Written Report in English

(Ralph Ocampo)

The Future of Philippine Literature

 Speculative fiction – This is an umbrella term in the country’s literature that includes all
genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction, magical realism, and other non-realistic
genres. Our country is known for stories that is about the unknown for a long time that
no one knows where it started. One of the Filipino writer that excels this kind of
literature is Dean Francis Alfar.

 Avant-garde poetry- these are poems that pushes the boundaries of expected in the
normal story. In that sense, these kinds of poems experiments with form, phrasing, idea,
and imageries. Some Filipino poets who have been written avant-garde poems are Angel
Suarez, Paola <Analo, Conchitina Cruz, Arbeen Acuna, and Marc Gabba.

 Contemporary Essay- Mostly focuses on diverse topics such as dysfunctional familiesm

LGBT issues, Terrorism. Religion and faith, usually the writer are willing to voice their
opinons about Filipino society through this essays.

Dean Francis Alfar     
 
Dean Francis Alfar (born 1969), the co-editor and publisher of the
yearly Philippines Speculative Fiction anthology. His novels and short
stories have won him several national Awards- including a total of
10 Don Carlos Palanca Awards.
Six From Downtown
By Dean Francis Alfar

About the story :

“Six from Downtown” was first published in Philippines Free Press, June 2006, and
subsequently in Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.2, December 2006. It received the
Philippines Free Press Literary Award for Short Story in 2007, as well as an Honorable
Mention in the Datlow/Link/Grant The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2007.

The Wet Market

The story starts when the narrator arrived in the city and went to wet market, he
described what he saw in there, like the fresh seafood, laid oud in the ice, suspended on hooks
and low metal drums whose names brought back his memories during his childhood like pating,
alimasag, lapu lapu and pugita. Until one stall caught his attention and got his taste buds going:
Fresh Sirena. He smiled and surprised how many years has passed since he last ate a sirena, he
said that when was a child his grandfather would take him out for mermaid fishing. At a precise
position where the exact location is only known to his grandfather they dropped an anchor and
organize the fishing lines and a very fine fishing net. When all the preparation was done, his
grandfather ask him to attach the bait, in the end of a spoon he attached a piece of jewelry which
is a gold scapular embossed with the image of Virgin Mary. He said that it took forever for a
mermaid to bite, he also describes the mermaid they catch from the past. After waiting for a long
time his grandfather whispers to him “here’s one” together they haul the mermaid on the boat
where his grandfather smack a club into mermaid head until it stopped moving. Meanwhile in the
wet market he stood at a sirena stall and saw mermaid layside by side and he ordered the fresh
looking one and asked if there was a place nearby that could grill it for him, the vendor winked
and for a hundred pesos the vendor will cook it for him, he suspected that the vendor is
overcharging him but he agreed when the vendor gave in a handful of sea snails for free.

The Business Quarter

the narrator tell the story of the story that Marie told him while eating a turtle pie
at their favorite coffee place, he said that you would never expect Marie to be a kind of person
that collects a particular kind of story, he said that marie works for a non-government agency
that is dedicated to preserve and promoting the zarzuela, moro-moro and iyakan. She began
leaning towards the narrator ears and tells him a new story. There’s a regular call center guy,
whose handling customer service for a phone company in US, he get a call from a woman, this
woman get upsets because she can’t get the guy to understand her problem but the guy thinks he
does, so he asks her question again, just to make sure, while the his supervisor are listening in,
for evaluation purposes, so he keeps asking questions to her which is pretty stupid to the woman,
until the woman freak out, she starts calling him names and demands exactly where he is, but
call center agents pretends to be in US right? So the women is really upset while the guy is trying
to calm her down, and then finally the guy said “I’m sorry I can’t help you, maam” take off his
headset and leaves, drives home, call his wife to come home, when her wife arrives, he stabbed
her seventeen times with a kitchen knife. Then he sits down looking at her and what he’s done,
and notices theres a fingers poking out of the wounds on her stomach, he just sits there watches
his child pulled open the wounds and crawl to his dead wife’s tits, Marie don’t know what
happened next. Supposedly the call center helped to keep the truth to protect their image but the
word got out, As the narrator listened to Marie’s story he state that Marie recount the story in her
own inimitable way, like here eyes punctuating detail, every digression, etc.by the time Marie
was finished, he was exhausted and there was really nothing more to say or do apart form
picking the fork and the remains of his turtle pie. And the Marie asked him, “what’s up with
you?”

------------------------------------------------Dariel Ramirez--------------------------------------------------

The Redlight District

The story tells about a man and his job which is a dancer on a club called Suave.
He said that he dances every night for a hundred pesos. He state how he prepares his body before
the the club doors open. 10pm and the club opens that is where his job really starts, he dances
and satisfies his audience, until the night ends he returns to the dressing room making way for
the new dancers, he cut the rubber band that he puts on his tails and feel immediate relief, he
concluded, “I’m sore, as usual but it’s a living”

The University Belt

The story stars when the narrator tell how he can never forget Mr. Rosales, his
music teacher on 2nd year, His parents convince at the time that he had a degree in musical
brilliance, engaged him as his tutor every Tuesday and Thursday nights. he said that Mr. Rosales
came from a small town in Negros, after private lessons at his house one evening, he told him
how much he loved music but that his entire life was a failure, He remained quiet , out of respect
but it was true. One Friday afternoon in clas, right after another recital, Mr. Rosales walked out
the music room, in tears, his fellow students and I followed him at a cautious distance, untile he
turned to us and said “I’m done with this and with all of you”. It was a complete silence after that
day, Mrs, Flores is the teacher who replaced him, was less memorable, and the narrator
concluded “ I think she taught piano.

Restaurant Row

There was a group of writers and artist telling about each other plans and
scheduled rattled off to there DM where the subject is this story kept silent, knowing that he was
nowhere near to his circle of wirter and friends. His teams states there plans aand Idea. While his
team mate states to there DM, the main subject is having a existential crisis about his job today
which is a writer, when its his turn to state his idea he just cough twice and letting the painful
moment of anticipated response pass by in bullet time, before his teammate Marge save him
from embarrassment. He texted himself and few sec the message arrived to his phone and
excused himself and went home , he headed to the fridge and looked at all the words that he cuts
from various books and newspaper and magazines for past months, In a clean skillet, he tossed
the words in added a little water ans soy sauce, twisted the heat to low, waited for the text to
simmer and hoped for the best.

The Housing Projects

The narrator wake up after a nightmare and realize his wife left again
without telling him, she;s dealing with the anxiety of there inability to have a child in her own
way, seven years of trying nearly everything but non succed. He check near the windows and
hoping shell be back before sun rises, while unable to return to sleep, He decide to go out for
drink and a massage and wait or a cab, once in a while he find a firend in a bar, have a couple of
beers and just vegetate, after paying his drinks, he take another cab and went to Korean
bathhouse, he soak until he can feel that the alcohol soaked out via sweat,after that he went o his
massage, afterwards he got bar in waring a robe and have a glass of Shiraz. Before 5am he ride a
third cab home to his condo, He check if his wife wa there but she isn’t, the lower part of her
body still standing where she left, he said “I know she’ll fly back, she’s on her way home. HE
realized his desperately hungry knowing what he did since midnight was drinking beer and
smoke, he make scrambled eggs and ate, until his wife arrives in a rustle of wings, “you’ve been
out” she said, then he nod “ A couple of beers and a massage” she goes to the kitchen a gets a
glass of water and I offered my food but she said “I just ate” later in bed after she showers, He
leans over and kiss her, he asked “you want to try again? In the lights of dawn, she turns away to
hide her tears.