'/'he ~1Titillg.\' uJ'.' }::r. Jose ,j<iZl!I.

flu' n(flinru.:/ hero. iN..!,,'/j)~(-'l·.< 1ft...,/',vo

IWl'cis N\,~·;;';t~'L::n:J,,:r~~ ,flufF! Fi!i.
bU:itcd.smo, are req.'.il'(,(} f:ladings ili
Pliilijlpillc si:!;o{)I ..•.. [/I the fi){Jowillg
fSSi.i)' writ/ell by Manue! E.
/\rguil!a. OIlC of" t!le .!<I/CtIlOsl jl('-
/iou wrircr ..' in {he l'hilippfilCS, i!Ie
authur l"xpressed hiv inncmlOsl fed·
tugs UP(Il! r::··j't'ading R lzal's Nteran'
wurk:; fin the scco/ld time, n;'(!
essay ;va,,' j'trs{ priirted on June J 9.
194.0. The message tiurt tlie essay
C{}!'HW;WJi,iS as )laUd today as when it
)vas )',rit ttn Inore thiln three
decades ago.

Fili
""~l Ic;ADING· the Noli
/Y!e Tangere for the
1: ir s t ti.lrh~~ (in L'I.H
nocano tranBlation)
when 1 'was about
twel ve years old,••
when my interest in literature was
ehh::fly in the heroic, the unlif-esize,
it was not surpris.ing that I:'lihouid
\ have chosel'!' frorn the many charae.
tt-!1'S of the book and added to 'the
valiant ccmpany which.th.mll,~ed
my imagination, the figure of E1iaS~
For it WRS Elias, strong, mysterious
und taciturn, more than anybody
else in the Noli Me Tangere who
stirred my boyish heart and gripped
my imagination. '
I must have sorrowed for the ill-
starred lovers and commiserated the
unfortunate Sisa and her children,
but I haY~L!1(LIrl(~E!_ory of having
donI'.' so. On the otheri-iarld, -1o-r
many years afterward, the long-
haired, stalwart figure of Elias re-
ma.ined in my memory: I saw him
th.row the alferez into tl"w rnudd\'
J - • oJ

road; I saw,the fatal clutch of hi:

finger:, 0:; the neck of t,lyett't'(il~her
ous Chinese mestizo, ~'vi'ith al
agony of su,;pense 1 watcht~d hin
swill) ashore while the gU(frd/a civil
peppered with shots the placid 1->\11
 f:lc() of Laguna lake! lIi:; rnirac,ll-
low; es,;ape, his death, the burning
of !lis lJody on a pyre (how ]jkp
lIe'fI.'uk::;! ) -- all these "vere indeJi,
lily in;printed on my mind.
In high 1;c!1001, 1 read the Noli
!lli Tangere as the Social Caneer in
Hii' English translation by Charles
Dt'lbyshi.re. 1 read the sequel, EI
Filihusterismo'
also by Derbyshire',
in its translation,
,:purpose of making a report on
as the Reign of
Greed. I read both books for Hm
them in a c:laEs in English. I have
not .the least remembrance of the
repclrt I made. I only remember
how bored 1 was with El Filibus-
te;·iSljiO.
Again in college, I read both the
,boo}::', this time bccausG I wanted
to take part in a contest for the
most complete compilation of
;Rj;~al's patriotic sayings. That r
'should have carried away with
ft, from this third reaJing of Riza1's
:novels a decidedly floor opi.nion of
'them as works of art is not at all
strm~2":" I 'NO.5 at the Ume preoecu-
'pied with technique and reading ex-
·tensh/(·l",Y· on tllCI subject.
Crmcal dicta
'a
beginning writer, nothing
bullebest satisfied me. I applied
the critical dicta I found and
memorized in the books on literary
vdth the dogmatic dead-
liness of one who, knowing really
very little, thought othenvise. I ,vas
worshipping at the feet of F'laubert
and I\'laupassant and Anderson and
• 1Iem'ingway ,'lith an indiscriminate
Xfevotion . and loyalty. Was it any
'wonder that I found Rizal unbear-
,ably vllordy, downright sentimental,
-':'+',€m ba-nassingly-- -inept,---:and-inex-
T tusably didactic?
l' ,
," '
That I should have missed his
,many exc(~lIencies and exaggerated
his faults explain, to my way of
thinking, why it is not unusual for
college students to dismiss lightly
these two novels of RizaL
.: About three weeks ago, I read
the two books again, this time be-
cause I wunied to read them for
their own sake. I felt that all these
~-
NEW PHILIPPINES, DECEMBER 1975
yean; I had hC',~n irli:·:,~,;inl~:;ornulli.q;, this quc:::ting mind, ,md be has
in tb use l.oe,L:;, and be:;jde~; I ));ld leaf/wd rr:,ol'c tolerance and greater
grown tired or remarking, when the understanding. ~ot till then would
subject W,1fi brought np in Conn')"- he b,~ abl\~, 1,0 appreci,.~te fully how
sation, that I had l"c;ld U, .•. :...,'oli ,1 Ie m u c h of: an insniratiol1 and a
Tangere tht('() times aiHl tbe Fl Fi/i- guidanccRi:·;al coul;! be t:o him.
busterismo ai kast twice and, ,dle;'· 'l'h,:~lJJ(lrc or less sea,wned writer
ward, adding a Humber or v;tgue~ can riO to Pizal and find in him
gener?'it~\~ most jf
Fh;
not ,JJl tlwt
writ.e '""ell of hL country
should, profit
he needs to
and peo-
ple. He should not be bothered by
the many fault;; of Rizal as a novel-
ist: from the
~SoCtal iUs hero's mistalws, ail when he seeS in
Als 0 I had someti!!)':: before the story of Sisa and her children in
finished the first draft of a novel contrast to the philosophizings of
and perhaps I bad hazy notion of the Sr,gc Tasio the advantage of
making a comparison. Regarding Cll"arnatizirlg a rneSS3.ge over t11ut at
this matter, I may::;,;,; well confess having it thrust into the face of th(o
that after fjnishing the Noli Me reader by a ch;:mwter, no matter
Ta,ngere (in tho[' Derbyshire transh, how well it m~lY be uttered.
tion --' what a pity that I do not' vVha.t is most important is tha.t'
know Spanish weUenough to read fUZed offers such fertile ground
me Rizal in the original! ) I decided to for the rediscovery of one's native
forget the novel I had written and land. While his fundamental me<
instead began laying plans for ano- sage has lost much of its orig,",al
ther, one that should make a.n significance since the evil he
honest· attempt to lny bare the a.ttacked. ha2? largeJ.y if riot 1vb.oll-Y
social ills of our own
tirnc in the been'\~ljidkat;;d~h~il(;~Vt,he import-
same way that Rizal in the Noli Me rillee of his novels has shifted from
Tangere exposed a socia1 ermcer of that of their effectiveness as propa-
a most malignant and obnoxious ganda to their essential worth as
character. I do not mind sharing works of art, it remains that in
this notion with my fellow v,rriters, rnany ways both novels are out-
that a Noli Me Tangere· of our times standing achievements in the realm
is in order, because the more of us of pure art.
ttyin'g to fill the order the better it
will be for all of tis.
Before any such attempt be local color
made, however, I would suggest His mastery of local color is not
that the Noli Me Tangere and the to be eq nulled by any living writer
E 1 Filibusterismo be required among us: in his hanL1s local color
reading for everj Pilipino writer. becomes structural, not merely
Not in his apprentice years, but ornamentaL The practice with most
later when he has acquired a degree of 'Us iI:; ~o make use of local color
of competence in his craft and ex· to give our pieces a Philippine set-
perience has tempered the edge of ting, but Rizal enploys it to create
.
 ,
char;lder and situation -- to tdl a l i [) " " f
born teller of tales could have
v 1/1 (,if.£.
Ht.ory. .....--------"~._- possessed. In the opinion of this
H is insight into the Filipino writer, the chapters in th~~Noli Ate
character has a breadth and depth Tangere entitled "The Sacristans"
that is also unsurpassed. Who and "the Meeting in the Tovm
among us can boast of knowing all i Hall" can favorably compare with
grades of our society and the m(,~m-: any two chapters from any other
bers thereof with the sam(~ chara(> novel that can be brought forward.
terization of the Governor-General, The first is a little 111Hst.erpiece of
down through those of the priests, pathos; the other, of irony!
the rich Spaniards, the weal thy In my youth, r brought away
middle-class, the superstitious poor, from a feading of the 1Voli Me
the students, the tulisanes - his Tangere the image of Elias, a soli-
touch is unerring, his eye seems to tary, enigmatici and, thrilling per-
have been all, and his heart to have sonality. This last reading of the
understood. novel has given me not the memory
He is an unrivalled story-teller! of one character; it has left with me
Whether it is to arouse you to pity, the consciousness of a body of peo-
to indignation, to laughter, to ple weaving out of their separate
terror, or to give you a feeling of and often clashing destinies the
romantic satisfaction- he does it fabric of a national character. It has
with a narrative skill that only a left me both proud and humble. 0

Barangays
A letter
RPexports ADAME Tien Sae"
First
harto, Indonesia'5
'/'1,',{. .
..,j
•.•, ... ·.···.;
HERE are 40,150 barangays
11 th ec 0 u ntry.The
..barangay, the basic political
" .. -;unit, was reactivated to re-
T~·he
'. .
Philippines exported
S37lhlilliOll worth of
Lady, sent the follow-
ing congratulatory
message to the First Lady,
Imelda .R. Marcos on her installa-
Mrs.
place the barrio or village.
··A barangay is composed of con·
Hguous communities within a city
I .
.•
. locaHy-mad_e toys to the
United Statesln 1974.
According to the Department of
tion as General Manager of Metro-
politan Marilla:
"My husband
'..
and mys~1f' ar(!
or m\luieipality. . Trade, these toys consisted of very happy upon hearIng the· news
Based on the regional list of·ha· 6ressed and undressed doUs, toy of your instaJfation as the Manager
rangii,ys, Region IV, which includes anirnals, toy books, toy musica~ i of Metropolitan Manila recently.
the Greater Manila area, has the instrmnen ts, magic tricks and prac- The· tremendpus support you r~-
, most number of barangays - 6,9~3,; tical joke artides~paper deeo- ceived for the said office signifies
'--"-------Ql.lezon_City,tltc de jure_ c<tpitai .1:'!.H911S, noise makers, inflatable surely the high tribute and recog~.
of. the country, has 131 barangays.· toys· of n,bb~~---and-PJ:;stlc~--roy~~-· -ruti on.cto--~()utstandiIlg-q.ualiii~s---:
Breakdown of the number of ba- ,~ith fridion or weight operated of leadership 'which I, representing
ran gays by region are: Region 1, the Indonesi~n women, am very
motors and toy parts.
4,108; Region II, 2,502; RcgionHI, prouq of. ,
Whik thl3 1974 sale of toys is
3,04 j ; Region IV, 6,963; Region V, "Accept from both of us our
3,504; Region ,VI, 4,021; Region (Illite minimal in the overa!! foreign heartfelt congratulations and best
VB, 3,084; Region IX, 2,000; Reo exchange earnings, the significant wishes,for every ..suc~ess in YOur
gion. X, 4~399; and Region !XI, aspect is that the Philippines. which new assignment. Kindly extend our
2,469.0 . uSed to import .foreign-made toys, highest consideration t,(lHis EXcel-
no'w is exporting these .products. lency President Mar~os." 0 '·i