Wave upon wave the Lumad peoples of Mindanao have expressed their indignant response to the deplorable incident at the Haran Compound of the UCCP in Davao City. In clear and loud voice they denounce the unbecoming conduct and actuations of Rep. Nancy Catamco. In Kidapawan City, which is the very seat of her congressional constituency, she has been declared persona non grata.
It will not be long before other Lumad areas in Mindanao and even in the other regions of the country will likewise make known their condemnation of the woman legislator. even as a signature drive has been launched to petition her removal from the Congressional Committee on Cultural Minorities or of the indigenous peoples.
But the indignation protests have not been limited to the Indigenous Peoples. Other classes and sectors, especially the workers and peasants and other toiling masses, have expressed their outcry of displeasure and anger.
Artists have also joined the protest with their particular forms of expression. Here under is a poetic articulation of what transpires in the mind and heart of a literary artist.
The Woman with a Forked Tongue
[A Tragic-Comedy Drama]
Prologue
Amidst the solemn quiet of early morn,
whilst the breeze rocks the tree leaves
and sunbeams play on ground shadows,
dance on tiptoes with the fallen twigs. . .
And tamsis swinging rhythmic with the winds,
tweet-tweet-tweet their morning chants,
announcing, broadcasting their forecast
of a weather disturbance—a thunderstorm. . .
Act One
All so suddenly comes panting, salivating,
a woman with her forked tongue hanging low,
announcing that she is a diwata descended
from the yellow curls of clouds in the north.
Close behind are five hundred horned beasts,
and their horns are grown on their breasts,
their bulging eyes spurting swirls of smoke
from throbbing yellow tongues of flames.
Then the woman holds out her forked tongue,
holds it tight and squeezes it in her fists
until its tips spurt out blue and yellow pus—
words that reek of stench from rotten flesh.
And she snorts and snorts for her nostrils catch
the foul smell of her own flash-flooding words!
Oh, the stench really exudes from what remains
of a sticky mix of her saliva and pechay sauce!
Mmhe! Foul! Foul! Foul! What a foul smell. . !
This is impossible. . .! Hmhe! This is intolerable. . .!
You must return to your homes! If not by dialogue,
I will flush you out here by crook or by crook!
Act Two
The Datus much prefer the way of a dialogue.
So, an emergency dialogue is held at Apo View,
with the horned beasts participating, their tongues
fisted in their claws with darkened dried blood.
And the dialogue becomes a drab monologue,
the Woman holds her tongue and waves it fast,
no one else can speak but the tongue she holds,
its fluids sputter in air and to everyone’s ears.
Even the honorable Caloy Zarate and Luz Ilagan
can not their sentiments expressed, suppressed
by the incessant wiggle of the forked tongue!
Soon the two honorables and the Datus walk out!
So memorable is this yellow dramatic monologue
for the noble congressman curbed by the deafening
insult of the woman— “I’m not talking to you Caloy!”
a signature idiom of a bastos Trapo politician!
It’s a panorama and scene of this tragic-comic play!
Soon, the woman with the forked tongue spills out
a vow in front of the evacuees on the Haran grounds —
swears she’ll return to rescue them for their own sakes!
Act Three
Indeed, in Act Three of this tragic-comedy
the Woman with a forked tongue comes back
with hordes of horned dogs and Alamara wolves!
wildly barking — “Bakwits, you go home now!”
Then, the horned dogs and Alamara wolves rush
and try to ram the Haran gates past the barricade
of Bakwits, pastors, and concerned people of Davao,
arm linked in Unity as formidable as a steel wall..!
Not by any flagrant display of fascist violence—
blows and beatings from shields and truncheons —
can sway the firm decision of the Bakwits to stay!
The Woman her tongue hanging low goes away!
And now, for the climax of this tragic-comedy
upon the arrival of Vice-Mayor Paolo Duterte,
the Woman, her forked tongue wet in her hand,
enters and babbles her stinking lies and denials:
“No”, she says, “I did not say the Bakwits stink,
it’s the garbage which I have selfied in my eyes!”
But the Lumad woman leader, Bae Bibyaon, renown
throughout Lumadlands for her wisdom and valor ,
Stands on solid principled ground and with sheer
wit and wisdom and dignity, slapped the Woman
with her heroic words: “You are the cause of all
these troubles, Woman with forked tongue!
You have deceived and betrayed us! Why do you
bring along these horned dogs and Alamara wolves!
Don’t you know they are the very reasons why
we fled our homes and sought refuge here in Haran?
They have violated with all forms of diabolic deeds
and malevolent acts our precious human rights.
Our dreams for the future have been shattered. . !
We fled from death and from the horned beasts!
Our outcry : Pull out the beasts from our villages!
And never let them return for ever and for all times!
And you, fake diwata, do not order us to go home!
If you sincerely want to help, let them out our place!
Never! Never will we go back to our mountain homes
until our communities are free from the horned beasts!
You! You have acted as spokesperson of these beasts!
And you have abused us with your snake’s tongue?!
Act Four
Helpless becomes the Woman with forked tongue!
With tongue hanging loose, shamefully she walks away.
But she can’t live long without her foul smelling tricks—
She snatches a Woman Bakwit and child from Haran gate!
In the police dog’s car she carries her away with the child
and uses her in her propaganda gimmick, dishing a lie
that the Bakwit sneaks out on her own from Haran!—
a desperate act by the forked-tongued Trapo Woman!
But at the DSWD Office the vice-Mayor catches up on her
and she is soon made to taste a savory potahe of kasaba!
How can she cavalierly arrogate unto herself the authority
to act as Davao City executive? She does not belong here!
Good for you, forked tongued Woman! Persona non grata
art thou!—declared by Lumads throughout all Lumad lands
and all progressives of Mindanao! Albeit we are aware
beneath your scalp, yellowed with decay, is a conscience bin
full of anti-people foul-smelling-garbage plots and schemes!
So, brothers and sisters of Lumad lands! Oppressed people!
Beware of all Trapo man and woman with forked tongues!
Beware of the deadly sweet poison of Trapo politicians!
Sharpen always the blades of struggle for People’s Cause!
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