Jailbreak
April 12th, 2009 by gregdeligero
Last April 4, barely hours before Holy Week, was an extraordinary day for 27 inmates of the Davao City Jail. After months or years behind bars, they found themselves in the jam-packed CAP Auditorium along Anda Street to do something extraordinary they had never –dreamed of: perform in a musical before a huge appreciative crowd of spectators!
Ironically entitled “Jailbreak,” the musical does not attempt to gloss over the inmates having broken the country’s laws. It does not try to manipulate feelings, much less to expose the sorry condition in many of the country’s prison facilities.
The show simply portrays the different personal struggles of the inmates, their collective experience as a community surrounded by prison walls, the biases shown towards them by the outside world, and the stigma of prison life attached to all who have done time as being jailed.
The opening scene is a dramatic depiction of the many faces of pleasures and excesses intrinsic in a hedonistic society which abets the breeding of all sorts of crime and criminals who eventually end up ignominiously behind iron bars.
The singing and dancing segments coupled with a subtle video presentation serving as backdrop were a creative masterpiece that had many in the audience on the verge of tears.
This was followed by one scene showing an inmate proclaiming his innocence of the crime he was accused of and putting the blame for his predicament on fate itself while on the other hand a fellow-inmate readily accepts responsibility for his wrongdoing even as he looks forward to the time when he would eventually make up for his past mistakes and be able to live a normal life once again.
“Ang hirap pagsilbihan ang kasalanang di mo kagagawan. Kay hirap magpaliwanag sa mapanghusgang kapaligiran (It’s so painful to serve time behind bars for something one has not done. Worse, it’s exasperating to explain one’s innocence to a judgmental society),” was the claim of the first inmate. But the second inmate was more candid. “Aaminin ko nagkasala ako…Sa takdang panahon ako’y babawi rin at hihilom ang sugat ng bawat damdamin (I admit my wrongdoing and will make it up in due time to heal every wounded feeling),” he said.
Those are commonplace claims of many prisoners anywhere there are jails.
The show also presents various personal struggles common among inmates. One was jilted (gi ambakan in street lingo) by his girlfriend who realized the hopelessness of a relationship with someone who is locked up in jail. Another, a single mother who was the family’s sole breadwinner, showed extreme depression over the fact that her children have been forced to eke out a living collecting garbage in her absence.
Despite the pathos evoking pity and compassion brought about by their experiences in prison, the musical also shows the bright side of the inmates’ life behind bars, particularly their stoic acceptance of their fate while counting the days to their eventual release and the anticipation of starting life anew the moment they step out of the prison gate to breathe the air of real freedom once again and final triumph over misery.
In one scene, the inmates portray the real life situation inside the jail that many in the outside community are not aware of or could not even imagine: bayanihan (communal unity), personal bonding (unknown in the average neighborhood), and the collective process of rehabilitation (proving that it is not a monopoly of private rehabilitation centers).
“Davao City Jail ang aming tahanan na sa karamihan ay kinakatakutan. Pinagluklukan umano ng masasamang tao…Dito namin natagpuan at nabuo ang watak na pira-piraso nitong ligaw na pagkatao…Dito sa loob ng bilangguan natigil ang kalokohan, kasamaan ay napalitan ng kabutihan (Davao City Jail is our home, abhored by people in the outside who look upon it as a haven of bad guys. But it is in this place where we are able to start rebuilding our shattered lives. It is in this place where we have come to realize that well-meaning action can make up for our former wrongdoings),” they sang in a chorus.
The musical was not all seriousness and somber. The audience also had a good laugh, especially when the audition and selection process for members of the cast was re-enacted, backed up with the actual video footages of the activity. An old man tried to win over the panel of judges with his vampire-like attire while a faggot dying to impress the audience with his comic antics that only elicited laughter.
The musical, despite its serious setting, remains entertaining, especially the portion where the performers sing a song with an upbeat tempo that expresses gratitude to the audience for taking time to watch them perform, and to the organizers for giving them the opportunity to prove that despite the circumstance of their being real life prisoners they are able to show that, after all, they are human beings in an abnormal environment doing what people in the normal world outside do.
“Heto na kami sa inyong harapan di naiiba sa karamihan. Di man lubos kaming naiintindihan sapat ng ngiti’t saya n’yoy nasilayan (Here we are before your very eyes, not really fully understood by you, but it is enough that we see you smiling and enjoying our show,” said one song.
“Salamat sa pagbigay halaga, salamat sa pangakong pag-asa, muling bumabalik ang dating ngiti ng tuyong mga labi (Thanks for giving value and promise of hope, it brings back smiles to our own lips),” said one of their concluding pieces. That drew a standing ovation from the audience.
While the general theme of the musical is about the need for compassion and understanding from the public, the central message of “Jailbreak” is more about breaking the biases, fear and hate in the hearts of everyone, including the inmates, their families and the public.
“Jailbreak,” thus, is about the symbolic breaking of the “jail” within ourselves.
