Unggoy, Ka Freddie. Aguilar must decrease, Charice must increase

MANILA – I wanted to write this days ago; this is a delayed broadcast; this is my open letter to Ferdinand 'Ka Freddie' Pascual Aguilar – and those of his ilk, who are as funny as a barrel of monkeys – after his mid-July putdown of Charice, whose star shines higher and brighter and bigger than Ka Freddie's. For he must decrease, and she must increase.

For that putdown, Freddie Aguilar was accused of monkey business getting media attention just so everybody would notice he had a new restaurant, Ka Freddie's Bar & Restaurant at Adriatico, Manila (Nonie V Nicasio, 6 July 2009, pep.ph). So I notice. After that, at the very least, we all must learn (even earn) from all this monkey business. Including reinventing monkey idioms like 'If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.' To imitate the monkey idiom, to Ka Freddie overseeing his new eatery I say, 'If you serve peanuts, you get monkeys.'

Now, I'm serving you my open letter to Freddie Aguilar.

Somewhere in the Philippines
10 September 2009

Ka Freddie,

Please be nice. I know what you said angrily about Charice is not the ranting of an old man, since you're only 56 – unless of course you feel old, because age is a feeling – it is but the verbal rage of one who has run out of nice things to say about other people. Don't forget: It pays to serve nice.

You were once the King of Pinoy Soul wherever you went, especially after your singing of 'Bayan Ko,' which became the song that toppled a regime, which was Ka Ferdie's; that song helped inflame a nation and destroyed the dictatorship of your namesake, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. We were proud of you.

You were once the Father of the Child wherever you went, with your song 'Anak' (Child), whose sales went wild all over the Philippines and Asia, if not in the US of A. Didn't that song go through 56 conversions as it was translated in 26 languages? A distinct honor for a Pinoy, an Asian. We were proud of you.

Today, with your raised voice in your attempt to put down Charice so dramatically captured in video and now showing on YouTube (watch PinasWatch here), I hereby baptize you:

Freddie Aguilar,
Child of the Putdown
(Anak ng Putdown).

Freddie Aguilar, what are you trying to do with the international career of Charice: throwing a monkey wrench in the works? I wouldn't ask if I didn't care; damn if I didn't give a monkey's. I have to write because if the problem persists, we have to consult the doctor because you Ka Freddie will be a monkey on Charice's back.

'Hindi ako ang nagsasabi ng 'monkey' – Ang sabi ko, kaya tayo binabansagang Pilipino na unggoy ay dahil manggagaya tayo. Ako ang magtatanong sa lahat ng singer na Pilipino: 'Bakit puro banyaga ang kinakanta ninyo!?' Yan ang tanong ko. Hindi 'yung tinatanong n'yo sa akin kung bakit ko kayo tinatawag na unggoy; kayo ang nagpatawag na unggoy dahil gaya-gaya kayo!'

That's what you said, and it was too loud for me not to hear even if I wasn't around. I noticed your hand gestures, exasperation.

This is my free translation of your flare-up:

'I wasn't the one who called you 'monkey' – I said, the reason we Filipinos are being called monkey is because we are copycats. I will be the one to ask all Filipino singers: 'Why do you sing foreign songs only!?' That is my question, not you're asking me why I'm calling you monkey; you called upon yourselves to be called monkey because you are simply copycats!'

That's what I call Ka Freddie going ape, as in going wild. Wearing glasses, you made a spectacle of yourself.

Ka Freddie, let me repeat what you said about Charice: 'Charice, magaling kang singer, pero mas bibilib ako sa 'yo kung kakanta ka ng sariling atin.'

My translation: 'Charice, you're a good singer, but I will respect you more if you sing our songs.' That's polite enough, Ka Freddie, saying that.

My interpretation: 'Why don't you do another Freddie Aguilar and sing local and make the world take notice of the Filipino?' That's not polite.

Still, I can forgive you for implying that. But I cannot forgive you when you said, after being verbally polite to Charice, suddenly changing your tune:

'Ang kinanta n'ya, Celine Dion, e, kahit na sinong Pilipino na mataas ang boses, kahit bagong gising, kayang kantahin yong kanta ni Celine Dion.'

My free translation: 'What she sang, Celine Dion, eh, any Filipino who has a high register, even if just risen from bed, she can sing that song of Celine Dion.'

Now, Ka Freddie, that's a double-bladed thrust of a knife at the back, or you just shot 2 birds with 1 stone. You are a sharpshooter, Ka Freddie – your tongue is sharp and you shoot from the lip. What you said means Canadian diva Celine Dion is not an extraordinary singer; likewise our own Filipina diva Charice Pempengco. Ouch!

Ka Freddie, do you mean to say that only Ferdinand Pascual Aguilar from Isabela deserves to be known as an extraordinary singer? Why, that's extraordinary!

What you said is a putdown on their Celine Dion and our Charice. Do you realize, Ka Freddie, that what you said is also a putdown on our Freddie Aguilar who is a good singer-composer? Ka Freddie, with that, to me Freddie Aguilar is now not a good singer-composer, not anymore.

You also said (barriosiete.com):

'E, pinatototohanan lang ang sinabi ni Mariah Carey na tayong mga Pilipino ay mga unggoy. Kasi, wala tayong sarili, gaya-gaya lang tayo. Nasa Amerika ka na, binigyan ka na ng pagkakataon na kumanta sa Oprah, bakit kumanta ka pa ng kanta ni Celine Dion? Sinabi ni Mariah na mga unggoy ang Pilipino, gaya-gaya lang tayo, e di napatunayan nga, totoo nga. Kasi, di ba, what monkeys see, monkeys do? Dapat ang kinanta n'ya, bakit hindi 'Dahil Sa Iyo' o kaya kahit ano, basta kantang Pilipino? O kaya Bisaya, Ilocano ... lalo s'yang sisikat sa buong mundo nun.'

My free translation:

'Eh, that proves what Mariah Carey said that we Filipinos are monkeys. Because we don't have our own, we're just copycats. You were already in America, you were already given the opportunity to sing in Oprah's show, why did you have to sing Celine Dion's song? Mariah said we Filipinos were monkeys, we were just copycats, eh, that proved it, it was true. Isn't it, monkey see, monkey do? What she should have sung, why not 'Dahil Sa Iyo' or any other song, as long as it's Pilipino (Tagalog). Or Visayan, Ilocano ... her star would have shone brighter over the world then.'

Charice explained:

'Yong plan nga po nila doon, kaya Celine Dion 'yong kinanta ko, dahil lalabas nga po via satellite si Ms Celine Dion. Hindi rin po ako ang nagpa-plan n'yan, kung ano po ang kakantahin ko; sila rin po ang nagbibigay ng songs sa akin. Maiintindihan po ba yon ni Ms Oprah kung kakanta po ako ng Tagalog? So, hindi man po ako kumanta ng Tagalog, or hindi man po kumanta ng makabayan na songs, alam ko po na maiintidihan ng mga tao. Gusto ko s'yempre, nararamdaman ko po na ako ay Pilipino ... Nirerespect ko po si Freddie Aguilar kung ano man po yong opinion n'ya.'

My translation: 'Their plan was, the reason I sang Celine Dion was because Celine Dion was appearing via satellite (meaning, showing worldwide simultaneously). I didn't plan it, what I was going to sing; they were the ones who told me what songs to sing. Would Ms Oprah understand if I sang a Tagalog song? So, even if I did not sing Tagalog, or I did not sing a patriotic song, I know people will understand. I wanted to, because I feel in my heart I'm a Filipino ... I respect Freddie Aguilar's opinion.'

'Why do you sing only foreign songs?' you Ka Freddie ask, and that is an indictment, not an interrogatory remark. What you are trying to say is that if you Filipino singers don't sing Filipino songs, you don't love your country. If you sing 'Bayan Ko' like Freddie Aguilar does, you're okay, you're patriotic; if you don't, you're trash.

I call that tongue-tied nationalism – if you don't speak the Tagalog tongue, you're not a nationalist. You Ka Freddie is just like the ultranationalists you find in the University of the Philippines and elsewhere, including media – they would insist on talking in Tagalog even when the subject was roses, not rosas.

Freddie Aguilar, I believe you don't know Charice enough. I've been listening and watching and learning about and from Charice, and I have become a fan(atic) – that's why I'm dedicating one of my blogs to her. I'll be a monkey's Uncle! The heart of this talented young girl is here; her head is here, there and everywhere. She's smarter than many of our entertainment stars. Except perhaps Jose Rizal, Charice is the first Filipino artist who thinks local, acts global. That's why she's a Star of the World. Can you beat that, Freddie Aguilar, once Star of Asia?

The rest of what Charice says is self-explanatory. What I'm going to say is self-explanatory – it's about my own self as a writer. Because it has something to do with going ape, being a copycat:

In school, why do they teach Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet? Samuel Beckett's novel Waiting for Godot? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem The Psalm of Life? Frank Stockton's short story The Lady or the Tiger? Nick Joaquin's The Woman Who Had Two Navels? Because all these are well-written; we all can gain insights from reading them – and the writers among us can use them as models of excellent writing even as we each develop our own writing style.

Ka Freddie, when you yourself were starting to develop your talent in singing and composing, I'm sure unggoy ka – you were a copycat. Look at yourself in the mirror – look at the hat and the guitar, as PinasWatch points out, you were (and still are) imitating Willie Nelson. PinasWatch is saying, you're the original unggoy, the original copycat!

But in fact, being a copycat is not a shameful thing to do; it's a stage, a day in the life. I'm not embarrassed to say I was a copycat. When I was starting to write in high school and even when I was already in college, I continued to imitate those who to me at that time were the best storyteller (Ernest Hemingway), the brainiest and wittiest writer-philosopher (George Bernard Shaw), the best teacher-writer (Rudolf Flesch), the best Filipino journalist (Nick Joaquin – I did not like his plays but I loved his reportage in the Philippines Free Press as well as Asia Leader). Also, like a sponge, I continued to absorb the lessons I could learn from the pages of the Reader's Digest. Today, I have my own style that I call Franciscan: in the first place, I was baptized Francisco, and in the second place, I am a Roman Catholic and I write about science and faith, science with faith. My style came after imitating the best, not before, not during my imitation stage.

Nobody can avoid imitating, at first. Wait till Charice matures and develops her own distinct style; then, she can really rule the universe of songs – and sing to the world whatever Freddie Aguilar wants her to sing, and then some. Until then, she's unggoy. An amazing, brilliant, fantastic, blow-away unggoy.

So, this letter is all about being unggoy, Ka Freddie; this is about you who are the first Asian star singer-composer. Unggoy, as in ape, copycat, monkey. This is more about growing up as a child, maturing as an adult, nurturing a talent, developing oneself, finessing one's craft. That is what Charice is busy doing; give her time.

Do you remember the Toyopet? When they first came to the Philippines, Japanese cars were tin cans with wheels; today, a Toyota car is worth its weight in gold, if I may exaggerate. The Japanese learned from imitating the Americans, Europeans, Germans, Italians – why can't we learn by imitating the Japanese?

Right now, the South Koreans are all over the place – they are learning from us, especially English. First they will imitate us; unggoy sila! Then, having learned the basics, they will improve on us. They cannot improve on us until they learn from us. So, Ka Freddie, I can tell you my insight today:

Ang unggoy, pinakamadaling matuto.
Being a copycat is the fastest way to learn.

But as a matter of fact, Ka Freddie, this hullaballoo all started when Mariah Carey called Filipinos 'Brown Monkeys.' That was the mistake. In the first place, as Edgar O Cruz has already pointed out, 'It was never proven Mariah Carey referred to Pinoy singers as monkeys or brown monkeys' (stir.ph). In other words, Ka Freddie, you were overreacting to an embarrassing non-existent putdown. Anak ng Putdown ka. You embarrassed the Filipinos to the world; unggoy ka, Freddie Aguilar. But we forgive you, we including Charice, Arnel Pineda and Gary Valenciano.

Monkey see, monkey do. Unggoy kami noon, ganito pa ba kami ngayon? We were monkeys then, are we monkeys still?

Frank