Still keen on Afghanistan

“Having just come back from Afghanistan, I would like to address the point of Mr. Chibber on support of Philippine civil society to their counterparts in other countries,” I began my intervention at the Dialogue with Civil Society with Mr. Ajay Chibber, UNDP Regional Bureau Director for Asia and the Pacific. It took place on 18 March 2009 in the National Center for Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines. It was organized by the UN Civil Society Assembly (UNCSA), which was created 3 years ago upon the instigation of the Office of the Resident Coordinator.
Mr. Chibber, in his opening spiel, noted that Philippines civil society is known for its dynamism, and he asked if it could help other countries strengthen their civil society movements.
On this point I shared, “I learned while in Afghanistan that our National Confederation for Cooperatives, NATCO, organized the first cooperative in Afghanistan. A regional NGO based and organised in the Philippines has also trained about 150 women MPs, NGO leaders and officials in government in Afghanistan in Gender and Governance.” I was referring to the Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics, CAPWIP, that UNIFEM has contracted in the past few years to train the members of the inter-agency commission on Violence against Women in Afghanistan. “I have not even mentioned the hundreds of Filipino UN Volunteers in our election project, which UNDP is running in Afghanistan,” I added to highlight the strong support Filipinos are giving to Afghanistan.
I admit, the last point was rather an exaggeration. There are probably less than 10 Filipinos in the UNDP Election Project. But what is accurate is that there are close to a hundred Filipinos working for the UN in Afghanistan, as UN volunteers, UNAMA personnel and UNDP technical advisers. I have also met Filipinos working with international NGOs like MEDA and DACAR, even the New York State University, as well as with the International Security Assistance Force.
The point that I wanted to make is that the Philippines is one country that has lent its men and women, many from civil society, to Afghanistan to help in its reconstruction and peace building. On this premise, I asked the civil society leaders in the Dialogue, “Will you organize a programme that will help post-conflict countries like Afghanistan to build its civil society?” I described my observation in Afghanistan, “There are local NGOs that have been working for their people even during the Taliban years, underground in Afghanistan, or in nearby cities and locations in Pakistan like Peshawar. But many more sprang – post Taliban regime – as a result of foreign funds.”
Mr. Renaud Meyer, UNDP Philippines Country Director, responded, “I like your suggestion, with UNCSA, we could facilitate exchange programmes between civil society in the Philippines and other countries.” He added, “Mr. Chibber, I believe will not disagree, that the UNDP regional centres in Colombo and Bangkok can be the platform for this initiative.”
Mr. Meyer said that the UNCSA is a good mechanism in the country that can organize this exchange of knowledge and expertise.
“I like what you said... I was inspired.” A UP NCPAG staff said to me. I need to get her name, this young woman who was documenting the proceedings, I suppose, on behalf of Alex Brillantes, Dean of NCPAG. I saw myself in her, when I was as young and as sexy.

Kibitzer in a film shoot

With Dad and son Arvin, I went to Porac, Pampanga yesterday to watch the filming of The Rapture of Fe. With only the sketch of Mai Dionisio as guide, we went to look for Barangay Babo Pangulo. Mai's sketch was quite easy to follow, but finding the actual shooting location - not specified in the sketch - was a challenge.

Thankfully, Porac Police Officer Mercado responded to our call for help and we in our beat up Honda Civic followed him in his official police motorcycle in search of the location.

The rattan "factory" was actually just a shed of a front porch of a non-descript house on an alley off the main road of the town. We reached the location on foot after Mai warned that the car will have problems maneuvering the narrow path. A few townsfolk were loitering around the shed where Irma Adlawan, Nonie Buencamino, Mercedes and Morni had just finished acting out a scene as rattan factory workers.

Alvin Yapan, film script writer and director, introduced me to the crew, staff and actors as "someone from the Women's Crisis Center, which gives legitimacy to our film."

Arriving around 1 pm, we were an hour too late... the filming in that particular location was over. But another scene would be shot soon after: in a forest where Irma and Mercedes would be hacking down bamboo trees per the script. We waited at the rattan shed while the crew went ahead to prepare the location. Then the call came, and off we went, the actors in the maroon van, while we once again trained in our silver car.

Into Barangay Bano Pangulo we drove through winding narrow but paved roads flanked by rows of one or two storey houses of cement and wood. When the road sloped down and turned to the left, the scenery drastically changed. Trees and shrubs lined the sides of the now unpaved road. Mango trees and cows dot the wide open landscape, where, in the middle, sat a bahay kubo fenced in by rows of shrubery.

The van in front of us went off the road to the open grassy field and towards the bahay kubo. We drove across the grass following a new trail created by the vans and cars that have tranversed the field for the filming. In a couple of minutes, we saw on the foot of a distant hill the vehicles of the crew.

This is the location of the forest scene. Two sun reflectors were perched precariously on the 45 degree slope about 10 meters up the hill. The film camera, facing clumps of bamboo trees , were crowded in by the director and assistant director and other staffers while in front is the boom man holding the 2 feet long microphone. In the midst of the bamboos was a small clearing where Irma and Mercedes were practicing their moves with the hacking bolo and bamboos.

Before long, the shout "Quite on the set!" boomed. This scene was shot a second time the camera recording it from a different angle and with dialogues. In between, the sounds of the forests were also recorded plus the hacking sound of bolo hitting bamboo.

Filming was interrupted twice, first when the utility van drove in and next when the passenger van bearing the assistant producer arrived.

"The whole exercise lasted about 1 hour and a half, with perhaps only 1 minute of the movie shot here," I thought. That is what it takes to create a film, I realized.

I found myself next to the sun reflectors and then under the mango tree. Coming down from the hill looked formibable, but I managed with some help by a goffer - a young woman from the town of Porac.

At 4 pm, Dad, Arvin and I left the set in search of Fisherman's Grill for a very late lunch.