School of Graduate Studies

English Department

MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology

Tibanga, Iligan City

9200 Philippines

Communication Campaign and Program

“Solid Waste Management Program/Materials Recovery Facility”

(Program)

In Partial Fulfillment of the Course Requirement in English 236

 (Development Communication)

Prepared by:

Edgar R. Eslit

Student, Master in English Language Studies (MELS-2)

Submitted to:

Eufemio L. Calio, Ph.D

Professor

October 14, 2005

Introduction

Since 1995, solid waste reduction and recycling were identified as integral components of the Comprehensive Integrated Solid Waste Management Program for the Philippines. The solid waste reduction program recommended by consultants in 1995 estimates that there is the potential to reduce the amount of waste being generated in the Philippines by 3% per year. Nevertheless, to date waste reduction efforts in the Philippines have had only a small impact on the island's solid waste stream.

Generally, in answer to the problem, recycling is done for two major reasons: as a means of saving resources and as a solid waste management option. However, for Developing Country like the Philippines, recycling is considered to be even more important. For Developing Countries the disposal of waste is a serious constraint to sustainable development. The limited land area and resources for safe disposal, growing population and increasing imports of hazardous substances combine to make pollution prevention and the management of waste critical issues for the Developing Countries. Given that long-term disposal options are limited and will constrain sustainable development, small island developing countries will need to look for ways of minimizing waste and / or converting wastes into a resource (e.g. soil fertilizer for agriculture).

Having seen those concerns, this Communication Campaign and Program provides ways by which each Filipino, in this case, I concentrate in the Barangays Dalipuga, Kiwalan and  Acmac, how they  contribute to the overall effort of addressing the growing challenge of reducing the volume of waste that we produce everyday. Individual consumers can help alleviate this problem by making environmentally conscious decisions in their everyday activities such as shopping and day-to-day household chores.

It is therefore hoped that this Communication Campaign and Program will help facilitate in coming out with a productive inputs regarding the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Program and or MRF which at present is being implemented by the government. Has it help increase the level of awareness and adoption among the recipients? These and more are hoped to be addressed in this Paper.

ii

Communication Campaign and Program

(Solid Waste Management Program/Materials Recovery Facility)

I. Problem Identification

Problem Analysis and its Cause

The accumulation of waste has been a constant problem in the country or even in our own city, Iligan City. The over-increasing population, urbanization and economic growth all contribute to the increase in solid waste generation. In Metro Manila alone, 8.5 million people produce around 12,000 tons of garbage per day. A lot of these are left to rot in the streets which become breeding places for flies and other insects that spread communicable diseases. Some are thrown in rivers and canals which block the sewerage system that cause flooding even with minimal rainfall. Some are burned resulting in air pollution. Although there are designated dumpsites, the tremendous amounts of garbage generated exceed their capacities. The level of awareness and adoption of the Solid Waste Management program or MRF therefore are highlighted with doubts and question.

Lack of appropriate funds causes the delayed implementation of solid waste management projects is another point to consider. In 1993, Former President Fidel V. Ramos approved the adoption of the Integrated National Waste Management System Framework. The framework presented parameters for developing various plans, programs, and strategies on solid waste management in the country.

The local government unit of Iligan City, under the local leadership of then Mayor Franklin Quijano up to the present administration of Mayor Laurence Ll. Cruz, successfully enacted all the policy objectives, guiding principles, and other considerations of the framework. It also modified the system to better suit the needs and resources of the community by adopting the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), the local version of the program.

            For now, this writer believes that there is a pressing need to address this issue since it also affects the lives of the people residing in Barangays Dalipuga, Kiwalan and my own barangay, Acmac.  There’s a need to determine the level of awareness among the residents, the implementation affectivity, and their practice and knowledge of the program.

II. Audience Analysis

            For the audience, this researcher considered the residents staying along the coasts of Barangays Dalipuga, Kiwalan but concentrate more in Brgy. Acmac since this writer resides there.

            Prior research, it was found out that the Solid Waste Management program (SWM) or MRF aims to achieve 100 % implementation by 2005. It incorporates other two major projects namely energization and livelihood. They go hand in hand. This time, the energy sector looks beyond power infrastructure concerns; livelihood and income-generating activities now form part of the package. At present, assessment of the program vis-à-vis potential livelihood activities and appropriate infrastructure is being done.

             Most of the residents, if not all, have access in broadcast and print media having owned their own electricity connections.  The programs itself do require extension workers to facilitate the dissemination of information in all those areas to enhance adoptability of the program linked to the MRF.   The completion of the program is targeted with community vigilance and optimism.

III. Objective Formulation

            The Solid waste Management (SWM) or its local counterpart, Material Recovery Facility (MRF), is one of the programs of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) - Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI) that provides technical and/or technology assistance to the industry sector in the selection and implementation of cleaner production technologies. Such activity is in line with Executive Order (EO) 128 that mandates DOST to provide central direction, leadership and coordination of scientific and technological efforts to ensure that the results herein are geared and utilized in areas of maximum economic and social benefits for the people.

To achieve it, this writer believes that the SWM or MRF undertakes the following objectives to ensure that the program be made sustainable:

A.      Conduct program audits and recommend SWM or MRF program for an eco-efficient practices and technologies for the industry sector and the general public in the three areas cited;

B.       Undertake policy research, technology assessment, feasibility and technical studies related to solid waste management or MRF;

C.       Enhance technological capabilities through manpower training, infrastructure and institution building geared towards SWM or MRF awareness;

D.      Develop and maintain an information system on Solid Waste Management technologies, which include fact sheets, website, newsletters, trainings and seminars, and industry-specific best management guidebooks. And

E.       For program assessment, determine the level of awareness, practice, and adoptability of the SWM or MRF program in Barangays Dalipuga, Kiwalan and Acmac and recommend the practice of recycling or the like of it.

IV. Message Selection

Instructional (Communication Strategy)

To help achieve the project objectives, various information, education and communication (IEC) strategies were used to create awareness among the residents of said barangays and encourage cooperation of the stakeholders and instill discipline among them in terms of cooperation and adherence to the rules and regulations set by the local government. Various communication tools and channels were utilized to create awareness of the alarming garbage condition and the need for a clean environment that would benefit everyone in the community.

The strategy targeted those directly responsible for waste keeping and garbage generation. Solid waste stakeholders (barangay residents in three areas cited) were tapped in the process of formulating a long-term program, which would put to rest apprehensions of a garbage crisis in said Barangays or the city as a whole. The local government called on operators of poultry and hog farms, slaughterhouses, market vendors, homeowners associations, the youth sector, local  industries and government line agencies to attend a two-day workshop where they tried to identify problems and their origins, recommend solutions and to draw a 5-year master plan for the city’s solid waste concerns. Private stakeholders were taught how to manage their garbage and eventually reduce the volume of waste.

Project implementers gave out incentives to keep motivate the constituents to accept and adhere to the principles of the solid waste management program. It was a way of conditioning the people that doing something right deserves a corresponding reward.
         Through the efforts of former Mayor Franklin Quijano, innovative ways were designed to reach the people in the community. Print, broadcast and interpersonal communication techniques were used to disseminate information depending on the medium best suited for the different barangays. Moreover, the strategy was made affordable, accessible and available to everyone.  Also, appropriate channels and language were used to facilitate understanding of the program among the clienteles.

V. Media Selection

Considering the coverage and reach of the study and its variety of audience, to know their pulse, this writer has found out the use of questionnaires and brochures. But most likely, as the need arises, Radio and TV and even the Print Media were also  tapped.  A projected cost for a local coasting (indicated in the table below) are itemized in such away that it will help identify the necessary expenses for the project itself. As identified by this writer, the basic mediums are needed to help ensure the success of the program. For Communication Campaign and Program purposes, these are:

The Cost:

The audience: SWM or MRF recipients from Dalipuga, Kiwalan and Acmac.  Thanks to the help of the media, all recipient barangays can be openly informed by the on-going program.

            Other than the project implementation concerns, the audiences or recipients need to know the following facts: That the SWM Program would require at least USD300 million or about 14-15 billion pesos investment (That’s for the whole City, anyway). A program as big as this would really require time and proper medium to consolidate all necessary resources to make the audience informed and eventually adopt the program. In the SWM still, with its limited resources, the Government would need all assistance it could get to achieve its target. The Government would invite the participation of independent companies, civic and business organizations, and NGOs/foundations.  And that being the recipients, individually, local residents (clienteles) have to do their share.

            Coverage wise, aside from the questionnaires, with the use of TV or Radio, the message will reach from the north going to the south portion of the barangays mentioned. Not to mention the print and broadcast media.

VI. Budget Planning

            The Message and Media Selections are priority concerns for the budget planning.   Based on the projected local costing above, this writer believes that the following are necessary:

1.      Staff (personnel) – to gather information and necessary data

2.      Supplies and Materials – to be used in gathering information

3.      Transportation/Travel budget and – for mobilization purposes

4.      Personnel honorarium – for incentives

There’s need to tap at least five staff in gathering the needed information whereby a conclusive inputs can be derived at.  Supplies such as band papers for the questionnaires, ball pens etc. are necessary for data gathering.  Transportaion and travel budget for mobilization.  And, obviously, honorarium to make those personnel moving. A Communication Program Planning like this requires time, money and personnel before one could arrive at its completion.  Well, tapping the services from other sources is also feasible.  One is certain that with the assistance, not only of the local government but of the individual volunteers and residents, will help in the completion of any project at hand. Overall, it needs an initial budget cost of Php. 35,000.00.

VII. Communication Strategy Decision

There are at least two (2) local dialects spoken in the chosen areas-Filipino and Sebuano . Sebuano is widely understood and spoken and generally used even in media or in government and private offices. To tap the recipients, the program can use the Interpersonal Communication though through the efforts of the extension workers, Intrapersonal through the Mass media or Media Mix, and Barangay Information System through the respective local Barangay Officers.

            The Following were used and still being used as communication tools for the information dissemination:

1.   Billboards, flyers, leaflets, brochures, posters

2.      Pahayagan- a concrete structure usually painted white which is strategically located in different places of a barangay where important announcements, reminders, and special events are posted for everyone to see. And

3.      Refrigerator information magnets done through small group of chosen individuals.

            The various channels for awareness creation:

      1. Garbage personnel. Reminders are given by sanitation engineers through megaphones mounted on compactor trucks or messages are  personally relayed to the residents during garbage collection.

      2. Public Address (PA) system. A series of loud speakers installed in areas frequented by people such as public markets and schools. The speakers are  connected to a central control system at the barangay hall where through the use of microphone, various news,  information, programs and important events are announced  throughout the barangay.

      3.  DXIC Radio.  A local community radio station with the programs created  for the purpose of close communication link with constituents which operated on a staggered daily schedule. Together with the  news and information it provides, there are also various health  programs for the public.

      4.  Schools in Dalipuga, Kiwalan and Acmac. Children receive a regular dose of SWM education to empower them to educate their respective households.

      5. The Iligan Local Papers (Road Trip/Sun Star Daily). Local community newspaper published monthly.

Other City Communication/Media are also used as tools for the effective implementation of the programs and some ordinances on solid waste management or MRF. These are:

1. Clean and Green T-shirts
2. Clean and Green Litter Can
3. Tapat Ko, Linis Ko
4. Disiplina sa Bangketa
5. “Hakot Kuyagot”
6. “Hakot Kaning Baboy”
7. City Ordinance # 57, 1999

VIII. Implementation

            I consider this program as an on-going program.  And, this writer admits that barriers are encountered along the way.   

            Some of the BARRIERS include:

            1.   Negative attitude towards the program (for the first timers)
            2.   Lack of information dissemination on available technologies.

            3.   Limited number of workers.

      4.  Ineffective distribution of information and marketing.

      5.  Inefficient signs and designs.

      6.  Few or no financial and fiscal incentives.

      7.  Inadequate facilities for the MRF technology adaptation

            To go over it, it’s suggested that all component of this program will be done with the greater participation of the private individuals.  In so doing, it’s suggested to establish interpersonal relations with the individual household through house visitation and or barangay forum for the residents to understand the SWM or MRF management.  The intervention of the elders and barangay leaders will be sought as well. For the  government, it needs to pursue the establishment of the right policy environment to encourage the private sector to join in the program. It will also spearhead the removal of barriers to further make the market conducive and attractive for private sector investment. It shall seek international funding to complement existing resources, provide the needed information for planning and decision making and ensure the participation of all stakeholders to increase the chances of this program's success.

IX. Evaluation

                Since the implementation of the program, using a randomized sample, this writer has observed the following developments:

The residents of Dalipuga, Kiwalan and Acmac have become aware of the various consequences of their negligence and lack of consideration towards their surroundings. Thus, more and more people support the SWM or MRF program.

Change in Attitude

Residents were glad for the assistance they have been expecting for a long time. At first, community programs were followed for fear of corresponding sanctions. Later on, the information campaigns made people realize the importance of having a clean environment, and the community eventually welcomed and supported the programs.

Change in Practices

1. Most households segregate their wastes now, lessening the workload of the garbage collectors.

2.  Some residents have stopped burning their garbage

3. Because of the anti-littering campaign, people have initiated clean ups their surroundings.

4.  Litter cans can now be seen in public utility vehicles

5.  People have learned proper disposal of animal/human wastes, bottles, papers,  and cans then considered recycling instead.

Change in Knowledge

The residents accepted the Solid Waste Management (SWM) or MRF programs offered to them by the local government since they became aware of the possibilities that could arise once the garbage situation is left neglected. They realized what is needed by the city and started to come up with their own concerns in order to end their garbage crisis.

The SMW or MRF program improved the streets of Dalipuga, Kiwalan and Acmac or even the whole city of Iligan, ridding it of unwanted odor and ghastly sites of illegal garbage dumpsites by sending out mini dump trucks at given intervals to collect the garbage of residents and commercial establishments. The collection of garbage is fast, efficient and follows a regular schedule. The way the garbage is properly disposed off shows that said places have a better system of disposing of their wastes. It is a hard and long process, but the effect of recycling and segregation has met the demands of environmental advocates. The city created a pleasant atmosphere and changed the reputation of the whole community.

Having met the objectives, more than the prestige or even awards which one may think about, it reflected a sense of pride and dignity among the Dalipuga, Kiwalan, and Acmac residents and the city as a whole. 

X. Planning for the New Action

Action Plan

            Having seen the positive outcome of the program where the objectives have been successfully met, and to sustain the adoptability of the program with ease, this action plan shall lay down the next steps or the additional mass of activities for, say, the next five years.

1.  Communication and Advocacy.               To achieve mass support for the implementation of the plan, and to enhance people awareness on development efforts, a Communication and Advocacy program must be implemented.  The program shall consist of public information dissemination using the tri-media approach, consultations, symposium and dialogues.

2.  Project Development or Enhancement.  The Project Development Assistance Center (PDAC) which is an inter-agency body shall assist the Local Government Units (LGUs), Regional Line Agencies (RLAs) and Private Sectors/NGOs to develop their project concepts/ideas into funding-ready project proposals.  The PDAC shall operate under the RDC.  This can be done in a barangay level even without those local offices.

3.  Program/Project Monitoring and Evaluation.    Through the Barangay Project Monitoring and Evaluation System (BPMES) of the Individual barangay it will track of the status of project implementation, and facilitate remedial actions on issues that impede project completion.

 It holds ample lessons for other rural development initiatives elsewhere in the Philippines, perhaps for other barangays as well. At the very least, it shows that, given enough opportunities, the poor can be helped to help themselves. This writer is positive that the same result can be achieved hereafter.

            It is therefore hoped that the program will be continued in a wider scale to cater other local recipients in the fur-flung barangays.  A legislated support through local resolutions and ordinances strengthening the implementation of the program is also sought to insure its sustainability.  With it, appropriate fiscal funding must be properly stipulated.

Henceforth, I consider this paper a proposal which is open for evaluation to all concerned agencies.

References:

                1.  MGB (mgb).gov.ph/sdmp_iligan.htm

                2.  NSBC (nscb).gov.ph/ru12/Others/MTRDP.HTM

3. Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. Congress of the Philippines, Metro, recycling.data-news.net/recycleCR3597.

4. Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries in any urban development program of Olongapo, Philippines enacted ordinances dealing with swm, /rapten0ndp.org/pppue/library/files1in the Philippines.

5. Solid waste management program s, the Galing,centrum.ph/knowldege/best/bestpractices-marikina

6. Solid waste management and wastewater of the Philippines - Diliman, cptech.dost.gov.ph/ipct.   Prepared by                 Miriam   College  students)

               7.  Solid Waste Management of Marikina City

               8.   Sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2003/07/14/news/panabo.adopts.waste.program

Inclusion:

            This writer felt indebted to Ms. Lor of STI who made the encoding of this paper.  To Ms Bangs who made additional research and inquiry about the topic, Solid Waste management; to Counsilor  Lagring Luisma for the insight about garbage collection and maintenance in barangays Dalipuga, Kiwalan, and Acmac; and to Mr. Sulpicio Gica of barangay Acmac for the substantial information on Solid Waste Management. To Bayocot Family, Jr., Bungol, Tata and Susan.

            Your valuable and inexpensive assistance has contributed a lot to the completion of this Communication and Campaign Program paper. Thank you very much

            Also, thanks to Mommy Belen, Edjee, Lance and  Hanz (Bibo).

School of Graduate Studies

English Department

MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology

Tibanga, Iligan City

9200 Philippines

Oral and Written Reports

Short Stories

Poems 

Plays and

Essay

In Partial Fulfillment of the Course Requirement

in English 242

(Contemporary Philippine Literature)

Submitted by:

Edgar R. Eslit

Student

Submitted to:

Anthony L. Tan, Ph. D

Professor

October 14, 2005

Introduction

 This paper deals with the Contemporary Philippines Literature and Filipino writers in English as represented by the following writers: Gregorio Brillantes, “Apollo Centennial” and “Distance to Andromeda”; Alfred Yuson, “Pillage”; Eric Gamalinda, “Zero Gravity”; Nick Joaquin, “Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino” and “Tatarin”; and Albert Florentino, “Cañao”.

The paper aims to provide insights and or interpretations of their works that would serve as a starting point for interpreting the messages and ideas of the contemporary Filipino short stories, poems and dramas in English, as seen in the characteristics common among the works listed above. It proceeds from a rather formalist way of reading their works, focusing on what they say and how they say it. It, however, relies on what and how this writer as well as the critics has said about their works.

 Since this is a personal study, I will focus on a simple yet common insights and messages that I find in their works. I will then speculate on its ingenuity, a part of my personal interpretation of their works based on my own understanding, and pursue some of the implications of these reasons, and see what all these may say about the aesthetics of the contemporary Filipino Short Stories, Poems and Dramas in English.  After all, it has been said that, “The uncertainty regarding the exact source of the influences which determined the form of the story, poems and dramas in English does not, however, detract from the fact that it belongs to the convention of the Filipino ingenuity”.   One reason may be that Filipino writers cannot but face the didactic tradition in Philippine literature, both in the vernacular and in English.  Balagtas and Rizal have been required readings for almost all Philippine schools, colleges and universities for decades. Florante at Laura, Noli Me Tangere, and El Filibusterismo have been translated to English, turned into films and comic books, and considered as models by scores of other writers, including Filipino novelists in English. It is virtually impossible for any educated Filipinos not to know Balagtas and Rizal, and the nationalism they preach. It should not be surprising then if writers see themselves as instructors in being a Filipino writer according to N.V.M. Gonzalez.

             Thanks to the various insights and lessons imparted to us by our versatile and intelligent professor, Dr. Anthony L. Tan.   I find it very interesting then to speculate on their works and find out why these contemporary Filipino writers in English are so unique in their own might and why they became masters in their own literary crafts.

Table of Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………  i

I. Short Stories

A.     Apollo Centennial by Gregorio Brillantes …………………………….….. S1

B.     Distance to Andromeda by Gregorio C. Brillantes ……….………… S5

II. Poems 

A.     Pillage by Alfred A. Yuson ………….…………………………………… P1

B.     Zero gravity by Eric Gamalinda  …………………………………………. P6

III. Plays

A.     Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino by Nick Joaquin  .…………..……….… Y3

B.     Cañao by Alberto Florentino ……………………………………………  Y7

IV. Essay

            A. Philippine Contemporary Theater (Drama) in English   (Adopted from the work of Doreen G.     Fernandez) …………………  E1

SHORT  STORIES

(“The Apollo Centennial” and “Distance to Andromeda” by Gregorio Brillantes)

Short Stories

The Apollo Centennial

By: Gregorio C. Brillantes

The Characters:

1.      Arcadio Nagbuya – a simple provincial father yet so hopeful and courageous to embrace change and development.

2.      Mr. Balaoing- An impatient school teacher

3.      Lacay Ustong – a raft owner

4.      Pedring – Lacay Ustong’s nephew

5.      Dolfo- son of Arcadio Nagbuya

Setting: Tarlac, Philippines

Summary:

When Arcadio Nagbuya and his two sons arrive on the riverbank, the heat has already begun, the bright humid windless ness of the July morning. It was cool going down the trail from Camanggaan through the talahib and the bamboo brakes: but here by the river the broad slope of sand lies open to the sun, and Arcadio Nagbuya can feel the warmth of the sandgrams; underfoot as they stand about waiting for the raft. By Mr. Balaoing’s watch it is not yet seven o’clock: they should be in the city well before nine. The thin, impatient schoolteacher, wearing an orange polka-dot necktie for the occasion, alternately shades and fans himself with a magazine, and wonders aloud what is taking Lacay Ustong so long. His English affirms his calling, a certificate of distinction which all recognize: “I tol’ hem to be hearrr earrrly,” he says to no one in particular, “what eiss de materr wit’ dot man,” waving the magazine impatiently at the miniature hills and craters of gray sand, the hollows still wet from yesterday’s rain, the women washing clothes in the green water beside the posts of the ruined bridge, the bus parked on the opposite bank. As he lowers the hand holding the magazine the boys edge closer for a look: reluctantly he opens it for them, the gloss of the pages with the color photographs of the old spacecraft and the astronauts glinting in the hard sun. Arcadio Nagbuya glimpses some of the larger type of the Tagilocan text before the schoolteacher resumes his irritated fanning: “ANG NAUNANG TAO SA RABAW TI BUAN... SI ARMSTRONG KEN ALDRIN. If he could borrow the magazine, to show to the boys: but overcome by a certain shy courtesy he merely smiles at Mr. Balaoing, grateful for the schoolteacher’s brief gesture.

             In the Raft, his shirt beginning to wilt moistly around his frail shoulders, Mr. Balaoingbas set off for the shade of the coconut grove facing the sandy beach, and he has almost reached the slanted trunks with their fronds shredded by the last typhoon when the boys start shouting and jumping. He hurries back to rejoin the group and nearly trips on a mound, recovers his balance, then proceeds slowly, rather formally, towards Arcadio Nagbuya and the others as Lacay Ustong’s nephew Pedring poles the raft closer to the riverbank. The boys are chuckling into their hands, and Arcadio Nagbuya gives the older one’s hat a scolding brush, pushing it down over the boy’s eyes. Being in Grade Five, Dolfo is not in Mr. Balaoing’s class, and his buck teeth are curved widely in soundless laughter. His uncle’s rheumatism is troubling him again, Pedring explains, digging the pole glumly into the river. Mr. Balaoing squats on the bamboos of the raft, the magazine tented over his head: “ISANG GASUT TAON TI APOLLO 11,” Arcadio Nagbuya reads the white letters superimposed on the gray cratered moon above the faces of the three astronauts. And: “Imprenta ti United States Information Bureau, Southeast Asia Department, Territory of the Philippines,” he reads on the black back cover highlighted by the sun, his lips moving around the words. Happily he tightens his grip on his younger son’s shoulder, and he smiles inwardly at his ability to read both English and Tagilocan, at this rare morning’s journey to the city, the sure gliding movement of the raft, the sun full and warm on the green river.

While taking the bus, they took the maroon Twin Sisters Bus which is a converted Nakajima truck with five wooden benches behind the driver’s seat. On the high rack behind the windshield rest plastic figurines of the Blessed Virgin and San Martin de Porres: on the rack itself, painted unsteadily on the peeling wood, is a Tagilocan invocation reminding these powerful advocates before the heavenly throne to protect passengers from flat tires, highway robbers, and other hazards of the road. Behind the last bench and occupying the rest of the vehicle is a storage compartment, now filled to the roof with sacks of charcoal, bundles of kakawati firewood, vegetable crates, and chicken cages. On the platform jutting out from the rear of the compartment are piled more chicken cages, a goat with hostile bloodshot eyes, and three pigs grunting passively, bound for the slaughterhouse in the city. The bus is one of the more dilapidated units of the fleet operated by the Hashimoto sisters in the western part of the province, where they own a sawmill, a chain of videoramic theaters, and other enterprises. For a time Arcadio Nagbuya worked for the sisters, in the sawmill in San Clemente: improbable twins, one huge and laughing like a humorous surno wrestler, the other a delicate beauty with nervous eyes seemingly being pushed outward by her goiter. He might have made foreman had he chosen to stay on at the mill and not returned to the farm in Carnanggaan: but the sawdust was bad for his lungs, he recalls now as the curly-haired driver clears his throat and spits out a yellow coin of phlegm and makes one last call for passengers in a mock barker’s voice. “Intay6n, intay6n sa buan, mga kaibigan!” The bus strains up the dusty lane away from the riverbank towards the highway, the driver keeping up his teasing chant and Arcadio Nagbuya’s young sons joining in, “Intay6n sa buan, intay6n,” and then there is only the loud throbbing drone of the motor and the fi-amework of the bus squeaking and rattling when the wheels shudder over the waterlogged craters on the asphalt road.

Mr. Balaoing as usual has taken the only canvas-backed seat beside the driver. Arcadio Nagbuya stares at the frayed sweat-damp collar, the thinning hair combed across the squarish top of Mr. Balaoing’s head: he thinks again of borrowing the USIB magazine, decides against disturbing the schoolteacher, and turns to watch the moving landscape. The fields are dark green where the young rice has been spared by the storm, yellow-brown in places where it lies broken in the flooded paddies: the trees on the horizon are bluish smudges like smoke, the Zambales mountains beyond a deeper blue, almost the same color as the sky. Far to the south, clouds like soiled rags smother the peaks: it seems Arcadio Nagbuya can smell the distant rain in the humid breeze. He remembers his grandfather telling him of the time long ago when the Black Cloud rose to cover most of the sky, and the rains that came after were warm and gray with an ash which made so many vomit blood and waste away in pain. Now the sky is clear but for the remote clouds, and a couple of helidiscs humming in a wide arc over the fields. For a moment the fighter-bombers hang gleaming in silhouette against the mountains, their two-man crews visible in the bubble canopies, before rising vertically, abruptly, cut off from view by the roof of the bus. Something like the premonition of a terrible and swiftly approaching disaster alights on Arcadio Nagbuya’s heart: but Andres, he assures himself, knows what he is doing, he will be safe in the interior of the forest. Children playing around the rusted remains of the armored car near bus.

Freytag’s Pyramid

Details:

1. The innocent Mr. Arcadio Nagbuya together with his two sons were eager to see the Centennial  exposition in Tarlac City.

2. Mr. Balaoing, a school teacher, made use of his expertise in explaining the importance of the Apollo landing to the students around him during the trip and while in the exposition.

3. The characters appreciated so much the high-tech display in the centennial park.

4. The exposure of the Nagbuya family in the Appolo Centennial serves as an epiphany to improve their way of life and thinking towards development and progress.

Insights and Analysis from the story:

This short story of Gregorio Brillantes talks about the Philippine scenario in a satirical manner.  It portrays how our country looks like hundred years after the Apollo landing on the moon.  It’s liken to the story of Rizal, “Philippines a Century Hence”, were the way of life for the Filipinos remains miserable as before.  Imagine a dilapidated car in the 60s is still being used at present to transport passengers from one place to another; raft catering passengers in crossing rivers; and unpaved roads in the urban areas still unattended etc. The Filipinos standard of living is, indeed, incomprehensible.  Brillantes is quick to assert, as it was depicted in the story, how miserable is the life of the Filipinos.  While other countries the world over are already enjoying the fruits of the technological advancement, here’s the lowly island Philippines still majority of its citizens just contend themselves eating a Popsicle.  Progress is not part of the Filipinos’ vocabulary.  The old Filipino saying that says “suntok sa buwan” is still prevalent observation when it comes to development.  One hundred years passed after man conquered the moon through the spaceship Apollo 11, this country remains sleeping.

The Distance to Andromeda

By: Grgorio Brellantes

Characters:

1.      Ben- a 12 years old boy who loves to watch sci-fi movies.

2.      Pepe- Ben’s best friend

3.      Dr. Martines – neighbor of Ben

4.      Tito – another friend

5.      Luz- sister of Ben

6.      Chitong – Luz’s boyfriend

7.      Remy – sister-in-law of Luz

8.      Pining – the house helper

9.      Tiya Dora – the aunt of Ben

10.  Pol – a lawyer brother

Setting: San Miguel Bulacan, Philippnes

Background:

            The epigraph in this short story says, and I quote, “The sun is a star, one among approximately a hundred billion stars that compose the Milky Way, a galaxy a hundred thousand light years in diameter.  There are probably a million galaxies within the rage of the most powerful telescopes, each star system containing  billions of suns.  The nearest galaxy, Andromeda, is two million light years away.”

Summary:

            The story started with Ben who have seen a movie about the planets and the Milky Way.  After the movie experience, he got plenty of question in his mind as to what will happen to his life and his family when this planet Earth collided with another planet or worst with the asteroids. This came to his mind after witnessing a scene in the movie where the spaceship burns its blue-flamed journey through the night of the universe that is forever silent with a high metallic hum.  Enclosed in the within the rocket, the ship itself surrounded by timeless, which is in turn framed by the boundaries of the cinema screen, the last men and women and children of Earth watch the asteroids, the streams of cosmic dust, the barren planets past the portholes like luminous flowers at once beautiful and monstrous, floating in the ocean of space.  The travelers search the night for another world of air and greenness, remembering the Earth, the Final War, the flicking radioactive fires upon the lifeless continents.  Beyond the dead seas of Mars, and beyond the ice-bound tomb of Neptune, past the orbit of Pluto and out into the black immeasurable depths, the rocket flashes onward, through years of space and time:  a moving speak among the untwinkling stars, propelled by the flame of its engines and a certain destiny.  A sun looms up from the blackness, more golden and more gentle than the star they have always known: as a globe of shining water and green shadowed land appears through the viewports, they break out into jubilant and cries and whispers of thanks to God.   Cradled by a final blaster of power, the spacecraft lands on a meadow: a quite moment before the airlocks open, a sigh of wind in the nearby trees.  The survivors of earth climb down onto the grass, and the filmed prophecy and with them gathered as on a pilgrimage beneath the vertical cylinder of their rocket, looking out across the plain of the hills green in the light of the new sun.  What comes thereafter id the thought of Ben what happens to him and his family if what he’d seen in the movie will happen now.  His young mind lingers as he keeps on thinking about the thought of it.  His realization comes after his father helps him understand the importance of what he’s witnessed.  Not the movie, not the destruction of the planets and certainly not the moving towards the other planets and Milky way but home.

Freytag’s Pyramid

Details:

A.     A curious 12-year old boy, Ben, decided to watch a Sci-fi movie with his friend in the City.

B.     War, destruction and survival scenes made him wonder what will happen to him and his family if what he saw in the movie will happen in real life.

C.     The climax occurred when after the arrival of his father , one Sunday evening, the whole family gathered during dinner then after which his father confides to him the meaning of what he saw in the movie.

D.     Ben realized that what’s so important, after all, is not the relocation of his family to another planet, not in Andromeda which is so far away, but in his own place – his home. A home where he can be safely loved and protected through thick and thin.

Insights and Analysis:

            Gregorio C. Brillantes is talking about the importance of the family.  An allusion using the planets and the Milky way does not speak of a distance but of the significance in the family relationship and unity in the family itself.  Ben, being the protagonist in the story, shows the importance of his inquisitive mind in finding ways to prove his innocent thought that only love, real love, can fill.  His father being a busy man,  an engineer at that, answered all his longings.  That the answers to his questions lie within the bounds of his family circle and not from the distant Andromeda.  Brillantes is quick to assert that life in this planet Earth is so important, so precious, and so fragile that a family needs to be united to sustain this human need.  Ben, young as he is, needs somebody to understand, to care and share his deep thought about life.  Guidance, understanding and love are all he needs.  Friends and movies can not fill this.  His epiphany speaks of love and longingness to belong.   In the end, he finds his Andromeda in his own family.  He need not go to another planets to find refuge and be safe.  He got his parents, brothers and sister and a loving family as a whole which are not so distant after all!

The Author:

Gregorio C. Brellantes was born in Camaling, tarlac in 1932.   He is a fictinest, essayist and jourlist.   He finished his degree in Literature,  major in Journalism with high honors.  He serves as an editor at the Philippine Free Press. He won the annual Philippine Free press short story writing three time. Hat includes “The Distance to Andromeda” in 1956.  He loves to employ images, symbols and myths I his stories.  He was once tagged as Mandarins on Native grounds because of his unique ability in writing.  He’s closely associated with Nick Juaquin, Karina Polotan-Tuvera, Nolledo, sanches, and Ayala.

References:

            The Apollo Centennial, arnold-arre.com/interviews/flyme

1.      The Apollo Centennial, achua88.multiply.com/journal?&=&view:journal

2.      The Apollo Centennial, furl.net/members/midnitecool/Literature

            4.  Gregorio C. Brellantes, “The Apollo Centennial, Nostalgia, Predicaments, and Celebrations” . pp. 69-80, 125-139.

            5. The Apollo Centennial, by Grgorio Brillantes, Icasocot2/Brillantes/Geocities

            6. The Apollo Centennial, Savantmag.com/16/media16.

POEMS

(“Pillage” by Alfred Yuson and “Zero Gravity” by Eric Gamalinda)

3. First Breakfast

The best love
is had between
the sheets awry
at communion
of late morning—
the clock and cell
phones set to off
while the juice comes
with toast, croissants,
or rice toppings.

The coffee that's post-
post-coital, the filtered
cigarette of barely deep
appreciation, the easy
conversation—all spell
finer worship than
her south, your north.
Finer even than the caresses
now and forever. Or all those
at the eve of this sharing.

Poem Analysis

            Pillage means to steal in a forceful manner especially in times of war.  In the poem, Alfred Yuson speaks of how the Military ,“We” persons in the poem, robbed the “stones” of the common people.  Stones signify dignity, honor, and hope among the common people.  As one would recall, the poem Pillage was written during the Martial Law period where the Militaries are in complete control in the government under the dictatorship of then President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

            The lines “We had to deprive them of stones/Clearing the paths to the village, we sent
the old men and the children home. Flowers./No one could ever raise a yard of color./Our machetes went to work. The women wept/when they saw how sweat beaded our brows.”, tell the agony of the village people when the military started to clean the village whom believed to have constructed their bridges or even cut a immeasurable logs and threes thereby affecting their means of livelihood.  They got no other option but to cry in vain.  The succeeding lines, “The river flowed, now as fast as stories told/of loss of face. How could they smile toothily/at one another, even when mornings promised/our departure? How can they look one another/in the eye, thump breasts and shoulders, suckle/from mothers? Their mountains were as forlorn.” , depict a picture of sadness when their mountain go bald and rivers went dry as affected by the military operation.  The villagers were left lifeless as the destruction continues to onslaught their situation.   Thus, “Without stones, without flowers. But that is how /wars are won and dark souls are remembered.” Tell of their being hopeless in the hand of this abusive military.  The irony behind this issue is, while the militaries are supposed to protect the innocent yet here they are portraying otherwise.

            Now, the remaining four lines “So said our generals, who always knew better./We had to suck away their spirit, leave no chance/for rebirth of courage. We took away all their stones,/the polish of their dreams. We buried the love/that made them strong. We burned all buds and flowers./Now there are no heroes even in their bravest songs” validate the points in terms of military atrocities – So said our generals who always knew better.  Military follows a command. So there it goes. 

            In the end, the villagers left homeless, hopeless and craving for justice.  But the question remains, where to find that justice?  Certainly, Yuson made a perfect picture about the life of the common  People during the 12-year Martial Law period.  And the truth will suffice that, indeed, there was no hope.  There was no heroes not even in their song!

Eric Gamalinda

Gamalinda was born in Manila where he worked as an editor and journalist, and where he published three novels, a collection of stories, and a collection of poems. He is a recipient of a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and his work has appeared in a diverse range of publications including Harper's Magazine, Frank, and Hootenanny, as well as in several anthologies, among them In My Life: Encounters with the Beatles, Returning to a Borrowed Tongue, Brown River, White Ocean and Flippin': Filipinos on America, which he co-edited. His latest novel, My Sad Republic, was recently awarded the Philippine Centennial Prize for Fiction. He lives in New York City.

Reported Poems

Zero Gravity

The dry basin of the moon must have held

the bones of a race, radiant minerals,

or something devoid of genesis, angel, heavy,

idea-pure. All summer we had waited for it,

our faces off-blue in front of the TV screen.

Nothing could be more ordinary -- two figures

digging dirt in outer space -- while mother repeated

Neil Armstrong’s words, like a prayer

electronically conveyed. The dunes were lit

like ancient silk, like clandestine pearl.

In the constant lunar night this luminescence

was all we hoped for. A creature unto itself,

it poured into the room like a gradual flood

of lightning, touching every object with the cool burn

of something not quite on fire. If we stepped out

Manila would be a blank ether, way station,

a breathless abeyance. It didn’t matter,

at that moment, where our lives would lead:

father would disown one brother,

one sister was going to die. Not yet unhappy,

we were ready to walk on the moon. Reckless

in our need for the possible, we knew

there was no turning back, our bags already packed,

the future a religion we could believe in.

Afterlives of the Saints

Suppose the laws of warfare were based on miracles,
and they chained and locked the bodies of saints
so the Etruscans could not use them. Suppose

the best weapons did not function from belief
but custody, and those who possessed them
had, like Saint Francis, the potential of stigmata,

the gift of tongues. For even he was a self-promoter,
boasting to birds of the ever-after in which
he was talisman and trophy. And suppose a fair maiden

would become the wrath of salvation, her body
perfectly embalmed, but when they opened her grave
her marvelous longevity gave way. The fact is that

Saint Clare embodies what has become of Assisi,
where tourists, inevitable as earthquakes, lay siege
and maculate the fortifications of pietra serena.

Not too long ago her body lay on a bed of violets,
themselves impervious to decay. Then air
 and moisture, the bustle of human ordinariness,

intervened, and all that is left is a life-like replica
in which bone fragments quietly work their wonders.
Faith has a way of distorting the senses,

making the world more intricate than it already is, more
mirabile dictu. Even now armies still ransack
the catacombs of the elect, and in chapels the healing

happens insidiously, perfected by repetition.
Because the most we ask for is that the saints be true:
We are driving away from the scene of the crime;

stealing a glimpse in the rearview mirror. Assisi
is an undulation of opal-colored light, no more than
a wavelength, a mirage. This is the way history and memory

invade each other, like wars waged after visions.
Look back once, see how the view melts into the crags,
and how time fades like the frescoes of Cimabue.

Poem Interpretation and Analysis

            “Zero Gravity” as a poem, speaks of the moving away from home.  Eric Gamalinda is portraying how the individual Filipino people relocate themselves in other places because of the groundlessness of this country, Philippines.

Just reading Eric Gamalinda’s exquisite poetry brings tears to my eyes. Even if I half understood it the first time I read it, probably because the words just poured forth one after another, there was no time to think…this is brilliant.” This, perhaps, is how one would most likely react upon skimming through Gamalinda’s poems, because the language is admittedly “beautiful,” for lack of a more apt word. However, this immediate reaction should crumble, once the ideology of the poems is exposed through further scrutiny. In particular, the author/persona’s view of “home” warrants probing, as the place of dwelling that is often invoked or illustrated in the poems is situated not in a single nation, but, quite ambitiously, the world. (Here the author and the persona shall be taken as one and the same based on the idea that the politics of the poems are in fact, the politics of the author). By weaving the ideas espoused by the selected poems, a rough but hopefully general picture of the author’s construction (or distortion) of the idea of a home may be drawn.

Also, myself speaking/the archaic dialects/in which some words are missing,//…(one of these words is) “home.” In “Zero Gravity,” just as the title implies, one need not be grounded anywhere, because “If we stepped out (of)/Manila would be blank ether,” the rest of the world is just like Manila anyway, “a breathless abeyance. It didn’t matter.”

Gamalinda proceeds to romanticize the Filipino Diaspora by consistently holding on to his idea of the Filipino immigrant’s unconditional welcome in a foreign land.

As the poem purports, the Filipino has now ventured into the exciting world that knows no borders. It is as though every Filipino seeks to and can afford to brave into the world, as though in pursuit of a merry adventure, as stated towards the end of “Zero Gravity:” “Reckless/in our need for the possible, we knew, there was no turning back, our bags already packed, the future a religion we could believe in.”

Other Poems by Eric Gamalinda

1. Boys of My Generation

One went to war with his own people,

learned how to assemble an M-16
even before he learned how to masturbate.
Another went to business school, and then
to London, and another married several
actresses, one of them young enough
to be his daughter. One became a newscaster
on TV, and one crossed the borders of Italy
on foot, to work as a toilet cleaner
in a palazzo in Rome.

And I became a poet
so I could put my bitterness to good use.
So I would have nothing to do
with the government of humans,
so I would remember till old age
the sour aftertaste of illicit love.

A decade into the new millennium
we will hold a congress
to determine what we've done.
We will come from all over the earth,
we will remark how everyone
has changed and remained the same.
One will say, I killed a hundred people
in one night. Another will say,
I made love in all the possible
positions known to man.
And another, I ate wild berries
and the soles of my shoes.
And another, my mother died
in my arms. And another, we waited
and waited, but the end of the world
never came.

2. Mondo Grass

You take your mondo grass from Japan and plant it
All over the lawn of a museum for contemporary
Art. You take your tobacco farmers from Ilocos
And make them plant pineapple in Hilo.
Crossbreed hapa and haole and see
What kind of pidgin they'll write love poems in.
Pollen are like people, they migrate and fertilize
And sometimes they make us sneeze.
Every second a million cells in your body die.
Too much endorphin in the brain is not
Such a bad thing. But too much happiness
Is like too much sugar, lethal in the long run.
Coffee makes you remember, water makes you
Forget. You take a poem you wrote in your blood
Twenty years ago and strike out all the lines.
Nothing's left but punctuation and a freeway
Of erasures. That's it: only the open road.
The blood dried long ago. Poems are dead things,
A slow process of decomposition. If they don't
Decay, something terrible has gone wrong.

                                                      3. Lyrics From a Dead Language