‘Crazy’ blogger documents his life, work in Singapore, US

‘Crazy’ blogger documents his life, work in Singapore, US
By Emman Cena
November 26, 2006
A 21

NICANOR “BATJAY” DAVID JR. didn’t dream of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien nor J. K. Rowling. In fact, he never imagined that the quirky and earthy notes he was once scribbling on his weblog (online journal) about his adventures and misadventures as an overseas Flipino worker in Singapore and Southern California would get followers. And followers mean hundreds and thousands of Filipino readers worldwide, mostly his fellow OFWs.

Indeed, only heavens could have planned it so well for the the instrument engineer who left the Philippines in August 2001 to work abroad. The move did not fail Batjay. In fact, it hit him big.

From the widely read blog which was bestowed “The Blogger of the Year” in 2004, he has taken the leap. His blog is now making rounds in bookstores nationwide via “Kwentong Tambay: Mga Kwento ng isang sira-ulong Overseas Filipino,” a 144-paged book which chronicles his life as a Pinoy OFW in Singapore and in the Orange Country, places he had been to for work.
Pinoy humor
Replete with the greenest of jokes, cringing punchlines and very earthy Pinoy humor, the book is based on selected entries of his blog which he started writing in September 2001. The blog (http://www.kwentongtambay.nicanordavid.com/), he says, was born out of loneliness from living abroad when he was just a struggling OFW newbie in the Lion City.

“It was my first time living abroad and one of the ways I coped was to write about how my life was, living in a strange land,” says Batjay who spent most of his life in Antipolo City, a place he fondly calls the Land of Kasoy, Suman and Hinulugang Taktak.Batjay had his share of the usual fits of tussles a newbie OFW gets in any foreign land.
The blessings came not handy to him, he says. Starting out, he first rented a space in the red light district of Geylang in Singapore before finding a decent home later on. Months were spent in misery and loneliness and blogging was the only thing he knew could make him forget that he was miles away from his loved ones.
“It was also some sort of sanity checking,” Batjay says of his blog which is some sort of a joke book where each quip and bawdy joke could always bring a smile to any reader.

But soon the dreaded time of waiting was to put to an end when he was joined by his wife Theresa Hazel Ramirez first in Geylang, Singapore, then in Southern California four years later when the company Batjay works in agreed to pay for the movement and settlement of the couple.

Batjay says the book was a surprise to Jet, his wife, who also works in a Southern California hospital as a nurse, and also a blogger herself.

“I had to work in secret. She didn’t know the book existed until we got e-mails from people in Manila who were congratulating me for the book,” he tells the Inquirer in an interview.

“I didn’t have any preconceived plans that someday the blog will turn into a book if it becomes popular,” he adds.

Book publishing

The idea of coming up with a book sparked when he got feedback from readers of his blog saying that it would be nice if the blog were turned into a book. That way, he would also be able to reach out to people who don’t have access to the Internet to read his blog.

So the idea moved to bigger plans and the next thing he knew, he was working out a deal with PSICOM, his would-be publisher. But it was definitely hard for the California-based writer-engineer to get things done since the actual work on the book is being done in Manila. But through the help of some friends, “Kwentong Tambay” finally made it in September and was featured in the last International Book Fair in Manila.

After two months of release, the book, Batjay says could be selling well but he doesn’t have the foggiest notion of exact sales.

“It must be selling well because I get a lot of email from readers telling me the book is always out of stock whenever they check the local bookstores. If my publisher will not be able to give me any stats soon, I’ll probably ask my mom’s manghuhula (fortune teller) about the total number of books sold,” he jests in very Batjay-ish antics.

Looking Back

It was indeed accident-made-perfect for the folksy writer-engineer when he left the country five years ago. Batjay says that his migration with his wife Jet was just a “timely accident.”

In 2001, he recalls, his friend offered him a job to work in Singapore with a very good compensation package plus free all expense vacations back home. Lured by the handsome pay and finally getting the chance to tide over his dues in the house he was then building in Antipolo, he settled all his papers and flew in August that year.

“The timing was right. I already had over 12 years of experience working. I felt I have served my country well enough and it was now time to think of my family’s well-being,” the computer engineering graduate from Mapua Institute of Technology says.

Living abroad has changed his quality of life, he says. “I earn 20 times more money here for the same amount of work I had in Manila. I don’t have the apprehensions and fears that I had when we were still based (in Manila). I don’t have to look behind my back when I’m walking in a deserted place. I feel safer,” he says.
But the Philippines will be forever his home saying that people here are funnier “even if they don’t mean to be. And the cost of living is cheaper and the women, he says, are prettier.

He also misses his mother’s menudo, “the traffic congestion in Manila that doesn’t move, Jollibee’s Chicken Joy and takatak ng yosi boy sa kalye.”
No place like home
“We may be based in the fanciest most advanced country in the world but sometimes that just doesn’t matter because the old cliché is true—there is no place like home—says the writer-engineer who adores comedians Letterman and Leno, Seinfeld, Drew Carry and Ray Romano.

Batjay says he wants to be rich and still look handsome even if he gets to be 80 and he feels high getting feedback from people who read his book and blogs.

Asked of his reaction when he knew that Kwentong Tambay is making the rounds of the local bookstores and always sold out, he answers in straightforward antic: “I almost shit in my pants.”
With the release of Kwentong Tambay, people would expect to compare him to Bob Ong, the first Filipino blogger who published his blog into a book. Reached him for his comment, he says he is way cuter and has a better singing voice. “Maybe I am taller and have a better looking butt,” he jests.
Perhaps it’s a dream come true for Batjay who will be home this December for his usual vacation holiday break with wife Jet. But the usual Batjay interceded saying: “It’s a wet dream come true.”

November 5, 2006

Living gay in San Francisco
By Emman Cena
November 5, 2006
Page A22

TO PATRICIA JUSTINE TUMANG, 27, joining the Kreatibo performing group in San Francisco, California, wasn’t just for art’s sake. She saw the group as the best way of telling her stories of sexism and racism.

Patricia, or Patty to her friends and colleagues, joined the Kreatibo group in April 2005 believing in the group’s mission and work as a collective group of gay performing Pinays in the Bay Area.

As one of the many Filipino lesbians in the United States, Patty has her share of insults and bouts of oppression in the foreign land where she permanently resides with partner Jenesha de Rivera, also a Filipina-American writer and performer.

And joining the group, and creating a community with other gay Pinay artists, she felt “validated and supported?”

“Our stories were not just about sexuality and gay erotica but about how we experience colonization, oppression, racism and sexism and how that affects us as gay Filipina-Americans and immigrants living in the US,” says Patty, who first performed in the group’s latest show “Dalagas & Tomboys: A Family Affair” last year.
Creative ‘tibo’

Kreatibo, a concoction of the words “creative” and tibo (lesbian), was born in March 2003 out of a casual conversation between founders Maiana Minahal and Lolan Buhain Sevilla who thought of forming a group that could document their experiences as underrepresented gay Pinays.
“The founding members,” Patty says, “wanted a name to convey both their artistic sensibilities as well as their identities as gay Pinays.”

Using music, movement, words and images to tell their stories, the group performs regularly at the Bindlestiff Studio in the area. Its first performance in 2003, titled “Halo-Halo: A Queer Pinay Revue,” was jampacked, marking their names on the walls of Bindlestiff, where several Pinoy underground artists started.

Embracing modern-day pop culture and utilizing comedy, drama and satire to bring new meaning to the concept of family, their latest show “Dalagas & Tomboys: A Family Affair,” ran for three sold-out nights on April 28-30, 2005. Directed by Michelle Bautista, the show also touched on the themes of gender, sexuality and Filipino identity as experienced by lesbian, bisexual and transgender Pinays.

“We wanted to change the common misconception that our struggles are only about homophobia,” Patty says. “Some of us struggle with disabilities, discrimination around us, wanting to become parents, unrealistic expectations from our families to become successful corporate card-carrying Americans but the reality is that many of us are artists and activists who work in nonprofit organizations. We are cultural workers who use art as activism and cultural resistance.”

By invitation
Kreatibo has 15 members and is composed of all volunteers according to Patty. Most of them are working full time as teachers, self-sustaining artists, activists or students.
Patty and her partner, for instance, are both writers and editors. They are also active members of the LGBT (lesbian gay bisexual transsexuals) and people of color activist communities in New York and San Francisco.

Finding time to meet is always a struggle for the group, and they have yet to formalize their rules and guidelines of membership but every member is expected to regularly attend meetings.
Membership, though, is by invitation only but there is no formal process.
Aside from the continual challenges with time, the group also finds it hard to solicit funds because some people are still apprehensive and simply indifferent to their cause.
From time to time, they would get funding from the Zellerbach Foundation or through some fundraising but would end up getting from their own pockets in case they don’t get enough funds for a show.

Art, not just gender But the commitment to art and social change, Patty says, motivates them to continue what has been started. In fact, they’re getting a good number of audiences for their shows, she adds.

Many have become more accepting of the group’s advocacies and its performances were sold out and the audience feedback had been encouraging.

If they were lucky enough to have sold-out nights, Patty says, a small percentage of the tickets’ proceeds goes to Bindlestiff studio where they regularly perform while the rest is set aside for the collective’s production expenses.

“Kreatibo has stepped up to meet the demand for a supportive space and creative venue to present and explore the complex issues concerning gay Pinay artists. Our audiences have told us that we speak to issues that are not widely addressed in Bay Area Filipino communities,” she says.

‘Dalagas’ show
The group, Patty says, has a regular annual show the last one being the Dalagas but members perform either individually and represent Kreatibo for various performances throughout the year, usually in support of specific activist causes and community events.

Dalagas, she says, actually has garnered for the group the 2005 Lesbian Theatre Award from Curve magazine.

Although they haven’t yet performed in the Philippines, Patty says, the group plans to bring their work here. Some of the Kreatibo members, she says, actually have gone back to the country and worked on several advocacy projects and continue the groups’ cause. Together with some of her co-members, Patty went to the Philippines and participated in the 22nd International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) Conference held in Manila in November 2003.

Gay presence
“We would love to build relationships with other gay Filipino artists, activists, groups and cultural workers who are based in the Philippines,” Patty says.

But to Patty, while there are many amazing LGBT Filipino activist groups that are fighting for visibility here in the Philippines, for the most part, the Filipino society doesn’t want to acknowledge their existence.

It’s here in the Philippines, she says, they face more discrimination from the government, their families and their own communities.

But there’s no stopping them, she says. They will continue to resist, fight and speak up until such time that they will be recognized equal to the heterosexuals.