Module 6 & 7 - J. Villahermosa

“Bata, Bata Paano Ka Ginawa”

Being a humorous, full of sex talk, questionable of women’s role in Philippine society, and struggling family structure problems film, “Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa” was gripping and appealing. Lea, the main character of the film, is a diligent mother who struggles between her women’s crisis center job, her two husbands, Ding and Raffy, and raising her two children, Maya and Ojie. She is a strong woman and at the same time very interestingly desirous when it comes to sex. Her husbands abandoned her in the end and she is also faced with the chance that her children might leave her for their fathers. “Bata, Bata, Paanoa Ka Ginawa” is an enjoyable and interesting film because of Lea’s sexuality, conflicts with dealing with two husbands and caretaking of her children, and it raises questions about women’s role in the Philippine society.
In “Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa”, Lea is torn between her husbands. Her current and second bad-tempered husband, Ding, who is the father of Maya, is inconsiderate of Lea and often argues with her. An example of Ding being snappish and insensitive is how he reacted in the beginning of the film. The film started off with Maya’s kindergarten competition. Ding was really disappointed in Lea for not being to train their daughter well for the competition. He complains and quarrels at Lea when in the end Maya won the competition. He continues to be like this throughout the film. He doesn’t have any respect towards Lea and often orders her around causing them to often have disputes and arguments. I didn’t understand how Lea was able to tolerate that. She didn’t seem happy with him but still manages to hold a relationship with him. This shows when she cried hurtfully after having intercourse with Ding.
On the other hand, Lea also deals with her children, Maya and Ojie. Maya is a kindergarten graduate who is boisterous and has a big mouth. She shamelessly shares how her mother and father are not married. She is a little outspoken and mature for her age. I believe she is like this due to Lea who raises her by telling her the truth at an early age instead of letting her take shame in it as she matures. Lea’s other child, Ojie, is going through a step into another stage of life, adolescence. At his age, Ojie is curious and confused and often contemplates about his independence. This is shown when she skips school and gambles instead. Lea struggles with her son’s transition into adulthood. Lea is also deals with Ojie’s frustration in knowing his father. Lea constantly answers questions Ojie has about his father, Raffy. Lea is also frequently dealing with Ojie and Maya’s arguments. The siblings challenge one another and bicker about whose father that their mother loves the most. Although the siblings fight, Ojie, the oldest, is attached to his sister and considers his sister when he has to make the decision to move in with his dad. Lea has some difficulties in raising Maya and Ojie but she is able to overcome these problems by being strong and persistently caring with her children. I thought Lea did a good job in raising Maya and Ojie although Lea’s husbands didn’t think so.
The difficulties Lea comes across in raising of her children are questioned by her two husbands when Maya and Ojie were involved in an accident. The children were sent to the hospital because of injuries. At the hospital, Raffy and Ding angrily argue with Lea because of her negligence of her children. They thought that she spent too much time with her job which caused her to overlook her kids. After the accident and encounter at the hospital, Ding and Raffy deserted her. I thought Ding and Raffy stereotyped Lea’s role as a mother. They only saw her as a typical mother with no involvement in a career or job. In this period of the film in the Philippines, I believe women were looked as only caretakers of children who performed household chores and took care of the needs of their husbands. But Lea was defying this role but taking on a career and at the same time performing the normal and common duty of a wife and mother in the Philippine society. Ding and Raffy didn’t think that Lea could handle both roles but I believe she handled them well.
Lea is portrayed as a dedicated and hardworking mother who raises her two children to the best of her capability. She is very loving and caring towards her children and industrious with her career. But there is another side of her that really captivated me. She is very desirous of sex. There is one part of the film in which she converses with a nun about sex. She mentions how she wants to have sex and she persuades the nun to watch pornography films. I was shocked by how “horny” she was. Usually, men are depicted as the desirous one of sex. But in this film, a woman carries that role. Lea also is also straight forward with her need of sex. While on a date with a co-worker Johnny, she bluntly exclaims that she wants to do it. I thought it was humorous how she vocally expresses her sexuality openly with others especially when it is with a religious person who is an abstinence of sex.
Towards the ending of the film, Lea is abandoned by her two husbands. Ding marries another woman but Raffy and Lea solved their conflicts. Raffy and Lea met up, talked, and spent a day together. They also ended up having sex. Following intercourse, Raffy and Lea cried. At this point, I thought Lea and Raffy were going to be back together again but they didn’t. The movie suddenly ends with Lea giving a speech at Ojie’s graduation. I didn’t like the ending because I felt that problems weren’t solved and there wasn’t a conclusion to the problems. There were still conflicts like Raffy’s current wife Angie’s concern of how Lea and Raffy were recently involved in an affair. The ending could’ve involved more than just Lea giving a speech about how life evolves.
“Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa” is a film about mother who goes through the dilemmas of her two husbands and children’s possibility of leaving her for their fathers. Unfortunately Lea is abandoned by her two husbands and fortunately her children decide to stay with her instead of their fathers. I thought “Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa” is a great film but the ending could’ve been better because it left some problems still in midair. It is an attention grabbing film due to the sexuality of Lea and her role as a mother and career women who goes against the typical Philippine mother or wife.




“Defining Social Justice” and “The Interpretive Problem”

Defining social justice is a difficult task. There are many possibilities to the definition. There are also many questions that arise with justice such as in what ways we can define it, how would we ethically respond to it, and how can social injustice be corrected? Social justice is interpreted in many ways but in my opinion I associate justice with virtue.
In the article “Defining Social Justice”, Novak says that the trouble with social justice begins with the meaning of the term. Many people have different opinions to what the definition of social justice. Novak even includes that Hayek states that books and treatises have been written about social justice without offering a definition of it. In Novak’s opinion, he defines social justice as “an instrument of ideological intimidation, for the purpose of gaining the power of legal coercion”.
So how would we ethically interpret justice from injustice? Some say that justice should be designated with a virtue, a moral virtue to be specific. I believe that justice should be associated with a virtue. Each individual has their own morals, traditions, practices, and beliefs. Therefore, the interpretation of justice would differ among individuals. But if justice is associated with the individual’s virtues, then we would be able to ethically interpret injustice among persons.
Although I believe in the interpretation of justice with the association of virtue, this raises the questions about the parameters of injustice. What would be the parameters of saying that in phenomenon or act X, there was injustice? I deem that the parameters will involve virtues again. In the article, Novak states that the descriptions they confer with social injustice involve examples such as “high unemployment” or “inequality of incomes” or “lack of a living wage”. Doing this denotes social justice as saying is a principle of order and power instead of virtue. I don’t think the boundaries of injustice should be associated with power but in some cases it needs to be. Not everyone will have equal power in this world. Therefore people of higher people should govern people of less power so justice could be executed.
Power is associated with wealth, privilege, and opportunities. This provokes another in query; can we ever justify the poverty and misery of other people while other people are wallowing in wealth, privilege, and opportunities? I think we can justify the poverty and misery of other people while others are not. This is what is occurring in the United States today. In order to obtain wealth, people in the U.S. work hard and in turn have success and power. This question also brings to mind of Imelda Marcos. Imelda is an example of people who have many riches. I believe in her opinion she could justify neediness and misery of other people because she thinks people of power and riches are helping the poor by being a role model.
What would be a way to help define justice? I think doing an injust act in order to come up with a just result is plausible. We wouldn’t be able to know what is just if we weren’t able to see the unjust side of things. In some circumstances, I believe you need to see the other end to truly understand. We wouldn’t be able to know what’s right if we haven’t encountered with wrong.
Injustice occurs but how is this corrected and where do we start? I believe social injustice occurs when plans are developed to implement rules, laws, or standards that people should live by. Although each person has their own morals, there can be a system in which all everyone could live by. It’s just a matter of sorting out what’s justice from injustice. I believe we could start by first pointing out what is unjust. Then a system to correct social injustice could develop.
If there is any form of injustice then one should stand up for what is justice. An individual should express how he or she feels towards injustice. If one doesn’t, then injustice could continue. In my belief, it is important for an individual to express his or her opinions. An individual should be heard and listened. I consider this is as the ethical way of dealing with injustice.
If one expresses his or her opinions towards injustice, then one should justly do this. I believe doing it justly means respectfully and courteously. Although in some circumstances, injustice is taken to the extreme so I believe being respectful cannot be possible. An example of this is when rallies occur such as the EDSA revolution in the Philippines. President Marcos was not being a fair president therefore the people of the Philippines voiced their opinions by having the rally.
I honestly did not read all of “The Interpretive Problem”. Basically, the interpretive problem is how one views the film and how one will view and interpret the images and sounds he or she has seen from the film. In one point, it explains how the rules of interpretation are not universal. This is true and that is how interpretation causes problems because he or she may not see interpret what is seen or heard accurately. That person might put the interpretation in his or her own definition instead of what the film is trying to portray.