Art and the art of making bacon

 First of all, if you're one of those whose basic understanding of acting is that it's about pretending, don't get me started. I'll get back to this.

So almost exactly a year ago, the world went on lockdown. People's movements were restricted, we were mandated to wear masks and in our case in the Philippines, face shields. In Baguio, one can only go to the market and supermarket on certain days and for us living in the outskirts, only once a week. Most of us were forced to stay home. After a couple of weeks of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, I got on my bike to ride around the small village we live in - I figured I could make good distance if I went around several times down and up the same roads. Bike rides always make me feel better. But after two rounds around the same route, seeing the same houses, hearing the same dog bark at me, I went back home. It just wasn't the same. 

Each member of the household immediately found their respective routines - my days began with coffee with my wife at sunrise, which would extend for an extra hour or two for me if there are birds around. I'd take out my camera, put on the longest lens I have and start photographing birds. A son was in charge of brunch (we decided to have only two meals a day, which we still do to this day), so the rest of the morning would be spent doing whatever household chore needed to be done. Some mid-mornings were spent in my nothing box, as RL calls it - that's when I seem to stare into nothing, totally oblivious to what's happening around me. Contrary to its name, that nothing box is usually filled to the brim with thoughts, hopes and dreams, anxieties and fears and everything else in between. 

Anyway, one day, a day we were allowed to go to market, we bought lots of flour as the girls wanted to play around with oven in the kitchen. I bought some extra meat as I was craving for smoked fare. And the rest is history. 

Sort of. 

The thing with cured and smoked meats, there's no instant gratification. The curing process takes several days, and in the case of etag, there's the added few days sun-drying it and if it's kiniing/kinuday, an extra several hours of smoking. So while waiting, I played around with the flour in the kitchen - while the girls made their sugar-overloaded cookies and cinnamon rolls, I learned how to make bread. I'm a very impatient man, most people who know me, especially those who have worked with me, know that. With bread, it takes only an hour or so of waiting for the dough to rise, then in another half an hour, you've got bread. I liked that, and despite and after several failures, finally stumbled upon the perfect recipe for a basic loaf that the family likes. 

Many loaves later, I finally started smoking that first batch of kiniing. I liked it so much that the kids, especially the girls, rolled their eyes and expected the worst: expect him to make sure he got double, if not triple the amount of meat the next time he goes to market, which means we're gonna have smoked meat for days if not weeks. They were not wrong. And that next time, I chanced upon a good slab of pork belly, and after seeing RL put in a couple of packs of bacon in our cart, I thought I'd try to make my own bacon. I've tried it before, and I wasn't very happy with those first attempts but, with the world on lockdown, I have all the time in the world to finally get it. 

Making etag may seem easy at first glance, but there are learning curves one has to navigate still. Curing the meat in salt long enough to draw most of the moisture out makes the meat less attractive to flies when sun-drying it. One could also place the meat inside a mesh container to keep the flies out, but I didn't have that and what's worse than watching a pot waiting for the water to boil? Watching a batch of etag sun-drying and manually shooing the flies away. Or maybe it isn't exactly worse, at least you're not passively waiting - you get to shoo flies away every couple of minutes or so. 

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, I was going through basic bread recipes online, trying each one I find interesting out. I was going for a basic loaf and scones. I've had breads and biscuits that didn't rise properly, were rock hard when they came out of the oven, under-baked, over-baked. I took note of the failures and searched the web for probable reasons for them. Then tried again, keeping in mind the lessons learned. 

The initial batches of kiniing were really perfect for seasoning stews and soup dishes - they were that salty. As for the bacon, they were beginning to taste just right, but I didn't find them delicious yet. I was alternatingly curing them in brine and with dry rubs, using different ingredients for both every time but not entirely blindly - I took note of what's missing in this or that batch and made the necessary adjustments. A batch would be cured for three to five days, others for five to seven days, sundried for a couple, five, seven days or more. 

And one day, a great batch of scones and loaves bread came out of the oven and bacon out of the smoker which made me say, yup, these are it. Now the challenge became repeating that same process and coming up with exactly the same results.  

We haven't bought bread since the middle of last year, and the same goes with bacon, which this family just loves. And with most opportunities for artists like me still in hibernation, I thought of making at least the bacon available for sale to add to the very limited revenue stream these days. So the process just got a bit more professional, so to speak - curing salts, spices and herbs are more carefully measured, meats are inspected a bit more meticulously, curing and smoking duration more precisely timed, etc. 

What's this got to do with acting? As with any other craft, it requires much time and effort to learn and develop the skill sets necessary for it. No, acting isn't pretending, it is being and doing. Just like the need to learn how yeast interacts with the right water temperature, or how long it takes for the flavor to penetrate the layers of a slab of meat, playing a role requires a deep understanding of a character's being, and internalizing that. 

One has to understand that the knife should be held at an angle to efficiently removed the skin off of a slab or pork belly, or that circular fold and knead motion you have to do to prepare the dough. You read about these, watch others do it, learn from both others' mistakes and successes. 

As an actor, you have these basic tools: your unique mental, emotional and physical being. They interact with and influence each other. One has to learn what each can do, its potentials and limitations, and how they can be manipulated to tell the story of the character. You read about these, watch others do it, learn from both others' mistakes and successes. 

What's the smoked meat for? Flavoring stews and soup dishes or as a dish in itself? 

What's the character's relevance in the story and its relationship with the other characters in the play? Why does this other character interact the way they do to it? 

Which ingredient, feature or process best expresses what this bacon is about? The coarsely ground black pepper? The muscovado sugar? The smokiness? What should stand out and which serves as a backdrop? 

What characteristic, feature or action best tells the story of this character? The way they dress? The look in their eyes? When they speak or when they stay silent? What should stand out and which serves as a backdrop? 

Yes, it takes so much to be able to make bread or bacon, or play a character on stage or in a film.   

And yes, I have and there's so much more to learn - about bacon and art. 

And yes, there will always be people who will love that bacon or scone, and others who will not, those who will be blown away by a performance, and those who might not even notice you were there - but as an artist, or a baker or chef, what matters is that you respected the craft, gave it the dignity it deserves and did all you can to create something that's real and was not arrogant enough to present what you know to be nothing more than dabbling as art.

Or bacon.

Bonfire of the vanities

Privilege and entitlement, these were the words that first came to mind when I first heard of this party in Baguio. No, I heard about it not after photos of the event came out and the proverbial excreta hit the fan but before when preparations for it were being made. 

A couple of months prior: after the culmination of the Ibagiw Creative Festival 2020, I heard the name Tim Yap a lot. He gave away masks at the closing ceremony, and several artists would be seen wearing them around town days after the event. They were the good kind, they said, I'm not so sure but I think these were the copper variety. That was really nice, I thought.

A long time ago, an institution in Baguio was expecting guests who wanted to witness a cañao, so gongs were brought out, gong players and dancers were gathered, a native pig was bought, a Mambunong was called who refused to perform the ritual for entertainment purposes. So an "official event" was hastily put together and was made the reason for the cañao: the success of the "opening" of the event.     

Fast forward to some days prior: Cultural and tourism institutions in the city were all on their toes doing their share to honor one Tim Yap, and ensure that he had one hell of a birthday celebration. Wherever he planned to set foot in the city, the red carpet was being laid out, sites were being spruced up to make it even more interesting for Mr. Yap and his entourage of a few dozens. The next word that came to mind: sycophancy. 

Add vanity, self-importance and social media, that "cesspool of questionable human behavior" (Ducky, NCIS), in the mix and that's what we had: a portrait of hedonistic, apathetic self-important self-indulgence.  

The non-apologies added fuel to this bonfire of the vanities. Yap said the party was really about helping Baguio get back on its feet by supporting its local artists and promoting tourism. The Mayor confirmed that when he justified his presence by stating that it was a gesture of gratitude for the things that Yap has done for local artists - he bought several art pieces from the crafts fair during Ibagiw and the much-acclaimed exhibit, Interlinked, according to various social media posts. 

I find the suggestion that all the privileges and entitlements accorded him and his posse were justified because they were doing what they did for Baguio lame. Unjustified. Repellent, even. Offensive. Really now, what can Tim Yap do to promote tourism in Baguio that's better than the social media posts of non-celebrity visitors that drive droves to various destinations in the city? Panagbenga never needed a celebrity endorser. Actually, its celebrities who ride on the popularity of Panagbenga. There you go - Baguio does not and never needed a Tim Yap to boost its stock, it's Tim Yap who needed Baguio to boost his. 

Really, how much did Tim Yap's birthday party really do for local tourism that our tourism VIPs all but knelt in front of him and kissed his feet? By how much did Tim Yap and his purchases uplift the local art community that his party deserved the presence of the local chief executive at a very inopportune time, personally for the grieving mayor whose father passed recently and in whose memory a mass was scheduled that night, and generally for a city whose own citizenry has been placed under one of the strictest quarantine protocols in the country? 

Yap could have had his cake, but vanity, ahh vanity, the devil's favorite sin, to quote pop culture, compelled him to eat it too. He had 30, 40 or so of his friends and loved ones with him, all able to get into Baguio much easier than many of its own citizens stranded outside the city, and they could've enjoyed their wine and 5-star buffet in private. But no. He couldn't be content with having dozens of his close friends with him for a party that mere mortals are forbidden to hold, he had to have his audience for his circus. The all-white number, the Staying Alive pose against a backdrop of an opulent hotel and fireworks in the distance, the cultural performers in indigenous attire dancing to the music of gongs around a bonfire, all of that had to be be flaunted in public. In your face. He craved, needed the likes and hearts and thumbs-up and oohs and aahs - and for those, public health protocols, propriety, commons sense, decency - all of these be damned.

I feel sorry for the Mayor. I have worked with him as a consultant in the first months of his administration during which time I got to have a glimpse of the much celebrated public servant in private along with the workings of his office, I have agreed and disagreed with him on a lot of things still with all due respect, but in this issue, I feel sorry for him. I just cannot imagine the Benjie I got to know, worked with, biked with, chatted with, went against all odds and oddities with to stage a festival  dropping almost everything for a Tim Yap party. My first thought was - bad intel. Maybe, maybe not. But then, true to his character, the buck stopped with him. He owned it, took responsibility for it. Paid a high price for it, politically at least. And this is not the first time - he once humbled himself at the city council and apologized for the actions of people around and under him. I find that commendable. 

But that does and should not take away from the gravity of the faux pas. 

I feel even sorrier for the people who have really done so much for local art, culture and tourism - those who would never be caught dead wearing an all-white number, striking a Staying Alive pose against a backdrop of an opulent hotel and fireworks in the distance but have been working tirelessly and thanklessly to uplift the local art and culture sector, place Baguio on the international map, bring pride to the city, and will continue to do all that because their hearts truly belong to this city and its people - they're not allowed to party at all, hence no chance to be honored with the presence and gratitude of the Mayor on their birthday.

Baguio's pine trees: treasured heritage or mere obstructions?

Dozens of pine trees are about to killed in Baguio. 

Whoever sits in the various offices of power at the Baguio City Hall, they find it very easy to mention the Benguet Pine as one of the city's most treasured heritage, along with its invaluable contribution to the city's beauty and healthful climate - yet at the same time, whoever sits in the various offices of power at the Baguio City Hall, find it too easy, when nobody's looking, to consider them as mere obstacles to concrete monuments to misdirected initiatives that at times defy logic and common sense. In the last couple of decades, three of these inanities stand out: 

The concrete pine tree that replaced the live one at the top of Session Road (mid 1990's).

The murder of 182 trees by SM City Baguio for a parking building (2012).

The felling of 700 trees and destruction of water sources at Mt. Sto. Tomas (2014).

 And today, the year 2021, while the city grapples with a still continuously raging pandemic, decades-old majestic Benguet Pine Trees that up until backhoes, which between SM and the Ampatuans to me now is a symbol of death, started mowing them down in the last couple of weeks, welcomed travelers entering the city from Kennon Road or Marcos Highway are on death-row for a road-widening project. 

Not too long ago, pine trees have already been sacrificed in the construction of the flyover and makeover of the rotunda at the Baguio General Hospital. Apparently, the powers-that-be aren't done defacing Baguio yet.

Our attention was first called by a social media post by Fr. Gerardo Costa who runs an orphanage and wellness center located along Gov. Pack Road who was bidding farewell to their tree-lined driveway, apparently also in the way of the road-widening project.

The driveway of Home Sweet Home Orphanage and Help Center.
Image courtesy: Dave Leprozo, Jr.

Here's an interesting anecdote: before the construction of the flyovers at the BGH rotunda, the traffic in the area was not as bad as it is today, despite those flyovers. 

The project aims to alleviate the traffic situation in the area. The thing is, I pass there often, and save for those two days in a year during the annual Panagbenga parades, traffic very rarely builds up in that area. In fact, I usually take that route from the Burnham Park area on my way home to the eastern part of the city when I want to avoid the bottleneck in front of the Baguio General Hospital BECAUSE THERE'S NO TRAFFIC there. 

But, the backhoes are out, trees are being felled, and by the time they're done, another 36 majestic pine trees will have been murdered. Because today, sadly to the powers-that-be, they're not the city's heritage, icons, contributors to its beauty and healthful climate. No, today, they're in the way of their idea of progress. They're in the way of a multi-million-peso contract. They're in the way of of Baguio's journey towards hyper-urbanization and urban decay. They're in the way of another "misdirected initiative of energetic lumbermen," as Daniel Burnham referred to them in the early 1900's in his plea to succeeding administrators of Baguio to protect the natural environment or the city he designed. 

A backhoe executing Benguet Pine Trees.
Image courtesy: Dave Leprozo, Jr.

The dead lay on the side of the road.
Image courtesy: Dave Leprozo, Jr.

In a few weeks' time, instead of towering, beautiful and fragrant Benguet Pine trees, those entering Baguio will be welcomed by a wider, albeit harsh, soul-less concrete road. Is that progress?   

The current administration campaigned on a promise of a "breath of fresh air." As the city loses yet dozens of air-cleansing, life-giving and -protecting trees, can't help but wonder what kind of fresh air we're taking about here. 

Spoiling tourism

A friend, an outdoorsman and avid advocate of responsible eco-tourism and who has been vocal about his support for the gradual re-opening of Baguio to tourism provided that safety protocols are strictly implemented and observed, didn't mince words in his rant: "...I am fucking pissed that something like this is even allowed to happen and in fact encouraged in Baguio while they impose an absurd amount of movement restrictions on ordinary citizens!"

"Something like this" was the birthday party of one Tim Yap and as the video in the link above shows, it was one where perhaps after a couple of white wines, party-goers started throwing caution to the wind and partying like it was 2019. 

Biking side by side with JP a few weeks ago, sadly during the funeral of a departed friend, we had a conversation about his position on tourism. Among the many things I got from our chat was this: these days, with the myriad requirements tourists have to hurdle from actually getting tested for the virus to needing to have a private vehicle since public inter-regional transportation services aren't fully back in operation yet, only the rich could afford to go on vacations. To visit Baguio, they need to have tested negative for the virus, booked in an accredited hotel (most of the accredited hotels are on the high end, although this has since been expanded to include homestays and transient houses), declare their itinerary and strictly stick to it, etc. It's the rich who could afford to strictly follow restrictions and other protocols to keep themselves Covid-free.

I saw, and still see the point, actually. Generally, I agree that wherever it is safe to do so, various industries must be allowed to operate, as long as public safety is ensured. I just don't think tourism is one of those that are safe to bring back at the moment. Knowing the kind of tourism infrastructure, and by that I mean both facilities and systems, that Baguio has, there's the rub: public safety cannot be ensured. And I'm a firm believer in the concept that individuals may be smart, but crowds are or could get stupid. 

Being both a theater artist and producer, while I dream of and hope for our industry's re-opening, I have learned to accept the fact that the very nature of the industry I belong to makes its return to pre-Covid circumstances impossible at the moment. 

I can attempt to stage a production safely: 

1. Choose a material that minimizes intimate physical contact between actors so that physical contact between actors are minimized during rehearsals and performances. But, as a producer, can I guarantee that actors would strictly maintain a safe physical distance from each other for the entire 4-5 hours per day for around 30-45 days during rehearsals? I can't. 

2. Unless the material calls for face masks all throughout as costumes, it would be impossible to stage a play with actors hidden behind face masks. So as a director, I could ensure that I block the actors with at least 3 meters between them. Having no face masks on would already increase the risk of transmission, but keep actors three meters apart would still be accordance with social distancing protocols. Can I guarantee that the actors would not get carried away during performances and perhaps get a bit too close with a fellow actor on stage? I can't.  

3. Have everyone tested at regular intervals during the entire production process. Could a typical theater production afford to do this? Even an antigen test, cheaper and faster than the more reliable RT-PCR test, costs anywhere from 800-1,300. Even an intimate play with say 5 actors, a director, a stage manager, an assistant stage manager, a production manager, a stage hand, a make-up artist, a set and costume designer, a lighting designer add to that ushers during the show itself, would mean testing around 15 people at least thrice during the entire production process. So no, I can't.

    

4. Have the audience sit at least 3 to 4 seats apart. This would add a level of safety, but would significantly reduce a production's revenue potential. Also, make sure everyone in the audience is wearing a face mask and shield at all times. Sponsors are hard to come by these days when everybody's just trying to get by and survive and keep their heads above water in this pandemic, so a theater production could only survive with revenues from gate receipts. Reducing that revenue potential by 60-70% (although IATF rules allow for 50% capacity, being only one seat apart isn't safe if your in the same enclosed venue for an hour or two straight) dooms a production. So, again, no, an actual live production right now is not financially viable. 

And because I cannot guarantee both the artists' and the audience's safety, and if I did all that needs to be done to ensure that, the production would then not be financially viable - not to mention the effects that all the restrictions and protocols would have on the artwork itself. And with that, no, I can't and won't stage a play at this point. 

In the meantime, I do have other options as a performing artist mainly involving using the internet as my stage. It's not the same, but things aren't the same as before right now, so I, along with many others like me, would just have to bite the bullet because what we're risking here is nothing less than human lives. 

Back to tourism, and the lack of infrastructure to properly enforce health and safety protocols. 

Tourism bigwigs have been pushing for it since Baguio went from being under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) to first General then to Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), and have actually succeeded in opening Baguio to tourists. In the first few weeks of opening up, residents have already been pointing out how many visitors could be seen around the city flouting Baguio's health protocols, not to mention, at times, basic human decency. Even before the official opening up of Baguio to tourists, I was actually surprised to see tourist gift shops opening up in Mines View and a trickle of who I assume were tourists shopping. I may be wrong about my assumption but it is really rare to see a local walking around carrying three Baguio brooms and a bag of jars of peanut brittle. 

And while movement of our own toddlers and senior citizens remained limited, groups of tourists could be seen in parks, malls, restaurants that include small children, even infants and seniors. 

We see and hear of large gatherings at posh establishments like Alphaland, The Manor and the Baguio Country Club, gatherings that we, locals, have been or are being told over and over again are not allowed, or at least must still be avoided. 

 

We are coming from the recent staging of the Ibagiw Creative Festival which not only showed that events that encourage mass gatherings could result in risky behaviors as seen in social media uploads by attendees that showed how safety protocols were being strictly observed but only in the first hour or two of the opening and closing ceremonies. A few glasses of wine and beer later, we saw how many of the attendees began letting their guards down posing for photos with neither face masks nor face shields. National Artist Kidlat Tahimik, along with his wife Katrin de Guia, would eventually test positive for Covid-19 with the filmmaker admitting in a statement that he may have been careless at the various Ibagiw-related events he attended, taking of his mask too often to oblige fans asking to be photographed with him. 

"Tao lang po..." the Mayor said in an interview on the Tim Yap birthday bash after a photo of himself, the celebrant (no mask) and his wife (no mask) circulated online. 

Exactly. 

Even the smartest and the most well-meaning individuals can get careless when in circumstances that allow, even encourage such carelessness. 

I often have to check myself when in the company of friends, as rare as such occasions present themselves these days - I do find myself relaxing at times pulling my mask down to take a sip from a cup of coffee and forgetting to put it back. My mantra right now when I'm in public places is  - "you're not supposed to be too comfortable." If I'm not feeling a bit of difficulty breathing or discomfort from a fogged-up face shield or eyeglasses, then there's something I'm missing, that there's something that I'm supposed to be doing that I am not.    

If chance encounters with friends on the road, in cafes, at the park make us relax or even get a bit careless, what more large gatherings where food and alcohol is served? Tim Yap and his apologists have been saying, to justify their reckless behavior: everyone tested negative for the virus. I assume those tests were done in Manila prior to their trip coming up as that's what's required of tourists entering the city - they were not tested again after making the long drive from Manila to Baguio (did they stop at gas stations at the expressway for coffee, lunch or dinner?); after going around the city prior to the scheduled events in Yap's extended birthday celebration; after the group's visit at Ililikha where they roamed around for a couple of hours; and after visiting the Interlink exhibit at the Baguio Convention Center. These are just some of the stops in their group itinerary that I know of. 

As with the performing arts, so with tourism  - there are things we can and cannot do at this time, and common sense dictates that tourism efforts that attract or allow a huge a number of people to gather, particularly indoors, is reckless and risky. 

And JP, along with other outdoor enthusiasts, have been pushing for safer outdoor adventure tourism initiatives which apparently have largely been ignored. I find this odd since the Mayor himself is an outdoorsman, leading local cyclists every Sunday on group rides around the city. In the same way that it was odd some months back when Baguio was slowly easing restrictions and enclosed spaces such as malls were allowed to re-open, yet security guards and policemen were shooing people away and disallowing pedestrians from sitting on park benches at public parks - wide open outdoor spaces where the risk of transmission is much lower. 

There are ways the tourism sector can stimulate economic activity without endangering the welfare, indeed, the lives, of the greater majority. They're hurting, we know, just like the rest of us. Schools are seeing record low enrollment numbers (they're limited to online classes). Transport sector's barely surviving (limited capacity for jeepneys, reduced days of operation). It's been slim pickings for the city's artists and cultural workers (especially as long as mass gatherings are prohibited). Meanwhile, our hospitals are beyond full capacity and our health workers are being stretched too thin as cases continue to rise.

Everyone is hurting, and is doing what they can to get by, again, AGAIN, without endangering the welfare of the majority. Why should the tourism sector be given way more slack than the rest of us? 

In a couple of days, Baguio and the rest of the region, will once again be placed under General Community Quarantine protocols. That means a step backward in mobility, in economic activity, in everyone's financial, emotional and mental well-being, in our journey towards a return to even just a semblance of normalcy. 

 

Spoiling tourism, particularly the kind that Tim Yap and his enablers espouse, spoils it for the rest of us.