Hibik at Himagsik nina Victoria Lactaw

On Feb. 17, 1899, a poem appeared in El Heraldo Filipino, an underground newspaper, for which nine women shared authorship. The piece, Hibik Namin, served as a manifesto calling on all Filipinos to heed the plight of women victims of rape by American soldiers. The names of the women authors were allegorical – Victoria Lactaw, Felipa Kapuloan, Feliza Kahatol, Victoria Mausig, Patricia Himagsik, Salvadora Dimagiba and Deodata Liwanag. (In those times, Andres Bonifacio used the allegorical name Maypagasa, and Apolinario Mabini Tahimik.)

Since February this year, Dulaang UP has been staging the story of those women in the form of a most engaging zarzuela whose libretto was written by Bienvenido Lumbera, U.P. professor and man of letters. Bien writes in the souvenir program that he chose to situate the narrative in Lipa, as it is in Batangas that such expressive indigenous names are still to be found, and because it is his hometown "with a history to be proud of."

Through the story of the nine women, Bien wanted to remind this generation of Filipinos that there was a war between the Filipinos and Americans that cause the loss of almost two million Filipino lives, that he wanted to join his voice to those who have been "protesting the silencing of women in the narration of our revolutionary struggle" and to say that the American Occupation did not end in 1946, but "continues under a different guise in our time, and markedly so under the administration of the incumbent president who has re-opened our country to American troops after 10 years during which time we thought we had finally been able to assert our national sovereignty by keeping them out of our territories." A fourth reason, says Bien, is that women revolutionaries "both under and above ground have proved that in our time…they are forces to reckon with in the liberation of our people."

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The zarzuela we watched Monday at the Wilfredo Guerrero Theater was a "fusion of poetry and music in a political drama", as Bien puts it. The zarzuela as theater form, he says, "lightens without trivializing a serious treatment of a weighty theme such as war and nationalism, and makes possible the creation of political songs that can be used apart from the dramatic context in which they were originally sung."

Bien’s narrative was set to music by Lucien Letaba, music that moved and pierced the audience’s heart, expressing as it did, the women’s representative struggle to be set free from the case of gender repression and actively participate in the war of liberation against the American colonizers.

The performers were marvelous singers and thespians headed by Michelle Montero, Arnold Reyes (who alternated with Al Fermin Gatmaitan), Agnes Barredo (alternating with Jeanelle Bihag), and Raymond Roldan. Joint efforts to make the play a feast for the senses were made by Salvador Bernal, who did the production design; Butch de Juan, musical direction; Melvin Corpin, musical arrangement, and Jobin Balleteros, sound and musical arrangement. Myra Beltran did the choreography, and Voltaire de Jesus, the lights design. Direction was by the now famous Alexander Cortez.

For those who want to behold this remarkable production, play dates are August 16, 20, 21, 22, 23 (7 p.m.), and August 17, 28 and 25 (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.). CDs have been made of the zarzuela; these are available at the ticket booth.

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ON ANOTHER FRONT. Last month, Petron Foundation brought scores of children to the Quirino Grandstand to be part of a special audience with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. These children form the primary recipients of Tulong Aral ng Petron, a scholarship program of the oil company in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Education.

Tulong Aral ng Petron sponsors a total of 1,000 children in 89 schools in 12 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila. These children have all been enrolled in Grade I and will continue to be scholars until they graduate from Grade 6 in Year 2008.

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The government subsidizes tuition in public elementary schools, but most poor families cannot afford to send their children to school due to other expenses. Thus, Tulong Aral provides these families with school uniforms, school supplies, school projects and meal allowances. "If we are to truly make a difference in our efforts to help others, it should be through a program that is long lasting, and for those who deserve it the most," says Nicasio I. Alcantara, chairman and CEO of Petron Corporation and Petron Foundation.

"Tulong Aral is about encouraging the poor not to lose hope because there are those who are making the effort to end them a hand," says Petron President Motassim A. Al Malashouq. "The children that we help today may become the leaders of this country tomorrow."

In addition to the scholarships, Petron is helping boost education by building Petron Schools in communities where schools are few and far between. One has already been opened for use of students in Sta. Cruz, Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. There are more of these three-classroom units with complete facilities to be constructed in the next few years, with the Mindanao region high on the priority list. Petron has also launched the Petron Skills Training and Education Program (STEP), a customized training program that gives the youth an opportunity to build a career through Petron’s more than 1,100 service stations.