Rak of Aegis: Luha, Baha at Iba Pa

Call me a cry-baby. I don't care.

I got teary-eyed when the TV screen showed footage of people wading in neck deep flood waters. There I was with my wife to watch PETA's hit musical, Rak of Aegis, and I was tearing up three minutes into the play. The play struck a chord in me. Memories of Ondoy came flooding back.

But when the colorful characters of Villa Venizia started belting out familiar Aegis songs, I cut short my Ondoy melancholy and got swept away by the play's amazing narrative, stellar performances, engaging musical arrangement, spot-on design and crisp direction.

Rak of Aegis follows the story of Aileen (Aicelle Santos), a promodizer, who dreams of becoming a YouTube hit. She lives in Villa Venizia, a community still submerged in neck-deep flood three months after a typhoon. Aileen completes a love triangle with Kenny (Myke Salomon), the village hearthrob and Tolits (Pepe Herrera), the village nobody. Aileen's father, Kiel (Robert Sena) is at odds with barangay captain Mary Jane (Isay Alvarez) who is the main provider of income for the many families in Villa Venizia. She owns a small-scale shoe factory. She also happens to be Kiel's old flame. Mary Jane is also at odds with her son, Kenny.

When Aileen's YouTube video goes viral, media flock to Villa Venizia and poverty tourism begins. Meanwhile, Engr. Fernan (Nor Domingo), a developer of a nearby subdivision that is seen as the culprit for Venizia's flooding woes, coaxes Mary Jane to stage a concert with Aileen as the star. On concert night, the flood water subsides, preventing the villagers to raise funds for their health center.

Kiel complains that it is wrong to use their miserable condition as an excuse to be entrepreneurial. He chides Aileen for choosing the concert even if her mother, Mercy (Neomi Gonzales), is recovering from leptospirosis. In a brilliant ensemble performance, the characters find a way to resolve the conflict. Indeed, they are "basang-basa sa ulan" (drenched in the rain) but they know that as the sun rises, they need to work together and re-define what it means to be truly resilient.

Rak of Aegis may have started as a joke as director Maribel Legarda pointed out. But the joke is not lost in the play's disturbing commentary about our penchant to take advantage of and misappropriate our innate resilience as a people. Playwright Liza Magtoto said she risked sounding unpopular with her belief that resilience should not be the "sole golden virtue" that we can use to survive and overcome disasters in our lives.

Rak of Aegis, indeed, goes beyond resilience.  Because as the Aegis song "Luha" ends: "Sana bukas ay nasa ibabaw naman (Tomorrow I hope, I will be on top.) When the flood is gone, the real work of rebuilding lives begins.

Our Skye above us

It has been two years since my family's last vacation.

This year, my wife Aires and I planned to spend our 12th year wedding anniversary in Palawan. We booked our tickets and flew to Puerto Princesa. Of course, the highlight of any Puerto Princesa trip is the Underground River cruise. We took a two-hour ride from the city to Sabang Port and had to wait for another two hours before we could be ferried from the port to the park itself. It was already 4 PM when we finally got inside the pitch-black tunnel.

By that time, we just wanted to get it done and over with. We did try to feel excited but the excitement lasted for a few minutes because the sights looked the same --- stalagmites and stalactites forming shapes of people, fruits, vegetables and animals. Heaven, in fact, fell asleep, oblivious to the funny spiels of our boatman who could give stand-up comedians a run for their money.

As if on cue, the boatman said: "We now go to the highlight of this cruise... Look up and you will see the sky above us. Just don't open your mouths." He was referring of course to that part of the cave that opens to a dome or cathedral where a huge stalagmite juts out from the water. The dome looks like a dark sky with small twinkling stars.

Aires and I could not help but glance at each other in the dimness of the tunnel. We have noticed that references to the word "sky" have become very frequent lately. They come at the most unexpected turns. Just like when we were feeling unenthused by the rock formations in this underground river.

It's as if our daughter is telling us: "Come on. Be excited about life. Be happy with what you have." The journey may be dark and damp like the underground river cruise but there will always be a sky above us, simply waiting at a seemingly lazy turn.