LIHAM NI PINAY MULA SA BRUNEI

-Elynia Ruth S. Mabanglo-

Author’s Biography:

Elynia Ruth Mabanglo’s career as a creative writer spans over three decades and is capped by
numerous recognitions by prestigious groups, among which being the Makata ng Taon [Poet of
the Year] Commission on Filipino Language Award in 1992 and the Carlos Palanca Memorial
Award for Literature Hall of Fame Award in 1995. The poem cited here is among the Letters
of Pinay which won for her the Manila Critics Circle National Book Award for Poetry in 1990.

Diaspora, literally meaning “a dispersion or scattering” of people from their original country
or state, has become part of the Filipino people’s history. Dating back to the early part of the
20th century, Filipinos have left hearth and home as “contract workers, sojourners, expatriates,
refugees, exiles and immigrants” (Espiritu 23, quoting San Juan, 1998a, 190) in various parts
of the world but mostly in North America. Espiritu adds that the 2000 U.S. census records a
total of 1.8 million Filipinos, comprising the second-largest immigrant group as well as the
second-largest Asian American group in the United States. In the last two decades of the 20th
century, a big number of women joined the exodus to the Middle East, Italy, Singapore,
Hongkong, Malaysia, and Brunei to work as domestic helpers. This is where Pinay in the poem
below is coming from.

Consider the following questions as you read the poem.

1. Describe the persona’s disposition towards work.
2. What brings the persona to her decision to work in Brunei?
3. The persona draws a sharp contrast between “then” and “now.” In the graphic organizer
below, note important details showing this contrast. One has been done for you.
Then Now
Guro, asawa, ina Domestic helper, asawa, ina

4. Do you recognize some Filipino cultural patterns in the poem? Name at least two.
5. What feeling does the poem evoke in you?
6. How does the Filipino diaspora impact the family based on the persona’s experience?
7. What is the most important message you are able to draw from the poem?

LIHAM NI PINAY MULA SA BRUNEI

-Elynia Ruth S. Mabanglo-

Ako’y guro, asawa at ina.

Isang babae—pupol ng pabango, pulbos at seda,
Kaulayaw ng batya, kaldero at kama.
Napagod yata ako’t nanghinawa.
Nagsikap mangibang-lupa.

Iyo’t-iyon din ang lalaking umuupo sa kabisera,

Nagbabasa ng diyaryo uma-umaga.
Naghihintay siya ng kape
At naninigarilyo,
Habang kagkag ako sa pagitan ng kuna at libro,
Nagpapahid ng lipstick at nagpapatulo ng gripo.
Hindi siya nag-aangat ng mukha
Umaaso man ang kawali o umiingit ang bata.
Hinahatdan ko siya ng brief at tuwalya sa banyo,
Inaaliw kung mainit ang ulo.
Wala siyang paliwanag
 Kung bakit hindi siya umuwi magdamag,
Ngunit kunot na kunot ang kanyang noo
Kapag umaalis ako ng Linggo.
Ayaw niya ang galunggong at saluyot
Kahit pipis ang sobreng inabot,
Ibig pa yatang maghimala ako ng ulam
Kahit ang pangrenta’y laging kulang.

Ako’y guro, asawa at ina.

Isang babae—napapagal sa pagiging babae.
Itinakda ng kabahaging
Masumpa sa walis, labada’t oyayi
Kahit may propesyo’t kumikita ng salapi.
Iyo’t-iyong din ang ruta ng araw-araw—
Kabagutang nakalatag sa kahabaan
Ng bahay at paaralan,
Ng kusina’t higaan.

May karapatan ba akong magmukmok?

Saan ako tatakbo kung ako’y malungkot?
May beerhouse at massage parlor na tambayan
Ang kabiyak kong nag-aasam,
Nasa bintana ako’t naghihintay.
Nagbabaga ang katawan ko sa paghahanap,
May krus ang dila ko’t di makapangusap.
Humihingi ng tinapay ang mga anak ko,
Itinotodo ko ang bolyum ng radio.
Napagod yata ako’t nanghinawa,
Nagsikap mangibang-lupa.

Noon ako nanaginip na nakapantalon,

Nagpapadala ng dolyar at pasalubong.
Nakahihinga na ako ngayon nang maluwag,
Walang susi ang bibig, ang isip ay bukas.
Aaminin kong ako’y nangungulila
Ngunit sariling kape ko na ang tinitimpla.
Nag-aabang ako ng sulat sa tarangkaha’t pinto,
Sa telepono’y nabubusog ang puso.
Umiiyak ako noong una,
Nagagamot pala ang lahat sa pagbabasa.

Ito lamang ang sagot,

Bayaang lalaki ang maglaba ng kumot.
 REFLECTION:

Nakikita ko dito na ipinahahayag ng may-akda ang karaniwang katayuan ng kababaihan sa ating lipunan na
kung saan kadalasan siya ay isang ina, propesyunal at maybahay, at kung saan din madalas ay ginagampanan
niya ang lahat ng ito. Madalas hinahadlangan niya ang sariling pagunlad para sa kapakanan ng iba at may
maraming pagkakataon ay hindi din napapansin ang kanyang mga ginagawa at pasakit. Dito din ay ating
mapupuna na ang mga kababaihan ay may karapatan ar maari ring umunlad sa iba’t-ibang personal na aspeto
kung kanila lamang nanaisin.

1.       What is your opinion on the woman’s decision to work abroad and leave her family
behind?

2. What are the beliefs and traditions found in the story that you believe are still
present up to this day?

The How’s, What If’s and If ever’s:

1.        How does the poem about Pinay open the minds of younger generation like you?

2. What if you are in the woman’s shoe, would you also leave your family and work
abroad? Why or why not?

3. If ever this situation happens in your family- having a father like Pinay’s
husband- what will you do?   

ANALYSIS:
Even in contemporary societies, women oppression and marginalization have remained a poignant issue which
fomented groups of women (some men) into an unending clamor for gender equality that is, giving women every social
freedom, rights, and opportunities enjoyed by men.
In support to this movement, as it is undeniable that this unjust treatment to women in many cultures are reflected in
various literary materials, women writers expose this glaring reality of which some are concealed and some are explicitly
expressed in a number of literary arts. Some women are also clever in using their pens to unveil how women feel about
being trapped in such a male-biased society and attempt to rectify such sexist discrimination and inequalities by vocally
expressing their cry for social elevation and freedom from this looming bondage.
This, indeed, is true to one of the prolific Filipina writers, Elynia Ruth S. Mabanglo as she revealed the prevailing issue of
women subjugation in the Philippines in her poetical piece Liham ni Pinay Mula Brunei .
An Overseas Filipino Worker in Brunei gives us a flashback through her letter, her tiring role as a wife and as a mother in
the Philippines . She discloses how she has to suffer earning a living to rear her family and at the same time tending the
house while her good-for-nothing husband remains numb of her misery, demanding for all his comforts. In the end, all
these stimulated her to sail and work abroad.
As the poem commences, Mabanglo establishes the basic role of a Filipina woman in the Philippine context:
Ako’y guro, asawa, at ina.
In the Philippines , women are left with only two choices, that is, to remain single, or to embrace marriage –
become a wife and a mother. The latter has always been associated to servitude – serving her husband and taking care of
her children.
In a feministic approach, Beauvoir considered these roles to be immanent which puts women in stagnation
walking to and fro in the same repetitive and uncreative usual routine. Women get no option but carry out such duties that
her society expects her to portray because if not, she is considered a deviant.
The second line, “Isang babae – pupol ng pabango, pulbos at seda,” also conveys another societal expectation
where women have to look pleasing and presentable – wearing make up, artificial scents, and all others applied in the holy
name of aesthetics – which prime purpose is for the patriarchal societyto say nothing about her. Though she distasted it, she
can do nothing about it. She has to conform to the patriarchal norms.
This has been the feminist contention that in patriarchal cultures, man is the norm and woman is the deviation.
The fundamental assumptions dominate social, political,and cultural life and how women have internalized this ideology so
that they live in a constant state of inauthenticity (Beauvoir).
All these boring and choking roles, according to the speaker of the poem, drove her to strive for freedom by going
abroad.
The second stanza of the poem delineates all her sufferings entailed by her functions as a wife and as a mother. It
is vividly expressed how she is torn between her obligations to her children, to her husband, and to her job outside. And
while attending to all these, her husband takes no share of these burdens and continue to demand for his kingly comfort.
 Feminists view that men believe that these lots (burdens) are intended by nature for women thus, men need not
bother themselves with alleviating these pains and burdens which they believe are physiologically for women.
In the third and fourth stanzas, the speaker vocally expresses her weariness – attending to her tiresome role as a
woman – and from this emanated her longing for freedom – to emancipate herself not from her obligations but from the
society of patriarchy and male dominance.
It was hard for her at first yet she’s satisfied to escape from immanencein the Philippines . Finally, she has
absolutely attained what the feminist coined as transcendence.
In the end, she concludes:
Ito lamang ang sagot,
Bayaang lalaki ang maglaba ng kumot.
For it is only this way for men to realize how they have long treated women. Let men experience women’s
immanent role as beasts of burden.
Name: _________________________________________________ Date: ________________

Read each sentence carefully and give the letter of the correct answer.

1. In the poem Liham ni Pinay Mula sa Brunei, which of the following best describes the
persona’s disposition in regard to work or employment?
a. Persistent and zealous
b. Creative and zealous
c. Persistent but picky
2. The explicit contrasts in the poem lead the reader to the persona’s decision to join the Filipino
diaspora. Which stanzas carry these contrasts?
a. 1 and 2
b. 2 and 3
c. 3 and 4
3. Which Filipino cultural norms are alluded to in each line? Match Column A with Column B.
Column A Column B

5.1 Ako’y guro, asawa at ina a. Filipino wives can keep their
pains and hurts to themselves
Isang babae—pupol ng pabango b. Filipino women are generally
Kaulayaw ng batya, kaldero at kama patient and hardworking
Habang kagkag ako sa pagitan ng kuna at libro, c. A husband expects to be waited on
by his wife
5.2 Iyo’t-iyon din ang lalaking umuupo
Sa kabisera,
Nagbabasa ng diyaryo uma-umaga.
Naghihintay siya ng kape
At naninigarilyo.

5.3 Nagbabaga ang katawan ko sa

Paghahanap,
May krus ang dila ko’t di makapangusap.

4. Which of the following themes can be inferred from the poem?

a. One person’s empowerment stems from his/her personal choices.
b. Environmental forces impose the strongest control on a person’s behavior.
c. Women are cut for self-sacrifice and hard work more than men.

II. Write at least 2 or 3 sentences explaining your opinion about the questions below. (2 points each)

1. What is your opinion on the woman’s decision to work abroad and leave her family behind?
2. What if you are in the woman’s shoe, would you also leave your family and work abroad?
Why or why not?
3. If ever this situation happens in your family- having a father like Pinay’s husband- what will
you do?