged themselves with mayors based in Zamboanga to use them as a front for a Foundation that will implement projects or deliver farm materials. With connections at COA, they were able to arrange “completed projects” without delivering anything. They established JLN group of companies sometime in 2000 and they moved to their new office the Discovery Suites on the 25th floor.

Soon enough, they were able to develop deep connections with more legislators in congress and numerous senators. What JLN Group Of Companies do and their sub-companies, Jo-Chris Trading (named after their eldest child, Jo-Christine “Neneng” Napoles) – they use their foundations as the implementing agency for the funds of congressmen or senators. You see, congressmen and senators have budget, PDAF or the “pork barrel”, but these politicians do not have direct access to their funds and they can never touch it. So what they do is the politicians will create a project (common one is “fertilizer distribution” to farmers) and will ask DBM to set the budget. Then, there will be a public bidding to be held by DAR. The outcome of the bidding is already fixed and it’s Napoles foundation wins. The fund or SARO will be released through Janet’s foundation and the congressmen/senators will ask 70% of the whole amount. So if the project is 10M, Janet will give 70% of that. Usually Janet’s nephew, John Francisco Lim is the courier of the money, they will meet at Podium or at a parking lot. The money are stored in plastic bags or paper bags.

So, whatever is left from the budget, 30% goes to Janet. They usually cash-in the cheque they get from DBM at Landbank in Greenhills and the manager there is part of Janet’s payroll. Janet also need to pay the inspectors from COA and whoever is involved in DAR.

This is their workflow. This is what they do for more than a decade. This is how the senators and congressmen make money. This is why theses politicians have so much and working class Filipinos almost have nothing. This is not only Janet’s fault. The greediness of the senators and congressmen are the driving point that keeps this system operating. It is also amazing that if Janet’s family and her company goes into trial, the people who will try them – judges, senators, congressmen, are also part of this. I fear for the life of Benhur and Merlina as whistle blowers. Soon enough they will die. The people of the Philippines should protect them. NBI or the witness protection program cannot do anything about it. Because they are keeping the whistle blowers alive for their own use only. Once Janet give payments to the NBI and once Revilla, Honasan, Arroyo, Pichay, Ducut, Pineda, Lim, Estrada, Soto, Lapid, and almost all the congressmen who were in post for the past decade, step in – there’s nothing Benhur or Merlina can do. They are as good as dead by now.

Please post this on your social media and share it to the world. It is time to stop this madness and remove the pork barrel and protect Benhur and Merlina".


Reader 1 Comment: Oh WOW! You’re very detailed! I really hope that you’re talking to the media because they can use this kind of information as well when they do their own investigations. You’re right we need to stop the madness. The country needs for this kind of thing to stop. THANK YOU SO MUCH for responding to my blog. I’ll try to find a way to get your message to as many people I know as possible.

Reader 2 Comment: And that is why s/he is anonymous. S/he’s not stupid enough to be a whistle blower. Or else she’ll be good as dead too. In reality, no one can protect them/us. All the people who is in power to do so is in on it. We can talk about this all we want. But as we speak these politicians are laughing taking poor people’s money.

Are Filipinos Food Crazy and Name Freaks?

The Tarsier-world smallest primate(Monkey) in the World. Can be found only in the Philippines in the island of Bohol.

The following article, I have read a couple of years ago. But today, a friend e-mailed it to me. I can help but smile and I decided it to share it with you my blog readers. If you have read this before, my apology. It was written by a British journalist, Matthew Sutherland, stationed in the Philippines. His observations are so hilarious but true!!!

Sutherland wrote about Pinoys craze of food and creativity of filipino names! This reminded me of the latest tourism video advertising that instead of saying "Hello", Filipinos would say "Have You Eaten Already"?

MATTER OF TASTE

"I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and that's to eat BALUT.

The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is.

Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda ceyna, dinner, bedtime snacks and no-one-saw-me- take-that- cookie-from- the-fridge- so-it-doesn' t-count.

The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in the Philippines . If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.

Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines :

Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast. In the UK , I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it's impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon (food in small container) and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife.

One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, "Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!").

This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that's great!

In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.

Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche (roast pig) feast.. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.

I also share one key Pinoy trait --- a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it!

It's the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS. Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA , which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces.

Then there's the small matter of the purple ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold.

And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)...

The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet.

"What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!"

Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals --- the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); "HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette- like blocks of animal blood). Yum,yum. Bon appetit..

WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom , we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.

The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year- olds colleague put it. Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech.. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.

Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that sound like -well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping . None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear. Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic.

Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come from "dong" is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent!! !
Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while. Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy.

More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).

Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver. That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila --taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.

Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao , believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like "Engscowani" (for England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland ). Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not.

And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?

How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names. Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true?

Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin? May I add his palace used to be called the House of Sin! ( not current news)

Where else but the Philippines "! Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

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