MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
In the US where he practiced law before returning to the Philippines, Rep. Paul Daza was more than familiar with the common usage of “deadbeats” to refer to useless members of society who live off other people without paying their dues, do not meet their obligations nor discharge their responsibilities and duties as parents and members of their communities.
(Disclosure: There are at least three Paul Dazas. This Paul Daza is the congressman who represents Northern Samar. Different branches of the extended Daza family include those known for their cooking and political talents, neither of which applies to me. Rep. Paul’s father, the former Congressman Raul, is sort of a very distant great-uncle to my children. — jyd)
Now on his second term in Congress, Rep. Paul is pushing for a bill to punish deadbeat fathers who sire children, then cheekily leave or neglect them without providing support of any kind, including financial. The bill has a nickname in the vernacular: “anti-balasubas.” Try saying “balasubas” and you can tell it sounds as bad as its meaning, what a poet might call an onomatopoeic word.
There are other, similarly descriptive words in Filipino, as colorful as the meanings they impart, but to my innocent ears, “balasubas” takes the cake. The American Chamber Heritage Dictionary defines deadbeat as “one who does not pay one’s debts; a lazy person, a loafer.” I prefer our “b” word, it’s got punch.
The anti-balasubas bill deserves the support of every member of the House of Representatives who respects the concept of family values. Surely, our honorable lawmakers are fully acquainted with such dishonorable types or have heard stories of how generations of parents have gotten away with their shameless dereliction of duty– there are more of them than we can catch. The practice has come to be jokingly incorporated into popular culture as “sumakabilang bahay,” a play on “sumakabilang buhay,” a translation of which would take the fun out of the witticism.
There are exceptions, of course, led by the indubitable ex-actor, ex-mayor, ex-senator, ex-vice president, ex-President Joseph Estrada, well-known as a good provider to all the children of his beloved women. His formula has always been “equal distribution,” or in more contemporary language, “no one left behind.”