INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

3F. South Timberland Bldg. Km. 50 National Hi-way San Cristobal, Calamba City
redlink_edu@yahoo.com Telephone: (049) 5300667 Sun:09338107471 TM:09356347390

ST
21
CENTU
RY
FROM
THE
PHILIP
PINES
AND
THE
WORL
D
 UNIT I

LESSON 2
IDENTIFYING REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS FROM THE
REGIONS

This module is a self-learning material to guide you in developing a target competency in

the course, 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World.

By the end of this module, you are expected to:

a. discover the richness of Philippine literature through varied texts and authors
from selected provinces;
b. respond to a text through a critical interpretation of specific literary elements of
the genre; and
c. appreciate deeply ingrained Filipino values, beliefs, and traditions reflected in
their regional literature.

The country’s rich repertoire of literary masterpieces may be rooted from the diverse
cultural heritage of the Filipino people. From the mighty roar of the up landers from the North to
the fiery temperament of the lowlanders from the South, the Filipinos have produced varied
texts that speak of the collective experiences of a people that have gone through difficulties,
triumphs, struggles, successes, armed conflicts, bloodless revolutions, and others that
resonated loud and clear in the whole of the Philippine archipelago.

In this Module, you will encounter representative texts and authors coming from the
different parts of the country. You will be able to identify how these texts reflect the aspirations,
goals, and values of a people who have arisen from more than three centuries of subjugation
from colonial masters to become the unified, developing country that it is now.

Taste of Philippine Poetry

Located in the northwest of Luzon, the IIocos Region or Region 1 is comprised of four
provinces namely: Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan. It is bordered to the west
by the turbulent South China Sea, to the east by the Cordillera Administrative Region, the
northeast and southeast by Cagayan Valley and the south by Central Luzon. Most of the
inhabitants of the Ilocano homeland is concentrated along a narrow coastal plain and because
of geographical boundaries, these people often experience heavy rains and tumultuous
typhoons especially during rainy seasons.
The region, then, takes pride of long stretches of white sand and clear waters alongside
its rich cultural heritage. What you are about to read is a poem written by a Carlos Palanca
Memorial Awardee in Poetry in 1964, Carlos A. Angeles. His collection of poems entitled, Stun
of Jewels, also bagged him the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature in the same year.

Gabu

by Carlos A. Angeles

The battering restlessness of the sea

Insists a tidal fury upon the beach
At Gabu, and its pure consistency
Havos the wasteland hard within its reach.

Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart

Against the seascape where, for miles around,
Farther than sight itself, the rock-stones part
And drop into the elemental wound.

The waste of centuries is grey and dead

And neutral where the sea has beached its brine,
Where the spilt salt of its heart lies spread
Among the dark habiliments of Time.

The vital splendor misses. For here, here

At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs
All things forfeited are most loved and dear.
It is the sea pursues a habit of shores.

ACTIVITY NO. 1 “Draw Me the Image”

Imagery is a poetic element that tries to create a picture in the mind of the reader or a
mental image through the use of figural language. It represents objects, places, ideas, or even
actions that appeal to the senses of the readers.

 What image does the poem, Gabu, try to create?

  Which word or group of words from the poem help you form this image? Draw this.

ACTIVITY NO. 2

TITLE OF THE TEXT:

AUTHOR:

QUESTIONS RESPONSE
 TOPIC
What is the text all about?

SITUATION
What is the setting referred to or described in
the text?

CLIENT
Who is the target group of readers of the text?
How would you describe this group in terms of
skills, values, beliefs and attitudes?

PURPOSE
Why is the text written? What does it hope to
achieve especially among its clientele?

PERSONA
Who is the voice behind the text? What is
known about him or her?

EMPOWER YOURSELF!

Gabu depicts a coastline in Ilocos that is constantly experiencing the

battering restlessness of the sea. The water that comes back to the shore
seems furious and ruthless with its daylong bashing which havocs the wasteland. Being an
archipelagic country, the Philippines knows the importance of the water and the sea. They are
representations of life. If all things forfeited are most loved and dear, what are those that are
forfeited in life? Which are not?
The form or structure of the poem is simple. It is composed of four quatrains, a stanza
with four lines, with the last line of the fourth quatrain being set off.
 Why do you think is this so?
 How would you interpret this last, most important line in the poem?
 How would you relate this poem to the Filipino characteristic of being reflective and
religious?

Answer the given questions through a short reflective essay:

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
A Taste of Tagalog Essay

More popularly known now as the CALABARZON referring to the provinces of Cavite,
Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, Region IV-A is home to Tagalog-speaking people in the
Philippines. Recognized all over the country for their bravery and fearlessness in battles,
CALABARZON has participated actively in the country’s fight for freedom and democracy. It is
home to many a Philippine hero foremost and among them are: Rizal of Laguna, Mabini of
Batangas, Aguinaldo of Cavite.

The blog you are about to read is a critical essay about the power of the Filipino
language in combatting colonial mentality and commercialism. Discover how some of the
prominent writers of the Region like Efren Abueg, Rogelio Ordoñez, Edgardo Reyes,
Dominador Mirasol and Rogelio Sikat compiled their written works in the vernacular to prove
that the Tagalog short story could stream once again into the parched desert-like state of the
Filipino state of mind.

Mga Agos sa Disyerto (first published in 1964) is a collection of short stories written by
prominent Filipino authors. Powerful and compelling, this compilation of pure fiction talked about
some of the real problems faced by Filipinos all over the country. It reached out to a number of
readers as it used the vernacular language, a language understandable especially to the
masses.

20 Aug 2009 by SIGLIWA

Salubungin ang (Bagong) Daluyong ng mga Agos sa Disyerto

SA PANAHONG tila natutuyuan ang mga linang ng panitikan noong gitnang bahagi ng
dekada ’60, dumaloy ang mga akda nina Efren R. Abueg, Dominador B. Mirasol, Rogelio L.
Ordo-ñez, Edgardo M. Reyes at Rogelio R. Sikat, sa aklat katipunang Mga Agos sa Disyerto.

Unang buhos ng daluyong ay noong 1964 at isang dekada ang lumipas, muling umalon
at binasa ang namimitak na lupain ng panitikang Filipino nang mailimbag ang ikalawang
edisyon ng Mga Agos sa Disyerto noong 1974.

Huling sargo ng daluyong ng Agos ay 16 na taon ang nakararaan, nang lumabas ang
ikatlong edisyon nito noong 1993.

Ngayon, sa panahong sampu isang pera ang patakbuhing literaturang patuloy na

lumuluoy sa diwa at kaluluwa ng mga Pilipino, muling nagbabanta ang pagbugso ng mga Agos
sa Disyerto.
 Pananalamin sa tubig ng katotohanang panlipunan

Sinalamin ng 25 akdang isinama sa Agos (na 20 lamang noong ika-2 edisyon)

katotohanang umiiral sa lipunan. Binigyang mukha ng mga ito ang kalagayan ng karaniwang
tao, maging ang pingkian ng kapangyarihan at karumaldumal na karalitaan at kawalanghiyaang
umiiral sa ating lipunan.

Nilaro ng mga akda ang emosyon at kaisipan, na bagaman ginagawa na noon, hindi
ganoong kahantad.

Mga Ariel at Cleofe sa Pilipinas sa kuwento ni Abueg

Amor vincit omnia, sabi ng matandang kasabihang Latin—hahamakin ang lahat, maging
ang umiiral na mga patakarang panlipunan, sa ngalan ng pagibig at ito ang tila ibig patunayan
ng akda ni Abueg na Sa Bagong Paraiso.

Magkalangkap, at hindi mapaghihiwalay, ang laman at ang puso, ang libog at ang
pagibig; ito ang nalaman nina Cleofe at Ariel nang pangahasan nilang lasapin ang bawal na
bunga at magsupling ito, sa kuwento ni Abueg na Sa Bagong Paraiso.

Sabi ng pamosong sikoanalistang si Sigmund Freud, ang pagnanasa ang isa sa

pinakamalakas na emosyong maaaring maramdaman ng isang tao.

Aniya pa, ang seksuwal na pagnanasa’y nararanasan ng isang tao mula sa kanyang
pagkabata hanggang sa kanyang pagtanda. Tila ito ang binaybay ng istorya ni Abueg.

Sa ngayon, maraming Cleofe at Ariel sa mga kabataang Pilipino. Dahil ayon nga sa
Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey (2003) 23 porsiyento ng kabataang Pinoy, ang
tumitikim ng ipinagbabawal na bunga, gaya nang sinasabi sa istorya ni Abueg.

Karalitaan at ang mga Clemenia, Carina, at iba pang babae sa dampang may ilaw-
dagitab sa lipunang Pilipino

Prostitusyon, anila, ang pinakamatandang propesyon sa daigdig. Sa Bibliya, maraming

puta. Karamihan sa kanila, nasa templo mismo ni Yahweh.

Sa kasalukuyan, pagtantiya ng Amihan (Pambansang Kalipunan ng Kababaihang

Magbubukid), nasa 800,000 noong 2005, ang mga kababaihang nasadlak sa prostitusyon
bunga ng kahirapan.

Sa mga kuwentong Mapanglaw ang Mukha ng Buwan at Ang Lungsod ay Isang Dagat ni
Abueg at Di Maabot ng Kawalang Malay ni Edgardo M. Reyes, tinalakay ang isyu ng
prostitusyon.

Batay sa pagtaya ng Amihan, 200,000 kababaihang napilitang magputa para lamang

may maipakain sa kanilang mga pamilya, ang nasa kanayunang giyagis pa rin ng karalitaan. At
karamihan sa kanila, ang puri ang bayad para sa ilang kilong bigas.
 Saglit na nag-atubili si Clemenia. Subalit nang manlalim sa kanyang paningin ang mga
guhit sa mukha ni Aling Maring ay maliksi niyang dinampot ang isang panyuwelong itim sa
sandalan ng silya at ipinugong iyon sa kanyang buhok…

Ngunit hindi lamang si Clemenia ang nagputa sa kuwento ni Abueg, maging si Mang
Itoy. Isinuong niya ang dangal at buhay para lamang mailigtas ang buhay ng naghihingalong
asawa.

Karalitaan din ang nagbunsod sa ina ni Ida, kung bakit naging kalapati itong mababa
ang lipad, sa kuwento ni Reyes (Di Maabot…).

“M-magugulat si… si Emy,” ang sabi ni Ida. “’Kala siguro n’ya, di tayo… di tayo
nagkakaro’n ng pansit! ‘Kala siguro n’ya, panay lu…lugaw ang kinakain natin!”

Sa puntong ito, hindi na kagulat-gulat kung bakit marami ang babaing nagsasangla ng
kanilang puri at parang pansit na sumabulat, gaya nang dala ni Ida na ibibigay sana sa kalaro,
at humagis pakalat, hanggang sa makutim na na labak sa kanal: dahil maraming pamilya pa rin
ang lublob sa kahirapan.

Napakabangis pa rin ng lungsod sa kakaning-itik

Hindi nagliliwat ang isyu ng karalitaan sa Pilipinas, sa kabila ng sinasabing pag-unlad na

ipinamamalita ng gobyerno. Sa pinakahuling sarbey ng Social Weather Stations (SWS), 9.3
milyong pamilyang Pinoy ang lublob sa karalitaan; 7.2 milyon naman ang nasasalat sa pagkain;
at sumirit ang bilang ng nagugutom: mulang 2.9 milyong pamilya, patungong 3.7 milyon sa
ikalawang kuwarto ng 2009. Si Adong, maralita at gutom, sa kuwentong Mabangis na Lungsod
(Abueg). Maraming tulad niya sa Pilipinas—40.8 porsiyento ng populasyon ng mga batang tulad
ni Adong, maralita—ayon sa National Stati

Iniluluwal nang labis na karalitaan, ang karahasan (Eli, Eli Lama Sabachtani?; Ang
Biktima Ni Dominador B. Mirasol). At karaniwan ang maralita’y pinagkakaitan ng katarungan
(Isang Ina sa Panahon ng Trahedya, Mirasol).

Bulok kasi ang sistema ng katarungan sa Pilipinas. Ang timbangang hawak ng babaing
nakapiring, laging nakasandig sa may mga kuwarta, karamihan sa mga abugado de kampanilya
(kuno) ay mga mukhang pera, at sa pulitiko, nananaig ang padronismo.

“Tulad ng naipangako ko sa inyo, lumapit ako sa Presidente kahapon din,” simula ng

Diputado. “At komo nga magkasalungat kami ng paniniwala at magkaibang partido, medyo
pinaringgan ako. Puwede raw hong pagbigyan niya ako sa gusto ko, pero por pabor naman
daw, pagbigyan ko raw siya sa hihilingin niya sa akin…” – sipi mula sa Eli, Eli…, Mirasol

Sa lipunang ito, kung sino ang gumagawa at nagpapagod, siya ang hindi umaani ng
bunga ng kanyang pinagpawisan. Sina Rogelio L. Ordoñez at Mirasol ang nagpakita ng
napakarawal na kalagayan ng uring manggagawa sa kanilang mga kuwentong Dugo ni Juan
Lazaro, Buhawi, Inuuod na Bisig sa Tiyan ng Buwaya, Mga Aso sa Lagarian at Makina.
 Bagaman ang mga manggagawa at magsasaka ang pinakagulugod ng pambansang
ekonomiya, sila ang umaamot sa kaunting mumong nalalaglag sa dulang ng namamanginoon:

“Putang ‘nang White ‘yan,” sabi minsan ng isa nilang kapwa trabahador sa dapithapong
magkasabay silang lumalabas sa dambuhalang pabrikang iyon. “Wala yatang kaluluwa!
Matagal na tayo rito, di man lang tayo inuumentuhan. Alam niyang pambili lang ng pandesal
ang suweldo natin. Malaki naman ang kinikita ng pabrikang ito. (Inuuod…, Ordoñez)

Ipinagmamaramot pa sa kanilang mga kakaning -itik, kadalasan, itong mumong ito,

kadalasan:

Basta, sasabihin niya: “Meron ho ‘kong kar’patan! T’yak hong meron ‘kong karapatan!
(Isang sipi mula sa Makina, Mirasol).

Dahil sa kaapihang dinaranas, natututong lumaban ang mga manggagawa.

Pagkaminsa’y marahas na uri ng paglaban ang ginagamit ng mga obrero para igiit ang kanilang
mga karapatan sa disenteng sahod at pamumuhay.

Bigla ang hindi magkamayaw na mga hugong na pumuno sa diwa ni Andong. Iglap
niyang sinunggaban ang nakasandal na piko sa sulok ng bodega. Itinaas. At hinabol niya ang
nakatalikod at papalayong kapatas. Iniwan ni Andong na nakabaon ang matulis na dulo ng piko
sa kaliwang mata ng nakabulagtang kapatas. (Buhawi, Ordoñez)

Sa mundo ng paggawa, gaya halimbawa ng call center, ipinalalaganap ang espiritu ng

indibiduwalismo. Ang cubicle ang nagsisilbing hadlang para malayang makapagtalakayan ukol
sa karapatan ang mga manggagawa.

Ginamit ng kapitalista ang pangangailangan ng manggagawa upang banggain ang

kapwa niya obrero, gaya nang isang senaryo sa Dugo ni Juan Lazaro:

“Basta magpatuloy ka lang sa pagtatrabaho, daragadan ko ng limampung piso ang

sahod mo,” sabi ng tagapamahala. “At kahit matapos ang welga, mananatiling gayon ang iyong
sahod.”

Patuloy na nalulugmok ang mga nayon at naghihimagsik ang mga Anto

Ayon pa rin sa NSCB, nasa kanayunan pa rin ang napakaraming bilang ng maralita sa
Pilipinas. Karamihan sa kanila, mangingisda at magsasaka.

Itinuturong dahilan ng karalitaan sa kanayunan ang kawalang lupa ng mga magsasaka.

Malaking bahagdan pa rin ng mga magsasaka ang walang lupa.

Isyu ng kawalan ng lupa ang kuwentong Tata Selo ni Rogelio R. Sikat at Si Anto ni
Ordoñez.

Sabi ng mga palamasid, ang naglalagablab na digmang bayang inilulunsad ng New

People’s Army (NPA), ang naaarmasang sektor ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (1968), ay
dahil sa isyu ng lupa.
 Hindi lamang ngayon nagsimula ang paglaban ng mga magsasaka para sa karapatan sa
lupa. Mula panahon ng pananakop ng mga Kastila, ang himagsikan ay nag-ugat sa
pangangamkam ng mga lupain ng mga prayle at mga nasa gobyernong Espanyol.

Hindi iilang buhay ang nabuwis sa ngalan ng lupa. Ang pinakatanyag, ang naganap na
pagbubuwis ng buhay ng mga magsasakang nagmartsa pa-Mendiola noong Enero 22, 1987 at
ang pagpatay sa mga nagaklas sa Asyenda Luisita noong Nobyembre 16, 2004.

Pawang mga biktima ng pangangamkam ng kanilang mga lupain— mga lupaing

karugtong ng kanilang buhay at pagkatao—ang mga tauhan sa mga kuwento nina Ordoñez at
Sikat.

Marahas ang kanilang naging paghihiganti sa mga kasiki. Tinaga ni Tata Selo sa
bunganga ang kabesa samantalang si Anto, nilaslas ang lalamunan at winakwak ang tiyan, ni
Ka Mamerto. Ipinakita naman ni Reyes, ang kabalintunaan sa kanyang kuwentong Lugmok na
ang Nayon.

Nakangingilo ang ingit ng gulong ng kariton. Malayo na kami. Sa tingin ko’y tila madilim
na dawag na lamang ang Sapang-Putol. Pinagmasdan ko ang laman ng kariton. Ito’y isa nang
napakalaking kayamanan ng nagsasalat na nayon, naisip ko. At sa Sabado, ito’y
pagpapasasaan at sasandat sa maraming tagalunsod. Totoo, ito, sa abang palagay. Totoong
mayaman ang Pilipinas ngunit naghihirap ang maraming Pilipino.

Ibang pang mga tálâ

Gaya nang katubigan, husto Ang Mga Agos sa Disyerto, sa lalim at babaw; sa lapad at
kitid; sa pagiging maingay at tahimik.

May mga kuwentong nakapagngingitngit, gaya nang nabanggit na sa itaas. May

humihipo sa puso. May sumusugat at may nagpapahilom.

Kuwento ng sakripisyo at pagibig ng mga ina ang kuwentong Isang Ina sa Panahon ng
Trahedya (Mirasol); Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachtni? (Mirasol); at Gilingang Bato (Sikat).

Paghahanap ng kahulugan sa buhay at pagkatao, ang ibig iparating sa mambabasa ng

mga kuwentong Sa Piling ng mga Bituin (Ordoñez) at Emmanuel.

Pagibig at kasawian naman ang tumining sa kuwento ni Sikat na Quentin (ala-

Hunchback of Notre Dame ni Victor Hugo), samantalang pagbabagong-loob ang kuwentong
Ang Kura at ang Agwador (na dahil sa kasimplehan, parang kuwentong pambatang naligaw sa
isang katipunan ng akdang “pangmatanda”).

Kung totoo man ang pamahiin, ang tinatawag na balisa, ang Dugo sa Ulo ni Corbo
(Abueg) at Lupain sa Sariling Bayan (Sikat) ang mabisang naglarawan sa mga ito; ang una’y
ukol sa sundalong malapit nang mamamatay at ang huli, ukol sa abugadong ayaw bumalik sa
lupang tinubuan, gayunman, doon din magbabalik sa araw ng kanyang libing. Katapatan at
korupsiyon ang ibig namang ipamarali ng kuwentong Daang-bakal ni Reyes.

Panahon na muling padaluyin ang Agos

Sa panahong muling nararanasan ang katuyuan sa linang ng panitikang Pilipino, dahil

na rin sa pamamanginoon sa diyos ng komersiyalismo, gaya nang sinabi ni Lumbera noong
1993, umaasam ang maraming mulat at uhaw ang pag-iisip sa muling pagdaloy ng Mga Agos
sa Disyerto.

Hindi himod sa pundilyo, ang pahayag; isa itong katotohanan, sa abang palagay,
nalalaman ng lahat bagaman patuloy na itinatanggi ng karamihan.

Patuloy na nararahuyo ngayon sa panitikang nagkakandili nang hindi malulunok na mga

ilusyon, nakasentro sa libog at pagkamakasarili, ang maraming mambabasa.

Panahon na para muling padaluyin—hindi—dapat pasarguhin ang agos. At hayaang

paglawain nito ang uhaw at namimitak na linang ng panitikang Pilipino at nang sa gayon, hindi
ito maging disyertong katatagpuan ng mga kalansay, mga siit, ng damong tuyo at
naghihingalong Oasis na hindi man lamang makatighaw ng pagkauhaw ng puso, isip at
kaluluwa ng isang Juan de la Cruz.

Antipulo, Rizal | Agosto 20, 2009

TASK 1

GUIDE QUESTIONS: You can answer this in a separate sheet of paper.

1. In what language was the text, Mga Agos sa Disyerto written?

2. What did this collection aim to accomplish?

3. What is the main idea of the story, Sa Bagong Paraiso by Efren Abueg?

4. What do you think was conflict experienced by Cleofe and Ariel?

5. Do you think this is likely to be experienced by teenagers today? Why or why not?

6. What social problem(s) was presented by Edgardo M. Reyes in his Mapanglaw ang Mukha
ng Buwan and by Efren R. Abueg in his Ang Lungsod ay Isang and Di Maabot ng Kawalang
Malay?

7. According to the text, why is this a seemingly prominent problem in the Philippines?

8. How do you think can we combat this problem in our present time?

9. What do you think does Dominador Mirasol’s line, “Ang maralita’y pinagkakaitan ng
katarungan,” in his Isang Ina sa Panahon ng Trahedya mean?
10. What socio-political problems are being tackled in the stories of Rogelio R. Sikat, Rogelio L.
Ordoñez, and Edgardo M. Reyes?

11. Why do you think was this collection of short stories entitled Ang Mga Agos sa Disyerto?

12. Symbolically, what do the waves (agos) hope to create or achieve in the desert (disyerto)?

More and more Filipino writers are using their mother tongue in creating ripples in
society. With language as a tool in effecting changes, we might very well succeed in a greater,
more passionate greening the Philippine creative expressions.

The Power of Language

The blog above is a persuasive essay that focuses on the potent capacity of a national
language to arouse patriotism and love of country in its people. Despite the numerous
advantages of knowing how to communicate in the English language, a Filipino must not be
confused in knowing when, where, and how to use his native tongue.

Loving the Philippines

A great hero that is Rizal once said, “It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great
ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice.”

A Taste of Creative Nonfiction

The island of Visayas is one of the major geographical divisions in the Philippines; the
other two being Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the middle of the Philippine archipelago and
subdivided into Western, Central and Eastern Visayas, the Visayas region is comprised of
several islands circling the Visayan Sea. Its people, therefore, share a seabased culture and
tradition that may be rooted to very strong religious foundations.

The dwelling place of many festivals such the Ati-Atihan, Dinagyang, Sinulog, Pintados
and Maskara, the Visayas may indeed be considered as one of the cradles of Philippine
civilization. The text you are about to encounter is written by a native Visayan who was born in
Maribojoc, Bohol. Considered by many as a feminist Filipina who strongly promotes women’s
rights, Marjorie Evasco is not only a Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awardee but also recipient to
several accolades here and abroad.

A. In what ways can you as a Filipino reader be affected by such works (short stories
in Tagalog) that endeavor to open the minds of people on socio-political and
moral issues confronting the country?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

B. Is it still important to read, write, and learn in our national language? Why or why
not?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Encountering Regional Literature

The different regions in the Philippine have a variety of literature that reflects the growth
of a nation rich in socio-cultural and historical experiences. Their way of life, their tradition, their
language, and their belief in a Supreme Being that subsumes all of creation are mirrored in the
myriad of literary pieces that developed alongside their own history.

Five Brothers, One Mother

Taurus St., Cinco Hermanos, Marikina

The Marikina house wasn’t finished yet, but with an ultimatum hanging over our heads,
we had no choice but to move in. Just how unfinished the house was became bruisingly clear
on our first night. There was no electricity yet, and the windows didn’t have screens. There were
mosquitoes. I couldn’t sleep the whole night. My sister slept on a cot out in the upstairs hall
instead of her room downstairs, maybe because it was cooler here. Every so often she would
toss and turn, waving bugs away with half-asleep hands. I sat beside her and fanned her. She
had work the next day. In the morning someone went out and bought boxes and boxes of Katol.

Work on the house would continue, but it remains unfinished eight years later. All the
interiors, after a few years of intermittent work, are done. But the exterior remains unpainted,
still the same cement gray as the day we moved in, though grimier now. Marikina’s factories
aren’t too far away. The garden remains ungreened; earth, stones, weeds, and leaves are
where I suppose bermuda grass will be put down someday.

In my eyes the Marikina house is an attempt to return to the successful Greenmeadows

plan, but with more modest means at one’s disposal. The living room of the Cinco Hermanos
house features much of the same furniture, a similar look. The sofa and wing chairs seem at
ease again. My mother’s growing collection of angel figurines is the new twist. But there is less
space in this room, as in most of the rooms in the Marikina house, since it is a smaller house on
a smaller lot.
 The kitchen is carefully planned, as was the earlier one, the cooking and eating areas
clearly demarcated. There is again a formal dining room, and the new one seems to have been
designed for the long narra dining table, a lovely Designs Ligna item, perhaps the one most
beautiful piece of furniture we have, bought on the cheap from relatives leaving the country in a
hurry when we still were on Heron Street.

Upstairs are the boys’ rooms. The beds were the ones custom-made for the
Greenmeadows house, the same ones we’d slept in since then. It was a loft or an attic, my
mother insisted, which is why the stairs had such narrow steps. But this "attic," curiously
enough, had two big bedrooms as well as a wide hall. To those of us who actually inhabited
these rooms, the curiosity was an annoyance. There was no bathroom, so if you had to go to
the toilet in the middle of the night you had to go down the stairs and come back up again, by
which time you were at least half awake.

Perhaps there was no difference between the two houses more basic, and more
dramatic, than their location. This part of Marikina is not quite the same as the swanky part of
Ortigas we inhabited for five years. Cinco Hermanos is split by a road, cutting it into two phases,
that leads on one end to Major Santos Dizon, which connects Marcos Highway with Katipunan
Avenue. The other end of the road stops at Olandes, a dense community of pedicabs, narrow
streets, and poverty. The noise – from the tricycles, the chattering on the street, the trucks
hurtling down Marcos Highway in the distance, the blaring of the loudspeaker at our street
corner put there by eager-beaver barangay officials – dispels any illusions one might harbor of
having returned to a state of bliss.

***

The first floor is designed to create a clear separation between the family and guest
areas, so one can entertain outsiders without disturbing the house’s inhabitants. This principle
owes probably more to my mother than my father. After all, she is the entertainer, the host. The
living room, patio, and dining room – the places where guests might be entertained – must be
clean and neat, things in their places. She keeps the kitchen achingly well-organized, which is
why there are lots of cabinets and a deep cupboard.

And she put them to good use. According to Titus, the fourth, who accompanied her
recently while grocery shopping, she buys groceries as if all of us still lived there. I don’t recall
the cupboard ever being empty.

That became her way of mothering. As we grew older and drifted farther and farther
away from her grasp, defining our own lives outside of the house, my mother must have felt that
she was losing us to friends, jobs, loves – forces beyond her control. Perhaps she figured that
food, and a clean place to stay, was what we still needed from her. So over the last ten years or
so she has become more involved in her cooking, more attentive, better. She also became
fussier about meals, asking if you’ll be there for lunch or dinner so she knows how much to
cook, reprimanding the one who didn’t call to say he wasn’t coming home for dinner after all, or
the person who brought guests home without warning. There was more to it than just knowing
how much rice to cook.
 I know it gives her joy to have relatives over during the regular Christmas and New Year
get-togethers, which have been held in our house for the past halfdecade or so. She brings out
the special dishes, cups and saucers, platters, glasses, bowls, coasters and doilies she herself
crocheted. Perhaps I understand better why her Christmas decor has grown more lavish each
year.

After seeing off the last guests after the most recent gathering, she sighed, "Ang kalat ng
bahay!" I didn’t see her face, but I could hear her smiling. My father replied, "Masaya ka
naman." It wasn’t a secret.

Sundays we come over to the house, everyone who has moved out, and have lunch
together. Sunday lunches were always differently esteemed in our household. Now that some of
us have left, I sense that my siblings try harder than they ever did to be there. I know I do. I try
not to deprive my mother the chance to do what she does best.

When we were little, my siblings and cousins, we spent Sundays there. I learned how to
ride a bicycle on the long driveway. We played tennis on a neighbor’s court after climbing the
back wall. In the grassy front yard we played baseball, and I hit the first homerun in that tiny
ballpark. We fished for star apples with long bamboo sticks, picked dewy santan, got caught in
the thorny bougainvillea bushes retrieving errant pingpong balls. The last time I passed by the
lot the house had been torn down.

My father would have been thirteen when he moved into it; he was over sixty when he
and his brothers and sisters let it go. It made sense to sell it, but I wonder if anything was
bargained away in the transaction. He had lost his parents years before. Was losing the house a
final orphaning?

***

Is this the last one? Am I here for good? Or should I keep the boxes and packing tape
handy? Houses provided us the necessary certainties – somewhere to come home to where
you’d find your family, your things, a hot dinner, a bed or a good couch. Write to me here. Call
me at this number. But I’ve changed a dresses and phone numbers enough times to know
better. Perhaps that’s whathouses are really about: the fundamental uncertainty of life, the
slowly learned fact that the reference points by which we draw our maps and chart our course
are ever shifting, and a life’s cartography is never quite done.

That isn’t necessarily a sad thing. Perhaps the houses are no longer, but somewhere
inside me I am still marveling at the break of day, at the way the moon illuminates the grass, at
the way the lives of those I’ve lived with have crisscrossed and intertwined with mine, no matter
how tangled up it all sometimes got.

I count my blessings, the ghosts of houses past included.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What does a house mean to someone? What does a home? What is the difference?
 ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2. What is the role of a mother in a home? How does this role change when the children
are all grown-up and have their own lives to lead?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3. What forces a family to leave their homes? Was this what happened to the family in the
story?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

4. What fond recollections does the speaker have in his house? Why do you say so?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

5. The third to the last paragraph is a musing on the part of the speaker? What does he say
about a house? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________