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Why Erwin Romulo is not on social media

Totel V. de Jesus

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/news/08/04/erwin.jpg"/><figcaption>Erwin Romulo during this year’s Art and The Park in an animated conversation with former beauty queen Dindi Gallardo. Photo by author</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- Why are you not on social media? I asked Erwin Romulo not so long ago. He raised his shoulders and made a twisting motion in his mouth, as if saying, “Why not?” He was taking a shot of potent lambanog (coconut vodka) with visual artist Romeo Lee and we were sitting on monobloc chairs before a gallery that had Lee’s latest works. Romulo goes by many descriptions that fit the term multi-hyphenate. He is writer-editor-film music scorer-video director-producer-composer-newspaper columnist and everything in between. In the age of influencers and instant celebrities, Romulo is not the type who flaunts his achievements. And they are many and would trigger envy.He and Lee were inviting passers-by, mostly familiar faces, to take a swig, like in a neighborhood sari-sari store in the countryside before the government’s crackdown on tambays. But we’re not anywhere near a sari-sari store. It was mid-afternoon at Art in the Park in Makati City and if there were cops around, they’re in the periphery guarding the whole Velasquez Park. “I tried once, around…” he said, mentioning a particular year that seemed a decade ago, a number that he can’t remember. “On Facebook, I tried once, but I got pissed off. I was disappointed, actually irritated, annoyed how some people I know personally can be so into this and into that. As in, ‘Huh’ ‘yan lang ba ang pinagkaka-abalahan mo sa buhay? D’yan lang ba umiikot ang mundo mo?”For a while, he kept the account but what made him deactivate for good was these so-called friends have become demanding. “They were asking me why I wasn’t reacting to their posts. Why I wasn’t even clicking ‘like’ or ‘dislike.’ Huh?”And that was probably a decade ago. But If we think about it, there’s bliss in Romulo’s world. He is solely focused on what he’s doing. Be it a musical score for an Erik Matti film, a photography exhibit like Carlo Gabuco’s or Neil Daza’s, a feature article for a respectable luxury magazine, a book he’s reading, a drink he’s sharing with the likes of Ely Buendia or John Lloyd Cruz, a walk in an iconic city in Europe he’s been to many times and all the good things in life that would gather thousands likes, wows and hearts on Facebook. Romulo is in the moment all the time or what the Buddhists preach in the eightfold path, “Seeing things as they truly are without delusions or distortions for all things change.”His out-of-the-box ideas as magazine editor gave birth to two new songs of the Eraserheads, in which he was credited as co-songwriter. These are “Sabado” and “1995,” which were launched in a two-track CD and distributed as insert for the travel issue of Esquire magazine in September, 2014. Who wouldn’t forget this issue whose cover has the Pinoy Fab Four recreating The Beatles’ walk on Abbey Road?As columnist for the youth section of a national broadsheet, I remember his witty piece many years ago on Marcus Adoro and his fascination with surfing. In it, Romulo was addressing then Tourism secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano — it was an open letter if memory serves me right that begins with “Dear Ace” — and how surfing in the Philippines should be promoted with Adoro as its torchbearer-model. Or something like that.Romulo is the reason why Dong Abay’s songs are in Erik Matti’s films. Romulo is either musical supervisor or scorer for “On The Job,” “Honor Thy Father,” “Seklusyon” and “Buybust.” He has also worked with Lav Diaz and has directed or has helped conceptualized music videos for Ely Buendia-led bands like Pupil, Oktaves, Apartel and the iconic Eraserheads. And they are not your usual music videos. Buendia kept on saying in interviews that one of the memorable videos they did was when they literally stopped traffic on EDSA. This was in 2011 for Pupil’s song titled “20/20,” in which Romulo was the producer. <figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rcB3Ooibn6k?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="~//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="~//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>Romulo, just like his great, great grandfather, the multi-hyphenate Carlos P. Romulo (diplomat-statesman-soldier-journalist and author) is brimming with ideas. He is the guy you’d want to listen to on a lecture on music, history, art, others, just like reading your favorite sensible books non-stop on weekends. Together with his good friend Lourd de Veyra, Romulo is featured in the Benilde Arts Management Program’ “A History of Ideas,” a multimedia presentation on contemporary Philippine intellectual history and culture. Well everybody knows De Veyra, another multi-hyphenate intellectual whose presence in social media is very much felt by everyone, including the powers-that-be in Malacanang. Dindin Araneta of Benilde School of Design and Arts said “A History of Ideas” is written and produced by De Veyra and Romulo for a new subject in the revised Arts Management curriculum.You can listen to these two intellectuals on Saturday, August 4, starting 6 p.m. at the Benilde School of Design and Arts. It is still not known what they are going to talk about but for sure, Romulo can’t be reached via Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Tinder and all “distractions” to enlightenment.

In the age of influencers and instant celebrities, Erwin Romulo is not the type who flaunts his achievements.

In the age of influencers and instant celebrities, Erwin Romulo is not the type who flaunts his achievements.