Tatsulok: Social Stratification Put into Melody

“Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
Di matatapos itong gulo”

Tatsulok. If you hear this word in passing, you will think it’s just a Tagalog translation of a shape with 3 sides. But if someone will put the word BAMBOO to it, side by side, then you will think that it’s one of the most influential and immortalized hits in the Philippine music industry. This song is originally written and performed by a Folk-rock group Buklod in 1989, now revived by the now disbanded rock band, Bamboo.

The lyrics of this song are highly symbolic. Totoy, for instance, represent the common people or the masses. Red and Yellow (Pula’t Dilaw in the song) represents the Leftist New People’s Army, who carries red banners with them and the ever famous administration of the late Cory Aquino who regards yellow as a trademark of hers. When this song was written, it was also the height of the Total War Policy of the then Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos against the New People’s Army, but the clash between the military and the NPA have taken lives of ordinary citizens. However, this is not really the main message of the song.

Tatsulok presents the even more apparent reality in the Philippines’ social status: the disparity between the rich and the poor. This has been the thorn that hinders the economic progress of the country. The social stratification here is seen even in the streets we pass by. This may seem not to be rigid in nature but those who are rich becomes richer while the poorest of the poor becomes poorer. The rich has easy access to JUSTICE. They can easily sue someone who in their viewpoint has committed crime and also can manipulate the outcome of a case while the poor has to seek for city/municipal lawyers and sometimes are subjected to delaying tactics that will discourage them to pursue the case because of lack of funds. As the song goes, “at ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman.”

Finally, the song encourages us to overturn this so called “tatsulok”. It encourages us to do all the best we can in diminishing the great disparity among our social classes. We must strive hard in order to reach balance in our current situation. And also, we must help the government in whatever means they have pushed to diminish poverty and help in ways that are within the scope of our resources and abilities. And also, the role of educators plays a major role in realizing this advocacy that until now is not evident in our country.

(I just happen to stumble down on this essay of mine for our SoSci 1 class while finding one file on our computer. Then I remembered that I intend to put this here but just forgot about it due to my busy schedule. So now, I have put it here and I hope this would be an eye-opener to all of us.)