Oli Impan by Alberto S. Florentino
Girl: Why should the government throw us
After the liberation of Manila, hundreds of
indigent families settled in the squalid,
cramped space of the bombed ruins of an old
government building of Juan Luna. For more
than a decade these “squatters” tenaciously
refused to move out in spite of court rulings.
The “casbah”, as the compound was popularly
known, became a breeding place for vice and
corruption. The city government was able to
evict the “squatters” only on December 20,
1958 – five days before Christmas.
(On the middle of the stage, extending from
side to side, is a stone wall one and a half feet
high. At left may be seen a portion of a tall
edifice. At right, is a portion of the “casbah”.
Beyond the stone wall, an estero (unseen) –
and the sky. A five-year-old girl sits on the
stone wall, her thin legs dangling in the air.
Offstage there is a continuous commotion of
evacuation. A woman’s voice rises above the
commotion as she reprimands a child for
getting in her way. A six-year-old boy appears
on stage walking backwards – away from his
mother, nagging offstage. The mother quiets
down. The boy turns around and plays with his
toy: an empty milk can pulled along the ground
with a piece of string.)
Girl: Is there a fire?
Boy: (Stops playing and faces her) Huh?
Girl: I said, is there a fire?
Boy: There is no fire. (Continues to play)
Girl: (Looks toward the street. After a pause.)
I think there is no fire.
Boy: (Stops playing_ I told you there’s none.
Girl: There is.
Boy: How do you know? Do you see any
smoke? Do you hear any fireman? (resumes
his play. Runs around imitating a fire engine)
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I like it when there is
a big fire!
Girl: (Worried) If there is no fire, why are they
putting these things out? (pints to a pile of
household belongings nearby)
Boy: Because we are being thrown out.
Girl: Who told you?
Boy: My mother.
Girl: Who is throwing us out?
Boy: (Sits on the other end of the stone wall)
The government.
Girl: What is a government?
Boy: I don’t know.
Girl: You didn’t ask your mother?
Boy: I forgot to ask her.
out?
Boy: (Points to the compound) Because it
owns this.
Girl: (Enraged) But this is ours!
Boy: No, it is not ours.
Girl: (Insistent) It is ours! It is!
Boy: It is not!
Girl: (A tiny scream) It is! It is!
Boy: (Loud) How do you know it is ours?
Girl: We’ve always been here, haven’t we?
Boy: Yes, but that doesn’t mean it is ours.
Girl: (After a pause) If they throw us out, we’ll
have nowhere to go. How about you? You
have any place to go?
Boy: None. But we will have one. (Proudly)
My mother has a job.
Girl: She has?
Boy: Yes!
Girl: What does she do?
Boy: She reads hands.
Girl: She reads – hands? (Looking at her
hands) Why does she read hands?
Boy: So she can tell what will happen
tomorrow.
Girl: She can do that? By reading hands?
Boy: Yes, She can!
Girl: (Showing him her hands) Can she read
my hands? I want to know where we will stay
tomorrow.
Boy: She can’t read your hands.
Girl: (Looks at them) Why not?
Boy: They are too small… and dirty.
Girl: (She quickly withdraws them and quietly
wipes them on her dress)
Boy: Besides… she reads only men’s hands.
Girl: Only men’s hands? Why?
Boy: Because they are big.. and easy to read.
Girl: How does she read hands? Like she
reads the comics?
Boy: I don’t know.
Girl: You don’t know? Don’t you watch her?
Boy: My mother won’t let me. She makes me
go out and play. And she closes the door.
Girl: She closes the door! How can she read
in the dark?
Boy: I don’t know. (Proudly) But she can!
Girl: Don’t you ever peep?
Boy: No, I don’t.
Girl: Why not?
Boy: She’ll beat me up.
(Commotion offstage.)
Girl: What’s that? What’s happening there?
Boy: (Tries to see) I don’t know. I can’t see. Boy: They are taking him away! (A car with
(Pulls her) Come out, let’s take a look! siren drivers away)
Girl: (Resisting) I can’t. Girl: (Screams) FATHER! FATHER!
Boy: Why not? Boy: He can’t hear you now.
Girl: My father told me to stay here. He said Girl: (Starts to cry)
not to go anywhere. Boy: (Walks to and sits beside her) Why are
Boy: (Turning) Then I will go and take a look. you crying? Don’t cry please…
Girl: (Frightened) No, don’t. Stay here. Don’t Girl: They are going to hurt my father, aren’t
leave me. they?
Boy: Why? Boy: No, they won’t hurt him.
Girl: I’m afraid. Girl: (Removes her hands from her eyes)
Boy: Afraid of what? How do you know?
Girl: I don’t know. Boy: I just know it. (Suddenly) Come, let’s
Boy: But how can we find out what’s sing a song.
happening? Girl: I don’t know how to sing.
Girl: Let’s not find out anymore. Boy: I’ teach you.
Boy: (Restless) But I want to see. (Scampers Girl: How?
up the stone wall) I can see from here! Boy: I’ll sing… and you listen. (She nods and
Girl: What do you see? wipes her eyes dry)
Boy: (Incredulous) They are destroying our Boy: (Sings) Saylenay…
homes. (Sound of wrecking crew at work) Olinay…
Girl: (frightened) Who are destroying them? Oliskam…
Boy: The men with hammers! Olisbray…
Girl: Nobody is stopping them? Ranyonberginmaderenchayle…
Boy: Nobody. Oli impansotenderenmayle…
Girl: But why? Are there no policemen? Slipinebenlipis…
Boy: There are. There are many policemen. Slipinebenlipis…
Girl: What are they doing? What are the Girl: (Smiling) That’s a pretty song. Who
policemen doing? taught you that song?
Boy: Nothing. Boy: (Proudly) My mother!
Girl: Nothing? They are not stopping the Girl: What does it mean? I can’t understand it.
men? Boy: It’s about God.
Boy: No. Girl: What’s a “God”?
Girl: Why not? Boy: I don’t know. I haven’t asked my mother.
Boy: I don’t know. But she told me God was born in a stable.
(Commotion. Shouts. Curses) Girl: What’s a stable?
Girl: (Alarmed) What’s happening now? Boy: A place for horses.
Boy: (excited throughout) A man is trying to Girl: (Incredulous) He was born there? In a
stop the men with hammers! Now the place for horses? Why?
policemen are trying to stop him. They’re Boy: My mother said he had nowhere to stay.
running after him. But the man fights like a Girl: Was he poor?
mad dog! (A man shouts, cursing) Boy: I don’t know.
Girl: (Suddenly, with terror in her voice). Girl: (Suddenly) I like the song. Will you sing
That’s my father! (In her fright she covers her it again?
eyes with hands) Boy: No, let’s sing it together.
Boy: Your father? Girl: I told you, I don’t know how.
Girl: Yes, he’s my father! What are they doing Boy: I’ll teach you. I’ll sing it a little… and you
to him? Are they hurting him? sing after me. (She smiles and nods)
Boy: No, they are only trying to catch him… Boy: (Sings) Saylenay…
Now they’ve caught him! They are tying his Girl: Saylenay…
hands! Boy: Olinay…
Girl: What will they do to him? Girl: Olinay…
Boy: I don’t know. Now they are putting him in Boy: Oliskam…
a car. A police car. Girl: Oliskam…
Girl: (Whimpers) Father… Father… Boy: Olisbray…
Girl: Olisbray…
Boy: Ranyonberginmaderenchayle…
Girl: Ranyon…(She giggles) I can’t say that!
Boy: Let’s skip it. (Sings) Oli impan… n, skip
that, too. (Sings)
Slipinebenlipis…
Girl: Slipinebenlipis…
Boy: Slipinebenlipis…
Girl: Slipinebenlipis…
 First, A Poem Must Be Magical
By Jose Garcia Villa
First, a poem must be magical,
Then musical as a seagull.
It must be a brightness moving
And hold secret a bird’s flowering
It must be slender as a bell,
And it must hold fire as well.
It must have the wisdom of bows
And it must kneel like a rose.
It must be able to hear
The luminance of dove and deer.
It must be able to hide
What it seeks, like a bride.
And over all I would like to hover
God, smiling from the poem’s cover.
Unang-una, Ang Tula ay Dapat Mahiwaga
By Jose Garcia Villa
Unang-una, mahiwaga ang tula dapat
Tapos mahimig tulad ng ibong-dagat
Dapat ito’y kumikinang ang liwanag
At tila ibong lihim na namumukadkad
Balingkinitan tulad ng kampana
At nagtataglay ng kaluluwa
May katalinuhan ng isang busog
At tila rosas na may kababaang-loob
Kayang nitong dinggin
Ang kalapati at usang maningning
Kayang nitong magtago
Maghanap, ng kabiyak ng puso
Gusto kong lumipad higit sa lahat
Diyos, nakangiti mula sa tulang may pabalat.
Salin ni:
Jake Arman A. Principe
Ph.D in Education Major in Filipino