Vanitas/Photo by JR Dalisay

Vanitas/Photo by JR Dalisay
Vanitas/Photo by JR Dalisay, April 21, 2017

Monday, May 21, 2018

Posted by my professor Manny de Guzman at Maryhill School of Theology:
"Sharing this reflections from my wall, with Tony's painting. - CHILDREN OF THE VOICE… It’s Pentecost Sunday, known popularly for the symbol of the tongues of fire for the Holy Spirit descending upon the community of disciples. Today I chose another symbol and another personage to speak of the birthing of the prophetic Christian movement…
"I’m wrapping up the academic year with defenses of final integration projects by student-groups. About 210 students sat in my classes this entire year: male, female; lay people, seminarians, priests, consecrated persons; in various ministries in the church and professions in civil society. Colleagues have been asking me if there are differences among the students in the different schools where I taught. I avoid directly answering them because of the diversity of course I directed and the range of number of students per class, from 10 to 49. I also respect the theological orientations or thrusts of the schools, and indeed there are differences, yet I try to be creative and productive in the spaces given to me as a laboratory for new landscapes and new sights. Some will say, 'It’s the school you choose' that matters. Maybe so. But the schools are as good as the teachers in the classrooms. There are teachers like me who teach across different schools and they bear their own disciplines as much as they leave their marks of theological personality and style which they impart to students.
"The mural below is a triptych of 'John the Baptist' painted by Tony Perez, a Filipino visual artist, lyricist, novelist, playwright, editor, clinical therapist, psychic trainer, and an alumnus of Maryhill School of Theology (M.A. Religious Studies). Measuring 5 feet x 12 feet, it hangs in the inner study room of the MST library. Whenever I sit and face the triptych, while preparing for my classes, reading books or papers of students, I find it as a constant reminder that we all are John the Baptist.
"We teachers are in the same boat as John the Baptist, whose role is to prepare the way for a deeper encounter with the Messiah. We do not make any miracles or exorcisms but hopefully like John teachers will be remembered for being the voice in the wilderness. That makes teachers examples for students to follow, that everyone’s calling has dignity to it and God seems to know better than we do and God seems to know better than what is in us (J. Green).
"Teachers of theology, again as John was, are a contrast-people to the world’s preferences. His voice in the wilderness is the voice that co-missioned him to prophesy against the ills of the world and announce the coming of a radically different world. John refused to be silent and it can be said that the prophetic Christian movement began with him: 'In his recorded teaching to the people there is not a word about the customary ritual of religion, about increased Sabbath observance, about stricter washings and sacrifices, or the ordinary exercises of piety. He spoke only of repentance, of ceasing from wrongdoing. He hailed the professional exponents of religion who came to hear him, as a brood of snakes wriggling away from the flames of the judgment. ... The way to prepare for the Messianic era and to escape the wrath of the Messiah was to institute a brotherly [and sisterly] life and to equalize social inequalities' (W. Rauschenbusch). As teachers we don’t teach just knowledge but a vision of life and a mission in the world. Jesus heard also a voice, The Voice. It is He who embodied the voice in actions through what he called the reign-of-God-already-in-our-midst.
"We are all the 'daughter of a sound' ('bat kol', בּת קול; 'kol' literally means 'echo' or 'whisper' but used in biblical sense it is 'divine voice'). Teachers could not have been using their voices if they didn’t hear and listen also to the voice within them and in the world around them, speaking of their vocation and mission. John and us, theology teachers, are path-breakers, path-makers, path-seekers. May all our students become voices of the voiceless in a divided and wounded world and trek the path of peace and justice no matter how dusty, winding, and precarious.
"Till then, happy vacation to students as we teachers need it too. Carpe diem, make your life extraordinary."




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About Tony Perez

TONY PEREZ is a creative writer, playwright, poet, lyricist, painter, portraitist, fiber artist, sculptor, game designer, fashion photographer, and psychic journalist and trainer. He is one of the 100 Filipino recipients of the 1898-1998 Centennial Artists Awards of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. His other awards include the 13 Artists of the Philippines, the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas from the Writers Union of the Philippines, four National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle, a FAMAS Award for Best Story, five prizes from the Cultural Center of the Philippines Playwriting Contest, three prizes from the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the National Fellowship for Drama from the Creative Writing Center of the University of the Philippines, the Irwin Chair in Creative Writing from Ateneo de Manila University, and a prize in photography from the Children’s Museum and Library, Inc.

Among Tony Perez’s plays are "Hoy, Boyet, Tinatawag Ka Na, Hatinggabi Na’y Gising Ka Pa Pala"; Anak ng Araw; "Gabún"; "Alex Antiporda"; "Sierra Lakes"; "Biyernes, 4:00 N.H."; "Sacraments of the Dead"; "The Wayside Café"; Ang Panginoon sa Driod; Isang Pangyayari sa Planas Site; and "Ang Prinsipe Ng Buwan". He wrote the librettos for the musicals Florante at Laura and Sa Pugad ng Adarna for Tanghalang Pilipino and the opera La naval for University of Santo Tomas. His two major drama trilogies are Tatlong Paglalakbay: Tatlong Mahabang Dula ni Tony Perez (Bombita, Biyaheng Timog, Sa North Diversion Road) (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House) and Indakan Ng Mga Puso(Oktubre, Noong Tayo’y Nagmamahalan Pa; Nobyembre, Noong Akala Ko’y Mahal Kita; and Saan Ba Tayo Ihahatid ng Disyembre?).Biyaheng Timog was produced as A Small Matter of Sacrifice in New York City and as Trip to the South in Singapore, and Sa North Diversion Road, as On The North Diversion Road, in Melbourne, Australia. His mentors in literature and drama were Onofre Pagsanghan, Rolando Tinio, Bienvenido Lumbera, Nicanor Tiongson, Virgilio Almario, Cecile Guidote, Nestor Torre, and Randy Ford. His plays for radio, television, and film were directed by Sonia Roco, Lino Brocka, Lupita Concio, Mitos Villareal, Nick Lizaso, Joey Gosiengfiao, Gil Portes, Maryo de los Reyes, Frank Rivera, and Anton Juan. He was featured in National Geographic/Discovery Channel’s “Psychic Detectives” in their Asian Enigma episode.

Tony Perez’s published books include Albert N.: A Case Study and the five volumes in the Cubao Series titled Cubao 1980 At Iba Pang Mga Katha; Cubao Pagkagat Ng Dilim; Cubao Midnight Express; Eros, Thanatos, Cubao; and Cubao-Kalaw Kalaw-Cubao by Cacho Publishing House. His Anvil Transpersonal Psychology Series includes The Calling: A Transpersonal Adventure; Beings: Encounters of the Spirit Questors with Non-human Entities; The Departed: Encounters of the Spirit Questors with Spirits of the Deceased; A Young Man Cries for Justice beyond His Grave Volume I; Stories of the Moon: Further Adventures of the Spirit Questors; Songs of Sunset: Incantations and Spells by the Spirit Questors; Mga Panibagong Kulam; Mga Panibagong Tawas; Mga Panibagong Orasyon; Mga Panibagong Orasyon sa Magica Cantada; Mga Panibagong Ritwal ng Wicca; Mga Panibagong Kulam sa Pag-ibig, and the new series Maligayang Pagdating sa Sitio Catacutan and Malagim ang Gabi sa Sitio Catacutan. He co-authored a children’s book, Inang Bayan’s New Clothes (Anvil Publishing Inc.) His plays, fiction, poems, original knitting patterns, acrostic puzzles, and illustrations were published in various anthologies, textbooks, and magazines including This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from around The World (edited by Naomi Shihab Nye, Macmillan Publishing Company), Tenggara 23: Journal of Southeast Asian Literature (Jabatan Persuratan Melayu, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), New Writing from the Philippines, Volume 33 (Philippine Studies Series), Modern ASEAN Plays: Philippines (edited by Nicanor G. Tiongson, ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information), A Habit of Shores: An Anthology of Poems, 1965-1974 (edited by Gemino H. Abad, Bureau of National and Foreign Information), Building Communication Skills 6 and Gems of Philippine Literature (Department of Education, Culture, and Sports), Rogue Magazine, The Philippine Star, The Philippines Free Press Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Mr. & Ms. Magazine, andWoman’s Home Companion Magazine. Some of his works in Filipino were translated into English and French. He conducts "Writing from The Heart," a creativity workshop in writing, drawing, and drama to beginners and professionals, and especially to underserved audiences such as faculty and students of public schools, community theater groups, the disadvantaged, the disabled, children in conflict with the law, abused women and children, victims of human trafficking, prisoners, gang leaders, drug rehabilitation residents, and people in need of trauma therapy.

In 2013 Mr. Perez decided to post all of his old and new works in cyberspace to make them available to a wider range of people.

Tony Perez’s artworks have been showcased in 21 individual and group art exhibits curated by Marian Pastor Roces, Nonon Padilla, Bobi Villanueva, Judy Sibayan, Lalyn Buncab, Nilo Ilarde, Ernie Patricio and Jun Veloso, Chari Elinzano, Reverend Father Loy Divino (CICM), and Raven Villanueva. Among his art teachers were Araceli Limcaco-Dans, Brenda Fajardo, Virginia Flor Agbayani and Ben-Hur Villanueva of the U.P. College of Fine Arts, Florencio Concepcion and Fernando Sena of The Saturday Group, and Rafael del Casal.

Mr. Perez holds an A.B. in Communications and a Cand. M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Ateneo de Manila University, an M.A. in Religious Studies, magna cum laude, from Maryhill School of Theology in New Manila, and certificates in Publication Design and Production from the Department of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin and Fundamentals of Graphic Design from the University of California at San Francisco. He taught as adjunct lecturer at Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Saint Scholastica’s College, Maryknoll College, and the Philippine High School for the Arts. His master’s thesis, titled Pagsubok sa Ilang: Ikaapat na Mukha ni Satanas was published by Anvil Publishing Inc. in 2005 and was awarded the National Book Award for Theology and Religion by the Manila Critics Circle in 2006.

Mr. Perez has two sons, Nelson I. Miranda and Chito I. Miranda, four granddaughters, Angelique Pearl Miranda, Nielsen Tegelan, Aubrey Rose Miranda, and Chevy Keith Miranda, and one grandson, Chrysler Vince Miranda. His daughters-in-law are Agnes Tegelan and Ivy Vercasion. They live in Cubao, Quezon City, where Mr. Perez has resided since 1955.