Life Behind the Door

MENDACIOUS TITLE

By Denver Ejem Torres

THE TERSE CAPTION at the bottom left of the special supplement issue by Business Mirror for the 2006 Philippine Fashion Week is one tall editorial style error.  (Please see the photo with the said caption below.) Such error leads my discovery of a more problematic matter about that article.

This essay though does not attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill and discuss just that, the problematic caption. More than the intolerable caption, this essay intends to illustrate a lie that the author and the editor pursued to satisfy whatever commercial and editorial purposes they may have had.

This is referring to a rather old article by Abe Florendo on the Philippine Fashion Week ’06 for Business Mirror entitled, Before Philippine Fashion Week…There was Ramon Valera. From here, it’s important to defer. As promised, this will talk first in brief about the problematic caption. Then, proceed with the so called misnomered article or misleading title and discuss its effect upon the reader.  

[The image above is a photostat page from a special supplement issue for Business Mirror named Philippine Fashion Week ‘06]

CIRCA 1947, the Filipino artist also known as Ramon Valera. This is how the awkwardly formulated caption went. This line will be studied in the linguistic plane specifically it’s structure or simply, by how the words were faultily arranged. 

The formulation is without question inappropriate as to say so in itself is disrespect to the name of the person. The name should be stated first prior to his titles or achievements. The logic of this linguistic arrangement is simple and can be elucidated by the fact that the person and his/her name come first before anything else. After all, the achievements of the person are always obtained later than the creation of his name.

The structure of a language portrays in the mind of the reader the order of events, on which comes first and which one follows. In short, when the line is given a visual equivalent, the name or the person was created last and his being a Filipino artist came first. This is where the problem comes in and why in the mind of the reader, the line becomes unseemly. In short, this shows the writer’s lack of imagination.  

Over and above, the swapping of the name and the designation of Valera gives the impression that his name is less important. In all given cultures, both in Western or the Eastern, the name is so important and is given main concern. Why for example must Daniel Day Lewis choose to face death in the film The Crucible to save his name? Or the disinterest of Santha Rama Raw in her new Anglican name to replace her Indian name as mentioned in her creative non-fiction entitled, By Any Other Name? These among many prove that the name is so important and it must be given priority before anything else. The caption would have been acceptable had it simply said CIRCA 1947, Ramon Valera also known as the Filipino Artist.
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The problem falls on the idea that there is no confluence between the title and the body. The said article is conveying a fallacy by putting such title into an article that does really talk about Valera in full or by how much Valera led, influenced, participated in, contributed or defined the Philippine Fashion industry. The article does not talk about the whys that would explain why, despite his bold and daring designs and remakes, his preeminence and élan still flourished. Although, it states that Valera had the lion share of all the wealthy clienteles (like the Aranetas, Lopezes and Roxases) during his time, the writing does not mention anything about the impact of this to his later designs, or whether the money transformed his atelier into a luxurious looking shop, or that the number of rich and famous clienteles made him a wealthy man enough to expand his atelier into other parts of the Philippines. If the title intends to talk about Valera in relation to the Philippine Fashion phenomenon, the writer should have focused on these matters.  

Instead, the article pursued a rundown of events and people who were movers and shakers of the industry from the 50’s to the present. In a way, Abe Florendo has reported a chronology of events and personae of Philippine Fashion from the yore to present times.

Part of the said historical précis is Valera and in fleeting it talked about him and his reputation and fame during his time. The way the article went on is a severe dodging away from what the title seemed to promise and what the reader expected to read as the title suggested. As the title asserted, the reader anticipates a read that would offer a full blown Valera feature and on how his contributions shaped the fashion industry of the Philippines. Alas, the article ends leaving the reader aching for more Valera talk and is frustrated by the undersupplied article on Valera as the Filipino artist impacting the fashion industry in particular and the culture and arts of the Philippines in general.  In fact, the piece ends instead with an expression of optimism that the Philippine fashion industry going global than pinging back to Valera. Apparently, with how the writing went on, the writer does not have the aim on really talking about Valera. Honestly, the text is a gem but it was inaccurately named.

Not only in government offices, and some other places that one can find dishonesty but also in spreadsheets like this, dishonesty is openly committed. The mendaciousness found in that writing speaks of our culture or the kind of society the Philippines has.  

At first, this matter discussed in here would appear trivial and inconsequential, but on a serious thinking, such improper naming of the article is really a serious matter that one should care. In the long run, if things like this continue, the people-readers develop in them a sense of acceptance of the things that are not really accurate and true. And this activity develops a culture of cheat and falsity.

THE EDITOR AND writer may have not intentionally pursued this form of cheating; they may have been unaware of the deceiving nature of the article they have produced. But this essay wishes that they do not commit the same mistake ever again. Another hope of this essay is not to run after the two for deceiving their readers though but to entreat them and all the other writers especially press people or journalists to be more cognizant on what they are producing. They should ask themselves the imperative questions before having their write-ups published.
 

Hey guys!

Finally, I am moving to a new place. I will leave Dolores apartments for a reason I am bound hide for the moment. I am happy that I will be away from it now. The place is nice but in the past months, it forced me to cry a river. I cried a Cagayan de Oro river.

I am trying to move on now. I am finally moving to a better place. I am happy moving out from Dolores and moving in to …..

I will tell you my address later. Keep yourself posted.

Have a great day guys!

I love y’all!

Language of Bonds

(Comment on a part of the Pinoy Centric post, Onli Noypi by Marge Gonzales)

“Our language has words interrelating with “socialization”: we have kasama, kaisa, kapanalig, kabayan, and, of course, kapuso and kapamilya.”

This is true and agreeable.

Even, in the street gangs and prison cells, they have “kakosa”

In call centers, the English and vernacular fused in the term, “ka-team.”

In apartments or boarding houses, people say, “kabordmeyt.”

We associate ourselves to the groups we hold dear and where we feel respect and acceptance. We take pride in the fact that we are a member of a group, whether such group is not sikat or familiar.We are proud of our roots, of our origin, of our mga kasama kahit sino pa sila/siya (whoever he/they is/are).

Do you agree?

Dennis N. Almazan, Cagayan de Oro’s artist extraordinaire, is my cognitive partner in most, if not all of my posts-writeups for my Fashion category specifically about local fashion, culture and the arts. His munificent guidance, suggestions and assistance make my Fashion/City of Cagayan de Oro posts doubly credible.

This is purposely expressed here to recognize his valuable friendship and help to the author of this site.