SINIGANG

The story starts with a girl named Liza, and her Tita Loleng, preparing Liza's favorite dish, Sinigang.
Usually, it was never Liza's turn to help her Tita Loleng in cooking sinigang. But not today, Liza was the
one tasked by her Tita Loleng to pick out the vegetables to use in the Sinigang. While cooking, they had
a conversation about Liza, attending the funeral of her half-brother, Lem. Lem died of cancer, but it was
evident that he was her father's son.Lem was not always the kindest to Liza when he was still alive.
Though he was an acolyte for the church, he would always call Liza "sinverguenza", the shameless
daughter.During the funeral, Liza recalled that she was greeted by Lem's mother. She described that she
was not as pretty as her mom. Lem's mother asked for forgiveness, to whom Liza just nodded without
any emotions. Lem's mother took this as a yes and hugged Liza. She recalled that she smelled like
perfume and sweat, but didn't move so as not to be rude. Growing up, Liza always wondered who the
boy who kept calling his father on the phone everyday. And now that she had the answer, it broke her
heart. She was always Daddy's girl. When it was time for Lem's burial, as they watch his coffin being
lowered, Liza's father looked at her, and said sorry. The sinigang she and her Tita Loleng cooked will be
served for dinner. Everything will be just the same, but different. Her dad will tell her mom about his
day, and then ask each of them about theirs, her father will compliment her about the Sinigang they
cooked and she would smile at her father like she always did. But this time, her smile won't even reach
her eyes.

The short story entitled "Sinigang" do not just aim to bring emotional impact to its readers, but
also present moral values that can be seen on the theme itself.

First, the value of respect and forgiveness. This is evident on the character of Liza when she was
asked to attend the funeral of her step-brother, Lem. Despite of the hatred she is keeping within
herself,. She chose to remain calm and act normal in the funeral. She still chose to show respect
to her father's other family even though she was supposed to be mad and angry with the kind of
situation she is in. And lastly, she still chose to forgive. Forgive her Sylvia. Forgive Lem. And
most especially forgive her undeserving father.

Second, the value of faithfulness. The action of Liza's father had brought a lot of desctruction to
her and especially to her mother. Destruction of emotions as well as trust. Losing faith in a
relationship is like letting go of the promises and breaking the trust you built with your partner.
And once this trust broken, this cannot be put back together. This what Liza and her mother
experienced. This story taught us that faith in a relationship is important because it will not just
affect the two involved partners, but as well as their fruit, their children.

Last, the character of being tough and strong. This trait is mostly seen in the mother and
especially in Liza. Her mother remains tough despite of his husband's cheating, thinking that she
should be strong for the sake of her daughter. Same goes for Liza, she stayed resilient and
composed amidst the storm of emotions she is facing. This characteristic is evident in the funeral
wherein Liza remains calm and act normal knowing the fact that she is in the funeral of her step-
brother and sitting beside her father's mistress. She chose to look okay and be tough for herself
and as well as her mother.