THIRD WORLD GEOGRAPHY Cirilo F. Bautista Manila A country without miracles Sits heavy on the map, Thinking of banana trees rotting In the sunlight. The man who watches over it Has commandeered...
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A Eulogy of Roaches by Bienvenido Lumbera Blessed are the cockroaches. In this country they are the citizens who last. They need no police to promulgate their peace because they tolerate each other's smell or greed. Friends to dark and filth, they do not choose their meat. Although they neither sow nor reap, a daily feast is laid for them in rooms and kitchens of their pick. The roaches do not spin, and neither do they weave. But note the russet coat the sluggards wear: clothed at birth, roaches require no roachy charity. They settle where they wish and have no rent to pay. Eviction is a word quite meaningless to them who do not have to own their dingy crack of wall. Not knowing dearth or taxes, they increase and multiply. Survival is assured even the jobless roach; his opportunities pile up where garbage grows. Dying is brief and cheap and thus cannot affright. A whiff of ...
LIWANAG AT DILIM Emilio Jacinto ANG NINGNING AT ANG LIWANAG Ang ningning at liwanag ay nakasisira ng paningin. Ang liwanag ay kinakailangan ng mata, upang mapagwari ang buong katunayan ng mga bagay-bagay. Ang bubog kung tinatamaan ng nag-aapoy na sikat ng araw ay nagniningning; ngunit sumusugat sa kamay ng nagaganyak na dumampot. Ang ningning ay maraya. Ating hanapin ang liwanag, tayo’y huwag mabigham sa ningning. Sa katunayan ng masamang naugalian. Nagdaraan ang isang karwaheng maningning ...
IBALON (EPIKONG BIKOLANO) Ang Ibalon ay matandang pangalan ng Bikol. Ibalon is an old name for the Bicol region of the Philippines. Noong 1895, si Prayle Jose Castaño ay may kinaibigang lagalag na mang-aawit na si Cadungdung. Sa kanya narinig ng pare ang epikong Ibalon. Itinala at isinalin ng pare sa Kastila ang isinalysay sa kanya ni Cadungdung. Ang epiko ay nababahagi sa trilohiya. Inilalarawan dito ang kabayanihan nina Baltog, Handiong at Bantong. Buod ng Ibalon _________________________________________________________________________ Kilala ang Bicol sa kanilang matandang epiko na Ibalon na isinalaysay ng isang makatang manlalakbay na si Cadugnung na isinalin Fr. Jose Castaño. Ang nasabing epiko ay nala...
HOME OF THE ASHFALL John Jack Wigley Pampanga The eruption of Mount Pinatubo was recorded as the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century, and the largest eruption populated area. Ash fall, which formed a weighty, rain‐drenched snow‐like film, affected almost the entire island of luzon, and even reached the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Vietnam. It was further aggravated because of Typhoon Yunnan, which brought with it heavy rains and strong winds. To the Kampampangans and to the people affected by this tragedy, it would serve as a testament to their irrepressible attribute of rising about their plight and predicament. I was no longer living in Angeles City when Mt. ...