Jessica Zafra

(born 1965) is a fiction writer, columnist, editor, publisher, and former television and
radio show host.[1] She is known for her sharp and witty writing style. Her most
popular books are the Twisted series, [2] [3] a collection of her essays as a columnist
for the newspaper Today (now Manila Standard Today), as well as from her time as
editor and publisher of the magazine Flip. [2] She currently writes a weekly column
for InterAksyon irony..com, the online news portal of TV5. She resides in
Metro Manila, Philippines, where she is working on her first novel. She also managed
the Eraserheads during the 1990s.
Her work often are about current events (both Philippine and international), tennis,
movies, music, cats, books, technology, and her personal life. Her work has been
the subject of academic study. The main ingredient to her work is often fun cynicism
and

The teacher who said you would never

amount to anything. For the sake of
argument let us assume that she was
right and you did turn out to be a
worthless, pathetic loser. She would
still be a bitch, not to mention an
incompetent teacher. Teachers
aren’t just supposed to drill
lessons into your skull, they’re
supposed to inspire you to make
something of yourself. No matter how
crummy the raw material. It’s
part of their job description, and the
fact that teachers are horrendously underpaid, overworked, and unappreciated is
beside the point. If you’re a loser, it’s partly her fault.

For being a rotten teacher, she is doomed to write "I was an incompetent teacher
who ruined the lives of my students" 100 times on the blackboard, and then erase
everything and start all over again. For all eternity. With no bathroom breaks.

The class bully who tormented you in high school. High school was a preview of Hell,
due largely to the sadistic tendencies of your personal demon, (PUT NAME HERE).
He put gum in your hair, pulled your chair out from under you, called you names,
vandalized your locker, and drew funny pictures of you on the blackboard. And
being a real bully, he infected everyone around him so you had to deal with a school
full of bullies making fun of you. Why he picked on you in particular, you have no
idea. Maybe he secretly liked you (EEUWW, GROSS) or he was miserable at home or
his parents beat the crap out of him.
Paul B. Zafaralla
Born on June 22, 1983 in Upon, Pinili, Ilocos Norte. He is a multilingual writer (Iluko,
English, Filipino) on Ilocano and Philippine culture and the arts for the past 51 years.
His outlets are Bannawag, Rima, Iluko anthologies, lectures, English broadsheets,
popular and professional magazines, journals, and classrooms. He enjoys regional,
national and international recognitions for his incisive and scholarly critiques. The
Association of the Philippines gave him a special cognition for his body of published
works in 1971. This was followed by numerous official participation in national and
ASEAN congresses on arts and aesthetics, in many of which as a paper reader. At
the University of the Philippines where he received his degrees (BFA, MAED, Ph. D in
Communication), his body of published works had been duly recognized. The Manila
Critics Circle awarded him the 2004 National Book Award for Rice in the Seven Arts,
Sept. 4, 2005. Pinili-Metro Manila Residents Associations, Inc., awarded him the Don
Ignacio Lafrades Award for Distinguished Achievement, December 9, 2006. Dr.
Zafaralla is a member of GUMIL Filipinas; PEN International; Phi Kappa Phi
International Honor Society; and Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in the
Social Sciences.

Laguna de Bay, the Philippines'

largest inland body of water, is an
indispensable source of clean
water for fishing, drinking,
recreation, as well as an important
habitat for endangered species.

This tome on Laguna de Bay brings

the history, legend, and lore
together with visions for the future
of this famous lake.

Fully illustrated with contributions

from notable writers and
researchers in the Philippines, this
book can serve as a reference tool
as well as a bridge across the widening distance between the Filipinos' historic past
and the appreciation of future generations.

Published by Unilever. This book is dedicated to the various stakeholder groups and
individuals who work tirelessly for the future-oriented environmental conservation of
Laguna de Bay.
Mark Anthony Cayanan
was raised in Angeles City, Philippines. He has an MFA in Creative Writing at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He teacher at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Narcissus, Mark Anthony

Cayanans first book of poetry,
is out. You can read a few
poems from the
collection here. What follows is
my introduction to the book.
I tell you this is a story about
doom/and it is the I, who is
irreparably itself and will
stay/inconsolably so. Desire,
even when directed at the self,
is not exempt from
triangulation, and in Mark Anthony Cayanans Narcissus, the third party that drives
a wedge between the I that turns to itself is the I that turns against it. To live a long
life, a seer warns, Narcissus must never get to know himself. The terms of the
prophecy solidify when, by way of a curse, the beautiful Narcissusbeloved by
many and lover to nonefalls in the direct line of his own rejection, doomed to
desire his reflection and suffer unrequited love.
Narcissuss futile attempt to fuse with himself becomes a theater of tragedy
composed by the change of a letterthe desire for is demoted to as, a simile in
place of the thing itself, role-playing rather than being, his reflection and not
Narcissus. That union remains impossible even within the (allegedly) indivisible is
to appropriate the language of antiessentialist thoughtthe condition of the
unstable, fragmented, multiple self. Or, in the language of disorder, schizophrenia.
Or, in the language of Hollywood: acting.
More specifically, it is the kind of acting that never quite marries the actor and her
character, the audience never lulled into verisimilitude. And in Cayanans work,
particularly in the section The Main of Lightwhich is overtly gay, and also overtly
confessional, and also overtly cerebrala primary channel for deploying his cast of
subjectivities is the actress as actress in character, be it Dina Bonnevie swelling into
orgasm in Ang Babaeng Nawawala Sa Sarili, or Anne Sexton splaying out her
psychiatric struggles on the pages of To Bedlam and Part Way Back, or the authors
own mother Emma as dancer swishing her grass skirt onstage. Where the I who is
he performs the actress performing the role, there is, at most, a perpetual state of
becoming, the personae neither fully absorbed nor fully distinctmuch like the drag
queen who, in donning a woman, does not delete the man, and whose self,
consequently, is an act exposing its pretense.

Ricardo "Ricky" Lee

(born as March 19, 1948) is a Filipino screenwriter, journalist, novelist, and
playwright.
He has written more than 150 film screenplays since 1973, earning him more than
50 trophies from various award-giving bodies, including a 2003 Natatanging Gawad
Urian Lifetime Achievement Award from the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino
Film Critics). As a screenwriter, he has worked with many Filipino film directors,
most notably with Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. Many of his films have been
screened in the international film festival circuit in Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, among
others.

Retired detective Mick Fletcher finds out

he's a father - for the last thirty five
years! His son, Christian, is a detective
currently involved in trying to bring tax
evaders to justice. But they are both
dragged back into Fletcher's past to
revisit crimes and events hidden from
the public gaze. Catlin Beck is trying to
escape her mother's nightmares only to
find herself dragged back to the same
events in the company of less than
honest companions. Fletcher is still
angry about how his previous
investigations were thwarted, so cannot
resist getting involved. The past doesn't
always go away. Sometimes it catches
up with you. Some people can't forget.
They realise they need to stop running and face their demons. And sometimes the
desire to live no matter what is stronger than anything else. Not wanting to live
forever . . . but driven by an anger that won't let you die.
Alice Gonzales
was born on July 24, 1954 in Bacolod. He graduated A.B. English at the University of
St. La Salle-Bacolod, by M.A. in Literature at the Ateneo de Manila University, and a
Ph.D. in English Studies at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Full Professor of
English Literature and she in U.P. Visayas in Iloilo. She has produced critically-
acclaimed masterpieces evidencing her passion for both Philippine and Hiligaynon
literature. She has received numerous writing grants from the Cultural Center of
the Philippines and is an authority on West Visayan folk literature, particularly the
Hiligaynon komposo or ballad. She graduated from the University of St. La Salle-
Bacolod with a bachelors degree in English. She earned her Masters degree in
Literature from the Ateneo de Manila University, and her Ph.D. in English Studies
major in Creative Writing from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. She
presently serves as a faculty member at the University of the Philippines Iloilo
campus where she inspires and guides her students in the fields of Literature and
Communication. Born and bred in Bacolod, she became a resident of Iloilo City after
marrying her husband who is a native of Passi.

The title story Sa Taguangkan sang

Duta," which won first prize in the Palanca, is about
the young couple Elena and Andoy. Elena works at a
pawnshop in Iloilo City while Andoy tends their farm
in the foothills of San Rafael. They have been
married for a year but remain childless due to
Elenas work, which takes her away from her
husband. When Elena decides to take a break from
her boring job, she goes home to find Andoy facing
a problem in their farm, which has not yielded a
good harvest for two consecutive seasons.

The moon is full that evening. Elena wakes up at

dawn to see the farm bathed in golden moonlight.
She remembers her grandfather, Lolo Matias, who
used to sow the seeds at dawn during the full moon
naked to make the harvest bountiful. Elena rouses Andoy and tells him to get the
seeds. In the farm, Elena instructs the half-awake Andoy to take off his clothes and
sow the seeds, and he follows her even if he finds it kind of weird. After sowing the
seeds, the couple makes love on the moonlit earth.

The story ends on the wistful note that the next harvest will be bountiful, and
Elenas womb will soon be heavy with their first child. This is typical of the stories of
Gonzales: although critical of bad governance and capitalism in a subtle way, they
always end in hope.
Galileo S. Zafra was born on October 15, 1968 in the city of
Manila. He has a Doctorate in Philippine Literature. He is a Full
Professor in the University of the Philippines Diliman
Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikang Pilipino from which he
graduated summa cum laude. Among his many awards and
grants are Pinakamahusay na Nailathalang Pananaliksik and
Gintong Aklat Award for Balagtasan: Kasaysayan at Antolohiya,
UP Gawad Tsanselor, as well as various grants from prestigious
organizations.
He is a member of the Young Critics Circle. He also works as a
translator and editor. Zafra is currently based in Japan.

Jessica Zafra was born and raised in Manila. She attended St.
Theresas College, Q.C., School, and the University of the
Philippines, where she majored in Comparative Literature. Jessica
is a three-time Palanca Award winner. Her first collection of short
stories, Manananggal Terrorizes Manila, was published by Anvil in
1992. She has also hosted tv and radio shows.
She is the author of the "Twisted" books, The Word Eaters and
500 People You Meet In Hell.

She writes a column at Interaksyon.com.

 Zamora Memorial College
Senior High School Department
Bacacay, Albay

Project
in
21 Century
st

Literature

Submitted by:

DANICA BIERSO

Submitted to:

MS. AILEEN BAYAGAG

Manuel Estabilla Arguilla
(Nagrebcan, June 17, 1911 beheaded, Manila Chinese Cemetery, August 30, 1944) was
an Ilokano writer in English, patriot, and martyr.
He is known for his widely anthologized short story "How My Brother Leon Brought Home
a Wife," the main story in the collection How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife
and Other Short Stories, which won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest
in 1940.
His stories "Midsummer" and "Heat" were published in Tondo, Manila by the Prairie
Schooner.
Most of Arguilla's stories depict scenes in Barrio Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Union, where he
was born. His bond with his birthplace, forged by his dealings with the peasant folk
of Ilocos, remained strong even after he moved to Manila, where he studied at
the University of the Philippines, finished his BS in Education in 1933, and became a
member and later the president of the U.P. Writer's Club and editor of the
university's Literary Apprentice.
He married Lydia Villanueva, another talented writer in English, and they lived in Ermita,
Manila. Here, F. Sionil Jos, another seminal Filipino writer in English, recalls often
seeing him in the National Library, which was then in the basement of what is now the
National Museum. "You couldn't miss him", Jos describes Arguilla, "because he had
this black patch on his cheek, a birthmark or an overgrown mole. He was writing then
those famous short stories and essays which I admired." [1]

Baldo and his older brother Leon were both

waiting for the arrival of their visitor riding the
carretela. Seeing his brother's wife, Baldo was
easily taken away by the beauty of the woman
from city as he narrates their journey to
Nagrebcan. The idea of meeting with Leon's
parents for the first time made Maria a bit
anxious. But along their way home, Maria
discovered the peculiarities of the life in
Nagrebcan as opposed to their life in the city
where she met and fell in love with Leon.

Theme:
Respect and accept one's life.
One may have to sacrifice
small part of ones life in order to
be happy.
Dion Michael Fernandez
Born in 1980 and raised almost all his life in Baguio City, Dion Michael Fernandez has both
a Bachelor's Degree in English and Literature and a Master's Degree in Language
Education at Saint Louis University, where he was recognized as "Maker of Myths" in the
Mandala Literary Society. Heavily armed and equipped with a vested, almost obsessive,
interest in world mythology, ancient cultures and urban folklore, his literary style reflects
an eccentric combination of fact, fantasy, Gothicism and cosmopolitan modernism; in fact,
a number of his works contain subliminal messages. Three of Dion's stories based on fact
have been published in Stories of the Moon , an anthology written by Tony Perez, author of
the Cubaoseries of books by Anvil Publishing. Dion also became a regular columnist at
Skyland News, a local weekly, writing on topics relating to urban folklore and spirituality.
Additionally, he is the sole author of the Baguio Heritage Petition, a long-term initiative
that seeks to preserve Baguio City's remaining environmental and architectural heritage
sites. Currently he helps manage and contributes to Ravenloft: the Fraternity of Shadows,
an international Gothic literary and game community, where he is known as "Lurker
Maximus."

With the candles out,

a sudden, chilling
presence surrounds me.
I feel very, very cold.
feel that there is a
distinct presence of
unknown energy beside
me. I feel that I am one
with the darkness

The feeling
transforms to one of
warmth and
acceptance. I remain in
a relaxed, meditative
state. Thoughts start
flashing in my mind.
They are thoughts that
are not my own.
--from A Family of Spirits
Mark Anthony Cayanan
was raised in Angeles City, Philippines. He has an MFA in Creative Writing at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He teacher at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Narcissus, Mark Anthony

Cayanans first book of poetry, is
out. You can read a few poems
from the collection here. What
follows is my introduction to the
book.
I tell you this is a story about
doom/and it is the I, who is
irreparably itself and will
stay/inconsolably so. Desire, even
when directed at the self, is not exempt from triangulation, and in Mark Anthony
Cayanans Narcissus, the third party that drives a wedge between the I that turns
to itself is the I that turns against it. To live a long life, a seer warns, Narcissus must
never get to know himself. The terms of the prophecy solidify when, by way of a curse, the
beautiful Narcissusbeloved by many and lover to nonefalls in the direct line of his own
rejection, doomed to desire his reflection and suffer unrequited love.
Narcissuss futile attempt to fuse with himself becomes a theater of tragedy composed by
the change of a letterthe desire for is demoted to as, a simile in place of the thing
itself, role-playing rather than being, his reflection and not Narcissus. That union remains
impossible even within the (allegedly) indivisible isto appropriate the language of
antiessentialist thoughtthe condition of the unstable, fragmented, multiple self. Or, in
the language of disorder, schizophrenia. Or, in the language of Hollywood: acting.
More specifically, it is the kind of acting that never quite marries the actor and her
character, the audience never lulled into verisimilitude. And in Cayanans work, particularly
in the section The Main of Lightwhich is overtly gay, and also overtly confessional, and
also overtly cerebrala primary channel for deploying his cast of subjectivities is the
actress as actress in character, be it Dina Bonnevie swelling into orgasm in Ang Babaeng
Nawawala Sa Sarili, or Anne Sexton splaying out her psychiatric struggles on the pages
of To Bedlam and Part Way Back, or the authors own mother Emma as dancer swishing her
grass skirt onstage. Where the I who is he performs the actress performing the role,
there is, at most, a perpetual state of becoming, the personae neither fully absorbed nor
fully distinctmuch like the drag queen who, in donning a woman, does not delete the man,
and whose self, consequently, is an act exposing its pretense.
Frank G. Rivera
(born 29 February 1948 in Paete, Laguna, Philippines) is a Filipino playwright, actor and
production designer. Rivera was born on 29 February 1948 in Paete, Laguna. He received
his AB English-Filipino degree from the University of the Philippines. He led the movement
for the theater when he established the Sining Kambayoka, a folk theater company on the
campus of Mindanao State University in the 1970s.
He has won several awards, including the 8th Annual Gawad Ustetika Awards in the Play
category, 1997 Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan para sa Tanghalan from the City of Manila
and the 2002 National Book Award from the Manila Critics' Circle for his book, Mga Dula
sa Magkakaibang Midyum.
He started out in Severino Montano's Arena Theatre Guild and Cecile Guidotes PETA. He
represented the Philippines in numerous International Theater Festivals and Conferences
in the US, Korea, Thailand, Mexico, Singapore and Australia.

AMBON,ULAN, BAHA BY: FRANK RIVERA

AMBON ULAN BAHA is a two-hour ethno-rock
modern zarzuela that showcases twenty original
musical scores inspired by kundiman, balitaw, ethnic
and modern musical trends with choreography based
on ethnic, folk/traditional and creative dances

An original production of the celebrated Mindanao

State University Sining Kambayoka ( founded by
Theater Artist Frank G. Rivera ) in 1978, Ambom
was remounted by Teatro Metropolitano through
NCCA Grant in 1992, also at the helm of Rivera.

This long time running musical which predicted the

Ormoc tragedy in 1991, highlights environmental
concerns and focuses on the preservation of
Philippine forests. It also deals heavily on Filipino values, the importance of education,
religion, family and youth. It also carries relevant commentaries on socio-economic and
political issues of the times. It aims to educate its audiences especially the youth about
issues of urgent and national importance To date, ARNAIs Ambon, Ulan, Baha has been
sponsored by several organizations and institutions and has seen more than 500
performances. The zarzuelas success in depicting the Filipino lives after almost three
decades after it was first staged, proved its timelessness and its relevance to the
evolutions of Philippine Theater.
Merlinda Carullo Bobis
(born 25 November 1959) is a contemporary Philippine-Australian writer and academic.
Born in Legazpi City, in the Philippines province of Albay, Merlinda Bobis attended Bicol
University High School then completed her B.A. at Aquinas University in Legaspi City. She
holds post-graduate degrees from the University of Santo Tomas and University of
Wollongong, and now lives in Australia. Written in various genres in both Filipino and
English, her work integrates elements of the traditional culture of the Philippines with
modern immigrant experience.
Also a dancer and visual artist, Bobis currently teaches at Wollongong University. Her
play Rita's Lullaby was the winner of the 1998 Awgie for Best Radio Play and the
international Prix Italia of the same year; in 2000 White Turtle won the Steele Rudd
Award for the Best Collection of Australian Short Stories and the 2000 Philippine
National Book Award. Most recently, in 2006, she has received the Gintong Aklat
Award (Golden Book Award, Philippines) for her latest novel Banana Heart Summer, from
the Book Development Association of the Philippines.

In her lush, luminous debut novel, Merlinda Bobis

creates a dazzling feast for all the senses.
Richly imagined, gloriously written, Banana
Heart Summer is an incandescent tale of food,
family, and longingat once a love letter to
mothers and daughters and a lively celebration
of friendship and community.

Twelve-year-old Nenita is hungry for everything:

food, love, life. Growing up with five sisters and
brothers, she searches for happiness in the
magical smell of the deep-frying bananas of
Nana Dora, who first tells Nenita the myth of
the banana heart; in the tantalizing scent of
Manolito, the heartthrob of Nenita and her
friends; in the pungent aromas of the dishes she
prepares for the most beautiful woman on
Remedios Street. To Nenita, food is synonymous
with lovethe love she yearns to receive from
her disappointed mother. But in this summer of broken hearts, new friendships, secrets,
and discoveries, change will be as sudden and explosive as the monsoon that marks the end
of the sweltering heatand transforms Nenitas young life in ways she could never
imagine.
Manuel Estabilla Arguilla
(Nagrebcan, June 17, 1911 beheaded, Manila Chinese
Cemetery, August 30, 1944) was an Ilokano
writer in English, patriot, and martyr.
He is known for his widely anthologized short story "How My
Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife," the main story in the
collection How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and
Other Short Stories, which won first prize in the
Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940. His stories
"Midsummer" and "Heat" were published in Tondo,
Manila by the Prairie Schooner. Most of Arguilla's stories
depict scenes in Barrio Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Union,
where he was born. His bond with his birthplace, forged by
his dealings with the peasant folk of Ilocos, remained strong
even after he moved to Manila, where he studied at
the University of the Philippines, finished his BS in
Education in 1933, and became a member and later the
president of the U.P. Writer's Club and editor of the
university's Literary Apprentice.
He married Lydia Villanueva, another talented writer in
English, and they lived in Ermita, Manila. Here, F. Sionil
Jos, another seminal Filipino writer in English, recalls often
seeing him in the National Library, which was then in the
basement of what is now the National Museum. "You couldn't
miss him", Jos describes Arguilla, "because he had this black
patch on his cheek, a birthmark or an overgrown mole. He
was writing then those famous
short stories and essays which I
admired."[1]

Baldo and his older brother Leon

were both waiting for the arrival of
their visitor riding the carretela.
Seeing his brother's wife, Baldo
was easily taken away by the
beauty of the woman from city as
he narrates their journey to
Nagrebcan. The idea of meeting
with Leon's parents for the first time made Maria a bit anxious.
But along their way home, Maria discovered the peculiarities of
the life in Nagrebcan as opposed to their life in the city where
she met and fell in love with Leon.

Theme:
Respect and accept one's life.
One may have to sacrifice
small part of ones life in order to
be happy.

John Magne Lisondra

a self-taught artist from Philippines and a graduate of BS Computer Science from
NORSU-G last 2007, which is slightly a different course. He started painting when
he was 14 years old during his 2 nd year in high school. He was inspired by the
landscape paintings of Boy Velara, a native artist in Negros Oriental. When his
father brought 3 landscape paintings from him (Boy Velara) and he saw it then
decided to paint because it inspires him alot. The colors, shapes, brush strokes and
it really looks real.
He started practicing after school hours and slept late at night. He was very eager
to get what he wanted. It was not really that easy. To be good at one thing, you
need to follow the steps of learning process. Discovering the ways of brush strokes,
mixing colors, creating compositions, it takes time and there are no shortcuts.
He liked to paint Philippine landscapes and some commission works. He did also
portraits. He liked the most works of Caravaggio, Rembrandt, da Vinci and
Amorsolo.
He went to manila last 2009 because someone offered him to work. He started
joining art competitions in manila with his friend Froilan and Bernie Jay in 2010.
He grabbed his first award in 2011 at Amiya Raya On-the-spot painting
competition as First place, and continue joining competitions hoping to grab
another award. But many times he failed until in 2012 he won as Grand prize in
Maningning Miclat Art Award and Second Place winner in DFA-ASEAN Philippines
Painting Competition last August 2013.
For John Magne, painting is his life. Life without brushes and paints is just like a
body without hands, a mountain without trees and river without fish. Art is the
reflection of an artists heart and mind.
Jos Corazn de Jess (November 22, 1896 May 26, 1932), also known by his
pen name Huseng Batute, was a Filipino poet who used Tagalog poetry to express
the Filipinos' desire for independence during the American occupation of the
Philippines, a period that lasted
from 1901 to 1946. He is best
known for being the lyricist of
the Filipino song Bayan Ko.
Buhay Huseng Batute was born
on November 22, 1896 in Santa
Cruz, Manila to Vicente de Jess,
the first health bureau director
of the American occupation
government, and Susana
Pangilinan of Pampanga. He was
christened Jos Cecilio de
Jess but he later
dropped Cecilio and replaced it
with the Spanish
name Corazn (heart) because
he said it best described his
character.
It was 1984 in Manila and Rios book on Corazon de Jesus poetry had just been
published. There was chaos in the streets and rage in everyones hearts as the
Aquino assassination a few months earlier signaled the countdown for the ultimate
demise of the Marcos dictatorship. As thousands protested, Corazon de Jesus
immortal Bayan Ko was resurrected and eventually became the national anthem
of the anti-Marcos movement.

Over beer one night, Rio Alma talked about the famous Filipino poet. It was not
just idle conversation between two weary souls; Rio was convincing me to write an
article about Corazon de Jesus from the memories of his wife, Asuncion Lacdan,
who was then still alive. When I got hooked on the story, I spent one afternoon with
the genial widow amidst her memorabilia of the man whom, fifty years after his
death, she talked about as if he was still around.

Aling Sion had many stories. Her husbands grand betrayal of her, when he ran off
to Hongkong with a woman he called Bituin, she left for last. It had been almost
six decades since it happened, yet Aling Sion narrated the details with so much
passion, I could actually feel her pain. Finally, when she was done and exhausted,
and I was struggling with my tears, she very gently asked, I was told that you are
related to Bituin. How has she been?

Joel M. Toledo
from Silang, Cavite. He holds a Masters degree in English Studies (Poetry)
from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he likewise finished
two undergraduate degrees (Journalism and Creative Writing). He has
authored three books of poetry Chiaroscuro (UST Press, 2008), The Long
Lost Startle (UP Press, 2009), and Ruins and Reconstructions (Anvil
Publishing, 2011).Chiaroscuro was a finalist for the 2008 National Book
Awards. Toledo was the recipient of the 2006 NCCA Literary Prize, and has
won several literary awards for his poetry in English, including two Don
Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, ThePhilippines Free Press Literary
Award, The Meritage Press Poetry Prize in San Francisco, USA, and the
Bridport Prize for Poetry in Dorset, United Kingdom. He was a recipient of
the Rockefeller Foundation Creative Arts Residency at the Bellagio Center
in Italy in March 2011 and was the Philippine representative for the 2011
International Writers Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa, USA. Toledo
is the current Literary Editor of the Philippines Free Press. He teaches
Literature at Miriam College.
 Chiaroscuro is about moving from the darkness
of his home to the bright lights of Manila. At
the age of sixteen Joel was accepted into the
University of the Philippines and took a degree
in Journalism and English, which he followed
with a Masters degree in Creative Writing
(Poetry). He worked as a music reviewer for
the Manila Times and currently teaches

literature at Miriam College in Quezon City.

Ricardo "Ricky" Lee

(born as March 19, 1948) is a Filipino screenwriter, journalist, novelist, and
playwright. He has written more than 150 film screenplays since 1973, earning
him more than 50 trophies from various award-giving bodies, including a 2003
Natatanging Gawad Urian Lifetime Achievement Award from the Manunuri ng
Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics). As a screenwriter, he has worked with
many Filipino film directors, most notably with Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal.
Many of his films have been screened in the international film festival circuit
in Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, among others.
 Retired detective Mick Fletcher finds
out he's a father - for the last thirty five
years! His son, Christian, is a detective
currently involved in trying to bring tax
evaders to justice. But they are both
dragged back into Fletcher's past to
revisit crimes and events hidden from
the public gaze. Catlin Beck is trying to
escape her mother's nightmares only to
find herself dragged back to the same
events in the company of less than
honest companions. Fletcher is still
angry about how his previous
investigations were thwarted, so cannot
resist getting involved. The past doesn't
always go away. Sometimes it catches
up with you. Some people can't forget.
They realise they need to stop running and face their demons. And sometimes the
desire to live no matter what is stronger than anything else. Not wanting to live
forever . . . but driven by an anger that won't let you die.

Charlson L. Ong
resident fellow of the Institute of Creative Writing and fictionist/scriptwriter/singer
extraordinaire, was born on July 6, 1960. He obtained an A.B. in Psychology from the University
of the Philippines in 1977, and currently teaches literature and creative writing under UP's
Department of English and Comparative Literature. He has joined several writers' workshops
here and abroad, and has acquired numerous grants and awards for his fiction, including the
Palanca, Free Press, Graphic, Asiaweek, National Book Award, and the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Award
for Excellence. His novel, Embarrassment of Riches published by UP Press in 2002, won the
Centennial Literary Prize. In addition to this, Ong has served as co-editor of the Likhaan Book
of Poetry and Fiction. His short stories range from parodies of well-loved Filipino texts to
insightful treatments of Chinese-Filipino culture. These have been collected into Men of the East
and Other Stories (1990 and 1999), Woman of Am-Kaw and Other Stories(1993), Conversion and Other
Fictions (1996), Banyaga: A Song of War(2007, Anvil) and Blue Angel, White Shadow (2010, UST). He
is a bachelor based in Mandaluyong City.

An Embarrassment of Riches is a 2000 novel written by

Filipino novelist Charlson L. Ong. A Second Place
Philippine Centennial Literary Prize winner, the novel
was published in Quezon City, Philippines[2][3] by the
Philippine Centennial Commission, the University of
the Philippines Press, and the UP Creative Writing
Center, in celebration of the one hundred years of
Philippine independence from Spain after the
Philippine Revolution in 1898.[3] The 425-page novel
was written in Philippine English. It is Charlson Ongs
first novel.
The scenes in An Embarrassment of Riches is set during
the mid-1990s, and occurs in a fictional island west of
the Philippines, known as the Victorianas. Victorianas
is a "shadow of the Philippines" because it is a
developing nation that has similarities to the
Philippines. Although filled with characters,
circumstances, and places that are familiar to Filipino
readers, the Victorianas and the novel deviated from
the real and contemporary life in the Philippines, and
from the actual events in Philippine history. According
to literary critic Vicente G. Groyon III, Ongs
fictionalization of recent Philippine history and
recasting of the Philippines threads along the borders
of surrealism, providing the reader a sense of
alienation, foreigness, or being not in the Philippines,
despite of the similarity of the fictional Victorianas to
the archipelago. Among the differences between Victorianas and the Philippines is that the Victorianas is
an Americanized Asian country where there is the absence or, even if present, has reduced influences
from Spain and Europe, in terms of the Catholic religion, folk beliefs, and traditional practices.

Santiago Villafania
a bilingual Filipino poet who writes in English and in his native language of Pangasinan.[1]
[2]
Born in Tuliao, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan on 31 January 1971, Villafania graduated with a
degree of Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Pangasinan in 1991. He is a member
of the Philippine PEN and currently a commissioner for the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural
Commission.

"The publication of Malagilion: Sonnets tan

Villanelles by Santiago B. Villafania should be a

source of rejoicing for readers of regional

literatures. This second book by Pangasinan's

leading poet today is impressive in both form

and substance. Villafania has created 300 sonnets

and 50 villanelles in his own language that

attempt to reflect the primacy of native culture

and return the poet to the central stage of social

life." A Boost to Pangasinan Literature from

Breaking Signs by Cirilo F. Bautista, poet, fiction

writer, painter and educator

Villafania is not only a visionary poet, he is a

linguistic philosopher who codifies the origin of

language and culture, dissects the myths and the

common beliefs of the people against the urban legends, juxtaposes the literary tradition against

the modern influences by dialectically infusing them in his poetic revelation of truth. Danny

C. Sillada, from Poetic Revelation in Language and Culture surrealist painter, poet, philosopher,

musician, performance artist & critic

John Magne Lisondra

a self-taught artist from Philippines and a graduate of BS Computer Science from NORSU-G last
2007, which is slightly a different course. He started painting when he was 14 years old during
his 2nd year in high school. He was inspired by the landscape paintings of Boy Velara, a native
artist in Negros Oriental. When his father brought 3 landscape paintings from him (Boy Velara)
and he saw it then decided to paint because it inspires him alot. The colors, shapes, brush
strokes and it really looks real.
He started practicing after school hours and slept late at night. He was very eager to get what he
wanted. It was not really that easy. To be good at one thing, you need to follow the steps of
learning process. Discovering the ways of brush strokes, mixing colors, creating compositions, it
takes time and there are no shortcuts.
He liked to paint Philippine landscapes and some commission works. He did also portraits. He
liked the most works of Caravaggio, Rembrandt, da Vinci and Amorsolo.
He went to manila last 2009 because someone offered him to work. He started joining art
competitions in manila with his friend Froilan and Bernie Jay in 2010. He grabbed his first
award in 2011 at Amiya Raya On-the-spot painting competition as First place, and continue
joining competitions hoping to grab another award. But many times he failed until in 2012 he
won as Grand prize in Maningning Miclat Art Award and Second Place winner in DFA-ASEAN
Philippines Painting Competition last August 2013.
For John Magne, painting is his life. Life without brushes and paints is just like a body without
hands, a mountain without trees and river without fish. Art is the reflection of an artists heart
and mind.
Virgilio S. Almario,
(born March 9, 1944) better known by his pen name, RIO ALMA, is a Filipino artist, poet, critic,
translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. [1] He is a National Artist of the Philippines and
currently serves as the chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the government
agency mandated to promote and standardize the use of the Filipino language. On January 5,
2017, Almario was also elected as the chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the
Arts.[2]
Growing up in Bulacan among peasants, Almario sought his education at Manila and
completed his degree in A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines.

Why does the turtle carry its house everywhere?

Why does the martines make its nest up the tree?
Why does Lamok always fly near people's ears? Who
preserves the harmony on Mount Arayat? This story
for children will give you the answers.
Merlinda Carullo Bobis
(born 25 November 1959) is a contemporary Philippine-Australian writer and academic.
Born in Legazpi City, in the Philippines province of Albay, Merlinda Bobis attended Bicol
University High School then completed her B.A. at Aquinas University in Legaspi City. She
holds post-graduate degrees from the University of Santo Tomas and University of Wollongong,
and now lives in Australia. Written in various genres in both Filipino and English, her work
integrates elements of the traditional culture of the Philippines with modern immigrant
experience.
Also a dancer and visual artist, Bobis currently teaches at Wollongong University. Her
play Rita's Lullaby was the winner of the 1998 Awgie for Best Radio Play and the international
Prix Italia of the same year; in 2000 White Turtle won the Steele Rudd Award for the Best
Collection of Australian Short Stories and the 2000 Philippine National Book Award. Most
recently, in 2006, she has received the Gintong Aklat Award (Golden Book Award, Philippines)
for her latest novel Banana Heart Summer, from the Book Development Association of the
Philippines.

In her lush, luminous debut novel, Merlinda Bobis

creates a dazzling feast for all the senses. Richly
imagined, gloriously written, Banana Heart
Summer is an incandescent tale of food, family, and
longingat once a love letter to mothers and
daughters and a lively celebration of friendship and
community.

Twelve-year-old Nenita is hungry for everything:

food, love, life. Growing up with five sisters and
brothers, she searches for happiness in the magical
smell of the deep-frying bananas of Nana Dora,
who first tells Nenita the myth of the banana heart;
in the tantalizing scent of Manolito, the heartthrob
of Nenita and her friends; in the pungent aromas of
the dishes she prepares for the most beautiful
woman on Remedios Street. To Nenita, food is
synonymous with lovethe love she yearns to
receive from her disappointed mother. But in this
summer of broken hearts, new friendships, secrets,
and discoveries, change will be as sudden and explosive as the monsoon that marks the end of
the sweltering heatand transforms Nenitas young life in ways she could never imagine.
Norman Wilwayco
aside from being a multiple Palanca award winner (one being the prestigious
Grand Prize for the novel in 2002), plays bass for a rock and roll band and
designs multimedia web sites. He also writes for Filmless Films. He
previously wrote for the popular television show Batibot and has contributed
articles to Liwayway, Manila Times and Inquirer. He was a fellow of the UP
Writers Workshop and won the first prize in the Amado Hernandez Award for
Literature in 1999.
He was born on 2 October 1972.

In a world where cargo boxes are houses and

a full meal a day is a feast, Tony de Guzman
subsists as a sophist but with plans to avenge
his oppression. He begins his journey as the
neighborhood water-carrier, cursing his
estranged father for being a financial
detriment with a pompous vision of education
for his sons.

Tonys life is bridled by a string of endless

acquaintances and relations dating back to his
childhood. From his matchbox home of a
nagging mother with dreams of romance and
a kid brother sexually assaulted by an
American pedophile, Tony takes minuscule
steps along a narrow path of grime that is his
community and elbows his way out of an
interesting company of neighbors: Almang
Paybsiks, the town gossip; Pablong Shoeshine,
the arsonist Casanova; Mutya, the dilettante
gangster; Sgt. Pepper, the town's resident macho who has a gay son; and
Domeng, the pimp.
When Tony is given the unique chance to become a scholar in the state
university and later, to be employed as a prestigious computer engineer, he
thought he had successfully escaped the filth of the slumsonly to
encounter worse depravity in fair skins and fragrant garments. Tonys
appetite for escape then becomes insatiable.
Victor Dennis T. Nierva
(born 24 February 1980, Naga City, Bikol Philippines; Father: Estelito Aguila
Nierva, a railway official; Mother: Grace Pacay Tino, a teacher) is a poet,
teacher, journalist, theatre actor, translator, graphic and book designer, and
a cultural advocate from the Bikol region of the Philippines. He is one of the
loudest voices in the contemporary Bikol literary scene.[1]

The poems in Antisipasyn happen

in the ambiguity that sprawls
numinous between the terminals of
departure and arrival. This is the
contact or liminal zone where the
freight of meanings and the
languages that ferry them are kept
in perpetual abeyanceprayed for,
expected, glimpsed at, and yet
never quite shapely or certain
enough to be known or grasped by
even the most eager of interpretive
hands. The wonder of it all is that in
the company of Niervas fastidious
and implacably situated imagination,
this transitivity across languages
and worlds becomes not an
experience of pathological and
pointless delay, but rather itself a
passionate journey over the
unforgettable landscapes and
through the inscapes of earth-bound
thought and ascendant feeling.
Because they resolutely accentuate the event, materiality, and specificity of
their Bicolano provenance and ground, Niervas poems never quite leave the
place of their nativity even as they transfigure it into the universal of all true
Art.

Michael Obenieta
writes poetry and prose in both Cebuano and English. In addition to having
been a fellow for English poetry in the Dumaguete, UP and Iligan workshops,
Myke has published at least 100 poems as well as feature articles in various
international, national and local anthologies and magazines, including the
Free Press, Graphic, Panorama, Inquirer, Home Life, Bisaya, Write.Hop: New
Writers Speak Up and Mantala (National Commission for Culture and the
Arts), Likhaan Best in Philippine Poetry and Fiction 1996 and 1997 (UP
Press), Caracoa: Heroes and History Centennial Issue (Philippine Literary Arts
Council), In Search of Heroes (Filipino Foundation, Inc.), The Poem and the
World (Washington Press) and The Best of Youngblood (Anvil Publishing).

Something else. Ive been trying to find its

English equivalent but failed. Its close
to flirting but without the sexual
connotation. It shares shades of meaning
with courting but is less formal and doesnt
mean that the person wants to go steady
with the object of the iring-iring.
My kumpare and colleague Myke Obenieta
says there isnt an equivalent English word
for iring-iring. Myke will launch his book
Iring-iring sa tingbitay sa iro on Saturday at
4:00 p.m. in Kahayag Cafe.

Now, tingbitay sa iro is a curious phrase. It

literally means the time to hang dogs. It
means hard times. Cebuanos now just say
tingbitay to describe hard times. I suspect,
and Myke says this is the case, that
Cebuanos of old slaughtered their dogs for
food during hard times. Maybe they hang the dogs to kill them or to prepare
the meat for cooking, I dont know.

Iring-iring sa tingbitay sa iro, means love but not quite love or flirting
without the sexual connotation during hard times.

Former colleague and cubicle mate in Sun.Star Cebu Januar Yap will also be
launching his book, Ang Aktibistang Gi-syphilis. The two books are published
under the new authors series of the National Commission for the Culture and
the Arts.
(Updated) For those e-mailing about details of the books, you can buy it at
the launch in Kahayag cafe. The price of the books is P80 each. For more on
where you can buy it, you can leave a message at Myke Obenietas blog.

VOLTAIRE OYZON
an MA in English from Leyte Normal University, where he teaches Philosophy,
Ethics, Sociology and Economics. He has been a writing fellow at the Visayas,
Faigao, Iligan, and UP writing workshops. He has published a poetry
collection in Waray (with English translation), An maupay ha mga Waray
(NCCA 2008).

Gab-i / Night (poem)

Nagkikinain-kain ka ngani
nga pirmi ka man nasisidman?

Naabot ka kun nakakalakat na

iton lamrag.
Kapoy ka pirmi
kay ha pag-abot mo
nagdudulom iton kalarakan,
an mga bituon daw mga sada nga tak-om,
an mga hinimo han Makagarahom
natikang maghuring-huring
ha ira mga himangraw.
Pagal ka gad nga duro
hiton imo sudoy
kay ha imo pagkakaturog
naturo iton imo laway
ngada hiton mga dahon.
Hahapohapon ko iton imo bungkog.
Papakaturogon ko ikaw
tubtob nga umabot an
tigamanan pangunat han sulhog
han sidlangan
imo na liwat ako
babayaan.

Miguel Antonio N. Lizada

an academic, a creative writer and a theater actor. He has a Bachelor of Arts, Major
in Literature in English, Minor in Filipino Literature from the Ateneo de Manila
University and a Master of Arts in Literary Studies from the National University of
Singapore. His research and teaching areas are Southeast Asian literature, gender
studies/queer theory, urbanism and cosmopolitanism, and popular culture.

He is also a creative writer. His poems and essays have appeared in various literary
publications most prominently in Dagmay, the online literary journal of the Davao
Writers Guild. His piece "The Bangkok Masseur" won third prize in the English Essay
category in the 65th Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.

As a theater actor, he has performed in the university productions of Tanghalang

Ateneo and Ateneo Entablado. His previous roles include, among others: "Karding
(Ligurio)" in Jerry Respeto's Ang Birheng Matimtiman, a Filipino adaptation of Niccolo
Machiavelli's La Mandragola (Ateneo Entablado, 2016) and "Lucky" in Samuel
Beckett's Waiting for Godot as adapted by Guelan Varela-Luarca (Tanghalang Ateneo
2014)

The Bangkok Masseur

Nonfiction by Miguel Antonio Lizada | September 20, 2015

Celebrated on the 2nd weekend of April, Songkran is a three-day holiday

befitting Bangkok, the city of rivers and waterways. The city returns to its
true form: children with blue and red water rifles counterflow the gray
pedestrian logic of the streets, laughter bubbles from the streaming alleys,
jets of water crisscross and cloud the scrapers spiked to the earth. For many
foreign gay men, the holidays are exciting opportunities to flirt with locals
and fellow tourists. Siam Square becomes an open playground. The
dynamics of Silom are a different case: wet the cute ones with your colorful
phallic object, aim true, and do not forget to smear each others faces with
white chalk dust. These are blessings. Bless the body with the element of
rebirth.

My companions simply wanted see how Bangkok would dissolve in its wet
and wild carnivalesque of a basin on a Songkran weekend. I shared their
excitement too, but there was an equally important goal for this trip. When
the story is not finished, return to the place.

He was the finest twink in the set.

Outside and downstairs, the canned singing voice of Jennifer Lopez urged the
denizens of the Christmas lights -draped streets of Silom to dance the night
away and stay young on the floor. Coming to this place, an American
grabbed my twig of an arm and pulled me to his table where his friends
raised their beer bottles in my direction. I freed myself from his tan-haired
grip forcefully and bumped into a local who gave me a buck-toothed smile
and a pinch on the cheek.

Janet B. Villa
a Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo School of Law in 1991 and an AB Economics degree
from the UP School of Economics. She practiced law for 9 years before she joined the
National Writers' Workshop in May 2001 in Dumaguete and immediately enrolled that
June at UP Diliman for an MA in CW. Her first published story "Undercurrents" won the
NVM Grand Prize in 2003. Her second published story "Closopen" won the NVM Grand
Prize Special Prize in 2005.

"Undercurrents"

You start the day as morning breaks. Night person that he is, your husband protests at
your idiocyhavent you seen enough dolphins? Why start an excursion this early? He feels
safer in the light of stars long dead.

But not you. You glory in the budding colors, and you throw your arms to the sky, a child of
the sun, as the outrigger boat cuts through a school of dolphins playing around Balicasag
Island.

Did you put on sunblock? he calls out. Except on my back, you say. He clucks his tongue.
The sound is lost, whipped away by the wind. Sit, he beckons with a tube of sunblock.
Youve learned after three years that you gain little by arguing, so you submit to his
ministrations even when you know your wet suit will soon cover your back anyway.
His hands are as cold as the lotion, pressing against your flesh. You know he is frowning
from the way his fingers work against your skin, movements precise, rubbing away any
possible malady caused by the sun. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the
world, he says, I should know, Im in the medical business. No need to remind him that the
company he works for only manufactures specialty bandages and surgical dressings. Skin
cancer is not the only tragedy, you think; there are worse, slower deaths. You wonder if his
irritation is resurrected by the sight of your uneven skin tone. Frequent diving has
smudged your skin, your watch and swimsuit leaving patches of white. You had seen him
look at the lines drawn by the sun on your thighs and upper arms where your short wet suit
ends. Wear a dress with sleeves, he said when you were about to slip into a strapless gown
for his friends wedding.

There, he slaps your back, all done. Thanks, you say. He doesnt answer. Perhaps the noise
of the engine drowned your voice. A spray of water from the bow tickles your ankles, and
you reach down to the side of the boat, holding out your hand to the soft shower. The sea
is quiet. There are still two hours before you reach Apo Island. You can use the time to
talk, but when you turn to him, you find him stretched out on his back at the narrow bench.
And he doesnt catch your cry that you saw some flying fish, there, just a few feet away.

Paul B. Zafaralla
Born on June 22, 1983 in Upon, Pinili, Ilocos Norte. He is a multilingual writer (Iluko,
English, Filipino) on Ilocano and Philippine culture and the arts for the past 51 years. His
outlets are Bannawag, Rima, Iluko anthologies, lectures, English broadsheets, popular and
professional magazines, journals, and classrooms. He enjoys regional, national and
international recognitions for his incisive and scholarly critiques. The Association of the
Philippines gave him a special cognition for his body of published works in 1971. This was
followed by numerous official participation in national and ASEAN congresses on arts and
aesthetics, in many of which as a paper reader. At the University of the Philippines where
he received his degrees (BFA, MAED, Ph. D in Communication), his body of published works
had been duly recognized. The Manila Critics Circle awarded him the 2004 National Book
Award for Rice in the Seven Arts, Sept. 4, 2005. Pinili-Metro Manila Residents
Associations, Inc., awarded him the Don Ignacio Lafrades Award for Distinguished
Achievement, December 9, 2006. Dr. Zafaralla is a member of GUMIL Filipinas; PEN
International; Phi Kappa Phi International Honor Society; and Pi Gamma Mu International
Honor Society in the Social Sciences.

Laguna de Bay, the Philippines' largest

inland body of water, is an
indispensable source of clean water for fishing, drinking, recreation, as well as an
important habitat for endangered species.

This tome on Laguna de Bay brings the history, legend, and lore together with visions for
the future of this famous lake.

Fully illustrated with contributions from notable writers and researchers in the
Philippines, this book can serve as a reference tool as well as a bridge across the widening
distance between the Filipinos' historic past and the appreciation of future generations.

Published by Unilever. This book is dedicated to the various stakeholder groups and
individuals who work tirelessly for the future-oriented environmental conservation of
Laguna de Bay.

Ricardo "Ricky" Lee

(born as March 19, 1948) is a Filipino screenwriter, journalist, novelist, and playwright.
He has written more than 150 film screenplays since 1973, earning him more than 50
trophies from various award-giving bodies, including a 2003 Natatanging Gawad Urian
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics).
As a screenwriter, he has worked with many Filipino film directors, most notably with Lino
Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. Many of his films have been screened in the international film
festival circuit in Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, among others.

Retired detective Mick Fletcher finds out

he's a father - for the last thirty five

years! His son, Christian, is a detective

currently involved in trying to bring tax

evaders to justice. But they are both

dragged back into Fletcher's past to

revisit crimes and events hidden from the

public gaze. Catlin Beck is trying to escape

her mother's nightmares only to find herself dragged back to the same events in the

company of less than honest companions. Fletcher is still angry about how his previous

investigations were thwarted, so cannot resist getting involved. The past doesn't always go

away. Sometimes it catches up with you. Some people can't forget. They realise they need

to stop running and face their demons. And sometimes the desire to live no matter what is

stronger than anything else. Not wanting to live forever . . . but driven by an anger that

won't let you die.

Danton R. Remoto
(born March 25, 1963) is a Filipino writer, essayist, reporter, editor, columnist, and
professor. Remoto was a first prize recipient at the ASEAN Letter-Writing Contest for
Young People. The award made Remoto a scholar at the Ateneo de Manila University in the
Philippines. As a professor, Remoto teaches English and Journalism at the Ateneo de
Manila University.[1] Remoto is the chairman emeritus of Ang Ladlad, a lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) political party in the Philippines. He will run as second
nominee of Movement of Women for Change and Reform (MELCHORA) party-list in the
2016 national elections.

I long for the day when Filipinos in the LGBT

community no longer have to live in fear of
discrimination. The media, both new and
traditional, play important roles in making
that possible. By telling the stories of the
LGBT community, they shatter biases born
out of misinformation. I commend Danton
Remoto for contributing to the narrative of
LGBT Pinoys in his book Happy Na, Gay Pa. To
critics of the LGBT movement, I say: Stupid
is forever.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago
Katabi mo nga si Vivian sa Grade One classroom ninyo, pero bakit panay ang
tingin mo kay Bobby?
Paano nagse-celebrate ng Valentine's Day ang gay lovers?
Nagka-jowa ka na ba na afamat binalak mo itong pakasalan?
Keri lahat ng mga 'yan sa latest book ni Danton Remoto, founder ng Ladlad
Party List (renamed LGBT Party List), TV5 at Radyo Singko host, at
bekisor (beking dinosaur) ng lesbians, gays, bisexuals, at transgender sa
ating baran-gay.

Melchor F. Cichon
Head, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Library, U.P. in the Visayas. He was born in
Sta. Cruz, Lezo, Aklan and educated at the University of the Philippines where he obtained
his Certificate in Fisheries, Certificate in Governmental Management, Master in
Management, and Master in Library Science. He used to teach management courses at the
College of Management, U.P. in the Visayas, Iloilo City. He took his Bachelor of Science in
Education, major in Library Science and minor in English at the Manuel L. Quezon
University, Manila.
His works include Ham-at Madueom Ro Gabii (Bakit Madilim ang Gabi? ), 1999;Philippine
Oddities, Love Can Find a Way and Other Proverbs on Love; Haiku, Luwa and Other Poems
by Aklanons edited by Melchor F. Cichon, Edna Laurente Faral, and Losally R. Navarro . ,
2005.
EVA, BEHOLD ADAM! (poem)

Because you were pulled out of Adams ribs

So that he could have someone to play with,
Someone he could talk with and who could ease his tension
In moments he wanted to,
Many names have been written in your path:
Salome, Magdalene, Maria Clara, Typhoon Esyang.

Because your heart has been said to be weak,

Even typhoons that can uproot bamboos
And can sink ships are still named after you.

But men forget that even Mark Anthony

Was rolled by Cleopatra
Even out of their bed.

They fail to remember that it was Gabriela

Who extended the path of Diego Silang.

And at EDSA if your tribe did not tie roses around

The muzzles of Freddies armalites,
Perhaps Cory wouldnt be able to light candles
In the chapel at Malacaang.
They are good at cracking their heads planning
How youll simply follow their tails.

Palatino Linotype