Kulto
Encyclopedia
Kulto is an adventure story arc
of the Philippine comic strip series Pugad Baboy
, created by Pol Medina Jr. This particular story arc lasts 41 strips long and was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
from November 1995 to January 1996. In 1997, the story arc was reprinted in the ninth compilation of the comic strip series.
. Suddenly, Bong's spending habits change, even to the extent of forcing himself to eat at fast food
joints and his bodyguards to "BYOB
" (buy their own food). He even has no time to go to school. Furthermore, his classmates notice him saying, "The end is near"; they suspect that he has just joined a doomsday cult
. So Utoy, Paltik, Joma (three of Bong's classmates), together with Polgas, reorganize the Walang Payat Gang (WPG), a vigilante group they formed to combat Oplan Paglalanse (walang payat means nobody is thin in Filipino).
Knowing that the doomsday cult only recruits rich kids, Polgas volunteers to use his undercover agent skills to act as a rich dog with a lot of bling-bling
. He rides off to school in his Porsche 959
(the Thunderdog) and uses a Rolex
watch in a tossing game called tumbang-preso. He also eats expensive food at recess, such as caviar
, truffles, and a special version of turon
for congressmen.
Eventually, the cult takes Polgas (who is under the guise of J. Paul Gasti) into their fold. Within the cult, Polgas discovers a world full of gullibility, deceit, and embezzlement, especially from its freckled leader, Jonas Ignacio, otherwise known as Brother Jonas.
The WPG's surveillance of Brother Jonas reveals that he is a former Overseas Filipino Worker
who stayed in Saudi Arabia
for 16 years. Upon returning, a local religious fellowship duped him of all his earnings. Lonely and destitute, he contemplated committing suicide. His "freckles" are actually marks from golfers's spiked shoes trampling on him during a stampede at the Goma Cup Invitational Golf Tournament (an apparent suicide attempt).
Although he attends some of the cult's activities, Polgas is having a hard time gathering evidence, as secret messages to cultists are written on lumpia
paper and eaten after reading. Brother Jonas eventually blows Polgas' cover during a "private chat" where he reveals that he had cross-referenced the Thunderdog with Porsche's master database of worldwide 959 owners. As it turns out, the list only shows one Filipino 959 owner - Polgas. The latter tries to explain that the car is nothing but a knockoff, but the cult leader retorts that he is not as gullible and dumb as his disciples.
Brother Jonas then reveals his master plan: He intends to bring the cult members to a place near Mt. Makiling in Laguna province to replicate the 1978 Peoples Temple
mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
. However, instead of drinking cyanide-spiked Kool Aid, the cultists would drink a so-called "Elixir of Doom" (EOD; dirty water from the taps of the city of Mandaluyong) to induce death by diarrhea
. But since it is expected that Polgas would try to stop the event from taking place, Brother Jonas later unleashes his trump card: a super-stinky meat inspector named Boy Pantog that knocks him out with his body odor.
The cultists arrive at the site, only to find a group of UFO
watchers already there. Brother Jonas argues with the group leader over who reserved the site first; eventually the cult goes to a dense part of the mountain. He then instructs his bodyguards to secure the perimeter in case some of the cultists back out at the last minute. Brother Jonas begins his suicide address, where he asks the cult members on whether they could live with the fact that Manuel Morato
's plans to run as president in 1998 (which he lost) could set a precedent where various cabinet positions could be given to hairstylist Ricky Reyes and film director Carlo J. Caparas
. The cultists say "No" - including Boy Pantog, who has Polgas at his left armpit.
The WPG discover that Polgas is captured and mount a rescue mission. Paltik extricates Polgas by using a grappler line from Utoy's Swiss army knife
. At the same time, he attaches Boy Pantog's left arm to a balloon, sending him up. Paltik then tries to revive Polgas using a synthetic pheromone. The revival is partially completed when the guards capture Paltik and bring him to Brother Jonas - who then orders that he should drink the EOD first. He is about to lead the cultists into drinking the flasks when a resuscitated Polgas plays an audiotape of their earlier conversation from a false beer belly (which is a result of his visits to slimming salons and strenuous abdominal training). When Brother Jonas' bodyguards try to attack, Polgas knocks them out after he sets the recorder's volume to full blast to disorient them.
The cultists rebel when they realize that Brother Jonas will not drink the EOD along with them. His "gullible and dumb" remarks in the tape further enrages them. He suddenly runs off, using his sprinting experience from years of evading the clutches of man-raping Arabs in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Boy Pantog is released from the balloon. The UFO watchers see him coming down, mistaking him for an alien. His foul odor catches the group by surprise after he slams into the ground. They run off into the distance - towards Brother Jonas, who suddenly crumples under another stampede. Polgas and the WPG chance upon him, who then is offered a bottle of Perrier
water. However, there is one catch: the lack of bubbles indicated the presence of EOD, which practically shocks Brother Jonas. Polgas points out that the EOD mixed with the water was diluted; although Brother Jonas will not die from diarrhea, it is now a lifelong illness.
Brother Jonas is then presented before Judge Tickolas Marshall, who sentences him to life in exile in Bacolod, Iloilo.
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
of the Philippine comic strip series Pugad Baboy
Pugad Baboy
Pugad Baboy is a comic strip created by Filipino cartoonist Apolonio "Pol" Medina, Jr. The strip is about a Manila community of mostly obese people - "fat as pigs", so to speak ....
, created by Pol Medina Jr. This particular story arc lasts 41 strips long and was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Philippine Daily Inquirer, popularly known as the Inquirer, is the most widely read broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines, with a daily circulation of 260,000 copies. It is one of the Philippines' newspapers of record...
from November 1995 to January 1996. In 1997, the story arc was reprinted in the ninth compilation of the comic strip series.
Synopsis
Bong Cabalfin, demands that his parents raise his daily allowance. They, however, refuse due to the eradication of the illegal numbers game jueteng, from which the good senator receives a payolaPayola
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S...
. Suddenly, Bong's spending habits change, even to the extent of forcing himself to eat at fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
joints and his bodyguards to "BYOB
BYOB
BYOB is an acronym most commonly meant to stand for "bring your own bottle", "bring your own booze" "bring your own bucket" or "bring your own beer"....
" (buy their own food). He even has no time to go to school. Furthermore, his classmates notice him saying, "The end is near"; they suspect that he has just joined a doomsday cult
Doomsday cult
Doomsday cult is an expression used to describe groups who believe in Apocalypticism and Millenarianism, and can refer both to groups that prophesy catastrophe and destruction, and to those that attempt to bring it about...
. So Utoy, Paltik, Joma (three of Bong's classmates), together with Polgas, reorganize the Walang Payat Gang (WPG), a vigilante group they formed to combat Oplan Paglalanse (walang payat means nobody is thin in Filipino).
Knowing that the doomsday cult only recruits rich kids, Polgas volunteers to use his undercover agent skills to act as a rich dog with a lot of bling-bling
Bling-bling
Bling is a slang term popularized in hip hop culture, referring to flashy, ostentatious or elaborate jewelry and ornamented accessories that are carried, worn or installed, such as cell phones or tooth caps....
. He rides off to school in his Porsche 959
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by Porsche from 1986 to 1989, first as a Group B rally car and later as a legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring that a minimum number of 200 street legal units be built....
(the Thunderdog) and uses a Rolex
Rolex
Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
watch in a tossing game called tumbang-preso. He also eats expensive food at recess, such as caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
, truffles, and a special version of turon
Turrón (Filipino cuisine)
Turon , also known as Banana Lumpia, is a Philippine snack made of thinly sliced bananas and a slice of jackfruit, dusted with brown sugar, rolled in spring roll wrapper and fried...
for congressmen.
Eventually, the cult takes Polgas (who is under the guise of J. Paul Gasti) into their fold. Within the cult, Polgas discovers a world full of gullibility, deceit, and embezzlement, especially from its freckled leader, Jonas Ignacio, otherwise known as Brother Jonas.
The WPG's surveillance of Brother Jonas reveals that he is a former Overseas Filipino Worker
Overseas Filipino
An Overseas Filipino is a person of Philippine origin who lives outside of the Philippines. This term applies both to people of Filipino ancestry who are citizens or residents of a different country and to those Filipino citizens abroad on a more temporary status.Most overseas Filipinos migrate to...
who stayed in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
for 16 years. Upon returning, a local religious fellowship duped him of all his earnings. Lonely and destitute, he contemplated committing suicide. His "freckles" are actually marks from golfers's spiked shoes trampling on him during a stampede at the Goma Cup Invitational Golf Tournament (an apparent suicide attempt).
Although he attends some of the cult's activities, Polgas is having a hard time gathering evidence, as secret messages to cultists are written on lumpia
Lumpia
Lumpia are pastries of Chinese origin similar to fresh popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Southeast Asia. The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia , which is an alternate term for popiah...
paper and eaten after reading. Brother Jonas eventually blows Polgas' cover during a "private chat" where he reveals that he had cross-referenced the Thunderdog with Porsche's master database of worldwide 959 owners. As it turns out, the list only shows one Filipino 959 owner - Polgas. The latter tries to explain that the car is nothing but a knockoff, but the cult leader retorts that he is not as gullible and dumb as his disciples.
Brother Jonas then reveals his master plan: He intends to bring the cult members to a place near Mt. Makiling in Laguna province to replicate the 1978 Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple was a religious organization founded in 1955 by Jim Jones that, by the mid-1970s, included over a dozen locations in California including its headquarters in San Francisco...
mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...
. However, instead of drinking cyanide-spiked Kool Aid, the cultists would drink a so-called "Elixir of Doom" (EOD; dirty water from the taps of the city of Mandaluyong) to induce death by diarrhea
Diarrhea
Diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...
. But since it is expected that Polgas would try to stop the event from taking place, Brother Jonas later unleashes his trump card: a super-stinky meat inspector named Boy Pantog that knocks him out with his body odor.
The cultists arrive at the site, only to find a group of UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
watchers already there. Brother Jonas argues with the group leader over who reserved the site first; eventually the cult goes to a dense part of the mountain. He then instructs his bodyguards to secure the perimeter in case some of the cultists back out at the last minute. Brother Jonas begins his suicide address, where he asks the cult members on whether they could live with the fact that Manuel Morato
Manuel Morato
Manoling Morato is an infamous public servant in the Philippines.-Early life and career:Morato is the son of Calauag, Quezon Mayor and Quezon City's first appointed mayor Tomàs Morató, a blond and blue-eyed Spanish settler in the Philippines. He graduated with Bachelor of Science degree in...
's plans to run as president in 1998 (which he lost) could set a precedent where various cabinet positions could be given to hairstylist Ricky Reyes and film director Carlo J. Caparas
Carlo J. Caparas
Magno "Carlo" Jose Caparas , widely known as Carlo J. Caparas, is a Filipino comic strip creator/writer-turned director and producer, who is best known for creating Filipino superheroes and comic book characters such as Panday, Bakekang, Totoy Bato, Joaquin Bordado, Kamagong, Kamandag, Elias...
. The cultists say "No" - including Boy Pantog, who has Polgas at his left armpit.
The WPG discover that Polgas is captured and mount a rescue mission. Paltik extricates Polgas by using a grappler line from Utoy's Swiss army knife
Swiss Army knife
The Swiss Army knife is a brand of pocket knife or multi-tool manufactured by Victorinox AG and Wenger SA. The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by US soldiers after World War II due to the difficulty they had in pronouncing the German name....
. At the same time, he attaches Boy Pantog's left arm to a balloon, sending him up. Paltik then tries to revive Polgas using a synthetic pheromone. The revival is partially completed when the guards capture Paltik and bring him to Brother Jonas - who then orders that he should drink the EOD first. He is about to lead the cultists into drinking the flasks when a resuscitated Polgas plays an audiotape of their earlier conversation from a false beer belly (which is a result of his visits to slimming salons and strenuous abdominal training). When Brother Jonas' bodyguards try to attack, Polgas knocks them out after he sets the recorder's volume to full blast to disorient them.
The cultists rebel when they realize that Brother Jonas will not drink the EOD along with them. His "gullible and dumb" remarks in the tape further enrages them. He suddenly runs off, using his sprinting experience from years of evading the clutches of man-raping Arabs in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Boy Pantog is released from the balloon. The UFO watchers see him coming down, mistaking him for an alien. His foul odor catches the group by surprise after he slams into the ground. They run off into the distance - towards Brother Jonas, who suddenly crumples under another stampede. Polgas and the WPG chance upon him, who then is offered a bottle of Perrier
Perrier
Perrier is a brand of bottled mineral water made from a spring in Vergèze in the Gard département of France. The spring is naturally carbonated...
water. However, there is one catch: the lack of bubbles indicated the presence of EOD, which practically shocks Brother Jonas. Polgas points out that the EOD mixed with the water was diluted; although Brother Jonas will not die from diarrhea, it is now a lifelong illness.
Brother Jonas is then presented before Judge Tickolas Marshall, who sentences him to life in exile in Bacolod, Iloilo.
Miscellaneous trivia
- The special turon Polgas eats in this arc is a reference to an old news report in the mid-1990s which claimed that lawmakers in the Philippine House of Representatives spent millions of pesos in public funds for an order of turrón.
- To emphasize how stinky Boy Pantog's smell is, lyrics from Shaggy's hit, BoombasticBoombasticBoombastic is the third studio album released by Jamaican artist Shaggy. The album was released on July 11, 1995. The album sold over one million copies in the U.S., as well as selling 300,000+ in the UK...
, surround him ("A-mistah-hoba-hoba" and "Kaboom-bastik"). This is a play on the Filipino word "putok" (literally, "explosion"), which is used as a euphemismEuphemismA euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
for bad body odor. - Boy Pantog also wears a button bearing the phrase "I ♥ SaddamSaddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
." This further corroborates Medina's running gag of describing Arabs with bad body odor. - There is actually no such place in the province of Iloilo as Bacolod (which may be Bacolod CityBacolod CityThe City of Bacolod , is a highly urbanized midsize Philippine city. It is the capital of the Negros Occidental province. Having a total of 499,497 inhabitants as of August 1, 2007, it is the most populous city in the Western Visayas Region. It is currently ranked as the 17th most populous city in...
, the provincial capital of Negros OccidentalNegros OccidentalNegros Occidental is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Bacolod City and it occupies the northwestern half of Negros Island; Negros Oriental is at the southeastern half...
). However, Brother Jonas does correctly mention that the place is known for its chicken dishes, especially chicken inasal. - Actor Roy Alvarez appears in this arc as the leader of the UFO watchers. At the time the story arc was published, the actor rose to notoriety for being an alleged mediator and spokesperson for extraterrestrialsExtraterrestrial lifeExtraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
whose ships were sighted in the Philippines. - This story arcs debuts Polgas's fake beer belly. Later story arcs (such as Apo HikersApo HikersApo Hikers is an adventure story arc of the Philippine comic strip series Pugad Baboy, created by Pol Medina Jr. and originally published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. This particular story arc lasts 62 strips long...
) see him use it as a storage compartment whenever he wants to change his identity into Dobermaxx.