ANATOMY OF A WRITER

By: Iris P. Concepcion

Personally, the most difficult persons on earth to deal with in persuasion matches are writers. I am inhabiting one specimen of this hardknocked word embryo (myself, of course) and the rudiments of my psyche are such that belligerent and irritant conditionings could never really touch its core, that rare gift of scribbling craftsmanship.

I react to abundant imageries and visual phenomena but the most dependable to gain my confidence are still the given magic of veritable wordplays.

Yesterday, as I was searching for a business suit (forget the attire, I could come as a raggedy doll), I was wooed by pink and peach skirt frills in one rack that eventually appeared on a video one hour after--of course I was won over by this young, hip woman.

In an intersection along that road branch where dirtiness and cleanliness are clinically separated, I saw this graffiti on a torn brick wall:

"TISOY. NO PROBLEM. ALAK PA. HIK."

I wanted to enter this stenographic-like vandalist's brain and ask him if he had run out of paper spaces to pour his alcoholic letters onto. The operative word there is 'hik', the three-lettered word for intoxication that probably originated from a rare hiccup disability.

Truthfully, the graffiti made me, unceremoniously, laugh.

Five minutes after, I saw this at the back of a jeepney: "Do not open your leg's to avoid accedent."

A very brilliant kid corn kid actually speaks in this manner. This writer has an urgency to malign his stupid, kinky hair unceasingly. Note how the apostrophe and misspell had brought the guttural, laughing house down.

I am not sure if I could sell my favorite country (the Philippines) to the world in this manner.

But returning to the writer's anatomy:

Head: It is forming the letters of the alphabet lined in rocking chairs. He juggles them. He actually knows nothing that is why he can superior-ly invent.

Arms: Medium-sized, with morsels of small hair near the elbow.

Face: In perpetual immaturity. A maturity-in- waiting.

Legs: Slightly bowtied but hair free.

Feet: Walking expert.

It is raining in this corner and I am writing bullcrap to match the rainfall.

On second thought, I write like Renata Adler and it is doing me good, for the time being.

(P.S. Some enterprising people have defaced the beautiful partitions of some roads, again. The masterly lights in the middle saved the view, still. And to those who question the performance of the President, likewise read today's edition of the Manila Bulletin. It has a thorough reporting of the prexy on renewable sources of energy in a Makati City conference. I could not link it in full but after reading it, you shall know the depth of this commitment).

I am pasting a portion of the report here:

Speaking at the Renewable Energy Conference and Expo in Makati City, the President acknowledged that the use of renewable energy sources reduces the country’s dependence on imported and polluting fossil fuels and increases the nation’s savings in foreign exchange.

“We envision the development of the country’s renewable energy resources as a way of diversifying the country’s power generation fleet with the ultimate view of providing energy security and clean energy for our consumers,” he said.

At present, he said the country ranks next to the United States as the largest supplier of geothermal energy in the world.

“Our other sources are by no means meager. More than 10% of the country’s electricity requirement is supplied by hydropower generation. Moreover, biomass, solar, and wind energy will be among our major sources of energy for the next decade, and we expect that they will account for more than a third of the country’s total energy demand,” he added.

Since most of the renewable energy sources are located outside of urban centers, he said the government would maximize its development and use it as a tool to expand development opportunities in rural areas.

“With the help of private sector and funding institutions, we shall endeavor to take renewable energy to our most isolated communities,” he said. He promised to give “incentives and guarantees as needed” to the private sector interested in renewable energy development.

President Aquino admitted that the country’s power situation is “at a critical juncture,” saying high power demand, retirement of power plants, and absence of investments in new energy infrastructure in the recent years have made the country’s power supply unreliable.

He said the government’s energy initiatives are consistent with the National Renewable Energy Program that aims the Philippines to become the number one geothermal energy producer in the world, to double the country's hydropower capacity, and to expand the respective contributions of biomass, solar, and ocean energy to the energy mix.

The NREP was established by the government to achieve a 100 percent increase in renewable energy capacity within 20 years. The program also seeks to increase the non-power contribution of renewable energy to the energy mix equivalent to 10 million barrels of fuel oil in the next 10 years.

The President said this shift in energy sources was a hard task to do alone and sought the cooperation of the private sector.

“I look forward to working closely with the private sector in pursuing the implementation of existing energy conservation programs, in addressing potential issues and concerns, and in rationalizing energy demand consumption," he said.

“We are listening to your concerns, and we will attend to them. We are here to work together and not against each other. We will give you incentives and guarantees as needed, within a framework that takes into consideration our mutual desire for a win-win solution for all parties,” he added.