Freed Verse: Poems From Confinement
CD Review: Huling Lagapak ng Kandado: Mga Tula Mula sa Libingan ng mga Buhay
Written by: Axel Pinpin
Music by: Bobby Balingit

By:
Dianne Marah E.Sayaman/ Philippine Collegian
No. 23 January 29, 2009

Even in captivity, he persisted in the struggle that he began with the farmers.

Track one plays, and a deep male voice recites: huling lagapak ng kandado. A steady beat and electronic keyboards follow, sounding like techno music, until verses of defiance take over the disco feel of the track.

For 859 days, Axel Pinpin recited such verses, in a detention cell in Tagaytay which he called a 'grave for the living'.

After his release, he, together with Bobby Balingit, former vocalist of the progressive The Wuds, collaborated on an album featuring his poetry and Bobby's music. Entitled "Huling Lagapak ng Kandado", the album consists of 12 tracks from poems written while he, Riel Custodio, Michael Masayes, Aris Sarmiento and Enrico Ybañez - collectively known as the Tagaytay 5 - were detained after being charged of rebellion.

Through poetry and music, Axel and Bobby unlock days of captivity, and the days of struggle that led to it.

Into the grave
The case of the Tagaytay 5 is not isolated. As of September 2008, the Arroyo regime has imprisoned 248 activists, according to Karapatan, a human rights watchdog. An unparalleled number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances also continue to haunt the administration.

Pinpin, Custodio, and Sarmiento are peasant leaders and organizers of Katipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabite (Kamagsasaka-Ka) and The Cavite Farmers Consultative Council (CFCC). They actively campaigned for agricultural reforms and rural development in Southern Tagalog.

Masayes and Ybañez, meanwhile, are residents of Tagaytay City. Ybañez leases cars, and the peasant leaders met him playing "sakla" at the funeral of one activist.

During the time of their capture, Pinpin said, one or two activists were killed every week. By then, he had confirmed reports of his inclusion in the state's list of its enemies. He knew then that it was only a matter of time before a grave was dug for him.

On April 28, 2006, the Pinpin and the others hired Ybañez to take them to the meeting for a Labor Day rally. As they passed Ligaya Road in Tagaytay, around 30 to 40 armed men of the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Navy Intelligence and Security Force abducted them, along with Ybañez and Masayes, who was only picked up along the way.

For seven days, the men, blindfolded and hogtied, were interrogated, threatened and accused of destabilization plots for Labor Day. To ensure their continued detention, the Department of Justice formally charged them with rebellion based on crudely planted evidence on May 3, 2006.

After more than two years of detention at Camp Vicente Lim, their case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Pinpin and his fellow prisoners heard the final thud of their prison cell closing on August 28, 2008, as they were finally released from captivity.

Rhetoric from the next life
In his poems, Pinpin describes the prison as a grave where ideals and hope decay. Yet, even in captivity, he persisted in the struggle that he began with the farmers.

Apihin ang api, which used the coconut as metaphor for the workers (Biyaking tulad ng bao.../ Kayuring tulad ng niyog ang lakas ng mahihirap), exposed feudal relations by identifying feasts with the exploitation of workers. (Ang dusa nila'y pulutang masarap/sa pagkalango natin sa kapangyarihang hangad)

Pinpin's poems also delved into human rights violations. The wordplay, Da Misadbentyur of Billy, told of civilians caught in strife, a reference to the Mindanao conflict. (Si Billy yan! Si Billy yan!/Nagceasefire: tumambak ang kaswalti/kulang ang body bag para kay Billy)

The state's use of blatant force in obliterating subversion did not escape Pinpin's rhetoric. Unang gabi ng interogasyon, a poem on illegal abduction, was written when his captors challenged him to recite a poem. He recited it with a gun pointed at his head.

Solitude also found its way into Pinpin's poetry. For instance, the track Hiling dwelled on the depression Pinpin experienced while in prison. (Mapanglaw at patay/ at nakakabulag ang lapad ng sahig/ at walang hanggan ang kisame)

Another somber track, Tagpuan, was about a mother searching for her abducted child. It was written for Editha Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos. (Tila ipinagdaramot ka pa rin sa aking mga yakap/o kahit man lamang sa katiyakan na ikaw ay buhay)

Pinpin also perceived his capture as unjust and often thought of escaping prison. In Itakas ninyo ako, he cites history to propose an escape plan, (Gaya ng Hukong Bayan, salakayin niyo ang bilangguan) where he dares anyone to free him while the guards were busy watching Pacquiao's fight.

Various organizations and personalities campaigned for their release. Balingit was one of them. Outside prison, he and Pinpin would collaborate on an album that would sound shatter the monotonous spaces of prison.

Resurrection
Pinpin used to declaim his poems to fellow prisoners and the police guarding them. Still, he wanted his poems recited to a bigger audience, as he described in Itakas ninyo ako (Mga tula ko ay inyong itakas rin/saka sa Bayan- ikwento't bigkasin!) Poems coupled with music, it would seem, attract a wider public.

Balingit pushed for a spontaneous production of the album. He recorded music before reading the poems, outside a studio, near the streets, to deliberately create unpolished sounds. "Para sa 'kin ang tunay na sining ay hindi iniisip, ito ay [isinasapuso]," he said.

Likewise, Pinpin recorded his poetry reading without having heard the music. The individual records were then mixed, with both music and Pinpin's voice recorded on their first takes. The only engineered sounds in the album were echoes and repetitions of Pinpin's voice.

They came up with an album where the lyrics were spoken instead of sung.

Pinpin's rhetorical rendition of the poems contrasted with the electric guitars and keyboards of the music. The unplanned gaps and suspended endings, as heard in Huling lagapak ng kandado and Liham sa anak, lent drama to the already poetic pieces. Bakit hindi ako umiiyak, meanwhile, was heard with weeping guitar chords in the background.

Balingit said that toppling commercial art is the purpose behind the music he makes. However, the album does more than criticize the current music scene. It also reiterates, in rhyme and music, the significance of Pinpin's ceaseless struggle. This is most apparent in the track Tagpuan, where the mother learns that her missing child's advocacies paved the way for social change.

True to his poems, Pinpin never wavered in the cause he was imprisoned for. Upon release, he, Custodio and Sarmiento returned to their organizational works. While Balingit's guitars screamed and drums bantered on, his poems affirmed that the graves were too shallow to bury them. ■

Dianne Marah E.Sayaman/ Philippine Collegian

University of the Philippines-Diliman

Quezon City