Honoring modern-day heroes

Gracia Burnham is the modern-day hero, escaping from the clutches of the Abu Sayyaf some months ago, and now speaking about her nightmare before various groups in the United States. Her husband, Martin, however, was killed in an exchange of firepower between the bandits and government soldiers, as was Ediborah Yap, a Filipino nurse who along with the American missionaries, was held captives for many months. But while only Gracia lived to tell the story of her ordeal, she and Martin and Ediborah, as well as Marilyn Bien-Boniad, a public elementary school teacher from Naga, Camarines Sur, will be honored with recognition awards by the Kilosbayan and its sister organization, Bantay Katarungan at a special benefit concert on Aug. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the RCBC Carlos P. Romulo auditorium in Makati.

Kilosbayan President Jovito R. Salonga says no less than President Macapagal-Arroyo will confer the awards on these "new heroes of our time."

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The awarding ceremonies will highlight the concert whose purpose is to raise P5-million to continue the operation of Bantay Katarungan, which was organized to do something about our defective system of justice.

Kilosbayan President Jovito R. Salonga describes some activities of Bantay Katarungan. Selected law students from leading law schools – UP, Ateneo, San Beda, FEU and Lyceum have been the Center’s watchdogs in monitoring and evaluating the everyday performance of the courts of justice and quasi-judicial tribunals in important cases.

These are the San Mateo garbage dump case in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, the Impeachment Trial in the senate, the plunder hearings against ex-President Estrada in the Supreme Court and the Sandiganbayan, the coco levy cases in the Supreme Court and the Sandiganbayan, the nomination by the Judicial and Bar Council of the aspirants for the two vacancies in the Supreme Court and the impending vacancy (August 4) for the position of Ombudsman.

The bad news is that the Bantay Katarungan’s major donor, the Ford Foundation, which has been giving BK $100,000 or P5-million a year, will stop its operations in the Philippines next year.

"We’re not daunted by this development," says Senator Salonga. "After all, the improvement and modernization of our system of justice is our own responsibility as Filipinos, People Power I and People Power II taught us a lesson: The Executive may be discredited, the Legislature, despite the good record of some of its members, may have a tarnished reputation, but as long as we have a functioning and respectable judiciary, led by the Supreme Court which, despite its imperfections, can give justice to our people, democracy will survive and perhaps flourish in the Philippines."

So, the benefit concert on August 6 will hopefully result in donations amounting to P5 million to keep the BK operations going next year.

Are you willing to help? Do you want to attend the concert? Call Kilosbayan House, 534-1077; 534-58-68, or telefax 534-58-73.

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ON ANOTHER FRONT, today, at 3 and 8 p.m., the last great work of Maestro Lucio San Pedro – the zarzuela Bayan, Isang Paa Na Lamang, will be performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Main theater.

The music of the zarzuela was composed by the Maestro at age 89, when he was already ailing. "It was touch and go for a while," says Melba Padilla Maggay, Ph.D., who wrote the libretto. A month before the maestro died, he called Melba to say he had finished what he had promised to deliver. "He was pleased as punch."

The Maestro had reason to celebrate, recalls, Melba. He had earlier finished the melodies of all 17 songs in the zarzuela but took a while to finish the orchestration. "He had difficulty writing the notes," explains his daughter Cristy. Most composers now do this tedious and painstaking work by computer, but the Maestro did it all by hand. "We were amazed that towards the end his handwriting got better and he wrote beautifully."

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Two weeks before the Maestro died, Maggay and her friends trooped to Angono to pay the Maestro a visit and collect the music pieces. Jai Sabas Aracama, who was once a student of the Maestro and now conductor of the UP Concert Chorus, says, "He looked quite invigorated, and for a while seemed like the old imperious Maestro who could not countenance a false note. He kept asking me to sing some of the pieces again and again."

There were two or three pieces which brought tears to the visitors at the Maestro’s home. Says Maggay: "I don’t know exactly what it was but we all felt we were hearing something that was coming out of our own soul. The lyricism was of the same quality as Ugoy ng Duyan, and the fun songs were exactly what I imagined them to be. It was quite moving for me to hear the words set to music like that."

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Find time to watch the last performances of Bayuan, Isang Paa Na Lamang, which depicts the tragic conflict between Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. The powerful singers are Robert Sana, Bimbo Cerrudo, Lionel Guico, Lana Jalosjos, Jai Aracama, Lawrence Jatayna, Cynthia Guico, Cathy Azanza, Jeanelle Bihag and a host of others, along with the UP Concert Chorus. Te production is accompanied by a 40-pieceorchestra under the baton of Chino Toledo. Overall direction is by Paul Morales and set designer is painter Fred Liongoren.

The zarzuela is produced by the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture in cooperation with the National Commission on Culture and the Arts and the UP College of Music.