BUT IT’ S ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE
May 2017 THE CANBERRA REPORTER | 3
ATING WIKA
Sa araw ng ating mga ina
Ulat ni ARNEL BASAS
Kinalakihan na natin ang paggugunita ng Araw ng mga Ina tuwing ikalawang Linggo ng Mayo.
Ito ang natatanging araw na kung saan ang lahat ay nagpupugay at nagpapasalamat sa mga kadakilaan ng kanikanilang ina.
Kasabay nito ang pagbibigay ng regalo, bulaklak, tsokolate o mamahaling kagamitan.
Dahil sa gumagarbong pagdaraos nanatili pa rin ba ang tunay na diwa ng araw na ito?
Marami tayong makikitang palabas o naririnig na mga ulat na may temang pamilya at pagmamahal ng ina habang palapit ang buwan ng Mayo.
Mga nakakabagbag damdamin na mensahe na kalimitan ay may
UNIVERSITY EXPATS halong pagbenta. Ito ba ay uso o pagsasamantala sa kahinaan ng iba?
Gayunpaman, marami pa rin ang nahihikayat bumili ng kung anuano at nakiki-uso para lamang maipakita sa ibang tao na espesyal at mahal nila ang kanilang ina.
Ang pagpapadala ay malimit na gawain ng mga may pamilyang naiwan pa sa Pilipinas
Sinasabayan din ito ng tawag para maka-usap at mapasaya ang uugod-ugod at nangungulilang ina.
Ngunit alam naman ng lahat na makausap lamang ang anak kasama ang mga apo ay lubos na ang kaligayahan nila.
Dapat ba itong gawin tuwing sasapit lamang ang buwan ng Mayo o dapat ipadama ang pagmamahal sa ina sa araw-araw habang may pagkakataon pa?
Maligayang Araw ng mga Ina sa inyong lahat. •
COVER STORY
Bakbakan is the name of the game
BUT IT’ S ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE
By MARILIE BOMEDIANO
THE man’ s day job is in information technology working for the Australian Taxation Office in Canberra; his passion is Filipino martial arts, in particular the practice of Bakbakan Kali Ilustrisimo.
Monash’ s Rey Galang, 71, who was introduced to martial arts at 11 years of age in the streets of Manila’ s Chinatown in the Philippines, has never looked back since.
He learned other fighting styles along the way ~ jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, aikido, and taekwondo ~ eventually developing his own fighting style, Bakbakan Kali, and forming the Bakbakan International organisation with Christopher‘ Topher’ Rickets.
Today, he passes on street-fighting skills to young and old men and women, but only to those whom he regards as responsible citizens.
Galang will not take under his tutorship just any person; they would have to be referred to him by a member of Bakbakan International for acceptance to the organisation.
Bakbakan, in short, is not a business, he says
Galang was born in Manila, Philippines. He became fatherless at an early age, and his uncles became influential in the boy’ s developing an interest in the martial arts. The Galang family had a military and law enforcement background.
• Above: REY GALANG in a caricature drawn by the late Sydney Morning Herald cartoonist Edd Aragon.
Arriving in Sydney in 1975, as an ITqualified migrant, Galang pursued a computer career in the CBD.
He moved to the USA in 1987 and stayed till late 2006.“ Canberra was just an offshoot of my return to Australia in 2006 when I got into an IT contract with Accenture and the Australian Taxation Office( ATO) and ended up in ACT,” Galang said.
Among the first to join Bakbakan International in NSW was the late Sydney Morning Herald editorial caricaturist Edd Aragon.
Aragon was instrumental in early efforts to document Bakbakan’ s drills and techniques. The first videos of Bakbakan’ s Sagasa fighting system was documented and photographed by Aragon.
Galang became so fascinated by the art and mind of Aragon that he became publisher for the cartoonist’ s collection of newspaper a strip Jep: And Pinoy sa Australia which appeared in Australia’ s first Filipino-Australian monthly newspaper, Philippine Balita.
Later, Galang published his own books on martial arts: Complete Sinawali in 2000, Classic Arnis: The Legacy of Placido Yambao in 2004, Warrior Arts of the Philippines in 2005, and Masters of the Blade in 2005.
“ My particular facet of the Bakbakan organization is not and never has been a commercial endeavour, and therefore we are very strict with our requirements, Bakbakan martial artist Rey Galang said. •
THEY BLED FOR AUSTRALIANS: Three Filipino students from the Univesity of Canberra show evidence of shedding blood at the Red Cross blood unit.
Filipinas bleed for Oz
FILIPINO students enrolled at the University of Canberra stepped out one April day to“ bleed’ for Australia.
Ten members of the University of Canberra Filipino Society( UCFS) trooped to Canberra’ s city centre where a Red Cross blood unit was stationed to donate life-sustaining blood to the community.
“ By donating blood you’ ll be saving up to three human lives each time,” said one Filipina, Bianco Montiel.“ Studies show that regular blood donations help reduces the risk of heart disease, reduces the risk of cancer, and burns 650 Kcal in a single blood donation.”
UCFS is a community of Filipino students who aim to develop friendship and promote a sense of community between Filipino students and other students at the university.
The group provides informed advice to fellow Filipino students and safeguards the welfare of every student while providing substantial Filipino-Australian networks outside the university. •
ANUFA launches ASEAN series
FILIPINO students at the Australian National University( ANU), kicked off its ANU Filipino Association ASEAN Series early April 2017.
It featured a talk by former Philippine Ambassador Luis Cruz to Korea sharing his experience as the former Assistant Secretary of the Office of ASEAN Affairs of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs( DFA). •
THE PRESS
PinOz journos do not forget victims’ families
MEMBERS of the Filipino press groups of Canberra and Sydney continued their support for families of 32 Filipino journalists murdered in a politically-related 2011 massacre in Ampatuan, Mindanao.
Proceeds from their annual Filipino Media Golf challenge were handed over to the Australian Journalists Union in Sydney for the Media Safety and Solidarity Fund( MSSF)
The Grace Hotel in Sydney is the main sponsor of the golf challenge.
The MSSF provides financial support to children of the slain journalists for education costs.
In the 2015-16 school year
ABOVE: Media Alliance director Katelin McInerney, left, receives Filipino press group funds from Michelle Baltazar, Grace Hotel general manager Philip Pratley, and Marilie Bomediano at the Alliance office.
AT RIGHT: Some families of Ampatuan massacre victims with two delegates from the journalists solidarity fund in Ampatuan,
Mindanao.
alone, the MSSF program supported 65 students, including 24 sons and daughters of journalists murdered in the Massacre.
The children supported by MSSF receive financial support for their tuition and a small stipend for education costs.
Funds cover students from primary to college. •