Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin

I remember writing a paper as a final requirement for my PanPil 17 (Panitikang Pilipino at Kulturang Popular) class about Bob Ong, being a 'pop culture'. By then, he had written I think four books (ABNKKBSNPLAKo, Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ang mga Pilipino, Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas,Alamat ng Gubat). Then it was followed by more books, and just before 2011 ended, he (she?they?) released the 9th Bob Ong book, Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin. And as usual, I took time to read it.

The cover looks like a typical Precious Hearts Romances pocket book. And it would surely be thought to be one, except for the picture of the 'couple' with the guy with big muscles and the girl which looks like a typical Filipino aswang.

And I guess the cover itself almost says it all. It is a book, basically about Bob Ong's presentation of the 'reality' on Philippine TV and film industry, presented in three major themes: action (with comedy and fantasy), horror, and romance. The book is divided into these three parts:

action, horror, romance

I can't give a detailed description of what's inside this book. Bottomline of it is that, the Philippine media (primarily TV and movie) have already become too commercialized, to the point that they have lost the essence of a good TV or movie or song or book material. Everything is based on profit, based on popularity. They make the viewers stupid and shallow with the kind of material and acting they provide, yet the viewers love it. It also discusses the Philippine materials (film, songs, TV shows, books, etc) as a copycat from Hollywood, giving it a Filipino touch, but still remains a copycat. Yes, we've got really good artists - directors, script writers, writers, graphic designers, actors and actresses, film makers, song writers, musicians, singers - yet most of them are not appreciated, or not even given the chance to be appreciated as the "big" names overshadow them. Quoting Bob Ong:

"Nawawalan ng silbi ang magagaling na artista dahil napupunta ang mga trabaho sa mga star na may pinakamaraming fans! Pinapatay ng komersyalismo ang sining na siya ring dapat bumubuhay sa mga negosyante at ordinaryong tao sa industriya natin!"

Another good point discussed in the book is the less readers produced by this generation. Because of computers, internet, TV and other forms of popular media, only few people (particularly young Filipinos) spend time to read. And I mean, read a good book, and read a book written by local authors. There might be a pretty good number of readers still, but they read the foreign. Thus, Philippine literature might be dying...

"Bayani pa rin ba si Rizal kung walang nagbabasa ng Noli Me Tangere? Panitikan pa rin ba ang mga papel na may sulat kung walang taong magbabasa nito?"

The entirety of the book might be seen as trying to reflect on what is happening in the Philippine art. But looking at the smallest details of every line delivered by every character (the book is written as a script), one will see all other issues that hunt the Filipino people, and the Philippines as a whole. Full of wit and satire, this book is a wake up call for everyone. But at the end of the day, we ask ourselves, "What do we do now?"