i.
makamingaw imong baybayon.
ang mga lusay sa imong hunasan,
ang tambasakan sa imong bakawan,
imong paghagunghong taliwa sa akong bilahan.
pagaisipon sa gihapon nga bugsay imong dila;
sa katuyoman, ang akong mga tudlo
manghiram sa bakasi
nga idlas sa akong mga kamot.
If the emotional is too on-top of the speaking voice, surrendering to a guiding thought an idea, a proposition, a question can pass as urgent.
In watching the premiere of Gutierrez ‘Teng’ Mangansakan’s Forbidden Memory last 2017, I had to quell a kind of rage gearing to erupt in the wake of a reopened rupture its closure is a delusion that has rapped the country’s memory for decades.
When we speak of Martial Law, we speak of the human rights violations; we speak of the infrastructural progress that birthed international debts we are still paying today; we speak of Imelda’s lavishness, we speak of the Marcoses’ theft; we speak against the temptation to just forget or move on.
What if one flees the enemy or better, pursues him only to find that the enemy is one’s self? Such is the fate of the post-colonial subject, whether identified with the colonizer or the colonized. Indeed, one could argue that the lines between colonizer and colonized, such as they were drawn, have long bled into each other.
Rogelio Braga’s novel Colon takes to task the narratives of nationalism in the Philippines. It attempts to dismantle, or at least interrogate the meanings attached to the scholar and the savage, the capital and the provinces, re-presenting each one in what Braga hopes is a fresh light. It is possible to discern an effort to present a three-dimensional view of Philippine society, where the picturesque personalities of Manilenyo call center agent, Moro merchant, or university professor, are never quite what the reader thinks they will be.
SCENE 1 – EXT. PEACE MURAL/ INT. CAR – DAY
A peace mural is seen from inside a moving car. The view is hazy and we can barely see it.
AYESHA, 16, a pregnant Muslim lady is looking at something off screen.
SCENE 2 – WHITE LETTER ON A BLACK BACKGROUND: TITLE
SCENE 3 – EXT. TERRACE – DAY
We hear the neighbors fighting over a mango tree. DANNY, 30’s, a petite man, sees it from the terrace. He gets a little irritated, takes a stick of cigarette and puffs. There is a huge fruitless mango tree behind him.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
POLA, late-20’s, wife of Timo
LALAHON, diwata of Mount Talinis
TIMO, late-20’s, husband of Pola
EMMAN, 25, trekking guide
The action occurs during the summer time of late May, starting at first in the base of the Bediao Geothermal Site in the Municipality of Dauin then proceeding further into Mount Talinis.
SETTING: The bigger the better when it comes to the stage because the character will be walking around a lot. A more elaborate production is required, with a lot of foliage needed. Props carried by actors are also important for they give emphasis to the ordeal they are going through.
Elvin Ruiz 
Ivan Emil Labayne 
Ana Margarita Nunez 
Ryanne Murcia 
Patricia Solidarios