Tanabata’s Wife...ISKRIP/SCRIPT Fas-ang, A Script Inspired by the Short Story ... Ilan sa mga ito ang pelikulang Noli Me Tangere (Dir: Gerardo de Leon, 1961) at El ... Me (Dir: Erick

.............................From Text to Screen.............................

Tanabata’s Wife

CHOY S. PANGILINANEDITOR

Maribeth “Mai” Fanglayan

J. Neil C. Garcia

Sinai Hamada

Fred Hawson

Nap Jamir

Francis C. Macansantos

Charlson Ong

May-i Guia Padillia

Choy Pangilinan

Mao Portus

Juan Carlo Tarobal

Amparo Adelina C. Umali, III

Anna Christie Villarba-Torres

Ang librong Tanabata’s Wife: From

Text to Screen ay naglalayong

idarang ang mga mambabasa

sa proseso ng pagsasalin ng

isang tekstong pampanitikan

tungo sa filmikong anyo nito.

Nais nitong ipakita at ipaunawa

sa mga mambabasa at maging

sa mga manonood ng pelikula

na isang komplikado, ngunit

hindi imposibleng proseso, ang

adaptasyon sa mga tekstong

pampanitikan maging ito man ay

nobela, maikling kuwento o mga

testimonyo. Dagdag dito, na ang

panitikan, dulang pampelikula

at ang pelikula, ay marapat ding

ituring bilang mga tekstong

kultural na may kani-kaniyang

partikularidad, alituntunin, at

katangian.

TANABATA’S

WIFE

.........From Text to Screen.........

............................................

From Text to Screen............................................

Tanabata’s Wife

.................................................

From Text to Screen.................................................

Tanabata’s Wife

The University of the Philippines PressDiliman, Quezon City

CHOY S. PANGILINANEDITOR

ContentsINTRODUKSIYON/INTRODUCTIONDanas sa Tanabata’s Wife: Filmikong Pagsasalin, Diskurso ng Representasyon, at ang Masalimuot na Daigdig ng Sineng Indie/Choy Pangilinan...............................................vii

MAIKLING KUWENTO/SHORT STORYTanabata’s Wife/Sinai Hamada.......................................................................1

ISKRIP/SCRIPTFas-ang, A Script Inspired by the Short Story‘‘Tanabata’s Wife” by Sinai Hamada/Charlson Ong......................................11

DULANG PAMPELIKULA/SCREENPLAYTanabata’s Wife/Mao Portus, Carlo Tarobal, Choy Pangilinan, and Charlson Ong............................................................47

DANAS AT POETIKA/REFLECTIONS AND POETICSReflections/Nap Jamir...............................................................................127

Pagdudugtong at Pagluluwal, o Kung Papaanong Inedit ang Tanabata’s Wife/May-i Guia Padillia.....................................................................................132

Ang Pagsasabuhay ng “Never Say Die” sa Pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife: Ang Kalbaryo mula Iskrip hanggang Sinehan/Juan Carlo Tarobal............140

Fureai and Cultural Translation in Tanabata’s Wife/Amparo Adelina C. Umali, III PhD............................................................146

Tanabata’s Wife: A Journey Back Home/Maribeth “Mai” Fanglayan.........154

KRITIKA/CRITIQUEIn Focus: Sinai Hamada and the Power of Sympathy/Francis C. Macansantos.............................................................................157

Fas-Ang: Cross-Cultural Currents in the Literature of Sinai C. Hamada/ Anna Christie Villarba-Torres...................................................................166

Reverential References/Fred Hawson........................................................190

Love and Freedom: A Review of Tanabata’s Wife/J. Neil C. Garcia............192

BEHIND THE SCENES AND MOVIE STILLS..............................................196

EDITOR......................................................................................................205

INTRODUKSIYON

INTRODUCTION

vii

Danas sa Tanabata’s Wife:

Filmikong Pagsasalin, Diskurso ng Representasyon, at ang Masalimuot na Daigdig ng Sineng Indie..............................................................................Choy Pangilinan

HINDI NA BAGO sa mundo ng pelikula ang paghalaw at adaptasyon ng mga akdang pampanitikan upang kalauna’y gawing mga batayang materyal sa isinasagawang proyektong pampelikula. Ayon nga sa kritikong si Susan Hayward, sa unang yugto pa lamang ng pag-unlad ng pelikula ay nagtangka na kaagad ang ilang mga direktor na humalaw ng mga naratibo mula sa Bibliya. Halimbawa na nga nito’y ang La Vie et la passion de Jesus Christ (1897) ng Lumiere Brothers at ang La Vie de Christ (1899) ni Alice Guy (Hayward 2000, 3). Patunay ang obserbasyong ito ni Hayward na ang larangan ng adaptasyon ng nakasulat na teksto o akdang pampanitikan, bukod sa ito’y nagpapatuloy sa kontemporaneong panahon, ay maituturing nang isang tradisyon na may malalim nang ugat sa kasaysayan at patuloy na pag-usad ng pelikula sa pangkalahatan.

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Tanabata’s Wife: From Text to Screen

Isa sa pinag-uugatang lohika ng ganitong ugnayan at relasyon sa pagitan ng panitikan at pelikula o ang adaptasyon ng isang teksto tungo sa filmikong anyo nito ay muling i-sinuma ni Hayward. Aniya, “[l]iterary adaptations gave cinema the respectable cachet of entertainment-as-art. In a related way, it is noteworthy that literary adaptations have consistently been seen to have pedagogical value, that is, teaching a nation (through cinema) about its classics, its literary heritage” (2000, 4). Kung pagbabatayan ang pahayag ng kritiko, malinaw na makikita ang dibisyon ng pagturing at pag-uri sa pelikula (bilang isang anyo ng komersiyal na sining) at sa panitikan (bilang lehitimong sining) partikular sa mga unang yugto ng kasaysayan ng pelikula bilang bagong anyo ng media at sining. Kanyang nakita na ang larangan ng adaptasyon ng mga klasikong teksto ay nagsilbi ring estratehiya upang mapagdikit ang agwat ng minarkahang aliw at makabuluhang sining gamit ang iisa at bagong porma—ang pelikula.

Ngunit hindi rin naman maikakailang ginamit na tuntungan ng mga dibuhista ng industriya ng komersiyal na pelikula ang angking bisa ng mga tekstong kanonikal upang higit na makahikayat ng interes mula sa mga manonood at upang sa kabilang banda rin naman ay maiugit ang mismong pag-iral ng pelikula bilang isang lehitimong anyo ng sining na nagbibigay halaga at diin din sa usapin ng panlasa, kultura, kaalamang bayan, kasaysayan, lipunan, at pagsasabansa. Kung kaya’t sa huli, bukod sa kung ano pa man, marapat mabatid na usapin din ito ng popularisasyon, marketisasyon, at imperatibo ng kita. Muli, ’ika nga ni Hayward, “[a]daptations of the established literary canon had become a marketing ploy by which producers and exhibitors could legitimize cinema going as a venue of ‘taste’ and thus attract the middle classes to their theatres” (2000, 3).

Sa kaso ng kasaysayan ng pelikulang Filipino, may mangilan-ngilan na ring mga likhang ang kaluluwa at gulugod ay hango mula sa kanon ng panitikan ng Filipinas. Ilan sa mga ito ang pelikulang Noli Me Tangere (Dir: Gerardo de Leon, 1961) at El Filibusterismo (Dir: Gerardo de Leon, 1962) na mula sa mga nobelang isinulat ni Jose Rizal; Ibong Adarna (Dir: Pablo Santiago, 1972) na mula sa panulat ni Francisco Balagtas; Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag (Dir: Lino Brocka, 1975) at Laro sa Baga (Dir: Chito S. Roño, 2000) na parehong kinatha ni Edgardo Reyes; Bulaklak sa City Jail (Dir: Mario O’ Hara, 1984), Dekada ’70 (Dir: Chito S. Roño, 2002), at Bata Bata Paano ka Ginawa (Dir: Chito S. Roño, 1998) na lahat ay isinulat ng nobelistang si Lualhati Bautista; Bulaklak ng Maynila (Dir: Joel Lamangan, 1998) ni Domingo Landicho; at Tatarin (Dir: Tikoy Aquiluz, 2001) at Ang Larawan (Dir: Loy Arcenas, 2017) na mula sa mga obra ni Nick Joaquin. May ilan din namang produksiyon na hango sa mga kontemporaneo at popular na uri ng literatura gaya na lamang ng She’s Dating the Gangster (Dir: Cathy Garcia-Molina, 2014) na mula sa Wattpad; Ligo na U, Lapit na

Introduksiyon/Introduction

ix

Me (Dir: Erick Salud, 2011) na mula sa nobela ni Eros Atalia; at Smaller and Smaller Circles (Dir: Raya Martin, 2017) na nobela ni Felisa Batacan.

Tunay na itinutulak ng iba’t ibang layon, interes, at ideolohikal na posisyon ang naturang adaptasyon ng mga tekstong pampanitikan tungo sa biswal na anyo nito. Ang iba’y naglalayong muling ilapit at ipakilala ang mga tinaguriang seminal na teksto sa manonood. Sa madaling sabi, sinisipat ang angking halaga ng tekstong pampanitikan at ito ang nagiging basehan kung bakit hinahangad na isalin sa mas popular na anyo ng pelikula. Ang iba nama’y tumataya lamang sa popularidad ng isang kontemporaneong teksto, nang hindi na isinasaalang-alang ang maaaring maging ambag ng sining upang higit na maunawaan ang kalagayang panlipunan o kasaysayan, upang sa huli’y masigurong ang kontemporaneong hanay ng mga manonood ay maeengganyong muling tangkilikin ito sa pinilakang-tabing. Pangangamal lamang ng kita ang lohika ng ganitong tindig. Sa ganang akin, ang una ang mas makatwirang layunin kung bakit mahalaga ang mga adaptasyon ng isang teksto mula sa daigdig ng panitikan tungo sa kulturang biswal—klasikal man o bago ang akda.

At ang perspektibang ito ang nagtulak sa fictionist at nobelistang si Charlson Ong para sa adaptasyon ng maikling kuwentong Tanabata’s Wife ng manunulat sa Ingles na si Sinai Hamada. Bilang pangunahing manunulat ng inisyal na iskrip ng pelikula, malinaw kay Charlson na may matinding pangangailangan na maipakilala muli sa mga manonood ang mga obrang tila nalimot na at nawaglit na sa popular na kamalayan ng masang Filipino. Tiyak akong bunsod ito ng kanyang pagiging masugid na manunulat at mangingibig ng panitikan at kultura. Sa katunayan, halos dalawang taon din ang inabot bago niya tuluyang nailuwal ang unang bersiyon ng iskrip na magsisilbing punla sa pagluluwal ng bagong tekstong kultural—ang pelikula.

Ngunit hindi naging madali ang prosesong ito. Kung tutuusin, kaiba sa adaptasyon ng mga nobela na mas nakatutok sa pagsasala, pagbibistay, at pagkaltas ng mga inaakalang hindi na kailangan kapag ito’y naging pelikula, ang pagsasapelikula ng isang maikling kuwento ay may kakaiba ring proseso. Mula sa orihinal na labing-isang pahina, kailangang magkaroon ng malinaw na interbensyon ang manunulat mula sa orihinal na teksto. Ibig sabihin, kailangang isaalang-alang ang paghihigit sa kuwento sa antas ng naratibo at biswalidad nang hindi tuluyang lumilihis o lubusang sinasalaula ang lohika at pangkalahatang naratolohiya ng orihinal. Kinakailangang hindi rin naman makulong ang manunulat sa orihinal dahil hindi rin nakakapagpalago ng rendisyon ng teksto ang ganoong asta at tindig.

Kailangan ding maging malinaw sa manunulat na hindi lahat ng nasa loob ng kuwento ay tiyak na magiging epektibo kapag nailapat at nailipat na sa midyum ng pelikula. Kung kaya’t kung titingnan ang daloy ng maikling kuwento at susuriin ang

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unang bersiyon ng iskrip na isinulat ni Charlson, mahihinuha na bagama’t naroon ang batayang sangkap ng naturang kuwento (tauhan, batayang tunggalian, banghay, tagpuan, panahon, halimbawa) ay may ilang mga eksenang makikitang may pagbabago mula sa orihinal na kuwento o kung di man ay lubusang idinagdag at bago.

At ang ganitong areglo ang nagpapatunay kung bakit ang larangan ng adaptasyon ay malinaw na isang uri rin ng pagsasalin. Pagsasalin hindi lamang ng kuwento ngunit ganoon din naman ng nuances ng kuwento, ng panahon, ng kultural na kumpigurasyon ng tekstong isinasalin, at ng pilosopiya’t lohika ng teksto. Pagsasalin din ito tungo sa filmikong pangangailangan nito. At dahil may ibang wika at gramatika rin ang pelikula (tunog, editing, sinematograpiya, mise-en-scène, direksiyon, dulang pampelikula, halimbawa), hindi maikakailang nagkakaroon din ito ng panibagong buhay at katauhan kaiba sa pinagmulan at pinaghalawan dito. At una nga itong makikita sa iskrip at kalauna’y sa huling anyo nito, ang pelikula. Muli, susog nga ni Hayward, “[a] literary adaptation creates a new story, it is not the same as the original, it takes on a new life, as indeed do the characters. Narrative and characters become independent of the original even though both are based—in terms of genesis—on the original” (2000, 4).

Mula sa orihinal na bilang na singkuwentang sequences na makikita sa unang bersiyon ng iskrip na isinulat ni Charlson ay naging animnapu’t dalawa ang pinal na bersiyon ng dulang pampelikula na siyang magsisilbing batayan ng mga kailangang makuhanan para maaktuwalisa ito sa kamera. Magkatuwang naming isinulat ang pinal na bersiyon nina Mao Portus, Carlo Tarobal, at Charlson Ong.

May apat na rason kung bakit namin nirebisa ang unang bersiyon ng iskrip. Una, kailangang muling repasuhin ito upang magkaroon ng mas biswal na mga deskripsiyon ang mga sequences na siyang magiging gabay rin para sa disenyong pamproduksiyon, mise-en-scène, at galaw ng mga tauhan. Ikalawang dahilan din ang pagkakaltas ng ilang mga diyalogo. Kaakibat nito ay ang paglalagay ng mga tahimik na eksena upang gawing mas biswal ang nilalayong motibasyon ng mga tauhan at maiwasan ang labis na pag sangguni sa mga sinasalitang linya bilang tanging device ng eksposisyon ng naratibo. Ikatlo, kailangang basagin ang linearidad ng unang bersiyon at maglagay ng mga kabalalay (parallel) ng mga sequences upang magsilbing mga ayuda para higit na paigtingin ang naunang sequence o ang susunod. At panghuli, kailangang isaalang-alang sa huling bersiyon ng dulang pampelikula ang pagsasalin ng mga diyalogo sa tatlong wika—Ilokano, Kankanaey, at Nihonggo. Iniangkop ni John Sagamla, ang nagsalin sa Ilokano at Kankanaey, ang pagsasalin mula sa orihinal na Ingles sa nuances ng naturang mga wika at maging sa heograpiya kung saan nagmumula ang mga tauhan. Si Jina Umali naman ang nagsalin sa


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Nihonggo na isinaalang-alang ang espesifisidad ng panahon at diskursong pang-uri’t kasarian sa kanyang salin.

Ang bersiyong ito ang naging basehan ng pagsasaayos ng mga marapat kuhanan kada araw sa ilalim ng assistant director na si Carlo Tarobal. Heto rin ang binabantayan ng script continuity editor na si Mao Portus. Sa kasamaang palad, dala na rin ng pananalanta ng bagyo sa buong panahon ng location shoot, hindi lahat ng nasa iskrip ay nakuhanan. May ilang mga eksena na kinaltas mismo sa araw ng shoot at hinalilihan ng mga impromptu na eksena. May mga diyalogong nabago o sadyang binago o tuluyan nang tinanggal. May mga eksenang hindi kinayang kuhanan dala ng sama ng panahon o dahil na rin sa kakulangan sa disenyong pamproduksiyon, halimbawa. Sa huli, kinailangang mag re-shoot ng ilang eksena mula sa ikalawang bersiyon ng iskrip upang saluhin ang mga laylay sa naratibo ng pelikula na nakita sa rough cut nito.

Bagama’t ang batayang sanggunian sa shoot at pag-eedit ay ang ikalawang bersiyon ng iskrip, mapapansin sa pinal na anyo ng pelikula na marami na ring nagbago rito. Ito’y sapagkat sa yugto ng post produksiyon, nasiyasat namin ng grupo kasama ang editor na si May-i Padilla ang ilang mga puwang at sabit kung susunurin ng may tapa-oho ang iskrip sa yugto ng pagdudugtong. Kung kaya’t may ilang mga sequences na nailipat o pinagpalit o inumit, mga B-rolls na inilapat bilang poetikong interjeksyon, at mga diyalogong pinutol o idinagdag.

At ang mga prosesong ito at mga alterasyon—na lahat ay maituturing na mga anyo ng pagsasalin—ang higit na nagpatining sa naratibo ng huling bersiyon ng pelikula at sa hangaring bigyang hustisya ang maikling kuwento ni Hamada nang hindi nagpapakulong dito. Muli sasangguni ako kay Hayward kaugnay ng mga puntong ito, “[a]daptations are a synergy between the desire for sameness and reproduction on the one hand, and, on the other, the acknowledgement of difference. To a degree they are based on elision and deliberate lack and at the same time in privileging, even to excess, of certain narrative elements or strategies over others” (2000, 6).

Liban sa larangan ng adaptasyon o pagsasalin tungo sa filmikong anyo, isa sa mga problemang kinaharap din ng produksiyon ay ang masalimuot na aspekto ng representasyon. Malay ang mga nasa produksiyon na sensitibong diskurso ang representasyon at “awtentisidad” sa larangan ng paglikha ng pelikula. Lalo na’t kung ito’y ukol sa mga kategoryang kultural na sentral na umiinog sa etnisidad at kasarian. Sa isang pulong nga, inusal ng isang kabahagi ng produksiyon na “[w]e should have a poetic license in the making of this film. What we are doing is a narrative film and not a documentary.” Ang lisya at dispalinghadong pananaw na ito ay hindi naman nagtagumpay at hindi naman din pinahintulutang maka-ungos pa bilang makatwirang disposisyon. Ang pang-aabuso sa ideolohiya ng licencia

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poetica ang sanhi ng napakaraming misrepresentasyon at isteryotipo sa mundo ng sining at pelikula.

Masalimuot na usapin ang representasyon sa mundo ng biswal na kultura at kasaysayan ng ating bansa. Sa kaso ng Tanabata’s Wife, kailangan naming problemahin kung papaano makatwirang ilalarawan ang mga tiga-Bontoc na nabuhay sa isang tiyak na panahon (1920s) na may espesifikong kontekstong panlipunan at kalinangang kultural. Kailangan nating isipin na ang mga tiga-Bontoc sa partikular o ang mga tiga-Kordilyera sa pangkalahatan ay mangilang ulit nang ginamit bilang mga subheto—sa anyo man ng potograpiya, mga newsreel footages o mga artikulo—upang isulong at selyuhan ang mga nananaig ng mga puwersang panlipunan, siste ng pag-unawa, at adyendang mapang-bukod sa ilalim ng yungyong na lohika ng mananakop (Vergara 1995; Rice 2014; Balce 2017). Sa kaso ng kontemporaneong panahon, may pag-uulit sa kolonyal na iskemang ito ng eksotisasyon, marhinilisasyon, at abheksyon na makikita sa mga popular na dokumentaryo na naglipana sa mundo ng telebisyon at maging sa mga dominanteng pelikulang produkto ng industriyang kultural. ’Ika nga ng antropologong si Arnold Azurin, lantay pa rin sa ating lipunan ang “internal na kolonyalismo.”

Upang tugunan ang ganitong mga hamon at usapin, kailangan naming magbasa ng mga libro ukol sa kultura ng mga tiga-Kordilyera, magsaliksik ng mga larawan kaugnay ng naturang tiyak na panahon, at makipanayam sa mga nagpakadalubhasa sa larangan ng iskolarsip kaugnay ng pag-aaral sa Kordilyera gaya ni Anna Christie Torres. Bagama’t hindi namin nasuyod ang lahat ng materyal kaugnay nito, masasabi kong hindi kami mga bargas na manlilikha na basta-basta na lamang gumawa ng pelikula na ang pinanghahawakang kalasag ay ang aming mga katiting na kaalaman ukol dito o sa kasamaang palad ay ang amin lang kahambugan bilang mga so-called artist ng mundong ito.

Pero ang higit na nakatulong sa amin ay ang paratihang pagsangguni o pagtatanong sa aming mga kasama na pawang mga tiga-Kordilyera na sina Shane Daweg, Rain Cosme, Mai Fanglayan, Kurt Alalag, Danilo Bulanay, at John Sagamla. Bagama’t hindi sila lahat tiga-Bontoc, wala silang pangingiming magsalita kung asiwa sila sa isang eksena, o kung sa tingin nila’y may hindi wasto sa mga damit o maging sa musika, halimbawa. Bagama’t hindi naman lahat ay paratihang sumasang-ayon sa isa’t isa, naging makabuluhan ang katas ng mga diskusyon at diskurso sa paglalatag ng pinal na bersiyon ng pelikula.

Naging proseso namin na ipalabas sa kanila ang mga footage at maging ang rough cut upang hingin ang kanilang opinyon ukol dito. Higit ding nakatulong ang pakikipagdaupang-palad sa mga kapwa manlilikha na sina Lester Valle at Carla Pulido (Dir: Walang Rape sa Bontoc) upang tilarin ang mga eksena o bahagi ng pelikulang


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problematiko sa konteksto ng kultura ng mga tiga-Bontoc. Minabuti naming maging self-reflexive ang proseso ng paglikha na may pag-iwas din at malay sa bitag ng romantisasyon at nativism. Ang prosesong ito ang naging dahilan kung bakit inalis namin ang eksena ng pagpapaalam ni Fas-ang sa Dap-ay, ang mahabang bersiyon ng sequence sa ofuru tub, o ang kinilig na hitsura ni Fas-ang nang inabutan siya ng bulaklak ni Tanabata, at maging ang pagpapaikli sa eksena ng pagtatalik. Mga desisyon itong maaaring tama para sa amin at maging mali sa iba. Ngunit ito’y mga desisyong aming pinanindigan at paninindigan.

Ang huling hamon na aming kinaharap ay ang amin mismong pagpaloob sa lohika at nananaig na “kultura” ng sineng indie. Biruan nga namin na “ang pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife ay nilikha ng mga taong hindi naman tunay na gumagawa ng pelikula.” At totoo iyon sa isang banda sapagkat kalakhan sa amin ay mula sa lilim ng akademya, o mundo ng panitikan, o ang iba’y mga nagtapos nga ng kurso sa pelikula o biswal na komunikasyon ngunit hindi na lumarga pa upang gumawa at maging bahagi ng industriya ng pelikula. Odd ang komposisyon ng production team dahil ang kabilang hati naman ay mga bihasa sa daigdig ng indie. Ganoon pa man, pinasok namin ang mundong ’di pamilyar sa amin na sa unang malas ay inakala naming magiging madali ngunit sa ikalawang sipat ay tunay na gagad sa salimuot.

Komersiyal na pelikula man o sineng indie, pera at kapital pa rin ang nagiging batayan upang mapausad ang pelikula o upang mabigyang buhay ito. Bagama’t may grant na natanggap mula sa TOFarm na nagkakahalaga ng Php 1.5 milyon, tunay na hindi naman namin ito napagkasya para matapos ang pelikula. Ang resulta ay pag-aabono mula sa kani-kaniyang ipon upang matapos lang ang nasimulan na. Bunga rin ang pag-aabonong ito sa maling estima sa mga gagastusin sa pelikula at kakulangan ng danas sa mundo ng paglikha ng pelikula. Dagdag mo pa ang pananalanta ng ’di inaasahang bagyo sa mga araw ng shoot na lubos na dumiskaril sa ideal na daloy ng napagkasunduang kondukta na naging dahilan ng mga bagong limitasyon. Nariyan din ang kalabisan ng tao sa produksiyon, ang pandudupang ng ilang naging kabahagi ng proyekto na sinunog na ng lohika ng industriya ang puso’t diwa, at siyempre ang pagiging bagito namin sa realpolitik at moda ng produksiyon ng pelikula.

Bagama’t naging ganoon na nga ang siste at kondisyon, pinilit kundi man iginiit pa rin namin ang diwa ng kulturang DIY (Do It Yourself) sa huli. Pinili naming hindi mag-edit sa mga malalaking production houses na ang tingin sa mga pelikula ay kalakal lamang ng negosyo. Hindi kami pumili ng mga artistang may “pangalan” upang magsilbing garantiya na “bebenta” ang pelikula. Wala rin kaming sinundang mabentang pormula o gasgas ng niche system kung saan ipapakat ang disenyo ng naratibo. At higit sa lahat, sumandal din kami sa mga kapwa manlilikha at kaibigan na may kahalintulad

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na pilosopiya gaya nila May-i Padilla, Carlo Tarobal, Kislap Alitaptap, Shane Daweg, Mao Portus, Rain Cosme, Charlson Ong, Nap Jamir, Benjamin Mirasol, Kurt Alalag, Mark Tan, Carla Pulido, Lester Valle, John Sagamla, Lito Casaje, Mai Fanglayan, Miyuki Kamimura, Jina Umali, Brian Arda, at Bojo. Ang kolektibong pagkakaisa at pakikiisang ito ang naging daan upang maisakatuparan ang dambuhalang ambisyon na maisalin sa pelikula ang maikling kuwento ni Sinai Hamada. Naalala ko tuloy ang puna ng kritikong si Rolando Tolentino ukol sa kasalukuyang kalagayan at kulturang nananaig sa daigdig ng sineng indie, ’ika nga niya na sisipiin ko sa kabuuan:

While the spirit of indie filmmaking calls for a solidarity of the margins, what is consequently being formed in the indie filmmaking scene is segmentation and fraternal links based on filmmaking styles, funding cliques, and international festival exposure. There was a time when indie filmmakers would help each other out in the financing and production of their films. But what is happening are indie filmmakers of the same persuasion assisting each other. The fizzing out of the “indie spirit” stems from the construction of segmentation of filmmakers based on filmmaking practices. When segmentation occurs because of the filters of funding source and exposure to international film festival markets, then what becomes of the indie cinema is an unprincipled and wavering kind of filmmaking practice, no longer contingent on the very idea of divergent filmmaking practice.

(Tolentino 2014, 13)

Sa totoo lang, hindi namin naging priyoridad sa paglikha ng pelikula ang pagpapalabas dito sa mga international festivals. Wala rin kaming ambisyon sa mga gawad. Mga bonus na lang iyon kung tutuusin. Pangunahing layon namin ang mapanood ito ng nakararami sa lahat ng paraan o pamamaraan ng diseminasyon at distribusyon sa pelikula. Dahil ang batayang imperatibo ng lahat ng ito ay upang maidarang ang mga manonood sa angking yaman, kahalagahan, birtud, at bisa ng ating panitikan upang maunawaan at matalos natin nang may lalim ang ating kasaysayan, lipunan, at pag-iral bilang mga nilalang at bilang bayan.

Ang librong Tanabata’s Wife: From Text to Screen ay naglalayong idarang ang mga mambabasa sa proseso ng pagsasalin ng isang tekstong pampanitikan tungo sa filmikong anyo nito. Nais nitong ipakita at ipaunawa sa mga mambabasa at maging sa mga manonood ng pelikula na isang komplikado, ngunit hindi imposibleng proseso,


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ang adaptasyon sa mga tekstong pampanitikan maging ito man ay nobela, maikling kuwento o mga testimonyo. Dagdag dito, na ang panitikan, dulang pampelikula at ang pelikula, ay marapat ding ituring bilang mga tekstong kultural na may kani-kaniyang partikularidad, alituntunin, at katangian.

Ang unang tatlong bahagi ng libro—ang muling paglalathala sa maikling kuwento ni Sinai Hamada, ang unang bersiyon ng iskrip na ipinasa sa TOFarm, at ang pinal na bersiyon ng dulang pampelikula—ay may layuning ihapag sa mambabasa ang naganap na transpormasyon mula sa orihinal na teksto hanggang sa pinal nitong anyo. Mababatid sa mga bahaging ito ng libro ang artistikong interbensiyon, subhetibong alterasyon, at reapropriasyon ng mga manunulat mula sa batayang teksto ni Hamada.

Ang ikaapat na bahagi ng libro, ang Danas at Poetika, ay naglalayong idarang ang mga mambabasa sa mga naratibo ng mga naging bahagi ng produksiyon ng pelikula. Bahagi nito ang sanaysay ng direktor ng potograpiya na si Nap Jamir at ang kanyang bisyon sa magiging biswal na hitsura ng pelikula. Mababasa rin ang sanaysay ng editor na si May-i Padilla at ang paglalatag niya ng kanyang naging proseso at inspirasyon sa pagtitimpla sa lohika ng mga idinudugtong ng mga serye ng imahen. Bahagi rin nito ang testimonyo ng assistant director na si Carlo Tarobal ukol sa kanyang danas bilang bagong gradweyt ng kursong pelikula. Inilatag din ni Jina Umali sa kanyang piyesa ang sinandigang pilosopiya sa isinagawang pagsasalin na may langkap na naratibisasyon sa naging karanasan sa shoot labas sa pagiging tagasalin. Kasama rin dito ang pahayag ni Mai Fanglayan at ang kanyang metodo sa pag-arte. Nagsasalimbayan sa pagsasalaysay ng danas ang pagmumuhon din sa poetika ng manlilikha at sa bahaging ito ng libro nais ipakita na hindi lamang direktor o manunulat ang may poetika ngunit ang lahat ng bahagi ng gramatika ng pelikula.

Ang huling bahagi ng libro ay ang paglalathala ng mga kritika sa textong pampanitikan at maging sa textong pampelikula. Minabuti naming isama ang larangan ng kritisismo dahil bilang mga nasa hanay ng akademya, matindi ang pagpapahalaga namin sa larangan ng kritikal na pagbasa bilang isang anyo din ng sining at hindi maihihiwalay sa anumang pagluluwal ng kahit anomang textong kultural. Ang bahaging ito ay naglalaman ng mga kilates nina Francis Macansantos, Anna Christie Villarba-Torres, Fred Hawson at J Neil Garcia.

Ang muling paglalathala ng maikling kuwentong Tanabata’s Wife ni Sinai Hamada ay pinahintulutan ni Tanya Hamada na kumakatawan sa pamilya Hamada. Pinahintulutan din ni Precila Macansantos ang muling paglalathala ng kritikal na sanaysay ni Francis Macansantos na In Focus: Sinai Hamada and the Power of Sympathy. May pahintulot din mula sa pamunuan ng Philippine Studies Journal at maging ng awtor na si Anna Christie Villarba-Torres ang paglalathala ng artikulong Fas-Ang:

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Cross Cultural Currents in the Literature of Sinai Hamada na unang lumabas sa naturang dyornal noong 1991. May permiso din mula kay Fred Hawson ang paglalathala ng kanyang review ng pelikula na Reverential References. Kaugnay nito nagbigay din ng pag-ayon si J Neil Garcia na maisama sa librong ito ang kanyang sanaysay na Love and Freedom: A Review of Tanabata’s Wife.

Bilang pagtatapos, nais kong ikuwento ang naganap sa isang forum matapos ang pagpapalabas ng pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife sa UP Film Center. Sa yugto ng bukas na talakayan, isa sa mga manonood ang nagtanong kay Mai Fanglayan kung sa paanong paraan daw ba mababago ng pelikula ang kondisyon ng mga magsasaka? Napatigagal siya ng tinanong.

Naisip ko na iyon din siguro ang marapat na palagiang tanong ng mga manlilikha sa kani-kanilang sarili. Tunay na hindi kayang baguhin ng pelikula, ng kahit anong pelikula, ang batayang kondisyon ng mamamayan. Tao at mamamayan ang babago sa buhay nila at magmamapa sa mas makatwirang kaayusan at tunguhin ng bayan.

Ngunit higit na maigi siguro na maging malay ang mga manlilikha ng sining na kailangan nilang maging bahagi sa pagbabagong ito ng ating lipunan. Na kailangan ng mga sining na hindi nagiging kasangkapan upang higit na linlangin ang sambayanan.

Agbiag!

SanggunianBalce, N. 2017. Body Parts of Empire: Visual Abjection, Filipino Images, and the American

Archive. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.Hayward, S. 2000. “Adaptation.” Nasa Cinema Studies: Key Concepts. London: Routledge, 3–9.Rice, M. 2015. Dean Worcester's Fantasy Islands: Photography, Film and The Colonial

Philippines. Quezon City. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Tolentino, R. 2014. “Introduction: Lino Brocka and the Legacy of Political Cinema.”

Nasa Contestable Nation-Space: Cinema, Cultural Politics, and Transnationalism in the Marcos-Brocka Philippines. Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press, 3–20.

Vergara, B. 1995. Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th Century Philippines. Quezon City. The University of the Philippines Press.

Conference RoomUP Film InstituteLungsod Quezon

16 Nobyembre 2018

MAIKLING

KUWENTO S

HORT

STORY

Maikling Kuwento/Short Story

1

Tanabata’s Wife..............................................................................Sinai Hamada

IFAS-ANG FIRST CAME to Baguio by way of the Mountain Trail. When at last she emerged from her weary travel over the mountains, she found herself just above the Trinidad Valley. From there, she overlooked the city of Baguio itself.

Baguio was her destination. Along with three other women, she had planned to come thither and work on the numerous roads that were being built around the city. Native women were given spades to shovel earth from the hillsides, and so make way for the roads that were being cut.

They were almost arrived. Yet Fas-ang knew of no place where she could abide in the city while waiting to be taken in as a laborer. Perhaps, she would stay in the worker’s camp and be packed in their smelly quarters. She had heard a lot about the tiered beds, the congestion in the long, low-roofed house for the road workers.

It was midafternoon. The four women and three men, new immigrants from Bontoc, walked on the long straight road of the Trinidad Valley. They never had


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before, in their lives, seen a road as long and as straight. After the regular up and down journey over hill and dell, the level road was tedious and slow to travel on.

Plodding at snail’s pace, they left the valley behind, passed through the narrow gap of the Trinidad River, and entered Lucban Valley. All along the road, the sight was a succession of cabbage plots, more and more.

And when they passed Lucban Valley and came to Kisad Valley, still there were rows and rows of cabbages. But now, the sun was sinking low behind the brown hills in the west. And the company thought of their abode for the night. For they had one more steep hill to climb till the city laborer’s camp. So they had been told. And their feet ached most painfully. Was there no door open for them among them thatched homes in the valley?

It was then that they came to the house of Tanabata san. The Japanese gardener was looking out through his tiny window as they were about to pass on. He halted them.

“Are you looking for work?” the gardener called out in his broken dialect. “Indeed we are, my lord,” one of the strangers replied. “If you like, I have work for two women, in my garden,” Tanabata offered. The men looked questioningly at the women. “Which of you would like to stay?”

one man asked.Only Fas-ang was willing to consider the gardener’s offer. She stepped forward.

“How much would you give me?” she demanded. “Ten pesos.”Ten pesos? Fas-ang asked for twelve, but Tanabata would not agree to that.

Wherefore, Fas-ang again reflected for a moment, and then confided to her companions, “I guess I’ll stay. There is but a difference of two pesos between what I’ll get here and my wage if I became a road worker. Who knows? My lot here may even be better.”

One of the remaining three women was also persuaded to stay after Fas-ang had made her decision. Tanabata was smiling as he watched the two make up their minds.

The rest of the company were going on their way. “So, you two shall stay,” the eldest of the group said, affecting a superior air. “Well, if you think it is best for both of you, then it is all right. You need not worry over us, for we shall proceed and reach the camp early tonight.”

In this way, Fas-ang first lent herself to Tanabata. She was at the height of her womanhood, then. Her cheeks were ruddy, though not as rosy as in her girlhood. She had a buxom breast, the main charm of her sturdy self. As she walked, her footsteps were heavy. And anyone would admit that she was indeed pretty.


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IITanabata had had no wife. For a long time now, he had been looking for one among the native women, hoping he would find one who might consent to be his spouse. But none did he ever find, until Fas-ang, guided by fate, came. He had almost sent for a Japanese wife from his homeland. He had seen her picture. But it would have cost him much.

Would Fas-ang, perchance, learn to like him and later agree to their marriage? This was only a tiny thought hatched in the mind of Tanabata as he sat one evening looking wistfully at Fas-ang. She was washing her feet by the water ditch in front of the house. Every now and then, she lifted her skirt above her knees, and Tanabata saw her clear, bright skin, tempting him.

After a time, Fas-ang herself would watch Tanabata. As they sat before their supper, she would cast furtive glances at him across the low, circular table. He was bearded. Sometimes, he let his beard grow for three days, and his unshaven, hairy face was ugly to look at. Only with a clean countenance, and in his blue suit did Fas-ang like him at all.

Well-dressed, Tanabata san would walk on Sundays to the market fair. Close behind would follow one of his laborers, carrying two heavy baskets over his shoulder. The baskets overflowed with the minor produce of the garden, such as strawberries, celery, tomatoes, spinach, radishes, and “everlasting” flowers. Fas-ang arrayed in her gayest Sunday dress, would trail in the rear. She was to sell the garden products at the market.

In the afternoon, the fair would be over. Fas-ang would go home with a heavy handbag. She would arrive to find Tanabata, usually drunk, with a half-emptied gin bottle still before him on the table.

Fas-ang would lay the bag of money on his crossed legs. “That is the amount the vegetables have brought us.” she would report.

“Good.” And Tanabata would release a happy smile. He always said gracias after that, showing full-trust in Fas-ang. He would pick out two half-peso pieces and give them to her. “Here, take these. They are for you. Buy yourself whatever you like with them.” For he was a prosperous, generous gardener.

On weekdays, there was hard and honest work in the gardens. The other native woman had gone away when she saw that she was not favored as Fas-ang was. So, Fas-ang, when she was not cooking, stayed among the cabbage rows picking worms. All that Tanabata did was to care for the seedlings in the shed house. Also, he did most of the transplanting, since he alone had the sensitive fingers that could feel the animate touch of the soil. He had but a little area to superintend, and only three farm hands to look after.


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New life! Fas-ang liked the daily turns that were her lot. Little by little, she learned to do the domestic chores. Early in the morning, she rose to cook. Before noon, she cooked again. And in the evening, likewise. In the daytime, the plates were mounted on a platerack and sunned. She washed clothes occasionally, more often when the laundress came irregularly. She swept the house. And, of course, she never forgot to leave a tea kettle steaming over live embers. Anytime, Tanabata might come in and sip a cup of tea.

IIIImmediately after noon on weekdays, when the sun was hot and the leaves were almost wilting, Tanabata liked to stroll and visit his neighbor, Okamoto-san. They were of the same province in Japan, Hiroshimaken. Okamoto had a Benguet woman for a wife. Kawane was an industrious and amiable companion. The only fault Okamoto found in Kawane was her ignorance. She had no idea of the world beyond her small valley.

One afternoon, Tanabata as usual paid his friend a visit. This was of great consequence, for he had a mind to ask Okamoto if he thought Fas-ang could be a fit wife for him. Tanabata was slow in broaching the subject to his friend, but he was direct:

“I think, I shall marry that woman.” Tanabata said.“Which woman—Fas-ang?” Okamoto asked. “Yes.”“She is a good woman, I think. She seems to behave well.”“I have known her for only a short time. Do you think she will behave as well

always?” Tanabata asked earnestly.Okamoto was hesitant and would not be explicit. “I cannot tell. But look at my

wife. She is a peaceful woman,” he answered simply. “There, my good friend,” Tanabata reminded his neighbor, “you forget that your

wife is of the Benguet tribe, while Fas-ang is of the Bontoc tribe.”“Yet, they are good friends, as much as we are,” came Okamoto’s bright rejoinder.

And they both laughed.

IVTwo days later, Tanabata proposed to Fas-ang. He had frequently teased her before. But now, he was gravely concerned about what he had to tell. He had great respect for this sturdy, native woman.

He called Fas-ang into the big room where she had heretofore seldom entered except to clean. It was dimly lighted. Fas-ang went in, unafraid. It seemed she had anticipated this. She sat close beside him on a trunk. Tanabata talked carefully, convincingly, and long. He explained to her, as best he could, his intentions. At last,


5

she yielded. Without ceremony and without the law, they were wedded by a tacitly sworn agreement between themselves.

As has been said, Fas-ang did not find it difficult to tend the truck garden. To be sure, it was sometimes dull. Now and then she would get exasperated with the routine work. But only for a short time. Ordinarily, she was patient, bending over the plants as she rid them of their worms, or gathered them for the sale in the market. Even her hands had been taught to handle with care the tender seedlings, which almost had to be prodded to grow luxuriantly.

When the sunbeams filled the valley, and the dewy leaves were glistening, it was a joy to watch the fluttering white butterflies that flitted all over the gardens. They were pests, for their chrysalides mercilessly devoured the green vegetables. Still, their advent in the bright morning would stir the laborers to be up and doing before they, themselves, were outdone by the insects.

In time, Fas-ang was introduced to Japanese customs. Thus, she learned to use chopsticks after being prevailed upon by Tanabata; they had a zinc tub outside their hut wherein they heated water and took a bath in the evening; Fas-ang pickled radish after the Japanese fashion, salting them in a barrel; she began to use wooden shoes, though of the Filipino variety, and left them outside their bedroom before she retired; she became used to drinking tea and pouring much toyo sauce into their viands; mattresses too, and no longer a plain mat, formed her beddings.

A year after they were married, they had a child, a boy. The baby was a darling. Tanabata decided to celebrate the coming of this new being. He gave a baptismal party to which were invited his Japanese friends. They drank sake, ate Japanese seaweeds, pickles, canned fish, etc.

But Fas-ang, amidst this revelry, could not understand the chattering of her guests. So, she was very quiet, holding the baby in her arms.

The men (there were no women visitors) had brought gifts for a baby and the mother. Fas-ang was very much delighted. She repeatedly muttered her gracias to all as the gifts were piled before her.

Then the men consulted the Japanese calendar. Ultimately, the child was given the name of Kato. And the guests shouted banzai many times, tossing glassfuls of sake to the ceiling. They wished the mother and child, good luck.

Tanabata was most solicitous toward Fas-ang as she began to recover from the emaciation caused by her strenuous childbirth. He would not allow her to go out. She must stay indoors for a month. It was another Japanese custom.

At length, when August had passed, Fas-ang once more stepped out into the sunshine, warm and free. The pallor of her cheeks had gone. She was alive and young


6

again. Her old springy steps came back and she walked briskly, full of strength and passion, it seemed.

VBut what news of home? Fas-ang yearned to learn from her folks back in Bisao, Bontoc. Had the kaingins been planted with camote and corn? Her kinsmen had heard of her delivering a child, and they sent a boy cousin to inquire about her. He was told to see if Fas-ang lived happily, and if her Japanese husband really treated her well. If not, they would do him harm. The Bontocs, or busol, are fierce.

The cousin came, Tanabata entertained him well. He bought short pants for the Igorot boy and told him to do away with his G-string. The boy was much pleased. After a week, the boy said he would go back. And Tanabata bought some more clothes for him.

Fas-ang saw her cousin off. (Tanabata was in the shed house, cultivating the seedlings.) She instructed him well: “Tell Ama and Ina I am happy here. They must not worry about me. My husband is kind, and I’m never in want. Give them this little money that I have saved for them. You see, I have a child, so I shall live here a long, long time yet. But I do wish I could go home sometime and see Ama and Ina. Often I feel homesick.”

She wept. And when her cousin saw her tears, he wept also. Then they parted.

VIIt was no hidden truth that Tanabata loved his wife dearly. In every way, he tried to show his affection. Once, he had not allowed her to go to the city to see the movies. But he repented afterwards and sent her there without her asking.

Fas-ang soon became a cine addict. She went to the shows with one of the garden boys. Sometimes, she took her baby along. She carried the baby on her back. They had to bring a kerosene lamp with them to light their way, coming home. They would return near midnight.

Tanabata, alone, would stay at home. He sat up, reading his books, Japanese novels. When Fas-ang arrived, she would be garrulous with what she had seen. Tanabata would tuck her under the thick blankets to warm her cold feet. She would easily then fall asleep. Then, after she had dozed off, he would retire himself.

More and more, Fas-ang liked to attend the shows. The city was two miles away. But that did not matter. The theater was fascinating. Moreover, Fas-ang admitted, she often met several of her relatives and townmates in the theater. They, too, had learned to frequent the cine. Together, they had a good time.


7

Tanabata asked Okamoto what he thought of Fas-ang’s frequenting the shows. Okamoto, being less prosperous and more conservative, did not favor it. He asked Tanabata to stop her. But Tanabata was too indulgent with Fas-ang to even intimate such a thing to her. Though inclined to be cautious, he loved her too much to deny her any pleasure she desired.

Thus, Fas-ang, after the day’s toil, would run off to the show. Tanabata had grown even more lenient. He could never muster courage to restrain her, much less scold her. She never missed a single change of program in the theater. Tanabata did not know what to do with her. He could not understand what drew her to the cine. For his part, he was wholly disinterested in screen shows, which he had attended but once long ago, and with which he had been disgusted. Still Fas-ang continued to attend them as devotedly as ever.

VIIOne night, she did not come home. She only returned in the morning. Tanabata

asked where she had slept, and she said, with her cousin at Campo Filipino. She had felt too lazy to walk all the way down to the valley, she said.

That whole day, she remained at home. Tanabata went out to the garden. Fas-ang rummaged among her things. She tied them into a bundle which she hid in the corner. She dressed her child.

Then, at midnight, when Tanabata was sound asleep, she escaped. She carried her child and ran down the road where her lover was waiting. They would return to Bontoc, their native place. The man had been dismissed from the military post at Camp John Hay.

Fas-ang left a note on the table before she left. It had been written by the man who had seduced her. It read: “Do not follow us. We are returning home to Bontoc. If you follow us, you will be killed on the way!”

When Tanabata had the letter read to him, he dared not pursue the truant lovers. The note was too positive to mean anything but death if disobeyed. He was grieved. And for three days, he could hardly eat. He felt bitterly, being betrayed and deserted. Helpless, he was full of hatred for the man who had lured his wife away.

Okamoto, faithful indeed, came to comfort his friend. He offered to come with his wife and live with Tanabata. But Tanabata would not consider the proposition. Nor could he be comforted. He politely begged his friends to leave him alone. He had suddenly become gloomy. He sat in his hut all day and drank much liquor. He shut himself in. The truck garden was neglected.


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Months passed. The rows of cabbages were rotting. Tanabata was thought to be crazy. He cared not what happened to the plants. He had dismissed the few helpers that were left him. Weeds outgrew the seedlings. The rainy season set in, and the field was devastated by a storm. Tanabata lived on his savings.

The rainy season passed. Sunny, cold November in the hills came. In a month more, Tanabata would perhaps go home to die in Japan. His despondency had not been lessened. When he thought of his lost boy, he cried all the more.

VIIIBut one evening, Fas-ang came back. She stood behind the house scanning the wreck left of what was formerly a blooming garden. She had heard back home, from wayfarers who had returned, of Tanabata. The man who had alienated the affections of Fas-ang had left her.

“Your Japanese husband is said to be ruining himself,” some reported.“He pines for you and his boy,” others brought back.“It is said he is thinking of going home across the sea, but he must see his little

son first,” still others informed her.Fas-ang at once decided. “Then I must return to him before it is too late.” And

so she came.In the twilight, she stood, uncertain, hesitant. She heard the low mournful tune

arising from the bamboo flute that Tanabata was playing. What loneliness! Fas-ang wondered if that now seemingly forbidding house was still open to her. Could she disperse the gloom that had settled upon it? There was a woman’s yearning in her. But she wavered in her resolve, feeling ashamed.

The music had ceased. She almost turned away when the child, holding her hand, cried aloud. Tanabata looked out of the window, startled. He saw the mother and child. He rushed outside, exultant. Gently, he took them by their hands and led them slowly into the house. Then he lighted the big lamp that had long hung from the ceiling, unused.

* First published in GRAPHIC, October 12, 1932. The best Filipino short story chosen by Jose Garcia Villa for the year 1933.

SINAI HAMADA was a short story writer and poet in English. He wrote “Tanabata’s Wife” in 1932. He was one of the founders of the Baguio Midland Courier. He was also a respected lawyer.

ISKRIP

SCRIPT

Iskrip/Script

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Fas-ang, A Script Inspired by the Short Story ‘‘Tanabata’s Wife” by Sinai Hamada ...............................................................................Charlson Ong

* Draft script is in English but final script will be in a mix of Benguet/Ibaloi, Kankanaey, Ilokano, Nihonggo, and English.

SEQ.1. EXT. FAS-ANG’S HUT. BONTOC VILLAGE. CIRCA 1920’S. DAWN.Dawn breaks behind the mountaintop.

Outside FAS-ANG’s hut, FAS-ANG says goodbye to her parents. She has a pasiking (backpack) on her back. (BONTOC)


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MOTHER: Is your heart set on this Fas-ang? You have not lived away from the village since birth. You know the world has become a strange place. It is one our ancients did not foresee.

FAS-ANG: I am the eldest, Mother. I am grown now. I must do what I can for the family. I cannot see my younger siblings go hungry. The kaingin gives little this season. Let me work for these strangers for now.

MOTHER: (Putting an earring on FAS-ANG’s earlobe) Here, child. What little I have.FAS-ANG: Thank you, Mother. I will treasure it always.FATHER: Forgive me, child. I am a useless father.FAS-ANG: Do not say that, Father. I see you slave like an ox. I know your heart bleeds.Father hands her an axe.FAS-ANG: No, Father, I do not deserve . . .FATHER: This is yours now, Fas-ang. You must keep it with you at all times. FAS-ANG accepts axe. She receives blessing from parents as she leaves. She sees her male cousin OKDO, looking at her from a distance. They nod to each other. He drops his head in sadness.

Plays nose flute as she goes away.

Montage of trekkers following the river over time.

SEQ. 2. EXT. LA TRINIDAD VALLEY. BAGUIO. SUNRISE.Sunrise over the valley. We see lush vegetable gardens. Two Japanese farmers, OKAMOTO SAN and TERADA SAN tend their vegetable garden. (Establish the local farmhands working in the garden)(NIHONGGO)

TERADA: Ay, maybe we still get a good crop this time.OKAMOTO: (Smoking a native pipe) You never know with this valley . . . fickle as a

woman.TERADA: Oh . . . don’t insult the valley.OKAMOTO: Ha . . . I’m sorry . . .TERADA: Ah, forget it.

They hear the sound of a flute. A melancholy tune flows through the air. It comes from the home of TANABATA SAN. A hut made of wood and bamboo. They look toward it. We see a figure in the distance playing his flute, seated by his patio.

Iskrip/Script

13

TERADA: Ah, there he goes again . . . that Tanabata . . . infecting the crop with his sadness. Pining . . . always pining.

OKAMOTO: You know how he is . . . he’ll be okay in a while.TERADA: Why doesn’t he just get himself a wife?OKAMOTO: You think that will help?TERADA: Better than making love to that damn flute every morning . . . Wasn’t he

sending for that girl . . . from Osaka?OKAMOTO: Too much money. And you never know what they send you . . . maybe

some old cow . . . TERADA: Ha . . . or bitch with three legs.OKAMOTO: You had a wife . . . TERADA: Okamoto! You really looking for a fight are you?OKAMOTO: Ha, just pulling your leg, Terada. Get the blood flowing . . . It’s cold . . . TERADA: Ah, better she’s gone. . . always pining for her home that one, her family

. . . as if I treat her badly.OKAMOTO: You spoiled her. I told you . . . don’t water your plants too often . . . TERADA: At least, your Kawane is still with you.OKAMOTO: She’s Benguet, not as fierce, they say, as the Bontoc or Ifugao. TERADA: She does not scare you then?OKAMOTO: Ha . . . ten shoguns cannot scare me. If only she were . . . less ignorant,

you know? She knows nothing of the world beyond the valley.TERADA: Count your fortune, friend. My Rosa, she knew so much. I thought she

would help me with the garden, with the government people. She’s from the lowland, you know . . . Christian? Yes, not too wild, like these mountain women, I thought . . . look what happened.

OKAMOTO: AH . . . We are strangers in a strange land, my friend . . . I think he will go home soon . . . (Looks to Tanabata’s home)

TERADA: You think he will sell us his garden, cheap?OKAMOTO: I’m telling you our friend is deeply troubled and all you can think about

is . . .

A native employee approaches. He is poised to leave.(ILOCANO)

BUKLAO: Okamoto san, Terada san, farewell. It was good to have known you both; you are good people.

OKAMOTO: So you are really leaving, Buklao? Why, has he been unfair?


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BUKLAO: No, not at all. He’s a good employer, fair, trustworthy. Good man, Tanabata san.

TERADA: So why you go? You go work for that no-good Calao? He cheat you . . . pay you peanuts.

BUKLAO: No, my son is growing. I have not seen him in two seasons. He is almost four seasons now, tall as a small deer in my dream. A man must be with his family. No?

OKAMOTO: Yes, of course. Go home, come back any time, there is always work.BUKLAO: Take care of him. He can be so quiet. Sometimes, it’s like working for a

ghost. (BUKLAO looks to TANABATA’s home)TERADA: Don’t say that, bad luck.OKAMOTO: Here, Buklao, some radish, you might try to plant them back home.BUKLAO: Gracias. Sayonara.

They watch BUKLAO walk away.

SEQ 3. EXT. BENGUET/BONTOC ROAD. SAME MORNING.A small group of Bontoc—two men and four women, including FAS-ANG—are walking the mountain trail. They have traveled far and finally come upon cabbage gardens. TWO or THREE of the women are bare breasted FAS-ANG is wearing a simple top.(BONTOC)

FAS-ANG: Ah . . . look, the strange crop, so much of them. The whole valley . . . MAN: We are near.WOMAN: I’m tired.MAN 2: I told you it was a long trek, you insisted on coming along.FAS-ANG: It will be dusk soon perhaps we can find a place for the night.MAN: What place? You think these Ibaloi will let Bontoc into their home?FAS-ANG: Why not? They are not all like you.MAN: Like me?FAS-ANG: Looking for a fight all the time.MAN: You fool! I only took you along as respect for your cousin Okdo.FAS-ANG: Then run along, we’ll manage.OTHER WOMEN: Fas-ang!MAN: (To MAN 2) Come Baging, let’s leave these women to their own devices, they’re

slowing us down.MAN 2: No, Lonto, we start out together, we stay together.

Iskrip/Script

15

MAN: Then you stay. (He hurries off)FAS-ANG: Go with him Baging, we can manage.MAN: No. (He eyes the other woman)WOMAN: Perhaps you can go on ahead to look for a place for the night before it gets

too dark.MAN: Yes . . . maybe, I should.FAS-ANG: Go ahead.(He hesitates then hurries off)FAS-ANG: Ah . . . finally.WOMAN: Why are you so glad? Our men are gone.FAS-ANG: Ah, whining, always whining these men if not fighting . . . now we may

have some peace.WOMAN: Baging is a good man.FAS-ANG: You like him?WOMAN: I might.FAS-ANG: Then run after him.WOMAN: So you want to be rid of me too? What are you really up to, Fas-ang?FAS-ANG bursts into laughter. The women join her. They sing a Bontoc song as they

trek on.

SEQ. 4A. EXT. TANABATA’S HOME. LATE AFTERNOON. SAME DAY. Establishing shot of the house as OKAMOTO and TERADA approach and call out to TANABATA.

OKAMOTO/TERADA: Tanabata san . . . !

CUT TO:

SEQ. 4B. INT. TANABATA’S HOME. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING.OKAMOTO and TERADA enter the hut with a jug of tapuy.(NIHONGGO)

TERADA: Tanabata san . . . enough of that music . . . too early in the day for your dirge. Come let’s drink.

TANABATA: And it’s not too early to drink that piss?TERADA: What you call piss? I gave the Ibaloi two fowls for this. Not bad . . . TANABATA brings out some sake.


16

TANABATA: Here . . . from that Nisei, Watanabe.OKAMOTO: Oh . . . you still have sake . . . and when were you going to tell us?TANABATA: Saving it for a good occasion.OKAMOTO: Oh . . . I think I sense something in the air . . . Terada . . . TERADA: Tanabata san . . . is it true? You’ve sent for someone?TANABATA: For your wake, Terada . . . I was saving it for your wake.TERADA: You crazy fool! Your man Buklao has left. Did not even want to say

goodbye to you . . . you make everyone sad with your damn . . . sadness! Snap out of it, man!

OKAMOTO: So what does that Watanabe want? Greedy dealer. Leech.TERADA: Buy up our crop again, for a pittance?TANABATA: He knows the government people, knows the law . . . saves us a lot of

trouble. If the Americans don’t buy up our crop, we’ll need him to sell some of it to the lowlands again.

OKAMOTO: Blood sucker. He is no longer one of us . . . no more Japanese in him.

(SILENCE)

TANABATA: My mother passed away.OKAMOTO/TERADA: Oh . . . very sorry.TERADA: When? TANABATA: (Letter in hand) Three months ago. TERADA: Should we drink to your mother then?TANABATA: You can drink to whatever you want Terada.OKAMOTO: Such is life, Tanabata san. All shall pass like the seasons, coming and

going, like our crop. We are farmers; we know this. We mourn, we cheer. My friend.TANABATA: She was 75. I was so young when we parted. I do not even remember her

face. So long ago . . . first they took me to Kyushu, we cleared the jungle; leveled the mountain; planted. Then it was Okinawa . . . then . . . when did we come here, Okamoto?

OKAMOTO: Must be at least twenty years, I’ve stopped counting. Just after the big war, against the Russians, was it? No more calendars for me . . . I remember, that odd looking boat. No one thought it could float . . . (Laughter) . . . and you were so . . . you could not swim . . .

TERADA: A Japanese who cannot swim?TANABATA: I was born in a mountain village.OKAMOTO: In Hiroshima-ken, like me, but he was a mountain monkey.TANABATA: And you still stink of fish.

Iskrip/Script

17

OKAMOTO: They asked if anyone wanted to go to the Philippines. We all looked to each other. What is that? Where?

TANABATA: One, maybe two weeks boat ride away . . . they told us . . . so much land to farm, few people. No winter, no snow, no more of that damn cold.

OKAMOTO: It was midwinter, wasn’t it, Tanabata? We were freezing, nowhere to stay, no work, pest infestation in the farms. We paid for our passage working in the tannery, two weeks, with burakumin.

TANABATA: We became burakumin . . . OKAMOTO: No, Tanabata! No! We are farmers!TERADA: Oh, stop that the two of you! Not again . . . OKAMOTO: Oh what do you know you were a carpenter! Always had it easy!TERADA: Easy?! I almost died building that Kennon Road. We dangled from ropes

over the mountains. Dynamite blasted our eardrums. We ate leeches. Hundreds died building that road, Okamoto! Many Japanese!

OKAMOTO: And always the good ones . . . huh . . . Terada?TERADA: Hush . . . listen . . . OKAMOTO: What?TERADA: (Hearing something goes to window) That song . . . they are singing again,

across the valley . . . the dead . . . hear it . . . remember us they say . . . TANABATA: Shut up! (Throws a rag at Terada)

CUT TO:

SEQ. 5A. EXT. VILLAGE ROAD. SUNSET. SAME DAYThe highland women, including FAS-ANG are walking down the road, singing a native song. The sun is beginning to set. They pass Tanabata’s home. The Japanese men overhear the women and come to the window to look.(ILOCANO/KANKANAEY)

Intercut between street and TANABATA’s window

OKAMOTO: Hey, where are you headed? Where are your men?WOMAN: We have none!WOMAN 2: And need none! (The women laugh)FAS-ANG: We are going to the work camp. We hear they pay good money to dig dirt,

make roads.TERADA: Dig dirt? You should be having babies.


18

WOMAN: Why don’t you make babies, Japan man? (Women laugh) Or maybe you just grow them like your cabbage? (Laughter)

TERADA: Come, I will show you how to plant very good cabbage.WOMAN: No, Japan man, we go to work for American in camp.TERADA: You like better his cabbage?WOMAN: We will see . . . we hear it’s really big, much bigger than yours. (Laughter)TANABATA: There is work here. My man just left. I need someone to help work the field.FAS-ANG: How much?TANABATA: Ten pesos and all the rice you can eat.FAS-ANG: Twelve.TERADA: Who do you think you are, the mountain princess?FAS-ANG: She carries my pail!TANABATA: Eleven.FAS-ANG: (Looks at him a while and nods)

OKAMOTO and TERADA ARE SURPRISED.

OKAMOTO: (Whisper) Too much, Tanabata, for a woman.TANABATA: My money.WOMEN: (To FAS-ANG, surprised) You want to stay with the Japanese?FAS-ANG: I have walked far enough.WOMAN: But we are to go to the work camp . . . we promised each other.WOMAN 2: There is work there . . . and . . .FAS-ANG: And what? What is this camp, some stinking, crowded jail where you can’t

even breathe? What do you hope to find there?WOMAN: Stores . . . with nice things, pretty clothes.FAS-ANG: That don’t fit us . . . shoes that hurt . . . WOMAN 2: Movies . . . I hear they have a new movie house in town . . . FAS-ANG: And what is that?WOMAN: Pictures that move . . . like real life.WOMAN 2: Yes, of other people and places! And people playing music.FAS-ANG: (BONTOC) You and your nonsense. If you two don’t get your heads right,

someone’s going to chop them off and sell them to the Ilokano or the white priest as totem.

WOMAN 2: Don’t say these things, (Indicating the men) they understand. You stay here . . . you know what he wants.

FAS-ANG: (Looking at TANABATA, who is also sizing her up) I know what I want.

Iskrip/Script

19

WOMAN: Your choice.WOMAN 2: I will go find Baging.

FAS-ANG NODS.

The women look to each other, they say their farewells and move on.

Okamoto and Terada look to each other, knowingly.

SEQ. 5B. INT. TANABATA’S HUT. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING.FAS-ANG stands at the door with her things. She looks around the hut. TANABATA indicates a shelf.

TANABATA: Put your things there.FAS-ANG does not move as if she’s still undecided.

SEQ 5C. INT. TANABATA’S HUT. EARLY EVENING.TANABATA and FAS-ANG have dinner by gaslight on a chabudai (low table). FAS-ANG is aghast at the spare meal on the table. TANABATA offers her PICKLED RADISH. FAS-ANG finds it strange, makes an effort to swallow. TANABATA stares at her; she swallows reluctantly.

SEQ. 5D. EXT. PORCH. TANABATA’S HUT. THAT NIGHT.FAS-ANG sleeps in a hammock. Restless.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 5E. INT. TANABATA’S BEDROOM. SAME NIGHT.TANABATA sleeps soundly on a futon tatami inside the house.

SEQ. 5F. INT. TANABATA’S HUT. EARLY MORNING.TANABATA comes out of his room to the smell of steamed rice. FAS-ANG has cooked breakfast.

TANABATA: You cooked rice?

FAS-ANG SILENT.


20

TANABATA sits at the table. FAS-ANG sets a steaming bowl of soup in front of him.TANABATA: You boiled my carrots too?FAS-ANG: And lettuce . . . and traded the strange crop for some pork.TANABATA: Oh . . . but I take it out of your pay.FAS-ANG: (Pulls away his bowl) So don’t eat.

She starts to slurp her soup. TANABATA watches her, then gets his bowl back and starts to slurp his soup. A look of satisfaction crosses his face.

SEQ. 6. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. SAME DAY.TANABATA is showing FAS-ANG how to tend the garden. She has not planted such crop so he tries to be patient but turns grumpy.

TANABATA shows her how to transplant the seedlings. He takes her hand and makes her feel the soil.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA: You must feel the soil. Know when she is ready, like a womb waiting to give birth. These things cannot be forced. Such is nature.

FAS-ANG is frustrated.FAS-ANG: I do not understand.

SHE GETS UP.

TANABATA: You are hopeless. I should have known better.FAS-ANG: And you are a poor teacher, a grumpy old man, no wonder they avoid you?TANABATA: Who avoids me?FAS-ANG: Everyone. Even the Japanese, they pretend to be your friends but talk

behind your back.

(SILENCE)

TANABATA: Ah . . . who cares? (Silence) What do they say?FAS-ANG: That you bring bad luck because you are always sad and grumpy.TANABATA: Fools. They think it’s about luck. They pray, sit on their ass all day, go

whoring in town and think their crop will grow on their own. Then they blame me . . .

Iskrip/Script

21

FAS-ANG: You go to town?(SILENCE)

TANABATA: No town has ever been good to me.FAS-ANG: You come from a nice town?TANABATA: I come from the mountains, like you.FAS-ANG: I like the town. I’ve been there, once. I think I will live there, someday.TANABATA: They don’t like us there. They want our money, our crop, our labor . . .

they don’t really want us.FAS-ANG: They just don’t like sad people . . . TANABATA sees a worm on a cabbage and picks it off.TANABATA: Pick off the worms . . . you can do that at least.TANABATA then goes back to the hut. FAS-ANG is irked.

SEQ. 7. EXT. BACKYARD. TANABATA’S HOUSE. ANOTHER DAY.FAS-ANG is hanging up her laundry when OKDO pays her a visit.(BONTOC)

FAS-ANG: Okdo!

OKDO and FAS-ANG embrace lightly.

FAS-ANG: How are you? How did you get here?OKDO: By foot, how else?FAS-ANG: How long has it been . . . OKDO: So you work for the Japanese?FAS-ANG: Yes. I help him tend the garden.OKDO: That’s all?FAS-ANG: Of course.OKDO: You never know with these foreigners.FAS-ANG: He’s been here a long time.OKDO: Still, they’re not like us. He treats you well at least?FAS-ANG: I eat what he eats. I have a place to sleep.OKDO: In his house?FAS-ANG: Of course. You expect me to sleep out here?OKDO: Be careful.FAS-ANG: You worry too much, always.


22

OKDO: You are my cousin, Fas-ang, distant but still . . . you know I liked you even when we were children.

FAS-ANG: But we aren’t children anymore, are we?OKDO: No. And so I must seek my fortune.FAS-ANG: Fortune? What happened to your payo?OKDO: Ah, let my brother have it . . . Father always preferred him, anyway. I have

enough of farming. I won’t be tied down to the earth.FAS-ANG: And where will you go?OKDO: Who knows? It’s a big world out there, Fas-ang. I have learned much from the

priest. I can speak English. You want to hear?FAS-ANG: Always a dreamer you are, Okdo. Wild like the deer, the old ones used to

say. You can’t eat dreams, you know?OKDO: And you talk like an old one. We are young, Fas-ang; we have life ahead . . .

come with me.FAS-ANG: Where? How will we live?OKDO: Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. I am going to enlist.FAS-ANG: Enlist?OKDO: At the American camp, John Hay. I will be a soldier; carry a rifle; shoot the enemy.FAS-ANG: And who is that?OKDO: Whomever the commander says.FAS-ANG: They will make you wash horses.OKDO: I will learn to ride . . . and to drive the horseless wagons.FAS-ANG: Grow up, Okdo.OKDO: You rather stay with him?FAS-ANG: I rather have food in my belly when I need it. He is not a bad sort.OKDO: Alright, but if he harms you . . . FAS-ANG: Stop it, Okdo. We are warriors no more.OKDO: I will be back . . . then you will come with me.FAS-ANG is silent. OKDO turns to leave.OKDO: Take care.

FAS-ANG looks after Okdo as he leaves. Meanwhile, TANABATA has been watching them from the shed where he tends the seedlings.

SEQ. 8. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.FAS-ANG is sleeping on the hammock in the porch. There is a gas lamp hanging on the pole. She is restless.

Iskrip/Script

23

TANABATA is in his room looking at the moonlight from his window. The light casts shadows before his bed and he is reminded of snow.

SEQ. 9. EXT. DAY. SNOW COUNTRY. DAY.This is a flashback/dream sequence. But it is as if we are watching an old black and white Japanese movie. It is winter in rural Japan. A woman is weeping, a boy is being driven away in an ox cart. Suddenly a wolf attacks.

SEQ. 10. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.TANABATA awakes in a cold sweat. He had a nightmare. He settles himself. Goes out to the main room for a drink and a smoke. He notices Fas-ang in the porch, fending off mosquitoes. He goes out. Hesitates then decides to call her.

TANABATA: Fas-ang . . . Fas-ang . . . FAS-ANG: Tanabata san . . . something wrong? Are you all right?

Tanabata signals for her to come inside. FAS-ANG is reluctant at first but does so eventually. TANABATA points her to an extra room/space in the house. He pulls back the curtain. There is a mat inside.

TANABATA: Sleep here.FAS-ANG: (Shakes her head)

FAS-ANG is reluctant. She nods, enters the room and closes the curtain.

TANABATA sighs and goes back to smoking.

SEQ. 11. EXT. MARKET/WORK CAMP. DAY.It is market day, perhaps Sunday. TANABATA has come with an Igorot helper and FAS-ANG to the open market to sell some farm produce. There are also dry goods, other stuff. It is by the work camp and FAS-ANG meets up with her friends. They are delighted to see other.(BONTOC/IBALOI)

FRIEND: Fas-ang . . . you’re fat as a pig to slaughter. He feeds you well, does he?FAS-ANG: You’re not too thin yourselves.FRIEND: We’re skin and bones . . . they pay us a pittance. We should’ve stayed with you.


24

FRIEND 2: Maybe he feeds you more than rice . . . (Laughter)FAS-ANG: Shut up! He’s my employer, don’t insult him.FRIEND: Oh . . . employer?FRIEND 2: And what are your chores?FRIEND: Tend the cabbages . . . water the . . . fowl? (Laughter)TANABATA: Fas-ang . . . come here, we have work.FRIEND 2: Your employer summons.FAS-ANG: I have to go, we talk later . . . have to sell.

(There is a lot of bargaining over the price of crop and goods.)(ILOCANO)

TANABATA: Don’t behave like that.FAS-ANG: Like what? They are my friends.TANABATA: While you work for me, you must act . . . proper.FAS-ANG: Then I do not work for you!

FAS-ANG drops her stuff and walks away. TANABATA is stunned. A customer wants to buy something from him. He hesitates but has to run after FAS-ANG.

TANABATA: Wait, Fas-ang.FAS-ANG stops, turns, and glares at TANABATA.FAS-ANG: What?TANABATA: Come we have work . . . I don’t understand what he is saying.FAS-ANG stands her ground, unmoving.TANABATA: Okay . . . I’m sorry. Perdoname.

FAS-ANG glares at him some more but returns to work.

(Meanwhile, American and Filipino engineers are planning the new town as construction goes on.)

SEQ. 12. EXT. MARKET AREA. SAME DAY, LATER.It is late afternoon, and the market is winding down. TANABATA counts his proceeds as FAS-ANG looks on. He squirrels away the money, then on second thought, gives some to FAS-ANG.

Iskrip/Script

25

TANABATA: Go buy something nice.

(FAS-ANG acts like she’s still sore but she takes the money and goes off, when she’s far enough, she rejoices like a young girl. She sees her friends, and they go shopping.)

(Meanwhile a young TEENAGED BOY is watching them. He follows them around and offers to help carry their load. They shoo him away. But FAS-ANG drops her purse. The boy picks it up and keeps it.)

(Later, TANABATA is carrying his vegetable back basket. His Igorot helper also carrying basket. He passes by a makeshift movie house where FAS-ANG and friends are lining up to see a movie.)(ILOKANO)

TANABATA: Fas-ang . . . let’s go!FAS-ANG: (Comes over) Let’s see this movie, Tanabata. It’s from your country,

Japan.TANABATA: No, we must go.FAS-ANG: You go, I want to watch!TANABATA: Fas-ang!

(They stare at each other again, as FAS-ANG’s FRIENDS watch from a distance. FAS-ANG stands her ground.)

TANABATA: Next time . . . we have to deal with the leftovers, so they don’t go to waste . . . come . . . (He changes his tone) . . . please.

(FAS-ANG relents and signals to his friends that she is leaving with TANABATA. On the way, FAS-ANG realizes she has lost her purse. She panics then is nearly tearful.)(ILOCANO)

TANABATA: What did I tell you? Be careful, you always act like a child. Good thing I did not entrust to you all our earnings.

(The TEENAGE BOY following FAS-ANG earlier catches up with them. He calls out holding the purse. FAS-ANG sees this and rushes to the TEENAGER.)


26

FAS-ANG: (Beating him) Thief! (Boy protects himself.)

(TANABATA intervenes.)

TANABATA: Stop that! He just gave you back your purse.

(FAS-ANG calms down.)

TIAGO: (To FAS-ANG) You dropped it, Manang.TANABATA: What is your name?TIAGO: Tiago . . . TANABATA: When did you last eat? You look like a mangy dog.TIAGO: Better if I were.FAS-ANG: Who are your people?TIAGO: I’m from the lowland. My mother died, I came to find my father who worked

the gold mines. They say he’s dead too.TANABATA: You can work?TIAGO: Anything.TANABATA: Okay.

(TANABATA hands his basket to TIAGO and signals for FAS-ANG to help him while TANABATA hangs back to enjoy the breeze.)

SEQ. 13. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.TANABATA, FAS-ANG, TIAGO, having dinner. TANABATA using chopsticks. TIAGO looks curiously at it.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA: Bad day.FAS-ANG: We sold nearly everything. You could not count all your money.TANABATA: And you think I earn all that? Ah, Fas-ang, you know how much I spend

on the farm? . . . Ay, there is no end to it.FAS-ANG: Why do it then?TANABATA: What?FAS-ANG: Why farm if you are unhappy doing it?TANABATA: What do you mean? What has happiness got to do with it? This is my

work. My life.

Iskrip/Script

27

(FAS-ANG shrugs.)

TIAGO: We had a small farm, tobacco. My grandfather and father planted. My mother got sick, we became indebted; so father came upland to look for gold. They all said, there was so much gold up here, you just pick them from the river, the streets.

TANABATA: Ha . . . ah, fool’s gold, everywhere fool’s gold. No such thing in life, boy. No one gives you anything for free, not even your own relatives. They will sell you off once their stomachs grumble. No worst animal than a hungry man, Tiago . . . remember that.

(TIAGO and FAS-ANG look at each other. TANABATA a bit tipsy from tapuy.)

TANABATA: This piss not too bad after all . . . here, have some . . . you old enough?

(TIAGO drinks some tapuy but FAS-ANG refuses.)

TANABATA: (To TIAGO) You sleep in the porch. (To FAS-ANG) You . . . (She glares at him) Sleep in your room.

(TANABATA gets up, singing a bit to himself, which is a surprise to his companions, waddles to his room.)

SEQ. 14. EXT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. BACKYARD. DAY.FAS-ANG is washing herself at the water storage/tub. TANABATA is espying her furtively from the house. After a while, he feels guilty and moves away. FAS-ANG looks to where TANABATA was earlier. She knows he was looking.

SEQ. 15. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING. As he leaves the window where he was espying FAS-ANG, TANABATA notices the small mirror that FAS-ANG had put up in her room. He comes over to examine it. He sees his own face and his beard. He decides to shave.

SEQ. 16A. INT. FAS-ANG’S ROOM.TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.FAS-ANG is asleep and wakes up suddenly she hears someone shouting outside. Instinctively, she reaches for the AXE under her pillow. She goes out of the room. Screams come from TANABATA’s room.


28

SEQ. 16B. INT. TANABATA’S ROOM. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING.FAS-ANG rushes inside Tanabata’s to find him having a nightmare. FAS-ANG shakes him, awake etc.

FAS-ANG: Tanabata san! What’s going on?TANABATA: No . . . no! Go away! Away!FAS-ANG: It is I.TANABATA: Who . . . who are you?FAS-ANG: Fas-ang.

(TANABATA steadies himself. Realizes he’s had another bad dream. Gets out of bed.)

TANABATA: I need a drink . . . (Goes for his jug)(ILOCANO)

FAS-ANG: (Grabs the jug from him) No more tapuy! I will make you salabat.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 16C. INT. DINING ROOM. LATER.TANABATA more settled, drinking salabat with FAS-ANG.

FAS-ANG: Don’t drink too much, the unseen ones can come to you while you sleep. Give you bad dream.

TANABATA: I do not need unseen ones to give me bad dream. Just thinking about the farm . . . the crop . . .

(FAS-ANG gets up.)

FAS-ANG: Wait . . .

(FAS-ANG goes to her room and quickly comes out again with a small jar of ointment.)

FAS-ANG: Take off your shirt.TANABATA: What?

(FAS-ANG starts to pull off his shirt so TANABATA does it himself.)

Iskrip/Script

29

TANABATA: Okay . . . okay . . .

(FAS-ANG sees the tattoo of a wolf ’s head on TANABATA’s back, as if he’d been branded. She applies the ointment on his back and starts to massage him.)

FAS-ANG: My people once were warriors. We suffered many wounds in battle. We learned to heal each other. I was taught as a girl to heal. They said I had the touch. I have anito with me.

(She shows him the anting-anting she is wearing around her neck. He glances at it indifferently.)

TANABATA: I follow the Buddha . . . sometimes . . .FAS-ANG: (Refers to the tattoo on his back) This tattoo is Buddha?TANABATA: That’s a wolf.FAS-ANG: Your family emblem?TANABATA: He was a savage. Bought me from my family. Branded me with his iron.

I was to be his slave, his soldier. But I ran away one night with some others. He came after us. I stabbed him. Then we ran and ran . . . until . . . I came here . . . still, he chases . . . Fas-ang, he won’t go away.

FAS-ANG: He lives . . . here (Pointing to Tanabata’s chest) You must let him out . . . or he will devour you from inside . . . Tanabata . . .

TANABATA: I know, I know . . . but I can’t . . . I am too weak.FAS-ANG: No you are not. You must let him out . . . then stab him one last time. You

understand?

(TANABATA nods like a boy. FAS-ANG continues the massage.)

SEQ. 16D. MONTAGE: SERIES OF SCENES SHOWING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOVE BETWEEN FAS-ANG AND TANABATA.Working side by side in the field, TANABATA picks a wildflower and gives it to FAS-ANG.Dining room. TANABATA teaches FAS-ANG how to make sushi, taking hold of her fingers to guide her on how to roll the nori and Japanese pickled radish.

Backyard. TANABATA shows her ofuro tub. FAS-ANG watches him curiously as she does the laundry. He shows her how to boil water using firewood for the tub. Fill in water. He soaks.


30

FAS-ANG and TANABATA sit on the porch steps and look at the garden. The sandals are outside the door. TANABATA shows her how Japanese women use the Japanese hand fan.

FAS-ANG comes in from the field with a basket of harvest. She’s sweaty and dirty. She proceeds to the water station (or to the stream) to wash her feet. TANABATA joins her. She playfully splashes water on his face. He is irritated but soon becomes playful as well.

FAS-ANG watching movie with friends, laughing. She walks home, tells TANABATA animatedly about the movie; he listens patiently, then tucks her into bed, covering her feet with blanket

SEQ. 16E. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.FAS-ANG enters the house, her body wrapped in a woven cotton cloth. Her hair is wet. She has just taken a bath. She stands at the window, combing her long, wet hair. TANABATA comes out of his room and sees her. Her bare back is to him. He sees a tattoo on her back. He stares at it, goes nearer, tempted to touch it. FAS-ANG senses his presence and turns to face him. He sees that the tattoo runs from her back, to her shoulder, to her bosom . . . a winding serpent on her body.

TANABATA: You have a mark too . . . it is beautiful . . .

(FAS-ANG uncovers part of her bosom to show TANABATA the rest of the tattoo. TANABATA is stunned, he is fearful.)

TANABATA: I’m sorry . . . I didn’t mean to—FAS-ANG: My grandmother gave me this, before her passing. Our women only have

tattoo on their arms. But she was always different. She said I will show it to my . . . husband, when he comes.

(FAS-ANG is in charge now. She takes his hand and lays it on her tattoo, just above her breast. They are both aroused now. They stand there looking at each other. Then TANABATA can’t help himself. He leans to kiss her. She returns his kiss.)

(Meanwhile, TIAGO is espying all of this furtively from outside.)

SEQ. 16E. INT. TANABATA’S ROOM. SAME NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TANABATA make love.

Iskrip/Script

31

SEQ. 17. INT. DAY. TANABATA’S HOUSE.TANABATA and FAS-ANG have spent the night together. They are beside each other on the futon. TANABATA takes out a small package, wrapped delicately in traditional Japanese style. He shows it to her. He unwraps it and we see a figurine carved from wood.

FAS-ANG: What is that?TANABATA: My mother gave it to me before we parted.

(FAS-ANG admires the figurine, Tanabata hands it to her gently.)

TANABATA: This is yours now.

(FAS-ANG receives it tentatively. She takes off her own native necklace and hangs it around TANABATA’s neck. They are now husband and wife. They hear OKAMOTO and TERADA come up the house raucous. OKAMOTO has a jug of tapuy. They see sake and viands on the table as TANABATA and FAS-ANG greet them.)

OKAMOTO: Oh . . . so . . . (He and TERADA look to each other knowingly.)

(TANABATA pours everyone a drink of sake.)

OKAMOTO: What shall we drink to then?TERADA: A good crop.OKAMOTO: Long life.TANABATA: Children.

(They toast. OKAMOTO and TERADA go into a celebratory song and dance routine. They bang on pots and pans. After a bit, TANABATA takes out his flute and plays for them but this time it is celebratory music. FAS-ANG watches all of this with a mix of gladness and apprehension.)

SEQ. 18. VEGETABLE GARDEN. DAY.FAS-ANG and TANABATA work in the garden. FAS-ANG is pregnant. Once in a while she picks a plump and juicy strawberry and devours it with relish. TANABATA is amused. He wipes the trickle of juice on her chin with his fingers.


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SEQ. 19. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. DAY.A native TATTOO ARTIST is giving TANABATA a new tattoo that will incorporate and transform the wolf ’s head into a different form. FAS-ANG is watching closely.

SEQ. 20. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. DAY.WATANABE, the dealer, has come to buy Tanabata’s crop.(NIHONGGO)

WATANABE: Tanabata san you know I always do my best for you. But I must eat too.TANABATA: Twelve pesos a kilo, Watanabe. I cannot sell lower.WATANABE: But Wong will not buy at more than ten.TANABATA: Ah the Chinese, everywhere, they give loan, they buy crop.FAS-ANG: (In ILOCANO) Cariño buys at twelve.WATANABE: Cariño? He will sell his own mother . . . TANABATA: Maybe we wait a while . . .WATANABE: The crops do not wait, Tanabata, the buyers in the lowlands do not

wait, the trucks, the trains . . . do not wait . . . FAS-ANG: I talk to Cariño. (Leaves)WATANABE: (Looks at TANABATA, surprised)TANABATA: (Shrugs)WATANABE: How long have you known me, Tanabata san? TANABATA: Very long . . . too long . . . WATANABE: Now you listen to this native woman? Your servant?TANABATA: My woman, Watanabe, my woman.WATANABE:(Mood changes) Oh . . . So . . . finally . . . I see . . . I see, okay we wait,

but not too long, one day we wait, alright, Tanabata san. Oh, Tanabata san at last planting something else . . . haha . . . As they say, the heart of a woman is a seed bed and a man’s love the true seedling.

TANABATA: One more word from you, Watanabe . . . WATANABE: Okay, okay we wait . . . but as they say, better remain ronin than marry

a shogun . . . (Laughs and leaves)

(FAS-ANG returns to sala. TANABATA and FAS-ANG look at each other.)

SEQ. 21A. EXT. BACKYARD. NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TANABATA soak inside the ofuro tub. FAS-ANG traces TANABATA’s new tattoo with her fingers. They make love.

Iskrip/Script

33

SEQ 21B. TRANSITION SHOT: DARK CLOUDS ON THE MOUNTAINTOPS.

SEQ. 22. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. DAY.The rains have come. TANABATA and FAS-ANG watch from their window as rain pelt their crop. They are silent. TANABATA seems to blame FAS-ANG.

FAS-ANG holds back tears.

SEQ. 23. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. NIGHT.A storm rages. TANABATA and TIAGO and a farm hand desperately try to cover the crop from damage. FAS-ANG comes to their aid. TANABATA dissuades her as she is pregnant but she insists. Then FAS-ANG goes into labor and collapses in pain on the muddy ground. TANABATA carries her into the house.

SEQ. 24. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.TANABATA lays FAS-ANG on a mat on the floor. FAS-ANG is about to give birth. TANABATA panics.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA: Wait . . . I call Okomoto—

But FAS-ANG holds on to him.

FAS-ANG: Stay, I need your help . . . I can do this . . . this is how our women have always done it. Go boil some water.

TANABATA: Tiago, go get help—

TIAGO quickly exits. TANABATA goes to boil water. Then he goes to help FAS-ANG deliver their baby.

TIAGO arrives with OKAMOTO and KAWANE.

KAWANE: (To TANABATA and OKAMOTO in IBALOI) You men leave now—go outside. This is woman’s job.

(TANABATA, OKAMOTO, and TIAGO exit. KAWANE kneels between FAS-ANG’s legs and holds her stomach.)


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KAWANE: Now push, Fas-ang . . . push!FAS-ANG pushes with all her might.

SEQ. 25. INT. DAY. TANABATA’S HOUSE.Celebration for the baby. Friends and family are gathered. TANABATA, OKAMOTO, and TERADA are getting drunk. Talking and laughing loudly.

FAS-ANG, suckling the baby, looks at them in disapproval. FAS-ANG is no longer barefoot. She is wearing a Japanese kimono, her hair knotted in a bun, Japanese style. TANABATA and FAS-ANG are not relating to each other.

OKAMOTO: So who’s the godfather? Me or Terada? You choose!TANABATA: Who said it’s either of you?

They guffaw and clink sake cups. And shout “BANZAI.”

TANABATA: Fas-ang, more sake for our guests.

FAS-ANG stares at him, turns away.

TIAGO enters with A YOUNG EPISCOPALIAN MISSIONARY and A WHITE WOMAN. Everyone stops to stare at them as TIAGO introduces them to TANABATA.

TIAGO: My friends . . . Pastor Edward and Teacher Kelly. I go to school now, on Saturdays, no work.

TANABATA: Oh, good, good . . . learn something don’t be fool like me. Welcome . . . pretty teacher.

TIAGO translates.

MISS KELLY: Oh, thank you. You have a beautiful home.

TIAGO translates.

TANABATA: Thank you. My wife, Fas-ang, she cleans very well, like Japanese woman . . .

Iskrip/Script

35

FAS-ANG suspicious as she hears her name.

PASTOR EDWARD: (Demurs but decides to take drink) Oh well, the Lord won’t mind one drink.

TIAGO: I’ll be baptized soon,Tanabata san—TANABATA: (ILOCANO) I thought you are Christian?

TIAGO shrugs.

PASTOR EDWARD: If you want we can baptize your baby too—TIAGO: (ILOCANO) It is good, Tanabata san, good for baby be baptized.

(TANABATA looks to FAS-ANG who shrugs.)

TANABATA: No, no . . . Japanese no baptize.PASTOR: It’s alright, if ever . . . what is his name?TANABATA: (To his friends) What name?

OKAMOTO and TERADA consult a Japanese calendar hanging on the wall.

OKAMOTO: Hashi . . . see, it is season for bamboo.TERADA: Bamboo? No godson of mine will be named bamboo! Kato! Kato! Yes, Kato!

(FAS-ANG watches the group from where she’s seated at the low table with some relatives, a TEENAGED BOY and GIRL who are eating and an OLDER GIRL who is now carrying the baby.)

(FAS-ANG is pickling radish in the Japanese style using chopsticks that her relatives find strange. She is also rolling sushi.)

GIRL: Your parents ask about you, your mother had a dream, you gave birth to a hawk.

FAS-ANG: Tell them I am well, my husband is a good man.BOY: He makes you eat this strange food.FAS-ANG: It is not too bad. How is the kaingin?

(They are silent. She understands.)


36

FAS-ANG: (Hands them a purse) Here, please take this to them, my brothers, they must eat. Tell them I miss them all very much. I miss home, I will visit when I can. (She tears up.)

(The teenaged girl gives FAS-ANG a token perhaps from John Hay.)

GIRL: (Whispers) Okdo. He wants to see you.

FAS-ANG gets the token and quickly slips it inside her kimono. She glances at TANABATA to make sure that he did not see her. TANABATA is still drinking with his friends.

SEQ. 26. DAY. EXT.FAS-ANG’s cousins are leaving. TANABATA has bought them some clothes to take home and some crop.

SEQ. 27. (BLANK)

SEQ. 28A. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. ANOTHER DAY.As TANABATA tends to the garden, TIAGO arrives with four new local workers. They all look gaunt and hungry.

TANABATA: Who are these?TIAGO: We need more hands, Manong—to repair the garden.

TANABATA looks back at the house. FAS-ANG is standing at the porch watching them. She is suckling KATO. She looks at him indifferently, then turns and goes inside the house with KATO.

TANABATA sighs.

TIAGO: I think she wants to visit the garden now, Tanabata san. It’s been weeks.TANABATA: (ILOCANO) No, no . . . she must stay inside the house one month . . .

good for her . . . my mother always said, one month.TANABATA: (To TIAGO) Okay, they start work today.

Iskrip/Script

37

SEQ. 28B. EXT. BACKYARD. DAY.FAS-ANG looks out the window and sees TANABATA in the ofuro tub, playing with baby KATO.

FAS-ANG is hurt that TANABATA did not ask her to join them.

TANABATA: Fas-ang . . .

FAS-ANG goes out.TANABATA: Water is not warm enough . . . I told you . . . FAS-ANG: Then get more firewood!

SEQ. 28C. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.TANABATA is sitting alone at the dining table. He cannot eat. He stares at the food but doesn’t touch it. KATO is asleep in a cradle. He wakes up and whimpers softly. TANABATA gets up and goes to him. He rocks the cradle gently until KATO goes back to sleep.

TANABATA goes out to the porch and looks down the road. He is waiting for FAS-ANG. But the road is deserted.

SEQ. 28D. EXT. OLD BAGUIO MARKET. DAY.Establishing shot.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 29. EXT. MARKET. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING. It is market day and FAS-ANG and TIAGO have come to sell produce. FAS-ANG sees OKDO walking toward them. He is in uniform as employee (waiter) in Camp John Hay. (He wears Western garb above the waist, but G-string below.)

When he is almost near FAS-ANG, someone calls him.(ILOCANO)

ABAY: Okdo!

OKDO turns to see his friend, ABAY, talking to a tourist couple. The woman is carrying a native baby, cooing to him.


38

OKDO approaches them.

OKDO: Abay! What are you doing here? Don’t you have shift?ABAY: Oh, I change with Gabriel, I have some business today.

OKDO looks at the foreign couple playing with the baby.

OKDO: What you do? You sell baby?ABAY: HUSH! Don’t say that! I don’t sell. She’s an orphan . . . no one wants her . . . I

help right? She gets good parents, go to ‘Merika, everyone happy.

The male hands ABAY a gift

ABAY: Let’s go drinking sometime! It’s on me!

PENDING

OKDO goes to FAS-ANG.

FAS-ANG: You know that man? Bad man, I think.OKDO: I work with him. He is very capable, he is from the lowlands, he will help me

go places.FAS-ANG: Why?OKDO: And why are you living with an old, smelly farmer like Tanabata? You need a

young, strong man like me to warm your bed.FAS-ANG: Okdo, I’m working. Go away. You’re bad for business.OKDO: Come Fas-ang, I can take care of you now.FAS-ANG: Go away Okdo, just go away.

SEQ. 30. INT. MOVIE HOUSE. NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TIAGO watching a movie and enjoying themselves tremendously. It is a silent flick. Perhaps, Modern Times with Chaplin. There is piano music.

SEQ. 31. EXT. MOVIE HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.Outside the movie house, OKDO waits for FAS-ANG, he is squatting on the ground, necklace in his hand. He stands up and meets FAS-ANG when she comes out of the moviehouse with TIAGO.

Iskrip/Script

39

OKDO: Fas-ang . . . FAS-ANG: I told you to leave me alone.OKDO: Come with me . . . I’ll take care of you . . . I’ll give you a good life . . . I’ll make

you happy. You will not regret it.

FAS-ANG looks at him. We see that she’s conflicted.

SEQ. 32. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.At home, TANABATA is rocking KATO to sleep. He sings a Japanese lullaby while reading a manga/novel.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 33. EXT. BENGUET ROAD. NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TIAGO are walking home in the dim. They are still singing a tune from the movie.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 34. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TIAGO arrive. FAS-ANG is still excited about the movie. She tries to tell TANABATA all about it, but he is cross with her.

TANABATA: Why so late? You are a mother, behave like one.

(TIAGO tries to speak but TANABATA hushes him.)

TANABATA: Where did you sleep the other night?TIAGO: At Campo Filipino . . . TANABATA: Hush I say! I told you to go find her, not join her!FAS-ANG: It was too late.TANABATA: You have a home.FAS-ANG: Yes, not a cage.

(She takes KATO from his cradle and goes to her room in a huff.)


40

SEQ. 35. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.At the porch, TANABATA comes out for a smoke. TIAGO is resting.

TANABATA: Was there anyone else with you?TIAGO: (Some hesitation) No, Manong.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 36. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. MORNING.FAS-ANG suckles KATO. She holds up the necklace from OKDO and dangles it above KATO’s face. She smiles as KATO reaches for the necklace and plays with it. She hears TANABATA about to enter. She quickly hides the necklace. TANABATA enters and doesn’t even look at her. He gets a drink of water, then goes out again without talking to her.

SEQ. 37. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. SAME DAY.TANABATA, OKAMOTO, and TERADA are in the fields discussing the crop.(NIHONGGO)

OKAMOTO: The cabbage looks good, the strawberries . . . I don’t know . . . a bit sour. You eat that crap?

TERADA: Americans like them.OKAMOTO: Strange things they like, white people.TANABATA: Fas-ang likes them. Started eating them when she was pregnant.TERADA: You think it is good that she spends so much time in town, watching

those movies?TANABATA : A caged bird is never happy no matter what you feed her. She came

to me in the autumn of my life, I only want her to be happy, to be beside me, when I die.

OKAMOTO AND TERADA: Ah, stop it, you old goat! You are a father now, stop whining! A little half-breed but . . . not bad looking. Get the sake, Terada!

SEQ. 38. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE.SUNSET. TANABATA returns home from fields looking for FAS-ANG and KATO. He smells cooked rice, but no one is home. He finds this strange then sees a letter on top of table.

Iskrip/Script

41

SEQ. 39. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. ANOTHER DAY.Gathered inside the house are TANABATA, OKAMOTO, KAWANE, TERADA, and TIAGO, who is reading the letter aloud. FAS-ANG has eloped with OKDO who tells TANABATA they are going home to Bontoc. He warns him not to follow them or he will be killed.

TIAGO: (ILOCANO) Fas-ang and I are going back to our home. This is no place for us or her child. She must be with her own people. Do not dare come after us, you will die.

TANABATA is devastated though keeps calm.

TERADA: Maybe this is for the best,Tanabata san. You cannot tame such a wild creature.

OKAMOTO: No worry, friend, “the swallow may winter in the south but returns in summer.”

TERADA: And gets shot down.

(TANABATA glares at him.)

SEQ. 40. EXT. TOWN/WORK CAMP. NIGHT.TANABATA scours the town, marketplace, the work camp, looking for his family from morning till evening. There is a religious affair going on. A young convert is singing “Amazing Grace.” The missionary is there, nods to TANABATA.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 41A. EXT. OLD BAGUIO HOVEL. NIGHT.Establishing shot.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 41B. INT. MOVIE HOUSE. NIGHT.TANABATA is watching a movie. Perhaps a Chaplin film like Gold Rush. He is tearful. There is a news clip of Japan, maybe Japanese troops in Manchuria.

SEQ. 41C. EXT. HOVEL. OLD BAGUIO. NIGHT.Establishing shot.


42

SEQ. 42. DAY. INT. BAGUIO HOVEL. NIGHT.FAS-ANG is suckling KATO, he cries and she tries to hush him. OKDO is forlorn, drinking beer. He is pissed after having been fired from John Hay. (BONTOC/IBALOI)

OKDO: I broke one plate. One lousy plate!FAS-ANG: So they send you away without your rifle?OKDO: I was not born to wash their dishes! To serve food!FAS-ANG: Oh, maybe next time you lead the attack on termites.OKDO: Stop it, woman!FAS-ANG: Don’t shout at me, Okdo!OKDO: Let’s go home, Fas-ang. This is no place for us. I will share the payo with my

brother. He cannot deny me.FAS-ANG: Kato might not survive the trip. He is not well, I think. Let’s take him to

the doctor.OKDO: Doctor . . . they inject us with poison. Kill us all off!FAS-ANG: You fool!OKDO: Why keep him anyway? He is not one of us. He does not even bear our name!

Kato? What kind of name is that? Listen, Fas-ang, we can have many children of our own. True Bontoc like us.

FAS-ANG: (Holds KATO close to her bosom) He is mine! I don’t need any more!

(OKDO is shocked. Leaves angrily.)

SEQ. 43. EXT. MARKET AREA. DAY.From a distance, FAS-ANG with KATO, espies TANABATA and TIAGO selling their produce. TANABATA goes about his business but looks sad. He is also looking around, trying to spot FAS-ANG. He glimpses her, but FAS-ANG runs away. TANABATA leaves his produce to a stunned TIAGO and tries to chase FAS-ANG but can’t find her. He sees a piece of clothing on the ground that may belong to KATO. He picks it up and buries his face in it.

SEQ. 44. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. ANOTHER DAY.TANABATA is standing alone in his garden looking afar. He is forlorn. Close up of his face shows his anguish.

Iskrip/Script

43

SEQ. 45A. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDENTIAGO picking worms from the cabbages that appear to have been abandoned. OKAMOTO and TERADA come over.

OKAMOTO: (ILOCANO) How is he?TIAGO: (Shakes his head)TERADA: Ah, what had he done in his previous life to deserve this?OKAMOTO: Enough, I’m not hearing more of your Buddhist crap, Terada.TIAGO: He spends all day inside his house. He won’t work, won’t pay the help, they’ve

all left. I can’t do it alone.TERADA: We help you Tiago, but this can’t go on.OKAMOTO: Maybe we find him another wife?TERADA: Now you shut up!

SEQ. 45B. EXT/INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.OKAMOTO and KAWANE walk toward TANABATA’s place carrying a lantern and food. They enter his house and find him drinking. He is disheveled. They have brought him some food.(NIHONGGO)

OKAMOTO: Tanabata san, maybe Kawane and I stay here with you a while . . . what you think?

TANABATA: Why? You want to eat me out of my own garden? I know you, Okamoto . . . always trying to take my garden . . . alright take it all, take everything!

OKAMOTO: You old fool!TERADA: He just wants to help Tanabata.TANABATA: Help with what? You can’t wait for me to die can you? The both of you! Thieves!

(They turn to leave but TANABATA suddenly becomes remorseful.)

TANABATA: (Kowtowing) Pardon me, pardon my friends . . . I am an animal . . . I deserve to be slaughtered.

OKAMOTO: Oh stop that, you old goat.

(Calms down TANABATA. KAWANE shakes her head and leaves.)

(TIAGO enters.)


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TIAGO: There are too many worms on the cabbages. I can’t clear them myself, manong you have to pay the others.

TANABATA: (Mood changes again) Let them go . . . go all of you, leave me alone, take the cabbages, take the worms, take everything you want, leave me alone!

SEQ. 46. INT. BAGUIO HOVEL. DAY.FAS-ANG returns home and cannot find KATO. She has a bad feeling, rummages through her stuff to take out her dagger. She quickly leaves.

CUT TO:

SEQ. 47A. EXT. MARKET PLACE. DAY.FAS-ANG goes around the market looking for OKDO. Finally she sees OKDO with ABAY, standing in a corner and talking to a WHITE OR LOWLAND COUPLE. FAS-ANG runs over, brandishing her dagger. She points it at OKDO.

FAS-ANG: What are you doing with my son?!

The FOREIGNERS are shocked and back off. FAS-ANG quickly grabs KATO from OKDO. OKDO is too stunned and afraid to react, seeing the fury in her eyes.

FAS-ANG: Don’t ever show your face to me again!

She pulls OKDO’s necklace from her neck and throws it at his face. She quickly leaves with KATO.

SEQ 47B. Mood shot. Dark clouds on mountaintops. It looks like rain. Thunder rumbles.

SEQ. 48. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. DAY.The rains have come again and TANABATA’s garden is in worst condition. TIAGO looks at it forlorn. He is trying his best to keep it going. He turns to look at TANABATA’s house and shakes his head.

SEQ. 49. EXT. BAGUIO ROAD. DAY.Establish other workers. FAS-ANG works on the dirt road with KATO tied to her back. She is clearing some stones with her spade. She looks dirty and pitiful. The

Iskrip/Script

45

road is muddy. She sees TIAGO looking at her from a distance. He squats down in a gesture of imploring.

SEQ. 50. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. SUNSET.It is near sunset. TIAGO and FAS-ANG with KATO on her back come to TANABATA’s garden. They hear TANABATA’s flute but it is dark inside his hut.TIAGO stops and gestures FAS-ANG to proceed. FAS-ANG goes on reluctantly. She looks at TANABATA’s house and feels remorse. She decides to turn back. TIAGO urges her to go to the house but she refuses. Then KATO wails. She tries to stop him but a lamplight goes on inside TANABATA’s house. We hear him shouting—

TANABATA: Fas-ang! Fas-ang! Kato! Kato!

FAS-ANG stands still. TANABATA emerges and runs down to meet them. He embraces them.

TANABATA: What took you so long?

(They all move toward the house.)

TANABATA: Tell me all about the movie . . .

Meanwhile, TIAGO watches and smiles. A honeybee alights on his hand.We see them from farther and farther and higher and higher away we see the panorama . . .

END

CHARLSON ONG is an established fictionist and novelist in Philippine literature. Some of his works are An Embarrassment of Riches, Men of the East and Other Stories (1990 and 1999), Woman of Am-Kaw and Other Stories (1993), Conversion and Other Fictions (1996), Banyaga: A Song of War (2007, Anvil) and Blue Angel, White Shadow (2010, UST). He has won awards from Palanca, Free Press, and Graphic. He is resident fellow of the Institute of Creative Writing at UP Diliman.

DULANG

PAMPELIKULA

SCREENPLAY

Dulang Pampelikula/Screenplay

47

Tanabata’s Wife..............................................................................

Screenplay by Mao Portus, Carlo Tarobal, Choy Pangilinan, and Charlson Ong

Translation in Ilokano and Kankanaey by John Sagamla

SEQ.1. EXT. VILLAGE.DAWN CIRCA 1920s. Dawn breaks behind the mountaintop.

Outside FAS-ANG’s hut, FAS-ANG says goodbye to her parents. She has a pasiking (backpack) on her back.(KANKANAEY)

MOTHER: Is your heart set on this, Fas-ang? You have not lived away from the village since birth. You know the world has become a strange place. It is one our ancients did not foresee.


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Fas-ang, ay sino tet ew nan kanan di pusom et? Semkem ay usto tay naligat nu kumaan ka asnan bilig tako. Adi tako ammo nu sino nan wadad udom ay ili tay adi kan inmadawi isna manipud unga ka. Adi tako getken nu ipalubos nan Aappo tako ed Eyaka ay enka lumayaw.

FAS-ANG:I am the eldest, Mother. I am grown now. I must do what I can for the family. I cannot see my younger siblings go hungry. The kaingin gives little this season. Let me work for these strangers for now.Ina, nasiken ak et. Sak en nan inuuna isunga gekkek nan gawis para ken datako am in. Adik layden ay mauwat nan kakabsat ko. At atik nan mula ya nan ani tako edwani, isunga ameyak kud makiubla asnan sabali ay ili.

MOTHER:(Putting an earring on FAS-ANG’s earlobe)

Here, child.Naey, idwat ko ken sik-a na.

FATHER:Forgive me, child. I am a useless father.Anak ko ay Fas-ang, pakawanenak kud tay maid silbik ay ama ken dakayo.

FAS-ANG: Do not say that, Father. I see you slave like an ox. I know your heart bleeds. Ama, adim ibagbaga sa. Ammok ay layden yo nan pangawisan mi am in ay annak yo. Naligat tay keg kayo nuang ay man ubla. Man uga kayo kayo ay kanayon para kendakami. Maasi ak en sik a ama isunga sak en abe nan man ubla adwani.

(Father hands her an axe.)


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FAS-ANG: No, Father, I do not deserve . . . Ayaket Ama, aped pay na. Adik ammo nu para ken sak en nan wasay ay nay.

FATHER:This is yours now, Fas-ang, you must keep it with you at all times. You are with us, always. Idwat ko ken sik a na Fas-ang. Ilam ta adim litawen ya kanayon ay awitem ulay into man nan ameyam. Wada kami ay kanayon asnan abay mo.

(FAS-ANG accepts the axe. She receives blessing from parents as she leaves. She sees her male cousin OKDO, looking at her from a distance. They nod to each other. He drops his head in sadness.)

SEQ. 2. EXT. VALLEY. SUNRISE.Sunrise over the valley. We see lush vegetable gardens. TWO JAPANESE FARMERS, OKAMOTO SAN and TERADA SAN tend their vegetable garden. (Establish the local farmhands working in the garden) (NIHONGGO)

TERADA: Ay, maybe we still get a good crop this time.


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OKAMOTO: (Smoking a native pipe) You never know with this valley . . . fickle as a woman.

TERADA: Oh . . . don’t insult the valley.

OKAMOTO: Ha . . . I’m sorry . . .

TERADA: Ah, forget it.

They hear the sound of a flute. A melancholy tune flows through the air. It comes from the home of TANABATA SAN. A hut made of wood and bamboo. They look toward it. We see a figure in the distance playing his flute, seated by his patio.

TERADA: Ah, there he goes again . . . that Tabanata . . . infecting the crop with his sadness. Pining . . . always pining.

OKAMOTO:You know how he is . . . he’ll be okay in a while.

TERADA: Why doesn’t he just get himself a wife?

OKAMOTO:You think that will help?

TERADA: Better than making love to that damn flute every morning . . . Wasn’t he sending for that girl . . . from Osaka?

OKAMOTO:Too much money. And you never know what they send you . . . maybe some old cow . . .


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TERADA: Ha . . . or a bitch with three legs.

OKAMOTO:You had a wife . . .

TERADA: Okamoto! You really looking for a fight are you?

OKAMOTO:Ha, just pulling your leg, Terada, get the blood flowing . . . it’s cold . . .

TERADA: Ah, better she’s gone . . . always pining for her home that one, her family . . . as if I treat her badly.

OKAMOTO:You spoiled her. I told you . . . don’t water your plants too often . . .

TERADA: At least, your Kawane is still with you.

OKAMOTO:She’s Benguet, not as fierce, they say, as the Bontoc or Ifugao. She knows nothing of the world beyond the valley.

TERADA: Count your fortune, friend. My Rosa, she knew so much. I thought she would help me with the garden, with the government people. She’s from the lowland, you know . . . Christian? Yes, not too wild, like these mountain women, I thought . . . look what happened.

OKAMOTO:AH . . . We are strangers in a strange land, my friend . . . I think he will go home soon

(OKAMOTO looks to TANABATA’s home.)


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TERADA: You think he will sell us his garden, cheap?

OKAMOTO:I’m telling you our friend is deeply troubled and all you can think about is . . .

(A native employee approaches. He is poised to leave.)(ILOCANO)

BUKLAO:Okamoto san, Terada san, farewell. It was good to have known you both; you are good people. Agpakadaak on kenyayo Okamoto San, Terada. Mayat ta nag aammo tayo. Ammok nga mayat kayo nga gagayyem.

OKAMOTO:So you are really leaving, Buklao? Why, has he been unfair?Agpayso ngarud nga pumanaw ka, Buklao? Apay nagsaor ngamin isuna?

BUKLAO:No, not at all. He’s a good employer, fair, trustworthy. Good man, Tanabata san.Haan, haan nga dayta ti rason nga pumanawak. Mayat isuna, naanos, pantay pantay pay di panagtrato na kendatayo. Awan makunak kenyana.

TERADA: So why you go?Ket apay ngarud ngay nga pumanaw ka?

BUKLAO:My son is growing. I have not seen him in two seasons. He is almost four seasons now, tall as a small deer in my dream. A man must be with his family. No?


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Dummakellen jay anak ko. Nabayagen nga haan ko piman isuna nakitkita. Duwa nga tawenen manipod nagawidak ijay ili mi. Uppat nga tawen nan tatta, napaspas unay ti panawen, haan kadi? Iyarig ko isuna iti dakkel nga ugsa. Kanayon ko isuna nga malagip, isunga magawidak tapnu makitak met ti pamilyak.or#Dummakellen jay anak ko. Nabayagen nga haan ko isuna nakitkita.Duwa nga tawenen isuna, nagtayag a kasla ugsa ti tagtagitnep ko. Ti ama ket masapol nga kadua nat pamilya na, saan kadi?

OKAMOTO:Yes, of course. Go home, come back any time, there is always work.Agpayso ta makunam. Ala sige ngarud magawid kan. Agsubli ka latta ditoy ah. Lagipem ket ada ti maubra ditoy nga kanayon.

BUKLAO:Take care of him. He can be so quiet. Sometimes, it’s like working for a deadman.Wen. Alwadan yo isuna ngarud ah. Arig na ti natay ta haan pay suna sumungbat. Haan isuna nga agtag tagari nu mamingsan.

or #Alwadan yo isuna ngarud. Naulimek isuna. No maminsan, kasla natay ti kaubram.

(BUKLAO looks to TANABATA’s home. TERADA laughs.)

OKAMOTO:Here, Buklao, some horse radish, you might try to plant them back home.Buklao, daytoy ketdi ti rabanos, padasem man nga imula daytoy ijay ili yo.

BUKLAO:Gracias. Sayonara. Sala salamat kenyayo gagayyem. Agkikita tayon to manen.

(They watch BUKLAO walk away.)


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SEQ 3. INT. BAHAY NI TANABATA. GABI.Maayos ang bahay. Tila areglado lahat ng gamit. Makikitang nagsasalin ng tsaa si Tanabata sa maliit na kopita. Kukunin ito at maglalakad papunta sa kanyang maliit na porch. Uupo. Tila kaulayaw ang gabi sa kanyang pag-iisa. Bahagyang naririnig ang sikada. May tinatanaw pero tila walang tinitignan.

SEQ 4. EXT. BENGUET/BONTOC ROAD. LATE MORNING.A small group of Bontoc—two men and three women, including FAS-ANG—are walking the mountain trail. They have traveled far and finally come upon cabbage gardens. TWO or THREE of the Women are bare breasted FAS-ANG is wearing a simple top.(KANKANAEY)

FAS-ANG:Ah . . . look, the strange crop, so much of them. The whole valley . . . Ayaket, aped pay kagtudi! Ilan yo nan ani. Teke teken da gedan, ngem gawis kud. Ilan yo nan bilig ya nan dwang an!

MAN:We are near.Asideg tako et.

WOMAN:I’m tired.Nabbay ak. Laydek ay man inana kud umuna.

MAN 2:I told you it was a long trek, you insisted on coming along.Inbagak ken sika ay naligat nan daan ngem laydem gedan ay umali. Anusam adi.

FAS-ANG:It will be dusk soon perhaps we can find a place for the night.Usto man sa. Maawni et nalabi. Man anap taku si men lulongan tako.


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MAN:What place? You think these Ibaloi will let Bontoc into their home?Ento pay? Ay gekkem nu layden ngata nan Ibaloi ay umeyan tako ay Ifontoc asnan fafaey cha?

FAS-ANG:Why not? They are not all like you.Aped pay adi da layden? Baken da kaneg dakayo.

MAN:Like me?Keg sak en? Ay sino nan laydem ay ibaga et?

FAS-ANG: Looking for a fight all the time.Gulo nan layden yo ay kanayon.

MAN:You fool! I only took you along as respect for your cousin Okdo.Ayaket Fas-ang, nu baken ken kasinsin mo ay Okdo, ayatoan!

FAS-ANG:Then run along, we’ll manage. Ay sia uppay. Inkayo et. Kaya mi gedan nan bag bagi mi.

OTHER WOMEN:Fas-ang!

MAN:(To MAN 2) Come, Baging, let’s leave these women to their own devices, they’re slowing us down. Baging, umana ta et tay kapoy uppay nan bab babaey kakadwa ta.

MAN 2:No, Lonto, we start out together, we stay together.Baken kagtudi, Lonto. Idi menrubwat tako datako nan menkakadwa isunga datako gedan nan menkakadwa enggana malpas tako ay mandaan.


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MAN:Then you stay.A sia uppay. Sige ta umunaak ngalud.

(He hurries off.)

FAS-ANG:Go with him Baging, we can manage.Umuna ka et Baging, adi kan mandanag kendakami.

MAN:No. (He eyes the other woman.) Adi.

WOMAN:Perhaps you can go on ahead to look for a place for the night before it gets too dark. Gawis nu enka man ila si masiyepan tako. Malabi et yan nay ay menlagateyeng ya menbalikaog.

MAN:Yes . . . maybe, I should.Wen, tay innak ngalud man ila.

FAS-ANG:Go ahead.Wen, inka et.

(He hesitates then hurries off.)

FAS-ANG:Ah . . . finally.Aye, gawis ta maid da et.

WOMAN:Why are you so glad? Our men are gone.Aped pay ay nalagsak ka? Tay mid et kakadwa tako ay lalalaki?


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FAS-ANG:Ah, whining, always whining these men if not fighting . . . now we may have some peace.Wada nan talna nu maid da asnan tean tako. Nu maid gubat wenno gulo, maid gekken day sapuen et manreklamo.

WOMAN:Baging is a good man.Gawis ay ipugaw si Baging.

FAS-ANG:You like him?Ah, kaneg ikkam ay mankali et laylaydem sisya. Tet ewa kud?

WOMAN: I might. Wen samet. Laydek sisya.

FAS-ANG: Then run after him. Yaket, inka et ngarud, darsem, paspasam adi ay mandan ta inka ilan is Baging.

WOMAN: So you want to be rid of me too? What are you really up to, Fas-ang?Ayatoan, ibagbaggam samet sa tapnu mamid ak gedan. Ay sino pay nan laydem tet ewa et, Fas-ang?

(FAS-ANG bursts into laughter. The women join her. They sing a Bontoc song as they trek on.)

SEQ. 5. EXT. TANABATA’S HOME. LATE AFTERNOON.Establishing shot of the house as OKAMOTO and TERADA approach and call out to TANABATA. Nag-aagaw na ang dilim at liwanag sa mga panahong ito.

OKAMOTO/TERADA: Tanabata san . . . !


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CUT TO: OKAMOTO and TERADA enter the hut with a jug of tapuy.(NIHONGGO)

TERADA: Tanabata san . . . enough of that music . . . Come let’s drink.

TANABATA:I can’t drink that piss.

TERADA: What you call piss? I gave the Ibaloi two fowls for this. Not bad . . .

(TANABATA brings out some sake.)

TANABATA: Here . . . from that Nisei, Watanabe.

OKAMOTO: Oh . . . you still have sake . . . and when were you going to tell us?

TANABATA:Saving it for a good occasion.


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OKAMOTO:Oh . . . I think I sense something in the air . . . Terada . . .

TERADA: Tanabata san . . . is it true? You’ve sent for someone?

TANABATA: For your wake, Terada . . . I was saving it for your wake.

TERADA: You crazy fool! Your man Buklao has left. Did not even want to say goodbye to you . . . you make everyone sad with your damn . . . sadness! Snap out of it, man!

OKAMOTO: So what does that Watanabe want? Greedy dealer. Leech.

TERADA: Buy up our crop again, for a pittance?

TANABATA: He knows the government people, knows the law . . . saves us a lot of trouble. If the Americans don’t buy up our crop we’ll need him to sell some of it to the lowlands again.

OKAMOTO:Blood sucker. He is no longer one of us . . . no more Japanese in him.

TANABATA:My mother passed away.

Bahagyang matatahimik ang dalawa na tila ba may nagwaglit ng kanilang boses.

OKAMOTO/TERADA: Oh . . . very sorry.

TERADA: When?


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TANABATA:(Letter in hand) She died three months ago.

TERADA: Should we drink to your mother then?

TANABATA:Drinking won’t change anything.

OKAMOTO:Such is life, Tanabata san. All shall pass like the seasons, coming and going, like our crop. We are farmers; we know this. We mourn, we cheer. It’s a cycle.

TANABATA: She was 75. I was so young when we parted. I do not even remember her face. So long ago . . . first they took me to Kyushu, we cleared the jungle; leveled the mountain; planted. Then it was Okinawa . . . then . . . when did we come here, Okamoto?

OKAMOTO:Must be at least twenty years, I’ve stopped counting. Just after the big war, against the Russians, was it? No more calendars for me . . . I remember, that odd looking boat. No one thought it could float . . . (laughter) . . . and you were so . . . .you could not swim . . .

TERADA: A Japanese who cannot swim?

TANABATA:I was born in a mountain village.

OKAMOTO:In Hiroshima-ken, like me, but you were a mountain monkey.

TANABATA:And you still stink of fish.


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OKAMOTO:They asked if anyone wanted to go to the Philippines. We all looked to each other. What is that? Where?

TANABATA: One, maybe two weeks boat ride away . . . they told us . . . so much land to farm, few people. No winter, no snow, no more of that damn cold.

OKAMOTO: It was midwinter, wasn’t it, Tanabata? We were freezing, nowhere to stay, no work, pest infestation in the farms. We paid for our passage working in the tannery, two weeks, with burakumin.

TANABATA:We became burakumin . . .

OKAMOTO:No, Tanabata! No! We are farmers!

TERADA: Oh, stop that the two of you! Not again . . .

TERADA: Easy?! I almost died building that Kennon Road. We dangled from ropes over the mountains. Dynamite blasted our eardrums. We ate leeches. Hundreds died building that road, Okamoto! Many Japanese!When I was building that Kennon road . . . hundreds also died . . .

OKAMOTO: And always the good ones . . . huh . . . Terada?

TERADA: The good ones, in any generation, always die early . . . listen . . . That song . . . it’s the dead singing.Hush . . . listen . . .

(Hearing something, OKAMOTO goes to the window)


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OKAMOTO: That song . . . they are singing again, across the valley . . . the dead . . . hear it . . . remember us they say . . .

Tahimik lang si Tanabata habang nauulinigan ang himno. Ramdam sa mukha ang pag-iisip ukol sa namayapang ina.

SEQ. 6. EXT. VILLAGE ROAD. SUNSET. SAME TIME.The highland women, including FAS-ANG are walking down the road, singing a native song. The sun is beginning to set. They pass TANABATA’s home. The Japanese men overhear the women and come to the window to look. (ILOCANO [KAPAG HAPON ANG NAGSASALITA]/KANKANAEY)

Inter cut between street and TANABATA’s window

OKAMOTO: Hey, where are you headed? Where are your men? Anyangay, papanan yo. Ayanna dagiti lalake yo ngay?

WOMAN: We have none! Maid lal lalaki mi!


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WOMAN 2: And need none! (The women laugh.) Adi mi gedan masapul nan lal lalaki!

Dudungaw si Terada sa bintana. Makikita mula sa kanyang likod na patayo rin si Tanabata.

FAS-ANG:We are going to the work camp. We hear they pay good money to dig dirt, make roads. Amey kami asnan campo ay man ubla. Kanan day gawis nan trabaho, dakkel nan siping ay idwat da nu man ubla kami asnan kalsada.

TERADA: Dig dirt? You should be having babies. Apay dika la agaramid ti baby ta babae ka met? Haan mo bagay ti agtrabaho iti kalsada ta natapok.

WOMAN: Why don’t you make babies, Japan man? (Women laugh) Or maybe you just grow them like your cabbage? (Laughter) Yaket, sik a ay Hapon, sik a nan mansapo is beybi baken dakami ay babai. Wenno nan getkem samet et anggey ay ubla yan nan manmula si repolyo.

TERADA: Come, I will show you how to plant very good cabbage. Mayka ketdi ta isuroak sika nga agmula ti repolyo.

WOMAN: No, Japan man, we go to work for American in camp. Adimi layden ay man ubla para ken dakayo ay Hapon. Layden mi man ubla sin campon di Aamericano.

TERADA: You like better his cabbage? Ay isu, mas kayat yo jay repolyo ti Amerikano ngarud?


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WOMAN: We will see . . . we hear it’s really big, much bigger than yours (laughter) Adi min ammo, ilan mi kud nu dakdakke. Kanan da ay dakdakke nan repolyo nan Americano kanu. Nan repolyo nan Hapon et kikittoy . . .

Bumababa si Tanabata mula sa maliit na hagdan. Ito ang unang beses.

TANABATA: There is work here. Ada ti trabaho ditoy.

Nakatitig lang si Fas-ang kay Tanabata na tila ba inuuri ang pagkatao ng Hapon sa kanyang harapan. Habang ni hindi siya napapansin ni Tanabata.

WOMAN: What? Sino nan kanam?

TANABATA: My man just left. I need someone to help work the field. Pimmanaw jay maysa nga trabahador ko. Masapol ko ti tao nga agtrabaho ijay umaan.

FAS-ANG: How much? Kaat na pay?

Mapapalingon si Tanabata. May lamig ang tingin.

TANABATA: Ten pesos and all the rice you can eat. Sangapulo nga piso ken ado ado nga bagas. Makaamo ka nu maibos mo ti kaban kaban nga bagas, nu kayat mo ibusem pay amin ah.

FAS-ANG: Twelve. Simpuo ya duwa.


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TERADA: Who do you think you are, the mountain princess? Ni, apay anya ti kunam ti bag bagim aya? Princesa nga nagapo ijay bantay?

FAS-ANG: We own the mountains. Ukami nan kadunduntugan.

TANABATA: Eleven. Simpuo ya isa.

FAS-ANG:(Looks at him a while and nods)

(OKAMOTO and TERADA are surprised.)

OKAMOTO:(Whisper) Too much, Tanabata, for a woman. Nangina ta onse nga pesos para lang iti babae.

TANABATA:My money.Awan problema dita. Kuartak met diyay.

WOMEN:(To FAS-ANG, surprised) You want to stay with the Japanese? Umyan ka asnan kampon di Hapon?

FAS-ANG: I have walked far enough.Nabbay ak et ay manmandan. Ulay isnaak et.

WOMAN: But we are to go to the work camp . . . we promised each other. Kanan tako ay mankakadwa tako am in ay amey asnan kampo.


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WOMAN 2:There is work there . . . and . . . Wada’y ubla sidi. Et wada gedan . . .

FAS-ANG: (Looking at TANABATA, who is also sizing her up) I know what I want. Ammok nu sino nan laydek.

FAS-ANG nods.

The women look to each other, they say their farewells and move on.

OKAMOTO and TERADA look to each other, knowingly. Titingin si TANABATA kay FAS-ANG. Makikita sa likod nila ang bahay at taniman.

SEQ. 7. INT. TANABATA’S HUT. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING. FAS-ANG stands at the door with her things. She looks around the hut. TANABATA indicates a shelf. (Ilocano ang diyalogo ni TANABATA)

TANABATA: Put your things there.Ala, ikabil mo ta aramatem ditoyen.

(FAS-ANG does not move as if she’s still undecided.)

SEQ 8. INT. TANABATA’S HUT. EARLY EVENING. TANABATA and FAS-ANG have dinner by gaslight on a chabudai (low table). FAS-ANG is aghast at the spare meal on the table. TANABATA offers her pickled radish. Titingin lang si Fas-ang na para bang hindi alam ang gagawin. Kukuha si Tanabata gamit ang kanyang chopsticks. Tahimik ang lahat. Nakayukong kumakain si Tanabata. Nakatingin lang si Fas-ang.

TANABATA:Itadakimasu/ Let us give thanks for the food and eat.

FAS-ANG:Itada . . .


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TANABATA: . . . kimasu.

FAS-ANG:. . . kimasu . . .

TANABATA:There are many flies.Hmmm. Eat.Hmmm . . . I said eat.Like this . . . This is how you hold a chopstick . . . then you do this, this, this.Yes . . . yes . . . yes . . . That’s the way . . . Hold it in between the sticks, then eat.Why are you not eating?Aren’t you hungry?Give thanks and eat. Hold between the sticks. Eat. Hold between the sticks. Eat.Arrrgghhhh! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Hold between the sticks. Eat! Eat! Eat!This is how you hold the chopstick. This is how you eat this. This is how you eat this. This is how you eat this.Hmm . . . Learn how to do it.


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SEQ. 9. EXT. PORCH/TANABATA’S HUT. THAT NIGHT. FAS-ANG sleeps in a hammock. Panay ang baling. Aligaga sa kanyang pagkakahiga. Balisa. Didilat at tatanawin ang lupang kinukumutan ng dilim.

CUT TO: INT. TANABATA’S BEDROOM. SAME NIGHT.

TANABATA sleeps soundly on a futon. Nasasabuyan ng liwanag ng buwan ang kuwarto.

SEQ. 10. INT. TANABATA’S HUT. EARLY MORNING.TANABATA comes out of his room to the smell of steamed rice. FAS-ANG has cooked breakfast.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA:You cooked rice?ナグルート　イナポイNagluto kan ti inapoy?

TANABATA:Itadakimasu/ Let us give thanks for the food and eat.

FAS-ANG:Itadakimasu/ Let us give thanks for the food and eat.

(TANABATA sits at the table. FAS-ANG sets a steaming bowl of soup in front of him. Muli, ilalapag ni TANABATA ang pickled raddish na nakalagay sa maliit na platito. Kukuha siya gamit ang chopsticks. Mumuestra kay FAS-ANG na tikman ito. Iiling si FAS-ANG. Titingin sa mesa. Naiilang si FAS-ANG. Tila nagtatantyahan sila.)

(She starts to slurp her soup. TANABATA watches her, then gets his bowl back and starts to slurp his soup. A look of satisfaction crosses his face.)

SEQ. 11. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. SAME DAY.TANABATA is showing FAS-ANG how to tend the garden. FAS-ANG is not gentle when she tills the soil. TANABATA will look at her. He looks at Fas-ang as she tries to


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dig the soil. He takes Fas-ang’s hand and shows her a gentle way of handling the soil. FAS-ANG looks at him . . . wondering. They do not understand each other.

Marahas ang pagbungkal ni FAS-ANG sa lupa. Mapapatingin si TANABATA. Titingin siya kay FAS-ANG habang binubungkal nito ang lupa. Kukunin niya ang kamay ni FAS-ANG at imumuestra ang marahang pagbungkal sa lupa. Titingin si FAS-ANG na parang nagtataka. Hindi sila nagkakaunawaan.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA:Wait, wait wait. I will teach you . . . You must feel the soil. Know when she is ready, like a womb waiting to give birth.リクナアム　ダガ。アモッム　カヤット　ナ。

These things cannot be forced. Such is nature.ハァーアン　マサポッル　ポエルサ。(after no puwersa . . . ) What are you doing . . . I caught a helluva thing. Riknaem dayta daga. Masapol nga ammom nu anya ti kayat na. Kasla met lang nga babae dayta. Masapul na iti ayat ken panangtarabay. Masapol na ti danum ken panag apros. Kasla met lang ti turod ken aglawlaw tayo, haan nga masapol iti pwersa.


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(FAS-ANG is frustrated.)

(TANABATA then goes back to the hut. FAS-ANG is irked. Maiiwan si FAS-ANG sa gitna ng taniman habang matatanaw na palayong naglalakad si TANABATA.

Habang nakayuko sa harap ng mga tanim, hahawakan niya ang lupa na tila ba kinikilala ito. Kukuyumin ang lupa. Bahagyang naririnig ang mating calls ng mga ibon.

Patuloy ang paghalukay niya sa lupa. Mas marahan.)

SEQ. 12. EXT. BACKYARD. TANABATA’S HOUSE. ANOTHER DAY.Naglalakad si FAS-ANG bitbit ang mga burnay na naglalaman ng inigib na tubig. Habang paahon mula sa sapa, makikita si TANABATA sa may bintana ng kanyang bahay. Mapapatitig si Fas-ang dahil makikitang pasalubong sa kanya ang pinsang si OKDO.(KANKANAEY)

FAS-ANG:Okdo!

FAS-ANG:How are you? How did you get here?Okdo, gawis man ta inmali ka. Kasatnu ka pay ay nakadateng asna?


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OKDO:By foot, how else?Nannandan ak, et sino ngen kuma?

FAS-ANG:How long has it been?Aye, nabayag uppay ay adi tan nan inila.

OKDO:So you work for the Japanese?Et tet ewa ay man ub ubla ka para asnan Hapon?

FAS-ANG: Yes. I help him tend the garden. Wen, tet ewa kayman. Man ub ublaak ed umaan na.

OKDO: That’s all? Maid teken?

FAS-ANG: Of course. Wen. Sino ngen kuma.

OKDO: You never know with these foreigners. Ay sia. Adi takon ammo nan ik ikkan nan taga sabali ay ili. Lalo nan Hapon aynay da.

FAS-ANG: He’s been here a long time. Nabayag si Tabanata sina et.

OKDO: Still, they’re not like us. He treats you well at least? Ulay pay. Sabali da ladta. Kumusta nan panagtrato na ken sik a?


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FAS-ANG:He pays me well. I have a place to sleep.Gawis nan pasweldo na. Adu nan siping. Wada gedan nan kuarto ay masiyepak.

OKDO:In his house?Asnan baey na?

FAS-ANG:Of course.Wen ay.

OKDO:Be careful.Ulay, basta man annad ka.

FAS-ANG:You worry too much, always.Mandandannag ka ay kanayon.

OKDO:You are my cousin, Fas-ang.Kasinsin ko sika Fas-ang.


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FAS-ANG:I am not a child.Baken ak et mumuyang.

OKDO:Yes. But we must seek a better fortune.Wen. Ta innak kud man anap abes is pan gawisan.

FAS-ANG:Fortune? What happened to your payo?Pan gawisan? Ento pay nan payeo mo?

OKDO:I let my brother have it. I have enough of farming. I won’t be tied down to the earth.Induwat ama ken kabsat ko. Adik layden gedan nan mensama, naumaak et. Adik layden nan pitek et. Makapauma nan luta!

FAS-ANG:And where will you go?Ento pay nan umeyam?

OKDO:Who knows? It’s a big world out there, Fas-ang. I have learned much from the priest. I can speak English. You want to hear?Adik ammo Fas-ang. Ngem dakdake nan namnamak. Dakdake nan lubong yan mengagasing ak ay amey ilan. Adu nan insuro nan padi tako ed simbaan gedan. Ammok gedan ay mankali is English? Nay denggem kod.

FAS-ANG: Always a dreamer you are, Okdo. Wild like the deer, the old ones used to say. You can’t eat dreams, you know? Aye ka pay Okdo, isardeng mo kud sa. Kaneg nan iitwa mo et atap ay ugsa, sia nan kanan kayman Al alapo tako. Adi tako met kanen nan iitaw taku, agpayso kad?


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OKDO:And you talk like an old one. We are young, Fas-ang, we have life ahead . . . come with me.Aya, keg ka met ken Alapok nu mankali ka. Enta ilan nu sino nan wada para ken daita. Umali ka, enta ilan nan gawis ay biag ay kanan da.

FAS-ANG: Where? How will we live? Ento nan ameyan ta? Sino pay nan ikkan ta ay mabiag?

OKDO: Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. I am going to enlist.Adi ka mandanag. Manpa listaak?

FAS-ANG:Enlist?Manpalista ka?

OKDO:At the American camp, John Hay. I will be a soldier, carry a rifle; shoot the enemy.Ameyak ed Camp John Hay, man soldado ak asnan campon di Americano. Man armalite ak ya makigubat. Paltugak nan kalaban, Fas-ang!

FAS-ANG:And who is that?Aya, sino nan kalaban et?

OKDO:Whomever the commander says.Ayatoan. Adik gekken gedan nu sino nan kalaban. Basta nu sino nan kanan commander mi.

FAS-ANG:


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They will make you wash horses.Kanan da, wat mo et anngey amesen nan kabalyo.

OKDO:I will learn to ride . . . and to drive the horseless wagons. And you?Gawis di. Man adal ak ay mankabalyo. Gubat, basta innak maki gubat! Sika pay?

FAS-ANG:I’d rather have food in my belly when I need it. He is not a bad sort.Adik layden ay mauwat isunga isna ak. Baken met sisya ay kadwak.

OKDO:Alright, but if he harms you . . . I will . . . Ay sia. Ilam adi ta nu ngay layatan daka?

FAS-ANG:Stop it, Okdo!Usto man sa, Okdo!

OKDO:I will be back . . . then you will come with me.Mansubliak gedan. Kadwak to sika ay kumaan sina.

FAS-ANG is silent. OKDO turns to leave.

FAS-ANG looks after okdo as he leaves. Meanwhile, tanabata has been watching them from the shed where he tends the seedlings.

SEQ. 13. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.FAS-ANG is sleeping on the hammock in the porch. There is a gas lamp hanging on the pole. She is still restless.

TANABATA is in his room looking at the moonlight from his window. The light casts shadows before his bed. Tila nahahati ang kanyang mukha sa tama ng anino. Blangko ang kanyang titig. Malayo at malalim ang sinasabi ng kanyang mga mata.


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SEQ. 14. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.TANABATA awakes in a cold sweat. He has had a nightmare. He settles himself. Goes out to the main room for a drink and a smoke. He notices FAS-ANG in the porch, restless.

He goes out. Hesitates then decides to call her.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA:Fas-ang . . .

TANABATA signals for her to come inside. FAS-ANG is reluctant at first but does so eventually. TANABATA points her to an extra room/space in the house. He pulls back the curtain. There is a mat inside.

TANABATA:(Gestures na doon siya matulog)

FAS-ANG:(Shakes her head)

(Ituturo muli ni TANABATA ang silid. Tila naggigiit.)


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(FAS-ANG glances at the room. She nods, enters the room and closes the curtain.

TANABATA goes back to smoking. Bahagyang hahabol ng lingon sa silid na pinasukan ni FAS-ANG at muling ibabaling ang tingin sa kabundukan. Habang nakaupo, ilalabas niya ang flute.)

SEQ. 15. EXT. MARKET/WORK CAMP. Day.It is market day. TANABATA has come with an Igorot helper and FAS-ANG to the open market to sell some farm produce. There are also dry goods, other stuff. It is by the work camp and FAS-ANG meets up with her friends. They are delighted to see other. (KANKANAEY)

FRIEND:Fas-ang . . . you’re fat as a pig to the slaughter. He feeds you well, does he?Oy Fas-ang, ayeka, ilam kad tay manlalames ka. Ay gawis tay adu nan makan asnan baey Tanabata san?

FAS-ANG: You’re not too thin yourselves. Ilan yo kod. Parehas tako tay adi kayo met nabibigot.

FRIEND: We’re skin and bones . . . they pay us a pittance. We should’ve stayed with you. Ineh, nabibigot kami. Mid kanen mi ay usto. Ta isna kami kuma et adi kamin inmey asnan campo rin Americano. Menbabawi kami.

FRIEND 2: Maybe he feeds you more than rice . . . (LAUGHTER) Baken lang inapoy nan ipakpakan Tanabata san ken sik a kud?

FAS-ANG: Shut up! He’s my employer, don’t insult him. Baken kagtusa nan ikkan yo ay mankali kuma ken sisya. Sia nan among ko.


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FRIEND: Oh . . . employer? Yaket, among kad?

FRIEND 2: And what are your chores? Sino ngen nan am amagem ngarud sina?

FRIEND: Tend the cabbages . . . water the . . . fowl? (laughter) Manmula si repolyo, ya sibogam nan . . . kawitan?

TANABATA: Fas-ang . . . come here, we have work. Fas-ang, umay ka man ta ada trabahoen ta.

FRIEND 2: Your employer summons. Inka kanu kanan among mo.

FAS-ANG: I have to go, we talk later . . . have to sell. Nay ameyak et. Si awni kasin asitako mantungtong. Umeyak gedan man lako si nateng.

(There is a lot of bargaining over the price of crop and goods.) (ILOCANO)

TANABATA: Don’t behave like that. Apay nga kasta ka. Madi ti kasta nga ugalim.

FAS-ANG: Like what? They are my friends. Kasatno nga madi? Gagayyem ko isuda.


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TANABATA: While you work for me, you must act . . . proper. Nu ada ka ditoy ayan ko, dapat ket usto ta ugalim. Haan nga binarubal. Anya ka metten.

FAS-ANG: Then I do not work for you! Nu kasta ngarud, haanaken nga agtrabaho para kenyam!

(FAS-ANG drops her stuff and walks away. TANABATA is stunned. A customer wants to buy something from him. He hesitates but has to run after FAS-ANG.)

TANABATA: Wait, Fas-ang. Fas-ang, urayen dak man.

FAS-ANG stops, turns, and glares at TANABATA.

TANABATA: Come we have work . . . I don’t understand what he is saying. Umay ka. Adu pay ilako ta. Haan ko maawatan jay ibagbaga na.

(FAS-ANG stands her ground, unmoving.)

TANABATA: Okay . . . I’m sorry. Perdoname. Pakawannen dak, nu anyaman nagkabasolak.

(FAS-ANG glares at him some more but returns to work.)

(Sa di kalayuan, makikita ang ilang inhinyerong Amerikano na tila may itinuturo.)

SEQ. 16. EXT. MARKET AREA. AFTERNOON.It is late afternoon and the market is winding down. TANABATA counts his proceeds as FAS-ANG looks on. He squirrels away the money then on second thought, gives some to FAS-ANG.


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TANABATA: Go buy something nice . . . Mapan ka man gumatang ti uray anya dita. Basta mayat para kenyam.

(FAS-ANG acts like she’s still sore but she takes the money and goes off. When she’s far enough, she rejoices like a young girl. She sees her friends and they go survey the lowland stall.)

(Meanwhile, a young TEENAGED BOY is watching them. He follows them around and offers to help carry their load. They shoo him away.)

(FAS-ANG drops her purse. The boy picks it up and keeps it.)

(TANABATA is carrying his vegetable back basket. His Igorot helper also carrying basket. He passes by a makeshift movie house where FAS-ANG and friends are curiously lining up to see a movie.)(ILOKANO)

TANABATA: Fas-ang . . . let’s go! Fas-ang, intan!

FAS-ANG: (Bakas sa hitsura ni Fas-ang ang kagustuhan niyang mapanood ang sine. Ituturo niya kay Tanabata ang ad ng pelikula sa bungad ng estruktura.)

TANABATA: No, we must go. Haan nga mabalin. Inta ketdin.

FAS-ANG: You go, I want to watch! Mapan ka lattan. Ibati nak, kayat ko nga agbuya!

TANABATA: Fas-ang!


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(They stare at each other again, as FAS-ANG’s FRIENDS watch from a distance.)(FAS-ANG stands her ground.)

TANABATA: Let’s go. Intan!

(FAS-ANG relents and signals to his friends that she is leaving with TANABATA. On the way, FAS-ANG realizes she has lost her purse. She panics then is nearly tearful.) (ILOCANO)

TANABATA: What did I tell you? Be careful, you always act like a child. Good thing I did not entrust to you all our earnings. Anya ti imbagak keniam, agalwad ka ah kanayon. Kasla ka nga ubing, imbag ta haan ko inted ti amin nga sweldon keniam.

(The TEENAGE BOY following FAS-ANG earlier catches up with them. He calls out holding the purse. FAS-ANG sees this and rushes at the TEENAGER.)

FAS-ANG: (Beating him) Thief! (Boy protects himself.) Agtatakaw ka!

(TANABATA intervenes.)

TANABATA: Stop that! He just gave you back your purse. Isardeng mo daytan. Ited na laeng kanyam ta pitakam.

(FAS-ANG calms down.)

TIAGO: (to FAS-ANG) You dropped it, Manang.Manang, natinnag mo ta pitakam.


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TANABATA: What is your name? Anya nagan mo?

TIAGO: Tiago . . .

TANABATA:When did you last eat? You look like a mangy dog.Nangan kan? Kasla ka nga aso nga ada sakit na.

TIAGO:Better if I were. Mayat kuma nu kasjay ah.

FAS-ANG:Who are your people?Tagatno ka?

TIAGO:I’m from the lowland. My mother died; I came to find my father who worked the gold mines. They say he’s dead too.Nagapuak ijay baba. Natay ni nanang kon isunga immayak ditoy ta mapan ko kuma saraken ni tatang ko. Ammok ket agtrabtrabaho isuna ijay minas ti balitok. Ngem kuna da natay met lang ni tatang kon.

TANABATA:You can work?Kayam agtrabaho?

TIAGO:Anything . . .Uray anya dita.

(TANABATA hands his basket to TIAGO and signals for FAS-ANG to help him while TANABATA hangs back to enjoy the breeze.)


83

SEQ. 17. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT. TANABATA, FAS-ANG, TIAGO, having dinner. TANABATA using chopsticks. TIAGO looks curiously at them.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA:Bad day.Malas daytoy nga aldaw.

FAS-ANG:We sold nearly everything. You could not count all your money.Halos nailako tayon amin jay nateng tayo. Haan mo pay mabilang ta kuartam aya?

TANABATA:And you think I earn all that? Ah, Fas-ang, you know how much I spend on the farm? . . . Ay, there is no end to it.Ay apo, apay kunam ket umanay jay nailako tayo? Nu kuma ammon nu mano gastos ko ijay uma. Hay, awan patingga na nga gastos.

FAS-ANG: Why do it then? Ket apay ngarud nga ar aramidem pay lang?

TANABATA: What?Anya?

FAS-ANG:Why farm if you are unhappy doing it? Apay nga ag umuma ka pay lang ngarud nu naliday ka gayam?

TANABATA:What do you mean? What has happiness got to do with it? This is my work. My life.Anya kayat mo nga sawen? Anya kuma ti biang ti ragsak wenno liday ditoy. Isu ti kayat ko nga trabaho. Jay uma, dagiti nat neng, isuda amin ti biag ko.


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(FAS-ANG shrugs.)

TIAGO:We had a small farm, tobacco. My grandfather and father planted. My mother got sick, we became indebted; so father came upland to look for gold. They all said, there was so much gold up here, you just pick them from the river, the streets.Idi umuna ket adda met bassit nga umaan mi iti tabako. Ni tatang ko ken lolok ti agmulmula. Ngem manipod nagsakit ni nanang ko, immadu ti utang mi. Ti kuna da ket adu ti balitok ditoy ayan yo isunga simmang-at ni tatang ko. Adu kanu balitok iti karayan, uray pay jay kalsada ket mapid-pidot lang.

TANABATA:(NIHONGGO) Ha . . . ah, fool’s gold, everywhere fool’s gold. No such thing in life, boy. No one gives you anything for free, not even your own relatives. They will sell you off once their stomachs grumble. No worst animal than a hungry man, Tiago . . . remember that.

FAS-ANG:(TO TIAGO, ILOCANO) Lasing na ang Hapon na ito.Nabarteken daytoy Hapon nga daytoy.

(TIAGO and FAS-ANG look at each other. TANABATA is a bit tipsy from tapuy.)

TANABATA:This piss not too bad after all . . . here, have some . . . you old enough?Mayat daytoy gayam nga tapuey ah! Adu pay, kayat mo pay? Mabalin kan nga uminom, manu tawen mo aya?

(TIAGO drinks some tapuy, but FAS-ANG refuses.)

TIAGO:(To FAS-ANG) Maingay sila kapag lasing!!!Ngalawngaw da nu nabartek da!


85

TANABATA:(To TIAGO) You sleep in the porch. (To FAS-ANG) You . . . (She glares at him.) Sleep in your room.Sika, ditoy ka bangsal nga maturog. Fas-ang, maturog ka ijay kuwartom.

(Uulitin ang sinabi ni Tanabata sa wikang Kankanaey)

FAS-ANG:Sik-a, masiyep ka asnan segpan, Fas-ang, masiyep ka asnan kuartom.

(Lito si TIAGO pero matatawa na lang.)

(TANABATA gets up, singing a bit to himself, which is a surprise to his companions, waddles to his room.)

(Maiiwan ang dalawa sa mesa. Mapapatawa.)

SEQ. 18. EXT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. BACKYARD.FAS-ANG is washing herself at the water pump/tub. TANABATA is spying her furtively from the house. After a while, he feels guilty and moves away. FAS-ANG looks to where TANABATA was earlier. She knows he was looking.

CUT TO:

As he leaves the window where he was espying FAS-ANG, TANABATA notices the small mirror that FAS-ANG had put up in her room. He comes over to examine it. He sees his own face and his beard. He decides to shave.

SEQ. 19. INT. FAS-ANG’S ROOM-SALA. NIGHT.FAS-ANG is asleep and wakes up suddenly as she hears someone shouting outside. Mabilis ang kanyang bangon na may pag-aalala. Sisilip sa bintana. Instinctively, she reaches for the axe under her pillow. She goes out of the room.


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Mapapalingon siya sa kuwarto ni TANABATA. Makikitang binabangungot ito. Kagyat itong hihinto. Nakatitig lang si FAS-ANG. Kasabay ng pagkalma ni TANABATA mula sa panaginip ay makikitang kumalma ang mukha ni FAS-ANG. Hawak pa rin niya ang axe. Nasasabuyan ng liwanag ang kalahati ng kanyang mukha.

Bababad siya ng tingin kay TANABATA na gaya niya’y kalahati ng mukha ang nababatuhan ng liwanag.

Andap siyang lalapit kay TANABATA. Luluhod. Pagmamasdan ito. Iiikot ang tingin sa kuwarto. Ibabalik kay TANABATA ang tingin. Pahapyaw na idadampi ang kamay sa braso ni TANABATA. Agad din itong aalisin.

Makaraan nito, dahan-dahan siyang aalis pabalik sa kanyang silid. Hihiga. Babaling paharap sa ringding na naghihiwalay sa kanila ni TANABATA.

Sa pagitan ng kanilang mga silid ang nag niningning na kalahating buwan.

CUT TO:

Makikitang babaling din si TANABATA paharap sa dingding na naghihiwalay sa kanila. Imumulat ang mga mata. Dahan dahang tatayo. Maingat na lalabas sa sala, tila isasaalang-alang na walang magising. Didiretso sa kanyang porch. Uupo. Hihinga nang malalim. Bitbit ang bigat ng panaginip. Bakas ito sa kanyang mukha. Ibabaling ang tingin sa silid ni FAS-ANG. Bahagyang hinahangin ang tela na tumatakip dito.

Sa bawat kumpas ng tela, masisilip ang dulo ng axe at ang kalahati ng katawan ni FAS-ANG.

SEQ. 20. INT. DINING ROOM. MORNING.TANABATA more settled, drinking tea with FAS-ANG.(ILOCANO)

FAS-ANG:Don’t drink too much tapuy; the unseen ones can come to you while you sleep. Give you bad dream.Haan ka unay uminom ta tapuey. Baka umay agbisita dagiti haan tayo nga makitkita. Narigaten nu mabangongot ka.


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TANABATA:I do not need unseen ones to give me bad dream. Just thinking about the farm . . . the crop . . . Ay apo, mapanunot ko lang dagiti mulak nga nateng ket kasla mabangongotakon.

(FAS-ANG gets up.)

(FAS-ANG goes to her room and quickly comes out again with a small jar of ointment.)

FAS-ANG:Take off your shirt.Aglabos ka.

TANABATA:What?Anya?

(FAS-ANG starts to pull off his shirt so TANABATA does it himself.)


88

TANABATA:Okay . . . okay . . . Ala ngarud.

(FAS-ANG sees the tattoo of a wolf ’s head on TANABATA’s back, as if he’d been branded. She applies the ointment on his back and starts to massage him.)

FAS-ANG:My people are warriors. We suffer many wounds in battle. We learn to heal each other. I was taught as a girl to heal. They said I had the touch. Kabunyan is with us. Malagip ko ket nalaing kami nga makigubat idi. Adu a sugat ti narikna mi. Inagasan mi ti maysa ken maysa. Naisurwanak nga mangagas idi ubingak pay. Ada ni Kabunyan nga kanayon kenyami.

TANABATA: I follow the Buddha . . . Sarsarunwek ni Buddha.

FAS-ANG:(Refers to the tattoo on his back.) This tattoo is Buddha?Daytoy nga tattoo ket ni Buddha?

TANABATA:That’s a wolf.Lobo dayta.

(Bakas sa mukha ni TANABATA na mayroon siyang nililihim sa kanyang sagot.)

(Deleted lines refer to the origin of his tattoo.)

SEQ. 21. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. MORNING.Makikitang sabay na nagtatanim si Fas-ang at Tanabata. Ngunit ngayon, kaiba sa unang beses nilang magtanim, iba na ang paghawak ni Fas-ang sa lupa. Banayad. May lumanay. Sabay silang umaaruga sa lupa. May pagnanakawan din ng tingin. Habang makikita sa kanilang gilid ang hitik na mga tanim.

Mag-aabot ang kanilang mga mata.


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Lalamunin sila ng hamog. Muli, nauulinigan ang mga ibon at ang papasok na banayad na patak ng ulan sa lupa.

SEQ. 22. MONTAGE:Series of scenes showing the development of love between FAS-ANG and TANABATA.

Dining room. TANABATA teaches FAS-ANG how to make sushi, taking hold of her fingers to guide her on how to roll the nori and Japanese pickled radish.

Backyard. TANABATA starts to build an ofuro tub. FAS-ANG watches him curiously as she does the laundry. He shows her how to boil water using firewood for the tub.

FAS-ANG and TANABATA sit on the porch steps and look at the garden. The sandals are outside the door. TANABATA shows her how Japanese women use the Japanese hand fan.

Kuha ng mga tanim sa garden.

FAS-ANG comes in from the field with a basket of harvest. She’s sweaty and dirty.She proceeds to the water pump (or to the stream) to wash her feet.

Time lapse ng kabundukan.

Working side by side in the field, TANABATA picks a wildflower and gives it to FAS-ANG.

SEQ. 23. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT. FAS-ANG enters the house, her body wrapped in a woven cotton cloth. Her hair is wet. She has just taken a bath. She stands at the window, combing her long, wet hair. TANABATA comes out of his room and sees her bare back. FAS-ANG senses his presence and turns to face him.

FAS-ANG is in charge now. She takes his hand and lays it on her breast. They are both aroused now. They stand there looking at each other. Then TANABATA can’t help himself. He leans to kiss her. She returns his kiss.

Meanwhile, Tiago is espying all of this furtively from outside.

Muli, naroon ang huni ng mga ibon.


90

CUT TO: FAS-ANG and TANABATA make love in Tanabata’s room.

Tila sumisilip din ang buwan sa nasasaksihang kaganapan.

SEQ.24. INT. DAY. TANABATA’S ROOM. MORNING.TANABATA and FAS-ANG have spent the night together. They are beside each other on the futon. TANABATA takes out a small package wrapped delicately in traditional Japanese style. He shows it to her. He unwraps it and we see a figurine carved from wood. (ILOCANO)

FAS-ANG: What is that? Anya dayta ngay?

TANABATA: My mother gave it to me before we parted.ナナン。Sakbay nga nagsina kami ken ni nanang ko ket inted na daytoy.(FAS-ANG admires the figurine, TANABATA hands it to her gently.)


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TANABATA: This is yours now.パラ　ケンヤム。Para kenyam daytoyen, Fas-ang.

(FAS-ANG receives it tentatively. She takes off her own native necklace and hangs it around TANABATA’s neck.)


92

SEQ 25. EXT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. AFTERNOON.Nasa bungad ng pinto ang maingay na si Okamoto at Terada. Asal lasing na.

CUT TO:

Papasok na sila sa bahay ni TANABATA. OKAMOTO has a jug of tapuy. They see sake and viands on the table as TANABATA and FAS-ANG greet them.

May saya ang bungad ni Tanabata at Fas-ang.

OKAMOTO:Oh . . . so . . . (He and Terada look to each other knowingly.)

(TANABATA pours everyone a drink of sake.)

(TANABATA is drinking sake and singing a song while FAS-ANG is humming next to him.)

TANABATA:One drink!

FAS-ANG:(Gestures no)

TANABATA:One drink!

FAS-ANG:(Gestures no)

TANABATA:Okay, then. I will have a drink!

TERADA: Hey, Tanabata! It’s us . . . Terada and Okamoto.


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TANABATA:Oh it’s you, Terada and Okamoto.

TERADA: Good evening!

TANABATA:Come in . . . come in . . .

OKAMOTO:We came with . . . shomben (slang for piss).

TANABATA:Shomben . . . shomben . . .

OKAMOTO:What is today’s drinking party for? What shall we drink to then?

TANABATA:Today’s drinking party is for Fas-ang and me.

TERADA: No . . . no . . . no . . .

OKAMOTO:Why say that . . .

TANABATA: What are you talking about?

TERADA: You chose well. That’s a good catch.

TANABATA:Did I choose well? Is it a good catch?


94

TERADA: And also . . . you got yourself a pretty wife.

OKAMOTO:You have a drink too. (referring to FAS-ANG)

TERADA: Drink . . . drink.

TANABATA:She cannot drink. No, don’t . . . I will drink for her.

OKAMOTO:Wait, I will pour you a drink.

TANABATA:It’s a bad smelling sake (smelling the tapuy brought by Okamoto). This one smells good (referring to the sake he is drinking.) Be quick.

TERADA: Let’s drink . . . drink . . . drink.

TERADA OKAMOTO TANABATA:Kampai/Cheers!

OKAMOTO:Let’s drink for Japan.

(The three of them become quiet. Like there is something that crossed their minds.)

OKAMOTO:What shall we drink to then?Anya ngata ti mayat nga rason nga agrambak ken aginom tayo?

TERADA: A good crop.Adu nga ani!


95

TANABATA:Children.Adu nga anak!

OKAMOTO:Home.Balay. Naragsak nga pamilya.

(Bahagyang mapapatahimik ang tatlo. Tila may dumaang kung anuman sa kanilang mga isip.)

(They toast. OKAMOTO and TERADA go into a celebratory mood.)

(After a bit, TANABATA takes out his flute and plays for them but this time it is celebratory music. FAS-ANG watches all of this with gladness.)

OKAMOTO:What’s wrong? (Is something the matter?)

(Silence . . . )

OKAMOTO:Drink!


96

TANABATA:Wait . . . first, let me play the flute. (To FAS-ANG) I will play the flute. Everyone, let’s dance and have fun.

OKAMOTO:You will play the flute?

TANABATA:Wait . . . wait . . . wait . . .

TERADA: You seem good at playing that . . .

TANABATA:You have been hearing me play before. She always hears me play.

TERADA/OKAMOTO:Kampai/Cheers!

TERADA :Okamoto (referring to TANABATA). Okamoto (referring to OKAMOTO).

TANABATA: Hey, I am not Okamoto.

OKAMOTO:You are drunk (referring to TERADA).

TANABATA:He is drunk.

TERADA: Mrs., it’s okay.

TANABATA:My wife knows.


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TERADA: Tanabata, Tanabata, cheers!

TANABATA:Kampai/Cheers!

TERADA: Mrs., cheers!

OKAMOTO TANABATA:Kampai/Cheers!

TERADA OKAMOTO:It’s good.

TANABATA:Sake is good.

TERADA: It’s good . . . it’s good.

OKAMOTO:Why don’t you play again. Play that strange flute.

TANABATA:Thank you. I am happy/fortunate!

TERADA: Why are you doing that?

TANABATA:Because it’s a flute. Listen, okay?

TERADA/OKAMOTO:Let’s drink.

TANABATA:Listen, listen. This is for her.


98

TERADA OKAMOTO:(They laugh.) Enough . . . enough! It’s no good.

TANABATA:This is fun . . . These two are old men . . . They have their good.

TERADA: Let’s drink.

OKAMOTO:You don’t drink, Mrs.?

SEQ. 26. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. DAY.FAS-ANG and TANABATA work in the garden. FAS-ANG is pregnant.

Hinawakan ni TANABATA ang tiyan ni FAS-ANG.

Once in a while she picks a plump and juicy strawberry and devours it with relish.

TANABATA is amused. He wipes the trickle of juice on her chin with his fingers.


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SEQ. 27. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. UMAGA.WATANABE, the dealer, has come to buy Tanabata’s crop.(NIHONGGO)

WATANABE:Tanabata san, you know I always do my best for you. But I must eat too.

TANABATA:Twelve pesos a kilo, Watanabe. I cannot sell lower.For one kilo? That’s not enough.

WATANABE:Typhoon (is coming). (Prices are) cheap.

FAS-ANG:(In ILOCANO to TANABATA) Cariño buys at twelve.(In ILOCANO to TANABATA) Santos buys at twelve. Ni Cariño ket gatangen na dayta iti dose a pesos kada kilo.

WATANABE:Cariño? He will sell his own mother . . . (Sell to) Santos? Not good. (We have been) friends (for a) long (time). Who is she?

TANABATA:Maybe we wait a while . . .

WATANABE:The crops do not wait, Tanabata. The buyers in the lowlands do not wait, the trucks, the trains . . . do not wait . . .

FAS-ANG:I talk to Cariño. (ILOCANO, then LEAVES)Mapan ko latta kasao ni Cariño.

WATANABE:(Looks at TANABATA, surprised)


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TANABATA:(Shrugs)

WATANABE:How long have you known me, Tanabata san?

TANABATA:Very long . . . too long . . .

WATANABE:Now you listen to this native woman? Your servant?

TANABATA:My woman, Watanabe, my woman.She is my wife . . . she is my wife.

WATANABE:(Mood changes) Oh . . . So . . . finally . . . I see . . . I see, okay we wait, but not too long, one day we wait, alright, Tanabata san. Oh, Tanabata san at last planting something else . . . haha . . . As they say, the heart of a woman is a seed bed and a man’s love the true seedling.Oh! I see . . .


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TANABATA:One more word from you, Watanabe . . .

WATANABE:Okay, okay we wait . . . but as they say, better remain ronin than marry a shogun . . .

(Laughs and leaves)

(FAS-ANG returns to the sala. TANABATA and FAS-ANG look at each other.)

SEQ. 28. EXT. BACKYARD. NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TANABATA soak inside the ofuro tub. They make love.

SEQ 29. TRANSITION SHOT:Dark clouds on the mountaintops.

SEQ. 30. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. DAY.The rains have come. TANABATA and FAS-ANG watch from their window as rain pelt their crop. They are silent.

TANABATA looks at FAS-ANG.

SEQ. 31. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. NIGHT.A storm rages. TANABATA and TIAGO desperately dig a ditch. FAS-ANG comes to their aid.

TANABATA dissuades her as she is pregnant but she insists. Then FAS-ANG goes into labor and collapses in pain on the muddy ground. TANABATA carries her into the house.

TANABATA:Fas-ang, why did you come here? Fas-ang, go home. Fas-ang, I said go home. Fas-ang, please . . . go home. I said go home! I am begging you. Fas-ang . . . go home! Go home. Go home. I said go home! Fas-ang . . . Fas-ang . . .


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SEQ. 32. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.TANABATA lays FAS-ANG on a mat on the floor. FAS-ANG is about to give birth. TANABATA panics.(ILOCANO)

Fas-ang holds on to him.

TANABATA:Tiago, go get help—Tiago, agpatulong kan.

FAS-ANG:I can do this.Kayak daytoy!

(Tuloy ang lakas ng buhos ng ulan. Walang buwan at bituin ngayon sa kalangitan.)

SEQ. 33. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. DAY.Celebration for the baby.

TANABATA, OKAMOTO, and TERADA are getting drunk. Talking and laughing loudly.


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FAS-ANG (suckling the baby) looks at them. FAS-ANG is no longer barefoot. She is wearing a Japanese kimono, her hair knotted in a bun, Japanese style. She uses chopsticks to get pickled radish while the three continue drinking.

TANABATA:How are things recently? The cabbage?

OKAMOTO:Yes, we are doing good/we are growing good ones . . . How is it with you Terada?

TANABATA:How are your strawberries?

TERADA: Strawberries? The strawberries are not good.

TANABATA:Not good? You said earlier they are good?

TERADA: No . . . not good.

TANABATA:He said it, right?

TERADA: Not good.

TANABATA:So they are not good. But if strawberries are not good . . . why is this so?

TERADA: This year it was so cold . . . it’s not very sweet.

TANABATA:Fas-ang, sake, sake! In that case, would cabbage sell at a good price?


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OKAMOTO:It depends on the person.

TANABATA:But strawberries won’t sell. The locals don’t eat them, right?

TERADA: No, they eat them.

TANABATA:They do?

TERADA: They eat them. They started eating them recently.

TANABATA:Oh, I see!

OKAMOTO:So what are you naming him?Anya ngay ngarud ti ipanagan mo kenyana?By the way, what are you naming your baby?

TANABATA: Ah . . . about that . . .

TERADA: I have a good name for him—Yuki. What do you think of Yuki?Name him Yuki. To remind us of home.Yuki ti ipanagan mo. Tapnu met malagip tayo jay nagapuan tayo nga ili.

TANABATA:I will name him Kato, my friend.Kato ti ipanagan ko kenyana, gayyem.Yuki is not a bad name at all . . . But I have already decided on a name for him.


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OKAMOTO:Oh, I see!

TANABATA:Okay. Let me tell you . . . My son’s name is Kato.

TERADA: Kato?

TANABATA:Kato, Kato. What do you think?

OKAMOTO:Sounds good.

TERADA: Where did the name come from?

TANABATA:It does not matter. Let’s toast to this.Let’s toast for Kato.

TANABATA, TERADA, OKAMOTO:Kampai!

(From here till end of the scene, they are just stretching the scene.)

(They toast and shout “BANZAI.”)

TANABATA:We were talking about the cabbages and strawberries and the conversation shifted to Kato’s name.

OKAMOTO:Where did you get Kato’s name?


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TANABATA:From a bamboo.

OKAMOTO:Bamboo?

TANABATA:Fas-ang, more sake for our guests.Fas-ang, agiruwar ka pay man ti sake dita para kadagiti bisita.

(FAS-ANG stares at him, turns away.)

SEQ. 34. EXT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. AFTERNOON.Kausap ni Fas-ang ang ilang ka-ili habang sukbit ang bata.(KANKANAEY)

GIRL:Your parents ask about you.Kumusta ka kanu kanan amam ken inam.

FAS-ANG:Tell them I am well.Ibaga yo ken ama ken ina gawis ak asna.

GIRL:Your mother had a dream, you gave birth to a hawk.Nantagtatagiinep is inam, keg ka kanu nan anak is guwak.

BOY:What is the child’s name? Sino pay nagan nan anak mo?

Tila hindi nadinig ni Fas-ang ang tanong ng bata.

FAS-ANG:How is the kaingin? Sino pay nan ikkan nan mula ya nan ani taku ad ili?


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(They are silent. She understands.)

FAS-ANG:(Hands them a purse) Here, please take this to my family. I will visit when I can.Nay nan siping, idwat yo kud asnan pamilyak. Nu wada kumay waya et sumaak gedan ngem maid met. Mailiwak ad ili, sumaak to.

GIRL:(Whispers) Okdo wants to see you.Layden daka ay ilan en Okdo.

(FAS-ANG glances at TANABATA to make sure that he did not hear.)

(Magpapaalam na ang mga napadaan. Maiiwan si FAS-ANG. Iiyak ang bata.)

(TANABATA is still drinking with his friends, singing a Japanese lullaby.)

SEQ. 35. EXT. TANABATA’S HOUSE-PORCH. DUSK.Nakaupo si TANABATA sa kadalasang inuupuan niya sa may porch.

Tinatanaw ang mga tanim na sinalanta ng nagdaang bagyo. Nakatayo sa gilid niya si FAS-ANG. Nakatingin.

TANABATA:Kailangang maayos kaagad namin ni Tiago ang mga tanim.Masapol nga urnusen nga dagos ni Tiago dagiti mula.Tiago and I should be able to manage the crops, right away.イシンパム　ムラ。

FAS-ANG:Bakit di mo ako kinonsulta sa pangalan ng anak natin?Why? Why? Why did you not consult me in naming our child?Apay nga hanak dinamag nu anya kayat ko nga nagan ti anak ta?

TANABATA:Huwag ka munang lumabas ng bahay at kakapanganak mo lang.


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Don’t step out of the house. You have just given birth.Idtoy ka pay uneg ti balay ta kalkalpas mo nga naganak. Madi nga rumwar ka.カルカルパス　ナガナク。マディ　ルムワ。あい

(Tatayo si TANABATA mula sa pagkakaupo. Maiiwan si FAS-ANG na nakatingin sa sinalantang mga tanim. Makikita sa likod na lalapitan ni TANABATA ang nakahiga at natutulog na KATO. Papadatal na naman ang dilim sa di kalayuan.)

SEQ. 36. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. MORNING.As TANABATA tends to the garden, TIAGO arrives with four new local workers. They all look gaunt and hungry.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA:Who are these?Ni, sino dagitoy nga tao?

TIAGO:We need more hands, Manong—to repair the garden.Masapol tayo ti tao ken tulong tapnu maurnos jay uma.

(TANABATA looks back at the house. FAS-ANG is standing at the porch watching them. She is suckling KATO. She looks at him indifferently, then turns and goes inside the house with KATO. TANABATA sighs.)

TIAGO:I think she wants to visit the garden now, Tanabata san. It’s been weeks.Kasla nauneg panpanoneten ni Fas-ang ah. Baka kayat na nga umay met ditoy uma. Mano a lawasen nga agkukulong lang isuna jay uneg ti balay.

TANABATA: No, no . . . she must stay inside house one month . . . good for her . . . my mother always said, one month. Haan, usto lang nga agyan isuna jay uneg ti balay iti maysa nga bulan. Mayat kenyaya diyay, isu met lang kuna ni nanang ko.


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TANABATA: (To TIAGO) Okay, they start work today. Ala, sige ketdin. Agrugi da ngaruden nga agtrabaho tatta.

SEQ. 37. EXT. BACKYARD. DAY. FAS-ANG looks out the window and sees TANABATA in the ofuro tub, playing with baby KATO. (ILOCANO)

FAS-ANG is hurt that TANABATA did not ask her to join them.

TANABATA: Fas-ang . . .

(FAS-ANG goes out.)

TANABATA: Water is not warm enough . . . I told you . . . Haan pay unay nga napudot ta danom, inbagak kenyam ya.

FAS-ANG: Then get more firewood! Ket inka pay mangala ah ti pang sungrod!

(Gitlang nakatingin si Tanabata sa papatalikod na Fas-ang.)

SEQ. 38. MONTAGE (EXEMPLIFIES BREAKDOWN OF THE RELATIONSHIP)Magkatalikod sa higaan. Ngayon, sarili na nila ang mga harang.

(Pasok ang flute na malungkot)

Mga lantang tanim bagama’t may mga kamay na umaaruga.

Pinatay na lampara.

Paglugay ng buhok.


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Uha ng bata.

Pagtutog ng flute mag-isa.

SEQ. 39. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT. TANABATA is sitting alone at the dining table. He cannot eat. He stares at the food but doesn’t touch it. KATO is asleep in a cradle. He wakes up and whimpers softly. TANABATA gets up and goes to him. He rocks the cradle gently until KATO goes back to sleep.

TANABATA goes out to the porch and looks down the road. He is waiting for FAS-ANG. But the road is deserted.

SEQ. 40. EXT. MARKET. MORNING.It is market day and FAS-ANG and TIAGO have come to sell produce. FAS-ANG sees OKDO walking toward the market. He is in uniform as an employee in Camp John Hay. He wears Western garb above the waist, but G-string below.

When he is almost near FAS-ANG, someone calls him. (KANKANAEY)


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ABAY:Okdo!

OKDO turns to see his friend, ABAY, talking to a tourist couple. The woman is carrying a native baby, cooing to him. OKDO approaches them.

OKDO:Abay! How are you friend?Abay, yan kumusta pay gayyem?

ABAY:Doing well!Gawis met.

(OKDO looks at the tourist couple playing with the baby.)

OKDO: Doing brisk business I see. How much this time? Yaket, paspas nan siping ah. Gawis nan ublam, kaat na pay et?

ABAY:I raised my prices. Babies are in demand, especially to foreigners. No paperwork needed, you see.Ngumina nan presyo ay kanayon. Layden nan taga sabali ay ili nan oong a, maid papeles ay masapul isunga nalaka upay nan ubla ay kagtuna.

(The male tourist hands ABAY some bills.)

OKDO:Maybe I’m in the wrong job.Ay sia. Adik uppay gekken nan ubla aynay.

(They both laugh. FAS-ANG has seen and heard everything. OKDO moves toward her as ABAY counts out the bills.)


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ABAY:Let’s go drinking sometime! It’s on me!Okdo, ta inta man inom is mamingsan. Sak en nan man ilibre ken sik a.

OKDO:Sure!Ay sia, gawis. Wen ay.

(OKDO goes to FAS-ANG.)

FAS-ANG:Why are you friends with a felon like Abay?Aped mo pay ga gayyemen si Abay? Loko Loko di ed ili tako, ay adim kad ammo?

OKDO:And why are you living with an old, smelly farmer like Tanabata? You need a young, strong man like me to warm your bed.Ay sia, et aped mo pay layden ay man iyan ken Tanabata? Man angiso sisya, man akuo. Nan masapul mo at keg sak en ay nataraki, ubing ya napigsa et mangagasing ay manpapues asnan kamam.

FAS-ANG:Okdo, I’m working. Go away. You’re bad for business.Man ubublaak Okdo, kumaan ka et. Malas ka asnan panbiagan mi.

OKDO:Come, Fas-ang, I can take care of you know.Umali ka Fas-ang, kayak sika ay biagen edwani.

(Itutulak nang bahagya ni FAS-ANG si OKDO. Aalis si OKDO. Ngunit hindi bibitawan ni FAS-ANG ng tingin ang papalayong pinsan.)

SEQ. 41. INT. MOVIEHOUSE. NIGHT.Nanonood ng sine si FAS-ANG at TIAGO.


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Bighani ang mukha ni TIAGO sa mga gumagalaw na imahen. Samantalang si Fas-ang, gaya ng hitsura sa pagtingin sa mga nasalantang halaman, ay nakatingin ngunit tila walang natatanaw. Sumasaboy sa mukha niya ang repleksiyon ng mga imahen. Bumubuo ng hitsurang magulo ang mukha at hindi buo ang kanyang pagkatao.

Maririnig ang tawanan ng mga manonood.

SEQ. 42. EXT. MOVIE HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.Outside the movie house, OKDO waits for FAS-ANG, he is squatting on the ground, necklace in his hand. He stands up and meets FAS-ANG when she comes out of the movie house with TIAGO.(KANKANAEY)

OKDO:Fas-ang, this is for you.Fas-ang, para ken sik- a na.

FAS-ANG:I told you to leave me alone.Inbagak ay kumaan ka.

OKDO:Come with me . . . I’ll take care of you . . . Umali ka ken sak en. Idwat ko nan gawi gawis ay biag para ken sik a.

(FAS-ANG looks at him. We see that she’s conflicted.)

(Lalamunin sila ng mga taong palabas ng sinehan.)

SEQ. 43. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.At home, TANABATA is rocking KATO to sleep. He sings a Japanese lullaby.

SEQ. 44. EXT. BENGUET ROAD. NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TIAGO are walking home in the dim, TIAGO humming the tune from the movie.


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Mauunang maglakad si TIAGO. May giliw. Maiiwan sa likod si FAS-ANG.

Habang papalayo si TIAGO sa paglalakad niya, unti-unti namang kakainin ng dilim si FAS-ANG.

Ningning lang ang hawak na gasera ni TIAGO.

SEQ. 45. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.At the porch, TANABATA comes out for a smoke. TIAGO is resting.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA:Was there anyone else with you?アダ　カドアム。Apay ada kadwam ditoy?

TIAGO:(Some hesitation) No, Manong.Awan manong.

TANABATA:This person is a liar. What a piss off/He pisses me off.


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SEQ. 46. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. SAME NIGHT.FAS-ANG and TIAGO arrive.(ILOCANO)

TANABATA:Why so late? You are a mother, behave like one.Apay nga naladaw ka nga nagawid? Ada anak mon, hanka nga balasangen.

(TIAGO tries to speak, but TANABATA hushes him.)

TANABATA:Where did you sleep the other night?Nagturogam idi namingsan nga rabii?

TIAGO: At Campo Filipino . . .Ijay Campo Filipino . . .

TANABATA:Hush, I say! I told you to go find her, not join her!Tumalana ka! Ti kunak ket mapan mo lang isuna biruken, haan ko inbaga nga ijay ka nga agyan!

FAS-ANG:It was too late.Naladaw unayen nu magawidak pay.

TANABATA:You have a home.Ket ada met balay mo.

FAS-ANG:Yes, not a cage.Wen agpayso, ada balay ko. Ngem haanak nga maysa nga balod mo.

(She takes KATO from his cradle and goes to her room in a huff.)


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(Impit na maririnig sa dakong malayo ang sigaw ng isang mandirigma.) (Historical na kapag may napupugot na ulo ay isinisigaw ito ng nakapugot.)

SEQ. 47. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. MORNING.FAS-ANG suckles KATO. She holds up the necklace from OKDO and dangles it above KATO’s face. She smiles as KATO reaches for the necklace and plays with it. She hears TANABATA about to enter. She quickly hides the necklace. TANABATA enters and doesn’t even look at her. He gets a drink of water, then goes out again without talking to her.

SEQ. 48. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. SAME DAY.TANABATA, OKAMOTO, and TERADA are in the fields discussing the crop.(NIHONGGO)

OKAMOTO:The cabbage looks good, the strawberries . . . I don’t know . . . a bit sour. Nobody eats that crap.

TERADA: Americans like them.

OKAMOTO:Strange things they like, white people.


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TANABATA:Fas-ang likes them. Started eating them when she was pregnant even if its sour.

TERADA: You think it is good that she spend so much time in town, watching those movies?

Yumuyuko at pipitas ng strawberry sa tanim.

TANABATA:A caged bird is never happy no matter what you feed her. She came to me in the autumn of my life. I only want her to be happy, to be beside me, when I die.Let her be! If she would stay beside me when I die, that’s fine with me. What (nonsense) are you talking about?

OKAMOTO:Ah, stop it, you old goat! Get the sake, Terada!

(Iaabot ni Terada ang pinitas na strawberry kay Tanabata. Kakagatin niya ito. Makaraan ay itatapon muli sa lupa.)

TERADA: Is it sour?

(Lalakad palayo si TANABATA.)

SEQ. 49. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. SUNSET.TANABATA returns home from fields looking for FAS-ANG and KATO. He smells cooked rice, but no one is home. He finds this strange.

SEQ. 50. INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. ANOTHER DAY.Gathered inside the house are TANABATA, OKAMOTO, KAWANE, TERADA and TIAGO. FAS-ANG has eloped with OKDO.(ILOCANO)


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TANABATA:(Nakatingin nang galit kay TIAGO.)

Nasaan si Fas-ang?Ayan na ni Fas-ang?

(Hindi kumikibo sa TIAGO habang nakatingin pa ang dalawang Hapon.)

TANABATA:(Impit ang boses ngunit dama ang galit)

Saan pumunta si Fas-ang, Tiago? Tiago, napanan ni Fas-ang?

TIAGO:(Mapapatingin sa kumukulong takore)

Sumama na siya kay Okdo.Pinmanawen isuna kadwa na ni Okdo.

TANABATA is devastated though keeps calm. Mapapatingin lahat sa umuusok na takore liban kay Tanabata.

SEQ. 51. MONTAGE:TANABATA scours the town.

The marketplace, the work camp, looking for his family from morning till evening.

Makakasalubong ng mga misyonero. Maiiwan ang kanilang himno.

(fade in himno ng mga misyonero)

TANABATA is watching a movie. Nagtatawanan ang tao. Kasabay ng anino ng mga imahen ay sasabay ang luha. Passive pero naluluha.

Imahen ng inuuod na strawberry.

Ofuru na walang tubig.


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SEQ. 52. INT. BAGUIO HOVEL. NIGHT.FAS-ANG is suckling KATO, he cries and she tries to hush him. OKDO is forlorn, drinking tapuy.

He is pissed after having been fired from John Hay.(KANKANAEY)

OKDO:They kicked me out just because of one broken plate!Maid ed ublak gapu isnan nagupak ay plato!

OKDO:I was not born to wash their dishes! To serve food!Adiak inyanak da ama ken ina ay man ugas si pinggan ya baso. Adik layden ay man iwar waras et anggey si sibu ken daida!

FAS-ANG:You and your foolish dreams.Ilam sa. Sik a ya nan natogtoge ay it itaw mo.


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OKDO:Stop it, woman!Isardeng mo sa, babai!

FAS-ANG:Stop it, Okdo!Sumardeng ka gedan, Okdo!

OKDO:Let’s go home, Fas-ang. This is no place for us. I will share the payo with my brother. He cannot deny me.Enta et sumaa ed ili Fas-ang. Maid uppay pan tean ta asna. Wada nan payeo ko ed ili. Makigudwa ta ken kabsat ko. Maawatan na nan sitwasyon ta. Adi na kaya ay baliwalaen data.

FAS-ANG:Kato might not survive that long trip. He is too small to travel.Adi kayan Kato ay manbiyahe. Ban ban eg pay lang sisya.

OKDO:Why keep him anyway? He is not one of us. He does not even bear our name! Kato? What kind of name is that? Listen, Fas-ang, we can have many children of our own. True Bontoc like us.Fas-ang, aped mo pay sia awiten et? Sabali nan puli na. Sab sabali gedan nan nagan na? Kato? Ha, sino pay klase ay nagan di? Mabalin ay men sapo ta is anak ta tapnu puro ay Ifontoc.

FAS-ANG:(Holds KATO close to her bosom) You fool! He is mine! I don’t need you!Anak ko na! Ong ong ka samet! Adik sika kailangan.

(OKDO is shocked. FAS-ANG leaves angrily.)

SEQ. 53. EXT. MARKET AREA. DAY.TANABATA and TIAGO are selling their produce. TANABATA goes about his business but looks sad. He is also looking around, trying to spot FAS-ANG. He glimpses who looks like FAS-ANG. TANABATA leaves his produce to a stunned TIAGO and tries to


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chase the girl. He can’t find her. Maiiwan siya sa gitna ng kalsada habang ang lahat ay kumikilos.

SEQ. 54. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN.TIAGO picking worms from the cabbages that appear to have been abandoned. OKAMOTO and TERADA come over.

OKAMOTO:(ILOCANO) How is he?Kumusta ngay isunan?

TIAGO:Just like these cabbages.Naliday, kasla met lang dagitoy repolyo.

TERADA: Oh, that deadman.Awanen, kasla arig nan samet ti natayen.

(Shakes his head)

SEQ.55. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. NIGHT.TANABATA is standing alone in his garden looking afar. He is forlorn. Close up of his face shows his anguish. Land is dry. Nakatitig ang buwan sa kanyang pag-iisa.

SEQ. 56. EXT/INT. TANABATA’S HOUSE. NIGHT.OKAMOTO and KAWANE walk toward TANABATA’s place carrying a lantern and food. They enter his house and find him playing with his flute. He is disheveled. They have brought him some food.(NIHONGGO)

OKAMOTO:Tanabata san, maybe Kawane and I stay here with you a while . . . what you think?


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TANABATA:(Kowtowing) Pardon me, pardon my friends . . . please leave me alone.Kawane shakes her head

(Tiago enters)

TIAGO:There are too many worms on the cabbages. I can’t clear them myself, manong you have to pay the others.Nagadu egges dagiti repolyo. Haan ko kaya nga maymaysaak lang Manong. Masapul ko dadduma nga mangtulong kanyak.

TANABATA:Take the cabbages, take the worms, take everything you want, leave me alone.Alam amin nga repolyo, pati dagiti egges. Uray alam amin nga kayat mo dita. Basta ibati dak laengen.

SEQ. 57. INT. BAGUIO HOVEL. DAY.FAS-ANG returns home and cannot find KATO. She has a bad feeling, rummages through her stuff to take out her axr. She quickly leaves.CUT TO:


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SEQ. 58. EXT. MARKET PLACE. DAY.FAS-ANG goes around the market looking for OKDO. Finally she sees OKDO with ABAY, standing in a corner and talking to a WHITE COUPLE. They are trying to sell KATO to them. FAS-ANG runs over, brandishing her dagger. She points it at OKDO.

Kukunin nang bigla ni Fas-ang ang kanyang axe. Nanlilisik ang mga mata.

The FOREIGNERS are shocked and back off. FAS-ANG quickly grabs KATO from OKDO. OKDO is too stunned and afraid to react, seeing the fury in her eyes.

FAS-ANG:Don’t ever show your face to me again!Adim pulos ay ipapaila nan angas mo ken sak en!

(She pulls OKDO’s necklace from her neck and throws it at his face. She quickly leaves with KATO.)

SEQ 59. MONTAGE:Dark clouds on mountaintops.

Mag-isa si Tanabata sa kanyang kuwarto. Balisa.

Rain.

Nakatitig sa kawalan si Fas-ang.

Thunder rumbles.

Umiiyak na Kato.

Umaagwasang tubig sa taniman.

Mga mata (ni Tanabata at Fas-ang, balik sa eksenang nakatitig sila sa isa’t isa kahit may dingding na harang, saksi ang buwan)


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SEQ. 60. DAY. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDENThe rains have come again and TANABATA’s garden is in worst condition. TIAGO looks at it forlorn. He is trying his best to keep it going. He turns to look at TANABATA’s house and shakes his head.

SEQ. 61. EXT. BAGUIO ROAD. DAY.Establish other workers. FAS-ANG works on the dirt road with KATO tied to her back. She is clearing some stones with her spade. She looks dirty and pitiful. The road is muddy.

She sees TIAGO looking at her from a distance. He squats down in a gesture of imploring.

SEQ. 62. EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN. SUNSET.It is near sunset. TIAGO and FAS-ANG with KATO on her back come to TANABATA’s garden.

They hear TANABATA’s flute, but it is dark inside his hut.

TIAGO stops and gestures FAS-ANG to proceed.FAS-ANG goes on reluctantly. She looks at TANABATA’s house and feels remorse. She decides to turn back. TIAGO urges her to go to the house, but she refuses. Then KATO wails. She tries to stop him but a lamplight goes on inside TANABATA’s house.


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Dudungaw sa bintana si TANABATA. Taimtim na nakatingin kay FAS-ANG at KATO.

Hindi magsasalita kahit tila may gustong sabihin.

Nakikiisa ang katahimikan sa kanilang pagkikita.

FAS-ANG stands still. TANABATA emerges and runs down to meet them. He embraces them.

TANABATA:What took you so long?Fas-ang, apay nga tatta ka lang? Nabayag nga nagur urayak kenyam.Tell me all about the movie . . . Ket, kasatnu ngay jay pabuya? Iistoryam man kanyak, kasla napintas ah . . .

(We see them from farther and farther, and higher and higher away we see the panorama.)

END

JOHN REY SAGAMLA is a Cordilleran from the Kankanaey tribe in Lepanto, Mankayan, Benguet. He studied BA Speech Communication at UP Baguio and BS Nursing at University of the Cordilleras Baguio. He is active in research studies about the culture and heritage in Northern Luzon.

DANAS

AT

POETIKA

REFLECTIONS

AND

POETICS

Danas at Poetika/Reflections and Poetics

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Reflections ..............................................................................

Nap Jamir

“YOU SHOULD DO this,” said a writer friend of mine when he found out that Tanabata’s Wife had been submitted to the TOFarm Film Festival. Trusting his judgment blindly, I succumbed to the bonds of friendship.

Thus, my association with Tanabata’s Wife begun.After reading Sinai Hamada’s short story, I had visions of lush, mountain

landscapes covered in mist and rain. Little did I know that this poetic imagery would be the bane of my cinematographic existence; it rained continuously the whole six shooting days we were in Bugias, Bontoc, where we shot the film.

THE MOOD AND TONEWhen I read the short story, two things entered my mind.

Firstly, it was the story of a Japanese farmer in the Trinidad Valley with emphasis on Japanese; and it was a love story. This very thought evoked the quiet,


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contemplative simplicity of Ozu, against the majestic landscapes of Kurosawa. Simple compositions like a series of photographs.

Secondly, it was period film set in the 1920s. Sepia tinted images flooded my mind, or better yet, the look and feel of faded Technicolor films—wide vistas of the old, old west with the hot sun mercilessly beating on your back.

On a more contemporary note, Alfonso Arau’s A Walk in the Clouds was an inspired approach, as was Emmanuel Lubeski’s vision of the sun-drenched vineyards of California, covered in mist in the early light of dawn.

That didn’t happen. Reality dealt me a cruel hand.There were no sun-drenched valleys, no creeping dawn with golden beams of

sunlight filtering through, no walk in the clouds. Just rain, lots of it.

THE WEAPON OF CHOICEA film is totally dependent on the method of image acquisition. The right camera for the particular needs of the film is imperative.

The film was going to be shot on location in the Mountain Province, essentially with a minimum of lights and no available silent generators (a necessity when you are shooting live sound), in an area with no access to electricity.

The camera should be capable of handling low light situations, portable enough for easily setups, and should record in 4K. So I went to the only person I can literally “borrow” a top-notch professional digital film camera.

Jim Balthazar has parlayed his father’s legacy into a multi-million film rental company that has risen to be one of the two biggest suppliers in the industry. We have worked together for some 30 odd years, and I, of course, relied on that to beg him to give me a camera/lights/grip package that was literally, free.

I started testing cameras that would fit the technical necessities of our film.I lined up three cameras for my camera test: the Panasonic AU-EVA1 Super 35

camera; the Canon EOS C300 Mark II Plus; and the Canon EOS C700.I did tests for contrast, shadow detail, and noise, highlight over-exposure and

dynamic range.I shot a resolution chart for edge-to-edge sharpness, fall-off and chromatic

aberrations. This was to check the camera sensor and the quality of the “glass,” or the commonly referred term, lenses.

As part of my agreed package, I was given the opportunity to use a set of Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses. I was already gearing myself up to using twenty-year-old Super Speed lenses, or in my dreaming state, to use Master Primes or Cooke S5s, but beggars can’t be choosers.


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As part of the tests, I also did a “look test” which means shooting the lead actress in costume to determine the authenticity of the attire and executing a series of lighting setups to see how her face would register in hard light, in diffused light, and in low light situations.

When we reviewed all the footage, it was obvious that, for my camera needs, the Canon EOS C700 won hands down. Primarily, I liked its contrast even under low light and the way it was “creamy” in reproducing flesh tones, especially with the Ultra Primes.

I usually work with wide aperture settings, generally working with the widest aperture of the lens, which in this case was F1.7 or F1.8. I get great separation from the background with wide lenses and wonderful “bokeh” when I use the 50mm normal lens and the 85mm portrait telephoto.

Of course, given the sensitivity of the fast speed lenses, I had to cut down the amount of light hitting the camera sensor. In order to preserve my wide-open aperture “mantra” I relied heavily on neutral density filters to reduce the amount of light.

In the course of the shoot, I utilized the other features of the camera such as the ISO (sensor sensitivity), color temperature, universal shutter (shutter angle), and over-exposure and under-exposure, to create the mood and tone of each shot and sequence.

I believe in “what you see, is what you get” and have stuck to that practice so that I can visually see what I had in mind when I would setup each shot. Although I was shooting in 4K CLog (raw), my monitors were set to Rec 709, so I can assess the coldness of a dreary landscape or the warmth of rays of the sun filtering through the walls of the hut and the dark details of my underexposed dusk/night exteriors/interiors.

When the production team viewed the entire cache of footage, what stared back at them on the monitor was the visual representation of the weather conditions we had experienced during the shoot. It was a series of flat dreary shots of dismal mountain ranges, dull rows of cabbages and carrots, and worst of all, dark, lifeless interior shots of the hut.

Of course, my years of post-production experience gave me the confidence in knowing that what footage I captured in-camera will go through color grading where I could mold the final look of the film to show lush, cool landscapes, bright sunny outdoors, a room bathed in the warmth of sunlight and in the same place, the coolness of moonlight.

LIGHTING, OR THE LACK OF ITOne of the primary concerns of mine was lighting, or the lack of it. Like I said, our location was in the Mountain Province and I was resigned to shooting “as is,


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where is” during the entire shoot. Given my limited number of lights, a trade-off for getting a great camera package, I had to rely heavily with available light and just supplementing it with our lights.

Given the fact that there were no big silent generators readily available in the area, I opted for a 5KVA portable generator (it would be housed in the grip truck around 400 meters away from the set). Of course, it needed a long power cable to bring the juice in for our lights. With such a small amount of electricity, this was our lighting package:

2 units M18 HMI (One conked out on the first day of shoot)4 units 350W Arri Fresnel lights2 sets of 40” Kinoflos1 set of 20” Kinoflos1 set 150W Dedolights4 pieces Chinese Lanterns with 80W incandescent bulbs

But I have to say we did a magnificent job. Our main set was Tanabata’s hut, which was essentially a four-sided structure with a small kitchen attached to it.

We lit and shot scenes showing different times of day in the main hut.At the start of their relationship, Tanabata and Fas-ang slept in different parts of the

hut, with Tanabata sleeping in the main room and Fas-ang sleeping in the kitchen. I did a tracking shot starting with Tanabata and the camera moving slowly into the darkness, emerging from the darkness to find Fas-ang’s sleeping body outlined by moonlight.

Technically we shot Tanabata in the main set and, because of sapi circumstances, we ended up shooting Fas-ang in the UP Film Institute studio. We stitched the two shots in post and got this beautiful tableau.

I was lucky with the way the hut were constructed. Instead of solid sawali walls, we got walls strung together with reed thin bamboo poles that gave small spaces for light to pass through. I could pass most of my key lights through the smoked filled walls to create streaks of golden sunlight as Tanabata and Fas-ang danced; moonlight bathing their bodies as they slept together; and the first rays of dawn filtering through the morning after.

All this was made possible despite being surrounded by a sea of ankle deep mud that dictated all our camera and lighting moves. Imagine doing a four rail (32 feet) dolly shoot running along the side of the house going to the veranda. Or the M18 (our strongest light) cranked up to over 12 feet anchored precariously on top of the muck, with wet, slippery sandbags slung over the stand’s legs.


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It was probably the worst and hardest shoot I have ever experienced in my more than thirty-five years of shooting.

But, I loved it. And I wouldn’t change it if I had to do it all again. It was a group of fools that embarked on this journey, but it was a family that

finished it.

NAP C. JAMIR II is the Cinematographer for the film Tanabata’s Wife. He is a Filipino photographer, cinematographer, and director in advertising and feature films. At 22 years of age, he was part of the 1974 Thirteen Artists Award of the CCP Bienalle. As Director of Photography, some of his works include Isauli Mo ang Lahat sa Akin, Rizal sa Dapitan; Bridal Shower, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, and Dahling Nick. He is currently Senior Lecturer 3 at the UP Film Institute, the UP College of Fine Arts, and the Asia Pacific Film Institute.


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Pagdudugtong at Pagluluwal, o Kung Papaanong Inedit ang Tanabata’s Wife..............................................................................

May-i Guia Padilla

UNANG BAHAGI: ANG NEGOSASYONBago pa magsimula ang parte ng preproduction, paulit-ulit nang sinasabi ni Choy Pangilinan na ako raw ang kukunin niyang editor para sa pelikula ng isa pa naming kaibigan at kainuman na si Charlson Ong. Ikinagalak ko siyempre ito dahil may tiwala sa akin si Choy, ngunit hindi ako agad makapagbigay ng reaksiyon sapagkat ito ay sa salita pa lamang. Sa totoo lamang, mahigit dalawang taon ang negosasyon na nangyari sa pagitan ni Choy at Charlson ukol sa proyektong adaptasyon ng obra ni Sinai Hamada. Madalas sa University of Patio ang kanilang huntahan kung kaya’t


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minsan limot na kinabukasan ang mga naging kasunduan. Ngunit itinuloy ito ni Charlson, ang pagsusulat at pagsusumite sa festival.

Nang ibinigay na ng TOFarm Film Festival ang unang pondo para gawin na ang pelikula bandang dulo ng Hunyo 2018, alam kong seryoso na ang paggawa nito. Hindi na ito dulot ng mga kalansing ng bote ng mga tagayerong artist. Dito na kami nag-usap nang seryoso ni Choy sa conference room ng UP Film Institute. One-on-one sa gin. Natapos ang gabi na nagkasundo kami sa lahat ng aspektong bayarin at aspektong mapanlikha tungkol sa pelikula.

Ang pinakahiling ko lang bilang editor ay makabisita sa lokasyon kung saan kukuhanan ang pelikula. Gusto kong matuto sa kalakaran ng industriyang pelikula. Nais kong madama ang shoot.

IKALAWANG BAHAGI: IMPORTANSIYA NG PAGPAPLANO AT PAGHAHANDAHabang binubusisi ang iskrip na isinulat ni Charlson, inihahanda ko na rin sa isip ang atake sa pagdudugtong nito makatapos ng kanilang shoot. Bagama’t ako ay paminsan-minsang imbitado sa pulong paghahanda ng produksiyon sa pelikula, mas minabuti ko na magkaroon ng distansiya rito sa rasong mas alam ng mga kasali sa grupo ang kanilang ginagawa.

Ang tanging paghahandang ginawa ko ay manood ng mga pelikula (maraming pelikula) na magbibigay inspirasyon kung paano ang magiging daloy ng huling putol at sining ng Tanabata’s Wife kung nasa kamay ko na ang mga kinuhang mga imahe’t sequences.

Mahigit kumulang na tatlong daang pelikula ang pinapanood ko kada taon. Iniisa-isa ko ang listahan ng IMDB kada taon sa primerang ika-300 na makikita ko na puwedeng mapanood. Kahit anong klase, kahit anong uri, kahit ano. Binabase ko ang desisyon ko sa panonood depende sa pagsasalarawan ng kuwento at mga artikulong naglalaman ng pagsusuri ng mga kritiko. Sa panig ko, ang panonood ng mga pelikula ang sarili kong paghahanda kasabay ng pre-production stage ng pelikula.

IKATLONG BAHAGI: PAGSUONG SA BAGYO SA BUGUIASPagkatapos ng mahabang proseso ng pag-aayos at paghahanda sa preprod ng pelikula, natuloy rin ang unang araw ng shoot. Ipinadala ko ang aking kabigan na si Ken Aliliran bilang assistant to the editor upang mag-obserba sa tinatakbo ng shoot. Ang mga stills na kinuha niya ay bahagi na rin ng pamamaraan ko sa paghahanda kung papaano titimplahin ang pagdudugtong ng pelikula. Kahit alam ko na makakadalo ako ng ilang araw sa lokasyon, kinakailangan kong may kinatawan sa lugar na magkukuwento sa akin kung paano kinuha ang isang eksena. Masisigurado


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ko sa prosesong ito na maisasagawa ko nang may katarungan kung ano ang gustong palabasin na sining at biswal na estetika ng mga direktor.

Dumating ang araw ng pagbiyahe ko patungo ng Buguias, Benguet. Napakaganda ng lugar at bayan. Napakalawak ng aming palaruan sa pelikula, agad kong naisip. Hindi nagkamali ang grupo sa pagpili ng lokasyon. Napakagaling din ng mga artista sa kani-kanilang larangan. Marahil, sambit ko sa sarili, ito na ang pelikulang magbabago sa industriyang indie na paratihan na lamang formulaic na ang estilo.

Dito ko rin nakilala si Nap Jamir, isang alamat sa sining ng pagkuha ng imahen para sa sine at para sa potograpiya. Isang matalik na kaibigan na matagal ko nang nakatrabaho sa media na si Luis Liwanag ang kanyang kaagapay sa departamento ng kamera ng produksiyon.

Lumipas ang oras, nagtago ang araw sa mga ulap. Umulan. Dumatal ang bagwis ng bagyo sa Buguias.

Hindi makakilos nang maayos ang mga tao dahil sa putik, tubig, at lamig. Nasaksihan ko ang hirap, dusa, at sakripisyo ng bawat tao sa produksiyon. Kasama ang kwatro-kantos na gin, kasama ang mga kaibigan, sama-sama kaming naghihintay sa pagtila ng ulan. Ang tanging sinasabi ko lang ay magtiwala na aaraw bukas at huwag mawalan ng pag-asa dahil gumagawa kami ng pelikulang may pusong maging iba.

Huling araw ko sa lokasyon. Umaraw ngunit hindi ito nagamit nang husto at wasto dahil sa problema at drama na sumalanta sa produksiyon. Ganito pala ang industriya, naisip ko. Masalimuot. Ganito pala ang paggawa ng pelikula. Kay daming hamon na kailangang harapin mula sa usaping pantao, kagamitan hanggang panahon. Mahirap makialam dahil kailangang hayaan ang mga artista at mga tauhan sa produksiyon na gawin nila ang kanilang sining upang makamit ang pinakamagandang paraan na kailangan kaugnay ng kinukuhanang sequences. Sa huli, uminom na lang kami ng gin na naging suliranin din sa ilang mga kabahagi ng produksiyon na hindi sanay sa ganoong gawi at kultura.

Makaraan ng dalawang araw sa lokasyon, umuwi ako at naging messenger upang maipasa ang ilang dokumentong kailangan para sa pagpabalas ng susunod na parte ng pondo.

Umaalingawngaw sa aking isipan na mukhang mahihirapan ako sa pagputol ng pelikula. Dahil, batay sa aking obserbasyon, walang pelikulang mabubuo. Hindi makukuhanan lahat ng eksena sa screenplay. Naisip ko na ang inaakala kong pelikulang magbabago sa industriya o magsisilbing makabuluhan ay hindi mabubuo.

Ngunit hindi ako papayag.


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IKA-APAT NA BAHAGI: ANG PAGIGING MAKATA AT PILOSOPIYA NG EDITINGNatapos na ang shoot sa Buguis. Natapos na ang drama ng produksiyon. Natapos ang mala-teleseryeng kabanata yugtong produksiyon ng Tanabata’s Wife.

Ako naman. Sining ko naman at proseso ko ang nakatoka sa antas ng post-production. Dito

ko nakilala si assistant director Juan Carlo Tarobal na kung tawagin namin ngayon ng mga kasama sa moog na grupo ng Tanabata’s Wife (o The Collective) ay bunso. Hiniling ni Choy na isama siya dahil si Carlo ang nakakaalam ng mga eksenang nakuhanan sa pelikula. Hindi ako nagsisising nakasama siya sa yugtong ito ng pagbubuo ng pelikula.

Ang unang proseso bago magputol ay maisaayos ang lahat ng mga imahen batay sa mga eksena. Gusto kong lahat ay nasa isang file folder kung saan makikita ang numero at titulo ng eksena. Sa prosesong ito, magiging madali ang paghahanap ng mga bagay kung saan nakakabit ang imahen upang mabuo ang isang sequence. Natapos ni bunso ang kanyang tungkulin na isalansan ang mga ito at lagyan ng koda ng mahigit isang araw.

Binigyan kami ng dalawang linggo upang makabuo ng unang putol ng pelikula. Natapos namin ng isang linggo dahil sa tulong ni bunso. Tunay na mas memoryado niya ang mga eksena. Bilang offline editor, tinulungan niya akong putulin ang mga eksena para mabuo, kahit papaano, ang daloy ng naratibo. Pinakinggan niya ako sa kagustuhang ang bawat eksena ay marapat na may kanya-kanyang file para hindi magulo ang timeline kung saan namin ginagawa ang pagpuputol at pagdudugtong.


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Pinuputol namin ang mga eksena na may bahagyang ideya kung ano ang mga sinasabi ng karakter. Ngunit sa totoo lamang, hindi talaga namin maintindihan ang mismong sinasabi nila. Ang pelikula ay may tatlong wika: (1) Nihonggo, (2) Ilokano, at (3) Kankanaey. Ang aspekto ng wika ay naging suliranin din sa aming paglalatag. Hindi birong magputol nang hindi mo lahat nauunawaan ang inuusal ng mga tauhan sa kuwento.

Napakagulo ng hitsura ng unang putol at latag ngunit kailangan maipasa at mapanood na ng grupo upang matukoy kung anong parte ng istorya ang may kulang. Nilagyan ko na ng pansamantalang musika para mas makuha ng grupo kung ano ang maaaring maging hitsura at dating nito sa huling putol.

Maraming laylay ang istorya, subalit may laban na upang ito ay maging makabuluhan, kahit papaano. Nagkaroon na naman ng drama, ngunit hindi ko na ito papalawakin pa. Subalit ito ang nag-udyok sa akin upang lalong paghusayan ang huling putol. Ito ang nagbigay daan sa akin upang mapatunayan ko na marunong at magaling din ako tulad ng aking mga kasama.

Nagdesisyon ang grupo na magsagawa ng muling pagkuha ng sequences at upang ireshoot ang ilang laylay nang sa gayon ay mabuo ang naratibo at biswal na aspekto ng pelikula. Tinawagan namin ang mga artista na importante sa pelikula at dahil sa tulong ni John Sagamla (ang nagsalin sa Ilokano at Kankanaey), pumayag at tumaya sila na makiisa sa reshoot kahit wala na kaming perang pambayad sa kanila.

Dito ko lubusang nakilala sina Mai Fanglayan, Kurt Alalag, Danilo Bulanay, Shane Daweg, at Rainell Cosme. Sila ang mga artista sa pelikula. Sa pagkakataong ito, nakilala ko na rin ang mga magiging bagong kaibigan at ituturing na kabsat.

Sa Baguio ang lokasyon ng reshoot. Gamit ang mga personal nang mga gamit, kumuha kami nang patago sa iba’t ibang parte ng siyudad upang mabuo ang mga laylay sa naratibo. At bumabagyo pa rin habang ginagawa namin ito. Dito ko rin nakuha ang mga musika na gagamitin sa pelikula na tinugtog mismo ng grupo.

Pagbalik namin mula Baguio ay lumipat na kami sa aming bahay (ang Guia-Padilla Long House sa Hardin ng Rosas) at nagpasyang hindi na sa UP Film Institute mag-edit. Sa yugtong ito, ginamit ko na ang matagal ko nang iMac computer na ibinigay pa sa akin ng aking fraternity brother na si Brod Mike Defensor noong 2012 nang magkatrabaho kami para sa anibersaryo ng aming kapatiran. Mas komportable akong magtrabaho sa aking kompyuter kahit lumang modelo na ito dahil mas memoryado ko ang takbo at kakayahan nito. Importante ito sa pagputol ng pelikula. Importante ito sa isang taga-patnugot.

Nag-umpisa muli ako sa pagputol ng pelikula. Kada eksena ko siya pinupulido. Kahit na hindi ko naiintindihan ang pananalita, sinigurado ko na maganda ang


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daloy ng kanilang mga usapan. Ultimo mga galaw sa katawan, bukas ng bibig, pikit ng mata, ayos ng damit, at iba pang mga bagay na hindi kayang dayain o i-adjust ng aming Visual Effects editor na si Benjamin Mirasol ay sinisikap kong kinisin at sinsinin. Nang sa gayon ay malinis na ito kapag ipinasa ko kay BJ.

Nagsimula akong mag-edit noong 1999 sa Sonic, isang kompanya sa UP Bahay ng Alumni. Ang may-ari nito na hindi ko na maalala ang apelyido ay si Kuya Cito, graduate din ng UP Fine Arts tulad ko. Si Kuya Cito ang nagturo sa akin ng aking saligan at batayan sa pag-eedit: (1) Daloy ng istorya at eksena; (2) Natural na galaw ng kapaligiran at mga tauhan; at (3) Maayos na paglipas o pagdaraan ng bawat eksena tungo sa ikagaganda ng istorya. Bagamam ito ang una kong salang sa pag-eedit ng feature film, malalim na rin ang karanasan ko sa dokumentaryo at maikling pelikula.

Naging basehan ko rin sa huling anyo ng pelikula ang pananaw at layon ni Choy na magkaroon ito ng timpla at estetikang Hapones. Naging inspirasyon namin ang mga direktor na sina Yasujirō Ozu at Akira Kurosawa. Malaki ang kontribusyon ng Tokyo Story (1953) at Ikiru (1952) sa estetika, daloy, at biswal na wika ng buong pelikula. Malaking ambag dito ang ehekusyon ni Nap Jamir bilang tagapangasiwa sa sinematograpiya.

Nabatid ko rin na ang kaakibat ng isang editor ng pelikula ay ang direktor. Sa totoo lang, hindi ako mapakali sa konseptong experimental ni Choy na gusto niyang ilagay sa pelikula. Bilang editor, gusto kong bigyang hustisya ang kanyang bisyon. Gusto ko ito pagandahin. Ito ang bahaging mga kabanata sa pelikula. May isang gabi na hindi ako makatulog at gumagawa ako ng paraan kung paano mas maayos na ipresinta ang expe style na ito.

Nagamit ko rito ang hilig ko sa anime. Mahahalata sa mga pagitan ng kabanata na ang inspirasyon ko sa paglikha nito ay mga trabaho ni Hayao Miyazaki, Makoto Shinkai, at Satoshi Kon. Puwede rin akong magdeklara bilang isang animator dahil ito ang ginagawa ko sa full-time job ko. Katuwang ko sa pagpapahusay ng expe parts ng pelikula ang mga kasamahan sa METAPIXEL Incorporated. Hilig naming lahat ang anime. Tinulungan nila akong pakilusin ang kanji ng mga kabanata at nagpahiram ng mga astral timelapse.

Dahil ang pelikula ay may paggalang at paggunita sa pelikulang Hapon, hindi ako papayag na hindi maisama ang impluwensiya ng anime sa akin bilang editor. Ang musika ng Kimi no Na wa (2016) ay siya ring naging kaakibat kung paano ko isinaayos ang musika ng Tanabata’s Wife sa tulong na rin ni Kurt Alalag at Marc Tan.

Halos isang linggo ko rin inayos ang sound design ng pelikula. Hindi ako nakakatiyak na magiging namumukod-tangi ang produkto ng aking pagsasaayos, ngunit may tiwala ako na ito’y marangal at lapat sa pangangailangan ng pelikula.


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Katuwang ko rin ang mga kasama sa METAPIXEL upang puliduhin ang above-the-line credits, samantalang ako na ang tumapos sa below-the-line credits ng pelikula kasama ang paglalapat sa orihinal na musika ng manunulat na si Ferdie Jarin na pinamagatang “Panimdim sa Dilim.”

Subalit, hindi pa rin maiiwasan na may laylay sa kuwento, at dito naging malaki ang ambag ni Mao Portus at Bojo “Bopis” Sta. Maria. Silang dalawa ang tumulong upang mabigyan ng hustisya ang mga pagsasaayos at pagpapabuti ng Tanabata’s Wife. Maganda ang mga debate at palitan ng kuro-kuro kahit na paminsan-minsang nagkakainisan at bangayan sa mga balitaktakan. Hindi naging hadlang ito bagkus ay nagbunga ng mas masisteng paglalatag ng biswal at aural na naratibo.

Mahalaga ang kolaborasyon ng bawat miyembro sa anumang produksiyon. At dito na nga nabuo ang The Collective—ang bansag namin sa core group ng yugtong post-production. Hindi naging maramot ang isa’t isa pagbabahagi ng kanilang opinyon at kilates sa kahinaan ng paglalatag at daloy ng pelikula. Malaki ang pasasalamat ko sa grupo. Mahal na mahal ko ang grupong. Patunay na kolektibong inisyatiba ang paglikha ng pelikula. Gaya ng kinagawian, ang lahat ng pagtilad at debate ay nangyayari habang lahat ay masayang nag-iinuman sa Long House.

Matapos ang ilang linggo ng pagpupuyat, natapos na rin ang pagkabit-kabit sa mga pira-pirasong eksena na bubuo sa pelikula.

IKA-LIMANG BAHAGI: ANG BUHAY AY PAGDIRIWANGMahigit-kumulang na tatlong buwan ang aming inilaan upang mabuo ang pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife. Trinabaho at pinanindigan namin ang naging resulta ng latag.


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Tumaya at nanumpa sa tagumpay o pagka-unsiyami. Walang iwanan sa hirap at ginhawa, ’ika nga namin. Walang lamangan sa saklap at sarap ng mga danas sa buhay.

Halos araw-araw ang selebrasyon sa Long House habang nagpuputol, nagkakabit-kabit ng eksena at pagbuo ng pelikula. Dapat laging masaya ang karanasan. Selebrasyon ang sining. Buhay ang sining.

IKA-ANIM NA BAHAGI: ANG TAGUMPAY AT HINAHARAPSanay ako sa prinsipyong: “Ang kapalaran ay kailanma’y dahil sa kamalayan ng iyong tungkulin at pananagutan. Iginagawad ang karapatan at pribilehiyo sa hindi sinasadyang pagkakataon tuwing nakakatapos ng mga tungkulin.”

Hindi namin inaasahan ang magtagumpay sa mga paligsahan. Sapat na sa amin ang lumikha ng pinag-isipan at may pagsasaalang-alang sa paghahain sa manonood ng isang pelikulang iba sa kinahimasnan. Ngunit, hindi rin naman masamang mangarap. At nagwagi na nga ang pelikulang sa unang akala ko’y hindi mabubuo.

Ang Tropeo Milagros (hindi tunay na pangalan) ay inalay ko sa aking pamilya, dahil sila ang may pinakamalaking sakripisyo habang ginagawa namin ang pelikula. Ito ay legasiya na kanilang bibitbitin kahit na ako ay yumao na. Parang legasiyang iniwan ng aking yumaong ama na si Dr. Sabino “Abe” Garcia Padilla, Jr. sa akin.

Hindi rin natin dapat makalimutan ang pag-alay sa sambayanan. Naniniwala ako/kami na ang pelikulang ito ay ambag namin sa sineng Filipino. Naniniwala rin ako/kami na ang pagkakasadula ng kulturang Cordillera at Hapon ay hindi namin nilapastangan dahil na rin sa tulong ng mga kaibigang pumuna at aming kinonsulta sa kahabaan ng paggawa ng pelikula.

Nagpapasalamat din kami sa Hamada Family na nagtiwala sa aming grupo upang maisalin sa pelikula ang maikling kuwento ni Sinai Hamada. Gusto naming ibahagi sa bagong henerasyon ang yaman ng ating panitikan, sining, at kultura.

Sa huli, nais kong ibahagi ito sa lahat ng sumuong sa sining ng paglikha: Kapag nabigo ang lahat, magtiwala ka sa iyong sining. Ang sining mo ay sa iyo. Angkinin mo ito. Panindigan. Tumanggap ng puna. At hindi man nauunawaan ng tao ngayon ang iyong sining, darating din ang pagkilala rito sa tamang panahon.

Hindi man ngayon.

Si MAY-I GUIA PADILLA ang editor ng pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife. Siya ay isa ring musikero at visual artist. Nagtapos siya sa Kolehiyo de Bellas Artes, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas sa Diliman noong 2008.


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Ang Pagsasabuhay ng “Never Say Die” sa Pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife: Ang Kalbaryo mula Iskrip hanggang Sinehan..............................................................................Juan Carlo Tarobal

MINSAN MAY NAGSABI sa akin na may mga pagkakataon na may magagandang mga iskrip ngunit pangit ang direksiyon kung kaya’t ang ending ay pangit ang kinalabasan ng pelikula. At may mga pangit na iskrip ngunit maganda ang direksiyon kung kaya’t ang ending ay maganda ang kinalabasan ng pelikula. Mukhang iba ang kaso ng Tanabata’s Wife sa dalawang halimbawa na ito.

Kung inyong mamarapatin ay hayaan ninyo sana akong dalhin kayo sa isang karanasang mala-rollercoaster ride hinggil sa pagkakabuo ng pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife mula iskrip hanggang sa pag-DCP nito.

Mga buwan ng Hunyo ay hinagilap ako ni Lito Casaje at sinabihan ako na mag-


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AD (assistant director) para raw sa isang pelikulang kanyang gagawin at puntahan ko raw siya sa isang lugar na kung tawagin ay Universal Harvest sa may P. Tuazon, Quezon City. Nag-ayos, nagmadali, nakarating. Nagkita kami at sa mga panahon na iyon ay kau-kausap niya si Sir Charlson Ong na noong mga panahon na iyon ay kakakilala ko pa lang.

Habang nakaupo sa upuan ng isang mesang punong-puno ng mga papeles ay sinipat ko ang kapaligiran. Ang mga nakita ko ay puro pang-pagsasaka na mga litrato, mga plake, basta lahat tungkol sa pagsasaka. Sa isang sulok ay nakita ko ang logo ng TOFarm. Naisip ko na mukhang mabigat ang papasukin kong trabaho kay Lito at di ako mapalagay kung isang entry ng TOFarm Film Festival ba ang aking pag-a-AD-han. Sa huli, nakumpirma ko nga na isa sa mga lahok ang pelikulang kasasangkutan ko sa naturang festival.

Bukod dito ay nabanggit ni Charlson na ang grupo na kasama niya na gagawa ng pelikula ay sina Choy Pangilinan, Nap Jamir, at iba pang mga propesor ko sa UP Film Insititute. Agaran kong pinadalhan ng mensahe si Roehl Jamon ukol dito at kanya itong kinumpirma. Sa pagkakataong iyon ay ipinakilala sa akin at pinag-aralan ko na ang kuwento ng Tanabata’s Wife. Mahirap nang sumabak nang hindi inaalam ang batayang teksto ng proyekto.

Nabanggit din sa akin ni Lito na mayroon na siyang nakuhang aktor na Hapon upang gampanan ang tauhan ni Tanabata. Ang problema na lamang ay ang paghahanap ng iba pang mga tauhan para sa pelikula. Sa kalaunang linggo ng Hunyo ay umakyat kami sa Baguio upang harapin ang mga dumalo sa casting call namin. Mga estudyante mula sa isang mataas na paaralan ang mga nagsi-awdisyon para sa mga role ni Fas-ang, Okdo, at Tiago ngunit tila walang ni isa ang papasa batay sa pamantayan ni Charlson at Lito.

Bumaba kami pa-Maynila nang dismayado. Muli kaming umakyat at hinarap ang ibang mga dumulog sa ikalawang casting call. Nakilala namin si Kurt Alalag na bumira ng kanyang nose flute at aking sinabi nang mga panahong iyon ay mayroon na kaming Okdo. Sumunod na pumunta ay si Danilo Bulanay, isang batang trabahador ng Good Shepherd na noong araw ng kanyang awdisyon ay may dala-dala siyang mga produkto mula sa Good Shepherd. Nang humarap sa kamera ay nasabi ko na mayroon na kaming Tiago. Sa pagkakataong ito, muli ay mayroong mga nag-awdisyon para sa role ni Fas-ang ngunit di pumasa sa panlasa ni Charlson ang mga ito.

Sa ikatlong beses na umakyat ng Baguio ang grupo ay nakapili na sila ng Fas-ang, si Mai Fanglayan. Ngunit sa pagkakataong ito ay hindi na ako nakasama.

Ikapito ng Hulyo ang unang pagkakataon na makikilala ng lahat ang isa’t isa. Ito ang unang pangkalahatang pulong para sa preproduction. May mga kakilala akong


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tropa na mga propesor na aking kinamayan at binati nang may galak. May mga bagong mukha mula sa industriya ng independent cinema at naroon din sa unang pagkakataon si Mai Fanglayan, ang aktres na gaganap sa karakter ni Fas-ang. Nang makita ko siya, nasabi ko na matutuloy na ang shooting. Sa pagkakataong iyon ang tanging kulang sa team ay ang maghahabi o ang mag-eedit.

Halos buong araw ang miting. Iprinisinta isa-isa ng mga departamento ang kani-kanilang mga gagawin. Ang pinakatumatak sa aking isipan na magiging hitsura ng pelikula ay nang banggitin si Ozu at Kurosawa. Sinabihan ako ni Choy na manood ng mga pelikula nila para alam ko kung ano ang magiging takbo ng shooting. Magmula noon, isa na akong disipulo ni Ozu at Kurosawa.

Ilang araw matapos ang unang miting ay tinawagan ako ni Choy para pagtuunan ng pansin ang pagporma ng iskrip ayon sa tamang porma ng isang screenplay at kaakibat nito ay ang rebisyon. Dito ko masasabing nakilala ko nang lubos si Choy at si Mao. Ilang araw na kaming nakatutok sa pagporma at pagsasaayos ng iskrip habang may fries at chicken sa tanghalian at gin at pulutan pagdating ng hapunan. Tunay na ibang uri ng pulong ang naganap.

Masasabi ko na malusog ang aming balitaktakan kada rebisyon ng bawat eksena na aming pinoporma dahil nagkaroon ng mga pagpapalit-palit ng mga ideya, diskusyon, katanungan, at mainit na diskurso upang mapino ang lohika at daloy ng istorya. Bilang isang umuusbong na manunulat ng istorya at alagad ng pelikula ay napakalaki ng natutuhan ko sa kanilang dalawa at sa pagkakataong iyon ng kumbatihan.

Isang linggo bago ang shooting ay nakilala ko si Miyuki Kamimura, ang aktor na gaganap kay Tanabata. Ito rin ang unang pagkakataon na magkakakilala ang mga karakter ni Fas-ang at Tanabata sa workshop na pinangunahan ni Lito. Dito ko nakasalamuha si Miyuki at Mai na pawang mga dedikadong mga aktor at isa sa mga importanteng tao ng team. Dito ko rin nakilala ang tagapagsalin sa Kankanaey na si John Sagamla. Dalawang araw inabot ang workshop. Tinapos ito ng isang boodle fight at kuwentuhan na bumiyak sa barikada ng komunikasyon.

Sa araw ng shoot, umakyat ang team sa Baguio upang doon sunduin ang mga aktor na naka-base doon na sina Mai, Kurt, at Danilo. Umusad pa ang grupo paakyat ng hilaga nang halos tatlong oras upang makarating sa Bugias, Benguet. Hindi alintana ng grupo ang paparating na bagyo sa Pilipinas dahil hindi naman namin inakala na ito ay tatama sa mga lokasyon kung saan kami mag-sho-shoot.

Dahil sa dalang habagat ng bagyong lumapag sa Pilipinas noong mga panahon na iyon ay halos di tumitigil ang ulan at ang buga ng malamig na simoy ng hangin. At ang aming shoot ay nasalanta. May mga pagkakataon na halos hindi kami


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makapagsimula ng shooting dahil sa sobrang lakas ng ulan at halos binabaha na ang mismong lugar ng pagsho-shootingan. Ang mga naitala na mga eksenang isho-shoot sa araw na ito, halimbawa, ay hindi halos nasusunod dahil sa hagupit ng panahon.

Ang mga trabahador ng CMB ay nag-aalala para sa kanilang mga trabaho dahil ang kamera nila ay nasa bingit ng kamatayan at kung hindi sila magpapapirma ng waiver ay sila ang mananagot kung mapinsala ang kamera. Tunay na delubyo ang dumatal. Isa rin sa mga naging pagsubok doon sa lugar ay ang basang putik na kada lakad ay lumulubog ang mga bota. Nakakatawa dahil halos ilang porsiyento yata ng nilaan na pera sa produksiyon ay napadpad sa mga bota. Mayroon ding mga kulumpon ng ahas sa paligid ng lokasyon na tuwing gabi lumalabas kung kaya’t lahat ay alerto at baka matuklaw.

Dagdag mo pa sa problema ang hindi matibay na production set. Gaya nang minsang may umakyat sa set na bahay at bigla na lamang bumigay ang bubong. Aming itinigil ang shooting dahil sa ang mga nalalabing mga eksena nang araw na iyon ay sa loob ng bahay.

Kaakibat din ng mga problema ang isyu ng kultura o awtentisidad. May ibang mga damit o props na hindi akma sa kultura ng mga taga-Bontoc ayon nga sa mga aktor na sina Shane Daweg at Rainell Cosme. Mas pinili na lang nila na gumawa na lang ng damit na gawa sa dahon kaysa isuot ang maling tapis na nakalaan para sa kanila.

Sa halos pitong araw ng shooting ay di ko maipaliwanag kung bakit ako naaliw. Malamang dahil sa ideyang hindi mo alam kung ano ang mangyayari kinabukasan kung kaya’t para sa akin ay mas lalong lumikot ang isip at mas tumindi ang damdamin ko na kailangang kayanin namin ito at di namin marapat sukuan. Kung kaya’t umulan man o bumagyo ay tuloy ang plano namin nila Choy at Nap sa pagtataguyod ng estilo ni Ozu at Kurosawa para sa pangkalahatang estetika ng pelikula. Gabi-gabi ay binubuno namin ang shot list na kinabukasan, dahil sa ulan, ay hindi naman nasusunod.

Ang mas nagpasaya pa nito ay habang kami ay nag-sho-shoot ay may ibang shot kaming inaatupag sa set, shot ng gin! Na noong minsan ngang sinabihan ko na may “shot” dito sa likod ang mga taga-departamento ng sound ay inakala nila na may isho-shoot na eksena. ’Yun pala ay shot ng gin sa baso. Tunay na wala sa libro ang naganap sa set. Ngunit tunay na malinaw sa grupo na kailangang matapos ang proyekto, nang may dangal.

Matapos ang ilang araw sa Bugias, Benguet, ay aming pinakatutukan ang paghahabi at pagdudugtong ng mga imahen. Dito ko na nakilala si May-i Guia Padilla. Halos apat na linggo kaming naghahabi ng unang rough cut. Madugo ang proseso.


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Kanya-kanya kaming toka ng mga eksenang ihahabi. Dahil sa kabisado ko ang bawat eksenang shinoot ay madali ko nang nailatag ang mga eksenang nakatoka sa akin. May mga katanungan din si May-i nang mga panahong iyon na aking nasasagot naman at kung kinailangan ay tinawagan ko si Choy para kumpirmahin ang daloy ng mga eksena at estilo.

Ang rough cut ay ipinalabas habang may ginuman at pulutan. Masinsing pinapanood ng bawat isa ang pelikula. Matapos panoorin ay nagkaroon ng konsensus na may mga eksenang laylay ngunit ang pelikula ay may malaking potensiyal. Dahil dito ay nakapagdesisyon ang team na umakyat pa-Baguio at doon na i-shoot ang mga eksenang makakasalba sa pelikula.

Si Choy, May-i, Mao, at ako ang umakyat at doon na namin sa Baguio kinita ang mga aktor at si John. Sa unang dalawang araw ay di kami nakapag-shoot dahil sa signal number 2 ang bagyo noong mga panahong iyon. Muli, sa kabila ng presyur at tila sumpa ng ulan sa produksiyong ito, ay nag-inuman na lang muna kami sa isang resto-bar at nagvideoke kami buong gabi at umuwi kaming wasak at masaya. Tila hindi alintana na baka hindi matapos ang reshoot. Sa totoo lang, kinakabahan ako.

Kinabukasan naroon na ang mga aktor ngunit di pa rin kami nakapag-shoot dahil sa lakas ng ulan at hangin. Wala kaming laban sa panahon. Bagama’t sinalanta muli kami ng bagwis ng bagyo, mapalad kami na dumalaw sa aming tinitirhan ang mga filmmakers na sina Lester Valle at Carla Ocampo. Mga manlilikhang namamalagi na sa Bontoc at nagdirehe ng dokumentaryong Walang Rape sa Bontoc. Ipinapanood sa kanila ni Choy ang rough cut. Dahil doon ay nagkaroon na kami ng mga bagong kaalaman at insights. Pinunan at kinilatis nila ang rough cut. Dahil dito, mas naging maingat kami sa aming pagsho-shoot at isinaalang-alang muli ang masalimuot na usapin ng representasyon

Noong may pagkakataon na sumilip si haring araw ay agad kaming pumanhik sa Camp John Hay at nag-shoot ng mga eksena doon. DIY na ang lahat. Dala-dala namin ang mga trash bag para ipantakip sa mga kamera at iba pang mga kagamitang pampelikula. Ang mga aktor ay banat pa rin sa pag-arte kahit sobrang lakas ng ulan at hangin. Animo’y walang idinadaing na lamig at nginig sa katawan. Animo’y walang bagyo.

Nakatapos kami ng shooting pagkatapos ng dalawang araw ng walang humpay na bagyo. Bumaba pa-Maynila. Agad na sumabak sa ikalawang pagkakataon ng paghahabi.

Halos isang buwan kami nagpupunta sa tahanan nila May-i para maghabi sa ikalawang pagkakataon. Ang kanyang maybahay na si Ara ang siyang tumatayong ikalawang ina namin sapagkat sa buong pagkakataong kami ay naroon sa tahanan


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nila at naghahabi ng pelikula ay masasarap na putahe ang inihahanda sa amin at siyempre hindi mawawala ang gin na siyang nagbibigay sa amin ng mas pinaigting at pinalakas na loob.

Dito rin dumating si Bojo, ang kaibigan ni Choy na siyang nagbigay rin ng kanyang mahahalagang opinyon ukol sa mga eksenang hinabi namin. Malusog na balitaktakan at talaban ng opinyon ang nagaganap kada gabi, kada binubusising eksena, kada diskurso ng mga nailatag na ideya.

Nang nagkaroon na ng buhay ang pelikula ay agad namin itong ipinasa kay Nap para ito ay kulayan at dito papasok ang isa sa buhay ng pelikula, si BJ Mirasol, ang tumayong colorist ng pelikula. Tinanggap niya ang proyekto hindi dahil sa pera ngunit dahil sa hangarin para sa sining at para sa mga kaibigan. Hindi matatawaran ang kanyang komitment. Gaya ng kay raming tao sa produksiyong ito.

Ang dating walompu’t isang eksena na sinimulan ni Charlson ay naging animnapu’t apat habang nagsho-shoot sa set at naging singkuwenta’y dos na lamang pagdating ng paghahabi. Marahil, ito ang hiwaga ng pelikula. O marahil ng sining.

Matapos na mai-render ang pelikula sa DCP ay amin itong isinumite sa TOFarm at siyang ipinalabas sa mga sinehan. Nanalo ito ng siyam sa halos labing apat na parangal na iginawad ng TOFarm Film Festival. Ang mga nakuhang parangal ay ang mga sumusunod: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Music, at Best Production Design.

Sa huli, hindi ito tungkol sa mga parangal. Marahil, ang nagbigkis sa lahat ay ang pagpapahalaga sa kultura at pelikula. Dahil ito naman ang nagbigkis sa amin. Hindi kami sumuko sa kung anumang unos ang dumating. Banat lang nang banat. Ganoon naman ang paglikha, walang tiyak na kahon at mga alituntunin kung tutuusin

Kung kaya’t para sa buong team, isang tagay para sa inyo at gaya ng sinasabi ni Choy, “shotation for the nation!”

Si JUAN CARLO TAROBAL ang gumanap na Assistant Director sa pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife. Nagtapos ng BA Film sa UP Film Institute, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas Diliman. Siya ay isang artista sa teatro at manlilikha ng mga maiikling pelikula. Kasalukuyan siyang estudyante ng MA Media Studies (Film) sa UP Film Institute.


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Fureai and Cultural Translation in Tanabata’s Wife....................................................................................................Amparo Adelina C. Umali III, PhD

I CAME TO work for Tanabata’s Wife as a “veteran” of sorts. But my notions of film-making came from two experiences with alternative cinema during my college years—as a member of a production staff in one movie, and as a bit player in another.

I was a bit player in Raymond Red’s Kamada (1984) and assisted Anton Juan in rendering in 1984 a film version of his 1981 Palanca award-winning play, Taong Grasa, featuring the actor Lou Veloso, now a Manila local government executive. Both experiences introduced me to the logistical realities of short film production (nowadays, the term is “low-budget” or “indie”)—a one Super-8 camera setup, a couple of klieg lights, and a handful of staff and crew (in Taong Grasa, it was only Reuben Domingo and me). The non-corporate nature of the two productions is


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seen in the use of a schoolmate’s residence (for Kamada) and of random locations appropriate for specific scenes in Taong Grasa. We just paid for the use of electricity.

Tanabata’s Wife was a complete surprise. When we reached Benguet to do the filming, I learned that there were about thirty of us involved in the production billeted in one hotel, the Alpine Lodge. This number did not yet include the rest of the crew—more than our number—housed at Benguet State University.

More surprises came the following day. I learned that we would shoot with a state-of-the-art two-camera setup, like the ones used in Singapore, according to our Japanese lead actor, Miyuki Kamimura. There were more surprises: the cameras were to be provided and manned by a professional film crew from CMB Film Services, Inc.; they have worked with no less than internationally awarded-director Brillante Mendoza.

As a university theater practitioner, I am accustomed to the reality of budgetary constraints being the rule rather than the exception. An analogy would be that of an invading army’s marching orders: to live off the land that they are to occupy. In academic theater parlance, we call this fondly the beg-steal-or-borrow approach: staff is limited to a bare essential number; professional artistic staff come in only for technical rehearsals and performances. The making of Tanabata’s Wife was radically different from my idea of the production process of an indie film.

But that is going ahead of the story. Let me now retrace how I got involved in this film.

Theater director/playwright Lito Casaje, whom I had worked with at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) years ago, called up my office at the UP Center for International Studies (UPCIS) in early June to ask if I could collaborate as an actor and dramaturg in a film project about Japanese settlers in Baguio. In a subsequent email, he said he would like me to join shooting in Baguio and Ifugao (the location was changed to Buguias, Benguet) in late July as a research consultant for language and culture. He also invited me to audition for two possible roles: as a Bontoc woman friend of the lead female or wife of one of the Japanese men in the movie.

I sent word that I am interested in the project, though my hands were tied at the time of the audition, but I agreed to be a Japanese language and culture consultant. Lito informed me that I had to ensure that the Japanese actors, especially the lead, would comprehend the nuances in the script, which had been given to them in English.

My first act as a consultant pertained to casting. Asked if I knew Japanese male actors in Manila to play Japanese migrant farmers, I told Lito that I knew many Japanese residents in Manila but none were actors. Besides, knowing the budgetary


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constraints faced by productions in the Philippines, I thought that getting an actor from Japan was a remote possibility.

Learning that Charlson Ong was on board too as scriptwriter and director, made the production feel like a reunion of sorts with another person I had worked with in theater decades ago. Charlson was a former colleague at the UP College of Arts and Letters where I studied and later taught, but I first met him in Kyoto while I was a graduate student in Japan. I even played the title role of Lorena de la Rosa Tanaka, a play that he had written while on a Japan Foundation fellowship in Tokyo.

This connection with Lito and Charlson, I think, is one instance of the Japanese concept of emotional connections, or fureai—a link that binds two people from different age and social groups, making their meeting and working together possible.

I thought the plot of Tanabata’s Wife was another variant of the Celestial Maiden tale found in Asian folktales. That narrative is one of my research interests. But not being a Philippine literature specialist, I have not read the short story of Sinai Hamada (1911–1991), a Japanese-Filipino mestizo son of an engineer, one of the first Japanese immigrants in the country.

I read Charlson’s script shortly before coming on board for the location shooting. When I met the artistic and production staff, I was impressed to learn that the renowned cinematographer Nap Jamir, was director of photography. Then more fureai: I also learned that Choy Pangilinan, a friend and colleague, was line producer-director.

My work as cultural translator began at that point. But I needed to ask some questions first.

First, why is the lead character’s name Tanabata? It is not a usual name in Japan, I thought. It is a festival celebrating the once-a-year meeting of the Altair star and Vega star, two of the bright stars in the night sky. Second, why is Tanabata’s child named Kato, when Kato is a family name in Japan?

Charlson patiently explained that the author, Hamada, was either a nisei (second generation) or sansei (third-generation) Japanese who had been born and raised in the Philippines. Hamada could have heard “Tanabata” and “Kato” while growing up, and might have just used them in the story, being the Japanese vocabulary he could recall, Charlson explained.

Tanabata, the star festival of Japan, held on the seventh day of the seventh month of the year, is based on the Chinese Qixi festival that celebrates the yearly meeting of star-crossed lovers, the weaving maiden and the cowherd. At first glance it may seem like Tanabata’s Wife has no connection to the story of the mythical Tanabata, but a closer look would reveal that the reference to the latter is clearly expressed in the


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interactions and connections between two people of different nationality, language, culture, and age in a narrative about the union of a Japanese migrant worker to a local Bontoc woman. This is another example of fureai.

I came to the shooting equipped with the words of my Kabuki scholar mentor, the late Yoshiki Mukai, when I was studying Japan’s traditional theater traditions. I was going to be the bridge between two peoples, he said. This time, in Tanabata’ Wife, I was going to be the link between Japanese and Philippine cultures, making use of my Nihonggo and Japanese culture training and experiences acquired in almost a decade of residence in Japan.

On hindsight, I see my cultural translator work carried out in two broad ways: (a) as quality assurance individual ensuring correctness of details regarding Japanese culture and language presented in the film; and (b) as a cultural communications person smoothing out cultural differences between the Japanese actors and the Filipino artistic and production staff that would have resulted in some tension that could have affected the production.

Ensuring the accuracy of the visual details became my first preoccupation. For instance, in a scene where Tanabata attempts to convert his Bontoc-born wife into a dutiful Japanese spouse by teaching her the Obon Odori. This is a summer folk dance that honors spirits of ancestors who visit the living. The production design team had prepared a Chinese fan for Mai Fanglayan, who played Fas-ang. I told them that she needed a Japanese fan, the paddle-shaped uchiwa.

Fortunately, the UPCIS has an uchiwa in its collection. I had brought it along knowing I would have good use for it. Having had no chance to meet with the production designer and wardrobe person before going up to Baguio, the two directors, Lito and Charlson, told me days earlier to bring anything Japanese I had that could be used as props in the film.

Fanglayan also needed a yukata, the kimono worn in summer. The production design team had only secured a kimono obtained from Japanese surplus shops. Good thing, I had brought one along.

An important part of some scenes was the table setting. I instructed the production design staff how to do it Japanese style—where to place the chawan (rice bowl), the shiruwan (miso soup bowl), the ohashi (chopsticks), and the tsukemono (Japanese pickles). Just to be sure, I would often confer with Miyuki san to double check everything.

Authenticity of auditory details also had to be taken care of. I suggested that the Japanese actors not use standard Nihonggo, but the Hiroshima and Kansai ben (dialect) most likely used by expatriate Japanese farmers who had come to the


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Cordillera region a century ago. This gave the film a linguistic accuracy it can be proud of. While most Filipino viewers would appreciate this detail, it would surely be of significance to a Japanese audience, as the accents and lexicons used identified the immigrant farmers’ region of origin. Language, after all, is a marker of identity.

But in what one may consider a hilarious turn of fortune, preparing the English subtitles (not a single line of dialogue was in Tagalog or English) in the Nihonggo conversations proved difficult for me. Schooled as I was in standard Nihonggo, there were instances when it took some time for me to understand the actors’ non-standard utterances.

The language of the script also presented some challenges, especially to the Japanese actors. They did not know until the first day of filming, that Charlson’s script had been translated into Ilocano and Kankanaey, the local languages in the area where the real-life Tanabata lived. Ever the professional, Miyuki arrived Manila with his lines memorized —all in English—only to be told that he had to deliver most of them in Kankanaey, especially in scenes with Fanglayan.

The Babel-like character of the script demanded certain background information about Tanabata be made known to preclude the need for suspension of disbelief—this was no superhero or sci-fi movie—on the part of the viewers. For instance, a Kankanaey-speaking Tanabata is explained by a line in the dialogue casually mentioning his two-decade stay in Cordillera.

But I objected to Tanabata speaking entirely in Kankanaey in all his scenes with Fas-ang. I reasoned out: when the Japanese farmer would get into a very emotional state, like in moments of frustration or irritation, it would be more likely that he would express his emotional outbursts in Nihonggo, not in Fas-ang’s language. The directors agreed. So we hear him in the film utter an irritated “Yatoetta ka” (You want me to hire him?) in that scene when he succumbs to Fas-ang’s nagging to hire lowlander Tiago, to help them in their farm work after the Japanese had rejected the latter’s petition to be taken into his employ.

For purposes of phonetic authenticity, all the actors portraying non-Filipino roles were Japanese. When one of the would-be Japanese actors fell ill and could not join the filming, Lito substituted for him. I insisted that the character of the Japanese middleman he was to play be made a Chinese merchant (later, we named him Choi Ong), who could speak some Japanese. Lito would never sound like a native Japanese speaker. Any Japanese in the audience would be able to tell the difference.

The authenticity of the Japanese sounds I have control of—but not the Ilocano and Kankanaey utterances. My Ilocano classmate said Buklao, Tanabata’s


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worker who bids leave during the opening minutes of the film, was not a native Ilocano speaker. Her husband, a Kankanaey, said Fanglayan’s character sounded like she had been raised in Baguio, not in Bontoc. Only her two friends in the movie and Okdo, her former lover, spoke with an authentic Bontoc accent, he said.

There was also a need to ensure authenticity in behavior, that the actors move and react the way a typical Japanese male during that era did. A case in point: Tanabata’s wife developed an addiction for Charlie Chaplin movies being shown in Baguio City. While warned by his countrymen to not allow Fas-ang to frequent movie theaters, Tanabata just lets her be.

In the story, Fas-ang abandons Tanabata and takes their child Kato with her. But she returns one day. In the script, he asks her, “What took you so long? Tell me all about the movie,” suggesting that he merely dismisses her long absence to her addiction to the movies, not as Fas-ang’s expression of desire to leave him.

I said that a Japanese would probably not say such a thing, simply because it was not part of their cultural behavior. They would just say, “Okaerinasai” (Welcome back). The directors again agreed to change the script accordingly.

In the ending scene where Miyuki executed impressive acting with a rich repertoire of facial expressions, the three directors shot two versions: the one with the Okaerinasai utterance, and the other which would prompt viewers to interpret a cliff-hanger scene. The final cut featured the second version, a cinematographic compromise to bridge a Filipino director’s narrative perspective and a Japanese actor’s cultural reality.

Tanabata’s Wife presents a very unique production problem. It was originally conceived as short fiction; the scriptwriter had to transform Hamada’s text into a movie for ninety minutes. Transforming literature to film presents unique challenges.

One such challenge where I found myself in the middle of was the difference between how a theater director works, and how a non-Filipino actor imagines how a cineaste executes his/her craft. In the Philippines, directors—whether for film or stage—tend to “overdirect,” that is, they have the proclivity to tell actors how to act.

Miyuki got frustrated with this at a certain point. He told me: “We are actors. Let Mai and me do our job as actors.” I translated this for the directorial staff. Miyuki was left to his devices from that point on. He and Mai would later win the Best Actor and Best Actress trophies, respectively, in the TOFarm Film Festival. Obviously, he and Mai did their job, and well.


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The most challenging part of my cultural translator work involved ironing flayed nerves, especially of the lead Japanese actor’s, due to some behavioral practices in the Philippines considered as faux pas in Japanese culture. I found it a blend of translation and public relations work. To be honest, this was the most psychologically tiring part of the job.

There were problems right from the very start, unintended consequences of the local movie production culture. As it was an all-Filipino production team, it was easy to forget that the lead actor was not just any actor—that he was a foreign national, in a country not his own, working in the midst of people with a culture alien to him, speaking in languages (Tagalog, Ilocano, Kankanaey) he did not understand.

Miyuki had complained about the lack of aisatsu, that no one had met him upon his arrival at the airport after a flight from Japan. He had to wait four hours at the airport before getting picked up. He said that there “was a lack of coordination” and that he received delayed responses to his queries. It was totally unlike the way in Singapore, he explained, where he had studied and works. There, he would get continuous and nonstop memos communicating updates.

“No one is in control,” he uttered in frustration one time. Someone should be; and it was the production manager’s job to be so. There was a production manager, alright, and an experienced one at that. I would later learn that a hesitation to communicate due to imagined language failings was behind the lack of communication. I luckily was around to fill that lacuna, just as Lito had said. I even doubled as Miyuki’s production assistant, as he had not been provided any.

Miyuki spoke English. But he admitted that his proficiency was not enough to adequately express himself (“I could not express to my heart’s content”). So he welcomed my presence as his linguistic and cultural go-between. I relayed to the production staff his wish to have banana-and-egg breakfasts, and a hot bowl of mami and a beer in the evening. So he could understand the Cordillera culture he found himself in, I explained to him the significance of the cañao ritual we had to participate in. We did not film the ritual, but I had to explain that the local elders wanted us to do so to pacify the spirits of the Japanese dead we had disturbed in the course of shooting the film.

To work as a cultural translator is no easy task. I experienced this first hand in Tanabata’s Wife. The night before we left Benguet, Miyuki, during a conversation with Charlson and me, thanked me. He admitted that had it not been for my presence and interventions, he would have walked out of the production.


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I had to think as a bicultural and bilingual person during the filming. On top of that, I had to be diplomat, PR person, and patient caregiver all rolled into one.

It was no different to being Fas-ang, who served as cultural bridge between her Bontoc people and her Japanese common-law husband. While Filipinos would look at their relationship as just one case of racial intermarriage, the Japanese see more: an emotional connection known as fureai.

AUTHOR’S NOTEUmali is grateful to Prof. Wystan de la Peña and and Prof. Cynthia Neri-Zayas for their suggestions on how to improve this article.

AMPARO ADELINA “JINA” C. UMALI III, PhD provided the Nihonggo translation for the Tanabata’s Wife screenplay. She also served as a consultant for the film in representing Japanese culture. She lectures on Japanese Theater and Literature and Celestial Maiden Narratives at the UP Center for International Studies, where she is an associate professor and coordinator for East and Southeast Asian Studies. She obtained a BA Theater Arts degree from UP Diliman after specializing in Theater Arts at the Philippine High School for the Arts. She earned her MA (1996) and PhD (2001) degrees in Japanese Literature (Comparative Theater) at Doshiha University in Kyoto.


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TANABATA’S WIFE: A Journey Back Home..............................................................................Maribeth “Mai” Fanglayan

JULY 1 OF 2018, around six o’clock in the evening—all of a sudden, my life changed. My churchmate dragged me to accompany her to an audition for a film. “Bahala na, nandito na ako eh, kung anuman kahinatnan nito, kung makuha ako e di ayos, kung hindi, magpapagupit na ako ng buhok.” These were the lines I said to myself before facing the camera and started acting out for the audition. Suddenly, I was in.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Saint Louis University and was taught about the technical and academic side of acting specifically in theater; but ultimately, how acting is done depends on the actor. Not everything taught in school is applicable in the real world.

Portraying the role of Fas-ang was quite challenging and astonishing at the same time. It was challenging playing a major role depicting a Bontoc woman. To be culturally sensitive, I had to research more about the character and Bontoc culture to avoid cultural misrepresentation that has always been the problem with almost


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all commercial films that exploited our identity as a community. As a young Bontoc woman, it is my responsibility to represent my ancestors the best way I could.

During the shoot, a lot of challenges came. Everyone was wet and freezing badly because of the very cold temperature plus the bad weather caused by the typhoon. I had bruises on my legs and feet. It felt like the production was against all odds. From the typhoon, to the snakes up to the supernatural elements, everything was against us. The whole time that we were on the set, the sun never showed up, even during the reshoot. The rain kept on haunting us but still we pushed our limits for the love of art and culture.

All the hardships of the people in this production especially during the shoot were all worth it. The sacrifices done for this film, weather conditions, location, time constraints, cultural appropriateness, and even unexpected supernatural incidents, even a thousand or million words can’t explain. Seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter of the people within the production and seeing their commitment to this film, gave us actors so much courage to portray our roles better and face all the challenges.

Success is just a bonus; what matters most is the learning. It was a roller-coaster ride, and everything that happened has been a journey, a part of my history that I will never forget.

What happened was like a dream, a series of visions created by our artistic minds and imagination. This work of art had pushed me to leave my home, but it was also the same reason that has brought me back home.

That I am from the north and will always be a proud Cordilleran.

Si MAI FANGLAYAN ang gumanap na Fas-ang sa pelikulang Tanabata’s Wife. Umaarte siya sa entablado at sumasabak din sa paggawa ng mga malikhaing produksiyon. Nagtapos siya sa St. Louis University sa Baguio.

KRITIKA

CRITIQUE

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In Focus: Sinai Hamada and the Power of Sympathy..............................................................................Francis C. Macansantos

BORN IN 1911 in Baguio City, Sinai Hamada was the son of Ryukichi Hamada, an engineer and one of the earliest Japanese immigrants to arrive in Baguio at about the time it was founded by the American colonial authority (Hamada 1975, 245) His mother, Josefa Cariño, was a native Ibaloi, and belonged to one of the most eminent families of Benguet, although by marriage to a foreigner she risked certain disinheritance (Zenaida Hamada-Pawid, interview by author, Baguio, March 6, 2002).

Hamada was a product of the public schools throughout, culminating in the University of the Philippines, from which he graduated in 1937 in law and journalism (Hamada 1975).

I suspect that for most of us, Hamada, lawyer, journalist, and pioneer fictionist who produced much of his notable work in 1930s, is a distant figure in the landscape


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of our literature. One does not have to look far to see part of the reason for this lack of familiarity. He chose to remain in the province, close to his roots. The limelight, then as now, was in the capital. He was a lawyer and journalist there, a committed and effective citizen until his death in 1991. It is quite likely that these two professions, notoriously demanding in themselves, took away the leisure time he might otherwise have devoted to his art. After his graduation, he produced little fiction, none of these quite as memorable as his earlier work. For the cursory reader of the present generation, Hamada’s stories might, indeed, seem dated.

He himself might have felt ancient when he wrote, in an afterword to his 1975 collection, that, “No permission was sought for republication. The compiler would have loved asking. Alas, none of the magazines in which the stories first appeared is extant” (Hamada 1975). But he was only in his mid-sixties then, a time when some artists produce their most mature work. Then it seems likely that his circumstances did not favor creative work.

And yet, sadder than the thought of such lost possibilities is the fact that Hamada has, as yet, no true successor. In the PEN International conference held in Baguio in 1998, this point was driven home by National Artist F. Sionil Jose who, facing a panel of Baguio-based writers asked what seemed to be a sarcastic, rhetorical question: “Is there Baguio writing after Sinai Hamada?”

Most of us in the panel took the question in a negative light. I believe that had we not reined ourselves in and chewed the bit, we would have committed the ignoble act of rattling off the names of contemporary Baguio writers, awards, achievements, and all. In retrospect, I think it was fortunate that we checked such an impulse. For as Sionil Jose explained to me in another, subsequent PEN conference, his question centered around the mode of social chronicling that fictionists do, the kind that Hamada had pioneered in the Cordilleras. He meant to ask whether anyone in the Cordilleras was writing that kind of fiction now.

The most upbeat answer to such a question would be, “Well, not just yet.” The sad truth is that Hamada still stands quite alone in the landscape of Cordillera fiction. Why this is so is not an easy question, and not for us to even attempt to answer here. But certainly, we must rejoice and be thankful that such a body of work as Hamada’s fiction was at all created. It comprises a world of its own, full of delightful surprises, passion, and insight. And though sadly much of the actual world on which these stories are based is largely changed, transformed, or completely gone, the fictional world is still accessible and vitally human.

In his introduction to Hamada’s Collected Short Stories published in 1975, story-master Francisco Arcellana makes a remarkably interesting error. He erroneously

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observes—although the sentence on the page seems to ring with absolute conviction—that all of Hamada’s stories are love stories (Arcellana 1975). A careful re-survey of the collection will not bear this out.

The last story in the collection, for instance, “Five Men and the Carcass of a Dog,” is a humorous story with a sardonic social comment. “Compensation,” the penultimate story, is about social injustice. “The Fall of Irisan Bridge” deals with the betrayal of the Philippine revolution by the ruling classes. The story “Willy-nilly,” whatever else it is, is surely not a love story.

But the curious thing about this attempt to pick out contrary evidence is that we soon realize we are nearing a dead end. On closer reading one or two other stories that don’t seem to be love stories turn out to be, in some special way, arguably so. In the end, by what Atty. Hamada himself might have termed a “preponderance of evidence,” we may have to agree, essentially, with Arcellana. His instincts were proven right.

Having reached such a conclusion, we next must guard ourselves against the possibility of classifying Hamada with the sentimentalists. A good helping from magic helper Arcellana will steer us from such a trap:

All the stories are love stories, not just of love sacred and profane but of love as charity. “Tanabata’s Wife,” the most popular of these short stories, is, in the opinion of the writer of this brief homage, the finest Filipino love story ever written. “Lin-ey’s Strange Request,” is to the same person the most cynical statement on love ever made by a Filipino writer in a work of fiction (Arcellana 1975).

Arcellana instructs us on what Sinai Hamada is about—no less than his heights and depths, dimensions where no mere sentimentalist would dare tread. No, his characters are not all gentle souls; they love and hate, suffer and inflict pain—or love so selflessly their love becomes like the purest, most intense flame. At times the intensity culminates in acts of violence (though never in the manner of self-indulgent social realism). These are ordinary folks, mostly, and portrayed simply—but they are never flat, never run-of-the-mill. In truth they are mostly non-conformists, law-breakers, romantic rebels against tradition.

Don Gregorio, the wealthy social reformer of the story “Sometimes I Am Crying” is reduced to penury by his repeated failure to win any election. One sees the passion and constancy of a rejected lover in this quixotic figure, tragic in his failure to raise the political consciousness of his community. One is happy to agree with Arcellana that this, too, is a love story. And there are lovers galore in Hamada’s stories. One such is a free spirit named Baroy, otherwise known as the “Pagan.” Orphaned at an early age and living by himself on the highest hill near a valley community, Baroy is


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enticed into marriage by a beautiful damsel of the valley. He successfully courts her with precious gifts, gold he has dug from the hill of his lonely abode. The community welcomes him joyfully as its new member. Yet immediately after the wedding, he and his bride leave the valley for a virgin land he had once seen from his mountain home. He remains an outsider to the very end. In “The Road to Alno,” a boy is filled with obsessive fascination by the romantic affair he discovers between a high-born maiden and a commoner. In “Kintana and Her Man,” a young widow and a mulatto soldier of the invading American Army discover spontaneous love, and are immediately married without word or ritual. Beautiful Chaguysa, wife of a dying invalid in the story “Death in Love,” elopes with her lover. For her perceived crime, the village closes its doors on her. In “Lin-ey’s Strange Request,” a low-born but alluringly beautiful wife of a laborer instigates an infatuated admirer into murdering her husband so that she can be free to marry—her husband’s and her admirer’s foreman. In “A Woman Hurt,” two young lovers decide to live away from each other to prevent the man’s father from using their union as a means to possess her.

Love and passion predominate the stories. But is that all? Is this theme—or obsession, if you prefer—an end in itself? For, if so, there is a danger as there must be in all amoristic self-indulgence, the danger of a lack of insight, and its inevitable result: sentimentality. Where is the depth that Arcellana promised us in his foreword? The answer is quite simple—we are already there, at those depths—even the mere discovery of such depths is already insight.

But there is surely more than that. I believe that Hamada’s aim, or obsession if you wish, conscious or unconscious, was to prove that the Cordillera native, far from being tradition-bound, was entirely human, human as any other, his humanity shining through exactly at the point where tradition has been broken. But why choose the path of the amorist? Well, what else but the elemental emotions, to break man-made rules?

Beyond ethnicity is nationality: it is no coincidence that most of the stories where the theme of love and passion is not central deal with love for our country, with the national struggle for liberation. But beyond nationality is the struggle, the demand of the human being for equality, respect, acceptance and yes, love. This latter theme is especially dominant in the stories such as “The Last Slave,” “The Call of the Huntland,” and particularly “O Returning Day,” where an erstwhile peasant, having made a fortune through his skills as entrepreneur, tries and hopes to the very end to make himself worthy of the woman he loves, a woman above his station.

Let us take a most extreme example, that of the lethal ingenue, Lin-ey, of “Lin-ey’s Strange Request.” In essence, Lin-ey’s request, posed as a question to the

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construction foreman of “Will you marry me?” is not really so strange as it may seem. It is really a request to be allowed to move up to a higher, more humane level of society. In purely human terms, it is a demand to be treated as an equal. And such a desire, such a dream, is so alluring for Lin-ey that she uses a most heinous means to achieve it.

Hamada moves beyond ethnicity and nationality until, at last, he puts us face to face with the human being. And this is true not only of the evil Lin-ey, but even more so of Tanabata san, whose love is so pure Franz Arcellana calls it charity (Arcellana 1975). And so Hamada portrays Tanabata, the foreigner, the extremely other, as the paragon of human virtue, the possessor of the truly civilized heart.

And yet even Tanabata breaks rules. The characters of “Tanabata’s Wife” are none too law-abiding. Fas-ang, the young woman who travels to faraway Baguio to find work breaks tradition by agreeing to be the common-law wife of Tanabata, a Japanese national. Tanabata, for his part, crosses lines of ethnicity and nationality by this tacit marriage that is blessed with neither ethnic rite nor state sanction. Later, Fas-ang, under the pernicious influence of American movies to which she has become addicted, elopes, Hollywood-style, with a town-mate she has met in the movie house and returns with her lover to Bontoc. This town-mate lover is a busol, a head-hunter, a man with a violent temper who has been recently dismissed from his job in the American base for a rule violation. This lover eventually deserts Fas-ang, and she returns to Baguio where Tanabata takes her back, with great affection and without question. Among other things, this a story of lawless people, right? True, but they are all the more human.

Essentially, though, Tanabata is most upright. He may have broken with some traditions, but not with the human moral law. He is the only character in this story who remains steadfast to his human commitments. Definitely he is not our stereotypical Jap, whether brutal invader, slick businessman, or noble, virile samurai. Rather, he is a farmer, unobtrusive, avid, attuned to the cycles of Nature, of planting and of harvesting. His sensitive fingers coax the soil to bring forth life. More than just a vegetable grower with an eye to profit, Tanabata is symbolic of man’s urge to nurture. Only those who are steadfast in their love possess the gift and power to husband the earth in all its phases. The steadfast man as nurturer—a life symbol1—such is Tanabata san.

Ironically, it is he who is the other, the foreigner and stranger, who becomes the paragon for a Godlike virtue which Arcellana rightly calls “love which is charity.” It is eros transformed into divine attribute. Some may stop to ask how a mere human could behave so well. If we fail to fathom Tanabata, we will start to doubt his credibility.


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Likely as not, we will view the story’s resolution as forced, without adequate basis. How could a mere man, a mere male, be so constant in his love, and so Godlike as to possess the power to pull all the loose ends of the plot together? Doesn’t he remind us of that deceitful deity of ill-wrought fiction, the deus ex machina?

The best place to look for evidence in his defense is in the earth—or in his hands. Or, more precisely, in what natural miracles occur when his hands and the earth meet. For Tanabata is not just a trader of vegetables. Above all, he is a nurturer. In Tanabata’s garden, Fas-ang, when she was not cooking, stayed among the cabbage rows picking worms. All that Tanabata did was to care for the seedlings in the shed house. Also, he did most of the transplanting, since he alone had the sensitive fingers that could feel the animate soil (Hamada 1975, 42).

These are the hands of a truly dominant male, a great lover who husbands the soil to fruition. The secret to successful husbandry, as to all of civilized community, is in patience, and unfailing intensity.

In the end, neither tribal law nor Fas-ang’s busol lover’s feckless, anarchic machismo can help him triumph over Tanabata, the man of substance. The restless and mobile hunter loses out to the farmer because the hunter just can’t stay put, literally or emotionally. He cannot provide the moral basis for a truly humane existence, a civilized society. As a matter of fact, neither can the wayward ways of the modern industrialized West, fickle as Hollywood, illusory as the movies which had led Tanabata’s wife astray.

The true lover husbands the earth, prods it to yield its bounty. This bonding with the earth early on in the narrative prepares us for his elemental bonding with Fas-ang, and is the true foreshadowing of the story’s resolution. Thus, when Fas-ang finally returns home with their child, it is as if the living essence of the long-abandoned earth, too, had returned. Tanabata and Fas-ang become symbols of life’s mystery, its mysterious fecundity, transcending ethnicity and nationality.

In his foreword to Hamada’s collected works, Arcellana calls “Tanabata’s Wife” “the finest love story ever written by a Filipino.” Now this is the highest praise from the story-master. But Arcellana does not stop there. He goes on to make an observation so uncannily sharp that we suggest it become a heuristic device for the study of Hamada’s fiction, particularly for “Tanabata’s Wife.” Arcellana writes, “These stories are told with the compulsion and great urgency that characterize the making of myths.”

For quite a number of Hamada’s stories that deal with love and passion, the eternal triangle provides the infrastructure: “Who’s Home?”2, “The Road to Alno,” “Death in Love,” “Lin-ey’s Strange Request,” “A Woman Hurt,” and of course “Tanabata’s Wife.” But it is in the latter that the love triangle appears clearly as archetypal.

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Earlier we have had occasion to refer to both Tanabata and Fas-ang as life-symbols. But there is more to the figure than that. Tanabata’s garden, for instance, harks back to a garden so ancient it might well be the most ancient of all.

Ordinarily, she [Fas-ang] was patient, bending over the plants as she rid them of their worms, or gathered them for the sale in the market. Even her hands had been taught to handle with care the tender seedlings, which almost had to be prodded to grow luxuriantly.

When the sunbeams filled the valley, and the dewy leaves were glistening, it was a joy to watch the fluttering white butterflies that flitted all over the garden. They were pests, for their chrysalides mercilessly devoured the green vegetables. Still, their advent in the bright morning would stir the laborers to be up and doing before they, themselves, were outdone by the insects (Hamada 1975, 44).

The figure is old, indeed, but only because it is an allusion, though still recognizable even if worms and butterflies have taken the place of the snake. Another snake—or worm, if you like—is the busol lover, disguised as a butterfly. But perhaps the most pernicious snake of all is Hollywood, purveyor of American moral anarchy.

In the end, Tanabata hurdles the moral challenge. And let us not forget Fas-ang either, who with quiet courage traverses the barrier of ethnic norms. They are the couple to watch.

Of course one must wonder why it is the foreigner, the stranger, the remote other who becomes the paragon. In terms of artistic genesis, the answer must lie in the fact that Sinai Hamada’s father was Japanese. And even though Sinai was a month-old infant when his father died, the Japanese community in Benguet kept in touch (Hamada-Pawid, interview). In fact, the real-life models for Tanabata and Fas-ang were uncle and aunt, respectively, to Sinai Hamada (Hamada-David interview). No doubt, Sinai must have felt like a foreigner, even in the land of his Ibaloi ancestors. But true to his creative gifts, he turned this familiarity with the foreigner into a bridge of understanding, leading to the realization that there really is no foreigner, there really is no other. There is only the human being—which is what we all are.

For the task of understanding this problematic creature, Hamada brought to his material a broad and deep curiosity and a ready, unstinting flow of sympathy, a sympathy of such a kind that, having gone through the gauntlet of otherness twice over—first, as a member of what used to be called a “cultural minority” and second, as a foreigner—emerged from the injustice with his literary sensibility intact, cleansed of any animosity or resentment, truly Filipino and truly humane.


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AFTERWORDIn the wake of the Marcos flight to Hawaii in 1986, Baguio was the recipient of a visit from poet-critic in exile, Epifanio R. San Juan Jr. One of the most distinct memories I possess from that period of ferment is the lecture he delivered on the story “Tanabata’s Wife” at Luna Hall at the UP College in Baguio. Employing the structuralist approach, then a novelty in the country, San Juan laid out what he saw as the story’s Marxist framework, containing the latent theme of class struggle. The analysis was a tour de force.

But what turned out to be just as interesting for me, in retrospect, is a seemingly minor point he made at the beginning of his lecture. This was his reference to the reputation of “Tanabata’s Wife” as the most anthologized Filipino short story on record. No one in the audience then rose to dispute the lecturer’s point. In those times, the belief was widely held. I, myself, held my peace. But I had my doubts.

Over the years I have found myself occasionally scouring my memory for sightings of this particular story in anthologies I had come across. It is recorded that in the early ’30s, the story found its way into Story, a highly-regarded American anthology. The story is included in T. D. Agcaoili’s landmark volume of Philippine short stories. I remember reading the story for the first time in one of the anthologies published by the Philippine PEN. I was a college sophomore then, at about Hamada’s age when he wrote “Tanabata’s Wife.” Yet in the textbook used for our class in Philippine Literature, then considered the most up-to-date, there was no “Tanabata’s Wife.”

Beyond such sightings, memory fails. Or is it the facts that fail? Is the truism—repeated by E. R. San Juan Jr.—really true? Isn’t the truth rather that Sinai Hamada has been gradually forgotten by critics and anthologists? Lately, I scanned through one of the most recent volumes of short stories in English written by Filipinos. I report no sighting of Sinai Hamada there. Hopefully, such critical lapses of memory will not occur too often. Let us hope, too, that lectures on Hamada serve as mnemonic devices for a people whose memory is notoriously short.

NOTES 1. For the term life-symbol which I prefer to use in lieu of “fertility symbol” or

“phallic symbol,” I am indebted to Susanne K. Langer’s Philosophy in a New Key (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967, 150-52).

2. “Who’s Home” is Hamada’s first published story.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Agcaoili, T. D. Philippine Writing. Introduction by Edilberto K. Tiempo and Edith

L.Tiempo. Manila: Archipelago Publishing House, 1953.Arcellana, Francisco. Foreword to Collected Short Stores, by Sinai Hamada. Baguio

City: Baguio Printing and Publishing, Co., 1975.Bagamaspad, Anavic, and Hamada-Pawid, Zenaida. A People’s History of Benguet

Province. Baguio City: Baguio Printing and Publishing Co., 1985.Hamada, Sinai. Collected Short Stories. Baguio City: Baguio Printing and Publishing

Co.,1975.Langer, Susanne K. Philosophy in a New Key. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

1967.

*First published in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts website, 2015.

http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/sinai-hamada-and-the-power-of-sympathy/

FRANCIS MACANSANTOS (+) was a renowned poet and literary critic.


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Fas-Ang: Cross-Cultural Currents in the Literature of Sinai C. Hamada..............................................................................Anna Christie Villarba-Torres

SINAI C. HAMADA is a Baguio-born Japanese-Filipino mestizo who writes poetry, essays, feature articles and short stories but is most notable as a short story writer. Sinai was born to Ryukichi Hamada, a Japanese mechanical foreman of Heald Lumber Company, Baguio City, who died in an accident while Sinai was only an infant, and Josefa Cariño, an illiterate Ibaloi woman who belonged to the prominent Cariño family of Benguet. In the context of Philippine literary history, Hamada belongs to the third period of Philippine literature in English, i.e., “The Period of Adaptation and Experimentation” (1925-35 ).1 He was educated in Baguio public schools and the University of the Philippines, Diliman, where he finished Law and Journalism. Today, at seventy-nine Hamada is still engaged in 1 Maximo Ramos and Florentino Valeros, eds., Philippine Harvest, rev. ed. (Quezon City: Phoenix

Publishing, 1964), p. 10.


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the practice of law in Baguio and Benguet as well as in TheCordillera Post, a weekly tabloid of which he is the editor.

In most of his stories and poems, Hamada operates on cross-cultural currents. If culture is a means of adaptation to communicate and cooperate with fellow man for societal survival, cross-culture is the comparison of cultures for the integration of these cultures. The literature of Hamada, himself a man of a different cultural background lends itself as significant material for this approach.2

Applied to literature, the cross-cultural approach can take two levels.3 At the simplest level, the approach investigates how and what aspects of a culture are depicted in the works of an author of a different cultural background. On another level, the approach seeks to analyze the cross-cultural encounters in an author’s works. The cross-cultural theme, i.e., the interplay between two cultures, shows how the characters of different racial and/or cultural backgrounds placed in dramatic situations interact with one another. By dramatizing such encounters, differences and similarities in the characters’ respective cultures are revealed.

The concept of racial or cultural otherness is not a fixed concept but a revolving theorization or process. In contemporary criticism, the concept of “the other’’ or “the outsider” centers on power relationships. In this article, however, “otherness” is used in a more relative sense, to make a distinction, a difference in race/culture, gender and class. To summarize the “crossing of cultural boundaries,” the word fas-ang, lifted from Hamada’s representative story, “Tanabata’s Wife,” is used. Fas-ang is a Bontoc term meaning “to cross over a boundary,” or “to jump over to the other side.” Bontoc, the capital of Mountain Province is divided into three parts, namely Bontoc Central, Eastern Bontoc and Northern Bontoc. The spoken dialect is Bontoc. However, there are slight linguistic variations in each part. In Central Bontoc for example, the “d” sound becomes “ch,” the “b” becomes “f” and the “g” becomes “k” or “kh.” Thus, fas-ang, a central Bontoc term becomes “bas-ang’’ in eastern and northern Bontoc.4 In this study, the word fas-ang will be used in a broader and more metaphorical sense. The presence of mixed cultures in Hamada’s works indicates a crossing over, a fas-ang. The manner in which these mixed cultural elements is utilized reflects a particular stage in Hamada’s awareness of fas-ang as worldview.2 Robert B. Taylor,-Cultural Ways (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1969), p. 29.

3 Yu-yuhChao, “A Cross-Cultural Approach to Literature,” in Literature and Society: Cross-Cultural

Perspectives, 2nd ed., Roger Bresnahan, ed. (Los Baños: n.p., 1976), pp. 260-61.

4 Interview with June Prill-Brett, Sagada, Mountain Province, 4 May 1987. Dr. Prill Brettis the out

going director of the Cordillera Studies Center (CSC), UP College Baguio. She has written and

published various articles on Bontoc and its inhabitants.


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The cross-cultural elements in Hamada’s prose and poetry however do not seek to isolate the different cultures, races, genders or classes. On the contrary, they provide us with an interesting picture of our colonial and neocolonial history. More importantly, they help clarify a special concern of Hamada, i.e., the brotherhood of man.

STORIES OF LOCAL COLOR:1930-46Under the tutelage of an American teacher, Helen McCllurg, Hamada was drawn to writing as a junior at the Baguio City High School. The following year, aware that short stories were being published in the Graphic, Hamada sent his first short story, “Whose Home.” Published on 8 January 1930, it was chosen by Jose Garcia Villa as one of the best short stories for 1930. Hamada recalls that he was paid P8.00 for this story.5

Hamada’s early experience of literature was in the form of narratives, from folk.tales to community events fold to him by his mother and maternal grandmother. This storytelling provided Hamada with a convention. His earliest works range from fables to works of fiction with a strong sense of place. After working on this convention, Hamada, like other writers, developed his own literary technique from his own distinctive sense of form.6

In “Whose Home”7 and five other stories written from 1930 to 1938, the young Hamada wrote stories with the “native situation theme.” In the literary style of the time, writers sought to depict typical native scenes and situations. For the youthful Hamada, the portrayal of mixed cultures in everyday Benguet life was a manifestation of his romantic outlook. Like other Filipino writers in English, e.g., Arguilla and his native Nagrebcan, La Union, in Baguio and his adopted abode, Kalinga, Hamada supported the local color movement in Philippine literature in English.

Hamada’s intention in “Whose Home” was to idealize a native situation (here) in Baguio at (that) time.”8 Hamada is referring to the 1930’s, when Japanese nationals dominated both the business and trade scenes in Baguio and the outlying districts. This “factual” story was based on “an actual situation where lowland and highland carpenters were hired together by Japanese contractors.”9 The cultural differences in the story point out the Igorot’s concept of home and family. Although Hamada claims that there was no original intent on his part to depict these cultural 5 Interview with Sinai C. Hamada, UP College Baguio, Baguio City, 2 June1988.

6 Northrop Frye, The Educated Imagination (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,1964), p. 41.

7 Sinai C. Ilamada, Collected Short Stories (Baguio City: Baguio Printing and. Publishing Co., Inc.,

1975), p. 5. All succeeding page references are to this edition.

8 Interview with Sinai C. Hamada, Baguio, 2 June 1988.

9 Interview with Hamada, Camp 7, Baguio City, 14 May1987.


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differences, the differences are there nevertheless. The story begins with the Pampango, Tagalog and Ilocano carpenters bemoaning their married state.

. . . What a life! Woman! h-m-m-m! As soon as I reach home, aroo! Tired and sweating, sus! I receive scoldings. Words—dirty words—woman! Because I drink a little winc-susmariosep! . . .

. . . My wife—hoo! If she docs not make my head the target of plates, then it is the floor. And she likes to buy glassware so she has something to break. Por Dios! . . . “

. . . woman spoils all. Dirty home. When you arrive, she hands you the dirty baby.(p. 7)

Baroy, the Igorot carpenter however, is “eager to reach his cozy home,” (p. 5) and sit down to a supper of simple fare with his wife and daughter. Secure in his hut with his family, Baroy cannot comprehend” thecomplaint of those men against women and home”(p. 9).

Hamada stresses that his “simple depiction of an Ibaloi home lover is typical of an lbaloi who has found employment in carpentry, a new trade for him.”10 Employment in a trade other than farming or mining, the more common livelihood activities for the native, is source of pride that like wise helps strengthen his attachment to home and family. “Sunka,” written in 1931 is a story about a native couple, Adiganand Sunka, natives of Akop, Benguet. They are cousins. That is why Adigan has known and married Sunka. Adigan comes to their present home, quite a distance from Akop. He leaves his wife in the village and returns for her when their kaingin is ready. Their home becomes the resting place of travellers in search of fortune.The presence of travellers creates the tension in the story. This tensions harply delineates the fas-ang of cultures between native man and woman.Foral though they have been wed for “almost three harvests long,” they are childless. Hamada points out that for Igorot society, the strongest motivation for a man and a woman to marry is to have children who will succeed them in their old age.11 Similarly, according to unwritten Nabaloi law, the absence of children, or if they are born dead or if they all die, serves as ample grounds for divorce.12

In the story, apparently it is Sunka who is basig (sterile or unproductive). On several occasions, it is implied that Sunka has been growing intimate with the 10 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 2 June1988.

11 Ibid.

12 “Nabaloi Law and Ritual,” American Archeology and Ethnology 15, quoted in Ernesto S. Alcantara,

“lbaloi Culture” in Baguio Tech Journal 4 (1966): 18.


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travellers. She stands close to the (first) traveller while he eats his lunch, and the traveller reddens in the ears while insinuating that Sunka keeps secrets. Sunka chooses to remain home complaining of a backache instead of going to the field. But Adigan refuses to believe his wife holds “secrets.” The same unwritten Nabaloi law allows a man to divorce his wife if she lay with another man.13 Adigan realizes what is going on and takes action:

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his brain, and he saw everything clear. And a glint came into his eyes, seldom seen there; hard, meaningful. (p. 83)

Adigan asserts his principle, his manhood: “I don’t want any more travellers coming to our house uninvited” (p. 83). But he does not hurt her for “she was gentle-hearted and beautiful” (p. 83). There is no need to, as “both understood.” Although the tension of Sunka’s infidelity is strongly felt in the story, its treatment is subdued from the act itself to its resolution. Sunka now plays the dutiful wife, and man and woman are bound more closely together. The story ends with the birth of a child of their own, an apt symbol of two cultures clashing but meeting midway.

Among the highlanders, a distinction exists between those who live among people and those who live alone. “The Pagan,” written between 1931 and 1932 illustrates this. Baroy is a young loner who lives in the mountains where he mines for gold. He descends to the valley settlement of Loakan occasionally to sell his gold. The people call him “a pagan” (p. 11). However, he is welcorne in the valley because he is an orphan. The elders admire his industrious nature. The young women “liked him in one way [but] he liked them in another. [For] no one had taught him to like women the way they liked him” (p. 13).

Baroy represents two aspects of Igorot culture. One is Baroy’s hardworking and pioneering traits. But he chooses to live away from the valley settlement (civilization) and opts for mountain life (primitiveness). Even his mining methods taught him by his father are primitive:

The mine was just above his hut. It was supported by posts he had hewn in the woods. He worked it with an iron pick. He sorted the ore, crushed it, and then panned the pulverizedgold.

. . . sometimes, Baroy panned directly from the stream for gold. He had once actually seen the gleaming gold on the stream bed. The sight had instinctively thrilled him. (p. 13)

13 Ibid.


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But Baroy is also human, and although he does not think of marriage, “the strange urge [beats] like a flame in [his] heart” (p. 14). This is the second cultural aspect Hamada projects via his character. Hamada says that the falling in love between the male and female in a native culture is not the same as in civilized society.14 As the buck chases the doe over the woodland, a man and woman in primitive culture base marriage on a “nature reaction.”15

The woman of Baroy’s desire is Marujia, whom he sees bathing in the nude in the spring. After this incident, he tries to bring out all the gold in his mine.He finally descends, gold-laden, appeasing the anxiety of the community over his long absence. He lays the gold before Dampak, the village chief “to celebrate [his] wedlock with Marujia” (p. 16). The village sages approve of the marriage and “five steers, one carabao, ten pigs, wine and bread” (p. 16) are butchered and prepared for the cañao.

However, although Baroy dispels the people’s notion that “he has no liking for women” (p. 13), his hardy and pioneering streak prevails. Married life will not tie him down. Spotting virgin land from the mountain home, man and wife cross the ridge beyond the valley to a new frontier.

Written immediately after the war, “Lonely Valley” is not based on any actual personal experience. Hamada wanted to find out if he could still write stories that would find their way into print. He wrote about Rita because he had classmates in high school who were American mestizas and who were “of course the prettiest in [the] high school campus and were most attractive to the high schoolboys.”16

The story is set in Camp 7, where Hamada now resides with his family. Hamada recalls that the American girl, Rita, had lived right below their home. Camp 7 is likewise the setting of other stories, e.g., “Homecoming,” “Willy Nilly,” and “The Last Slave” (partially). Now, Camp 7 is fast becoming a residential and commercial area and subdivisions and souvenir shops are common sights in the area. In the persona’s nostalgic longing for “the valley of [his] dreams,” Hamada illustrates the familiar urban-rural conflict and lost love. The valley is synonymous with Rita:

I think of Rita, and the twin brooks that flow into another as they tumble headlong down a cliff beyond the bend of the road. Of skies over the valley of Puy-as. The guava hills of Kawa. Oh. (p. 128)

14 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 14 May1987.

15 Edilberto Alegre and Doreen Fernandez, Original Manuscript of Interview with Sinai C. Hamada,

Baguio City, 20 October 1983, p. 17. Subsequently published in revised form in the The Writer and

His Milieu: The Second Generation Writers (Manila: De La Salle University Press,1987).

16 Interview with I lamada, Baguio, 14 May1987.


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Rico’s mother wants her son to be a government clerk. She dreams of moving into the city. Thus, Rico turns his back on the valley and on Rita who has said:

. . . If you don’t marry me now, Rico, you shall never have me. (p. 128)

His mother immediately takes to city life, but for Rico it is a “humdrum existence.” Rita “had gone overseas, never to come back” (p. 128). So now, as a city hall clerk, Rico has to:

Type this. Mail this. Copy this. Type that. File that. Erase that. Erase it. TIME. (p. 130)

His aging mother insists that he should marry after she dies, but Rico protests: “I’ve almost forgotten I am a man” (p. 130). So, alone in the evenings, dreams of the valley recur to Rico:

Oh to return, but dreams are gone, and the one who was there is there no more. (p. 131)

With deep longing and regret, Rico recalls “the twin brooks [that] embrace and mingle as one at the vale’s end” (p. 131). Without Rita, alone, the valley becomes a sad and sorry reminder.

A majority of Hamada’s early stories speak of native situations, with old Baguio or the outlying districts as the backdrop. In these stories, one detects Hamada’s fondness for “things past” and a natural portrayal of different cultures, for these stories are based on actual narratives Hamada heard from his close kin. This exemplifies the local color tradition which dominated the Philippine literary scene at that time. One critic notes that Hamada’s (early) stories are characteristic of the short stories in English written by Filipinos from 1931 to 1941 in that they focus on local color with particular emphasis on certain tribes and places.17 Thus in the parallel development of Hamada’s literary career and

17 Virginia R. Moreno, “A Critical Study of the Short Story in English as Written by Filipinos from 1910

to 1941 with an Anthology of Representative Stories” (MA Thesis, University of the Philippines,

April 1952), p. 73, quoted in Pacita Icasiano-Habana, “Asian Cross-Cultural Influences in Four

Filipino Writers” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Santos Tomas,1978).


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world view, fas-ang is limited to a literary technique, i.e., local color, and is still in the first stage of growth.

STORIES OF CONFRONTATION: 1930-54Eleven stories by Hamada written from 1930 to 1954 fall in the second stage in the development of Hamada’s attitude toward crossculture. Most of these stories were written during Hamada’s college years at the University of the Philippines. “The Fall of Irisan Bridge” won first place in the National Heroes’ Day Contest at the University of the Philippines in 1933. Four other stories, “Kintana and Her Man,” “Tanabata’s Wife,” “As Life Goes On,” and “O Returning Day” received citations in Villa’s Honor Roll.18

These stories reveal a change in the subject of fas-ang. Although the majority arc love stories, which Hamada claims was “the fashion then,” the use of fas-ang no longer carries the native situation theme. Instead there is a more conscious and serious treatment of fas-ang. Cultural delineations used as ornaments to enhance the story have been replaced by a confrontation of sorts. Here, the concept of the “other” is more strongly felt. One of the earliest stories which shows traces of conflict in mixed culture situations is “Compensation,” written in 1930. The story is set in a large saw mill, with a virginal forest on an adjacent mountain.

Although the story is reminiscent of his father’s own accident, Hamada notes that this story was based on another actual mishap he must have heard of in the neighborhood.19 Bakag (not his real name), is among the many Igorot lumberjacks who work in the mill—“sawing, rolling, hauling, hitching, piling and loading timber” (p. 218). He is likewise a champion wrestler, putting down each combatant, except the Japanese jui-jit-suits. More significantly, Bakag is loved by his peers. He is their idol. Laboring uncomplainingly, he always helps the weaker ones. Even the company considers him an asset. He is first in the payroll line and receives more than the average worker.

But one Saturday, an accident occurs:

The cable had been cut and it whirled terribly, swinging violently, even uprooting some pliant trees.

Bakag was caught in the twirl of the broken wire. The wire had been so taut that when it broke, its swish whistled. The spectators of the grim tragedy saw the man whipped by the cruel wire and swung off into a dense thicket. (p. 220)

18 Icasiano-Habana, “Asian Influences,” p. 131.

19 Interview with I Iamada, Baguio, 2 June1988.


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The mangled body is located, wrapped and brought to the grieved family. The following morning, the mill paymaster hands Bakag’s wife P100.00: “That is the company’s compensation for your loss” (p. 220). The sawmill company referred to here is based on the actual Heald Lumber Company, where Hamada’s father was a foreman. Owned by an American, H.C. Heald this was among the earliest and later, one of the biggest lumber firms in Baguio City. ·

Two cultures operate in this story. On the one hand, there are the Igorot laborers who work in the establishment:

The Igorots love their work. They are strong but become stronger with hard labor. It partly solves their problem of securing subsistence where it is so hard to earn a living. (p. 218)

On the other hand, there are the “absent” company owners whose presence is felt only at the end when, through the paymaster, they donate P100.00 as compensation for the family’s loss. Unlike the native workers, these foreign capitalists need not toil physically in the production process.

Hamada clarifies that his primary motivation in writing the story was to emphasize the meager compensation received by the family of the Igorot. Hamada underscores the fact that he is an Igorot “who was not expected to know too much about his own rights.”20 Thus, the final interjection of “What! . . .” in the story is satiric, “to highlight the fact that the compensation is inadequate for the life of a native.”21 Hamada adds that there was “a misapplication of the compensation or reward for the efforts of the native.” In other words, “the life of the native amounted to only Pl00.00,” signifying “a low regard for a native meeting an accident in his work, which was different from other ethnicgroups.”22

The Igorot worker is industrious. But because he is unaware of his rights (a risky job entails better pay) he falls victim to discrimination and oppression. For the Igorot therefore, “life [becomes] so cheap.”23 The issue here is not discrimination against the highlander per se, but that the highlander, in comparison to the lowlander, is primitive, and is therefore ignorant of his basic rights.

A love story which develops the conflict between primitivism and education is “As Life Goes On,” published in Graphic.24 Rebecca, a native girl is sent to the Anglican 20 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 20 September1988.

21 Interview with I lamada, Baguio, 2 June1988.

22 Ibid.

23 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 20 September 1988.

24 Sinai C. Hamada, “As Life Goes On,” Graphic, 20 September 1934, pp. 12-13, 41, 47, 54-55.


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Mission School by her father. Here she learns how to sing church songs, to speak English and to rebel. Shortly after graduation from seventh grade, her father takes her away to be wed because of kai-sing to the son of the wealthiest native in the village. Rather than marry a man she does not love, Rebecca risks parental rejection and seeks refuge in the dormitory. The sympathetic matron praises her example:25

She is the embodiment of the triumph of education over primitiveness.

Rebecca chooses to pursue her education and tum her back on the “rustic customs of her people.”26 But Rebecca does not totally shun her upland culture.While at the Baguio Nursing School, she feels “the thrill of life” with a young Bontoc gentleman (p. 47). Unfortunately, their romantic tryst is cut short when the Bontoc lad joins “Uncle Sam’s Army’’ and shortly after, they lose touch with each other. Rebecca’s pride in her upland heritage does not die with “education.” A promising young doctor woos her,causing tongues to wag: “Imagine the scion of a wealthy family having to do with a common Igorot lass.”27 Although the young man offers her marriage, Rebecca is unmoved—“I have pride, little though it is.”28 In the end, Rebecca’s education does not deter her from marrying the man of her choice. This is Sixto, the big burly Ilocano miner with whom she decides to spend her life. In the long run, her passionate heart, not her educated mind prevails.

Hamada effectively captures three historical periods in the BaguioBenguet area in three of his stories. From these, we learn the prominence of mixed cultures. We likewise see coping patterns of the native inhabitants and the foreign invaders as their cultures clash.

The Spaniards, the first foreign power to set foot in the highlands, displayed a special interest in the mountain mines as a potential source of wealth. This was due to the high costs in maintaining a colony so far removed from the Iberian metropolis and the pressing need to reduce the annual subsidy, by which the treasury of Nueva Espana sustained the Manila Government.29 However, when the Spaniards heard 25 Ibid., p. 41.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid., p. 54.

28 Ibid.

29 American Historical Review 1,quoted in Robert Reed, City of Pines: The Origins of Baguio as a Colonial

Hill Station and Regional Capital (Berkeley:Center for Southern and Southeast Asian Studies,

University of California, 1976), pp. 461-64.


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about the highlanders’ habits of extracting only enough gold for small-scale trade and of carefully concealing major mine sites, their desire for gold was further intensified.30

This historical datum comes to life in “The Punishment of Kutnon,” one of Hamada’s little known stories.31 The story is set in La Trinidad, a flourishing community surrounded by forested hills and fields of taro, sweet potatoes and sugarcane.32 Kutnon, a native farmer is to be whipped at the tribunal upon orders of the Spanish mayor, for having wronged a neighbor’s wife. But before he could be flogged, he shows the mayor a gold nugget. The tide changes as the mayor pardons him on the spot and invites him to dinner. “Behold here, a subject worthy of the King and Queen of Spain. Follow ye his example. He will always report where there is wealth for the crown.”33 After dinner, the true intent of the mayor’s unwarranted hospitality surfaces. He wants to know the location of the gold. He resorts to gentle cajolery and stem threats to draw a confession from Kutnon. However, all Kutnon reveals is that the gold came from the mountain and that his ancestors’ spirits forbid him revealing the exact location. Finally, threatened with torture, Kutnon remarks: “Ah, it were far better that you tortured me than I should invite the eternal curse of my ancestors, for greater tortures would be it.”34

The cultural differences are clear. The Spaniards coveted gold for nationalistic and/or personal reasons. The lbalois lived on a subsistence economy. They feared the spirits of their ancestors. They did not believe that the land belonged to the people, rather they belonged to the land. Gold was exchanged for food. Until that food was consumed, they did not need any gold. But then each native went to the mine assigned, got what he needed according to his needs and not any more.35 Asfor coping patterns, the Spaniards employed threats of brute strength, to no avail. The natives, though physically defeated never revealed the actual location of their mines.

Tracing the history of foreign presence in the uplands is another story by Hamada, “Kintana and Her Man.” The story records the coming of the Americans who were also stationed at the tribunal in La Trinidad. Apparently, the Americans were in pursuit of insurrectos who had fled to the mountains and were at the same time, protecting from marauding bandits the peaceful natives who owned the valuable 30 Felix M. Keesing, The Ethnohistory of Northern Luzon (Stanford:Stanford University Press, 1962),

pp. 13-14.

31 Sinai C. Hamada, “The Punishment of Kutnon,” Philippine Journal of Education 17 (September 1934):

pp. 286-87.

32 Keesing, pp. 48-49.

33 Hamada, “Punishment of Kutnon,” p. 286.

34 Ibid., p. 287.

35 The Philippine Islands, 1973 ed., s.v. “Expeditions to Tuy” by Doctor Julian Manuel de laVega.


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gold of the Benguet hills (p. 23). Hamada notes that this was way back in 1848.36

This story is based on an actual incident told to Hamada by his mother. Kintana, a twice widowed woman, not past middle age, is nearly abducted by a Negro soldier as she is tilling her camote kaingin. Five Nabaloi men rescue her and the soldier flees. Kintana files a complaint and a trial is conducted at the old tribunal. The American captain assures her that the man will be severely punished. Thereafter, the Nabaloi husbands stand guard over their wives. Kintana remains alone. But the lovelorn soldiers think her to be “an uncommonly beautiful woman” (p. 27), particularly a mulatto soldier who desires to meet her.

When he chances upon Kintana resting under a guava tree one fine afternoon, he whistles and smiles at her, holding three gleaming silver dollars in his hand. Kintana is taken by the “sweetly smiling eyes” (p. 29) of the mulatto, waves aside [the] hand with the silver dollars and allows him to hold her. “They are thus content to be as they were, locked for a time in eternity’’ (p. 29).

The cultural differences are strong in this situation. The black soldier thinks he can take Kintana by force. Kintana, taken aback by the dark skin of this foreigner, fights back. The mulatto thinks he can win Kintana with the three silver dollars. Kintana epitomizes native integrity by refusing the money. Eventually, the mulatto adjusts to her culture, smiling and gesturing amicably, thereby breaking her maidenly reserve.37 The natural proximity of the mulatto, and not the money seems to have attracted hermore.

The course of Baguio-Benguet history continues in Hamada’s most anthologized story, “Tanabata’s Wife.” This story illustrates the coming of the Japanese immigrants, as well as other nationals from Asia and Europe, hired to work on the construction of Kennon road in 1903.38 After its completion in 1905, some Japanese nationals turned to farming, settled mostly in La Trinidad, and intermarried into Trinidad families.39

With regard to the Japanese presence in Benguet, Hamada notes the existence of “a different kind of interaction.”40 Seemingly, the natives took easily to cordial relations with the Japanese. Hamada credits this to the fact the Japanese were also Orientals, and for the lbaloi women in particular, “their native culture seems to be akin to the 36 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 2 June 1988.

37 Icasiano-Habana, “Asian Influences,” p. 102.

38 Interview with Hamada, Camp 7, Baguio City, 5 February 1987.

39 Anavic Bagamaspad and Zenaida Hamada-Pawid, A People’s History of Benguet Province (Baguio:

Baguio Printing and Publishing Co., Inc., 1985), p. 234.



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Japanese culture.” In both cultures, the women carry their children on their back with a blanket strap. The Ibaloi women also have “an acknowledged inferiority to the men.”41

According to Hamada, “Tanabata’s Wife” is factual, except for the surprise ending. The native woman was patterned after Maria Fasang, a native of Sabangan, Mountain Province. Her Japanese husband, a truck gardener in Kisad Valley was cousin to Hamada’s father. As the real story goes, Maria Fas-ang was seduced by a Bontoc native who abandoned her in the ili (village) after they ran off together.

Maria’s child by the Japanese was really a girl and she sent her daughter back to her Japanese father.42

In Hamada’s fictionalized version, the native woman finds work as helper in the vegetable gardens of a Japanese bachelor. After observing her for some time, the Japanese proposes marriage and the woman yields. Thus, “without ceremony and without the law, they were wedded by a tacitly sworn agreement between themselves” (p. 44). Fas-ang gives birth to a baby boy and Tanabata is pleased. But Fas-ang becomes a cine addict and during one of her trips to the city, she meets a native man and they run off together with the baby. Tanabata, in desolation, neglects his garden. Fas-ang, long deserted by her lover, hears about this and returns. Tanabata, “exultant,” welcomes them into thehouse.

The choice of names in this story is interesting. Tanabata is the Japanese festival celebrating love held in the seventh month of the lunar calendar. According to the Tanabata myth, two stars, Cowherd (Altin) and Weaver (Vega) were lovers but were separated by the Milky Way. However, they were able to meet once a year, on July 7, if it did not rain.43 The Tanabata festival is the Japanese counterpart of Valentine’s Day. The festival begins at around seven in the evening and lasts until midnight. The highlight of the festival is the ‘Display of fireworks to lightup the path of the two young lovers, Orihine-sama (female star) and Orihito-sama (male star).44 Hamada, however, admits that he was unaware of this when he picked the name Tanabata.

Through Tanabata, the Japanese psyche is revealed. Honor rates high in the Japanese code of ethics, even in choosing a mate. Choosing a bride and raising a family are serious considerations, for the emphasis on the household and family requires a

41 Interview with Hamada, Camp 7, Baguio, 8 June 1989.

42 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 14 May 1987.

43 A Hundred Things Japanese (Tokyo: Japan Culture Institute, 1975), quoted in lcasiano Habana,

“Asian Influences,” pp.89-90.

44 Interview with Seiji Kamise, San Juan, Metro Manila, 7 March 1989. Mr. Kamise is twenty-six-year-

old Japanese national who has lived in Japan all his life.


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high degree of mutual cooperation.45 Tanabata is taken by Fas-ang’s industrious nature and “buxom breast” (p. 41) yet he consults with his Japanese neighbor, Okamoto regarding his choice. For the Japanese, strength of character is in conforming, not in rebelling. Nonconformity brings humiliation and ridicule. Tanabata conforms when he consults with Okamoto about Fas-ang. He conforms when he shares household privileges with his wife. But when she abandons him, he is crestfallen. A death threat from his wife’s lover prevents him from pursuing his wife and son.

He rebels as he pines for his wife and son, neglecting his garden altogether. Despite Okamoto’s entreaties for him to go on with his life, he “[shuts] himself in” (p. 48), turns to liquor and becomes an object of humiliation. But Tanabata could not care less, thinking that “in a month, [he] would perhaps go home to die in Japan” (p. 48). Upon his family’s return however, he “(lights) the big lamp that had long hung from the ceiling, unused” (p. 49).

On the other hand, although Fas-ang is the actual name of the character, it is significant in that fas-ang is a Bontoc term meaning “to cross over a boundary.” In Bontoc, persons are named after a physical deformity or a specific act or quality remembered by the villagers. It is possible that a forefather of the woman character Fas-ang was not originally from Bisao, Bontoc. He could have “crossed over” to another village, possibly even a warring village to wed. This was a common practice in Bontoc during the proliferation of tribal wars.46

Literally, Fas-ang crosses two boundaries in the story. First from her native Bontoc, through the Mountain Trail to Trinidad Valley and, to Baguio, her destination. Her plan is to work as a road builder, as numerous roads are being built in the city. But she lands a job in Kisad Valley, in Tanabata’s vegetable patch. This second boundary is now a boundary of cultures. The Igorot is known to be industrious, and Fas-ang “did not find it difficult to tend the truck garden” (p. 44). Although ignorant of ideas outside her, she learns and acquires some Japanese customs.

. . . she learned to use chopsticks . . . they had a zinc tub . . . wherein they heated water and took a bath in the evening. Fas-ang pickled radish after the Japanese fashion, salting them in a barrel; she began to use wooden shoes, though of the Filipino variety . . . she became used to drinking tea and pouring much toyo sauce into their viands: mattresses too, and no longer a plain mat, formed her beddings. (p. 44)

45 Encyclopedia Britannica, 1971 ed., s. v. “Japan.”

46 Interview with June Prill-Brett, UP College Baguio, Baguio City, 27 January 1989.


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However, this acculturation, or the acquisition of new traits from another culture47 does not occur in the other traditions observed by Tanabata. At the baptismal celebration of their son, Kato, Tanabata’s Japanese friends are invited. Fas-ang is confused, she “could not understand the chattering of her guest” (p. 45). As another Japanese customdictates, Tanabata forbids her from going out for a month after childbirth.For Fas-ang, who knows no other life than that of outdoors, this is almost unbearable. At this point, Fas-ang is a victim of culture shock. When an individual finds himself in an unfamiliar cultural environment where his previous learning is inadequate for coping, he may suffer some degree of emotional disturbance. Culture shock or “well of loneliness” affects the cultural stranger who feels the absence of people with sufficiently similar experiences who can understand how he feels.48 Though acculturated to some extent, Fas-ang “yearned to learn from her folks back in Bisao, Bontoc. Had the kaingins been planted with camote and corn (p. 45)?” “Often,” she says, “she [felt] homesick” (p. 46). To overcome this, she turns to the movies, travelling two miles to the city, sometimes with her child, to see a film. Fas-ang admits that “she often met several of her relatives and townmates in the theater” (p. 47).

Anthropologically, culture patterns differ in degrees of consciousness and complexity as well as in kind. The simplest patterns of behavior are expressed in customs of dress, diet, work, salutation and artifacts.49 Fas-ang adjusts to these simple patterns without qualms. But to the more complex patterns underlying social, political and economic organization and the systems of religion, language, law, etc. Fas-ang is unable to completely “cross the boundary.”50 With no knowledge of the Japanese language and unaware of the significance of Japanese social behavior, e.g., revelry in baptismal celebrations and refraining from work after child-birth, Fas-ang retains feelings of being an outsider, the “other.” It is the cine, where she meets her own kind, that becomes her welcome retreat. Tanabata on the other hand, is more perceptive. To begin with, “he had great respect for [the] sturdy, native woman” (p. 43). He is “most solicitous” (p. 45) toward Fas-ang as she is recovering from childbirth. He brings a pair of short pants and other clothes for her cousin, telling him to “do away with His Gstring” (p. 46). More importantly, he allows her to frequent the cine although “he could not understand what drew her to [it]” (p. 47). He is “too indulgent with Fas-ang . . . he loved her too much to deny her any pleasure she desired” (p. 47). It is this same love that leads him to take 47 Irene L. Ortigas and Felix E. Regalada, Society and Culture in Rural Philippines, Introduction by

Chester L. Hunt (Quezon City: Alemar-Phoenix Publishing House, 1978), p. 33.

48 Niel Warren, ed. Studies in Cross-Cultural Psychology (London: Academic Press, 1977), 1: 139-40.

49 International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, reprinted., s.v. ”Culture” by Milton Singer.

50 Ibid.


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back mother and son after their sudden and painful leave-taking. Fas-ang’s return and Tanabata’s acceptance are positive acts which help bridge the two different cultures.

A structuralist critic however points to the existence of binary opposition between the two cultures. Fas-ang represents the capable, “sturdy” native woman with good business sense in a capitalistic environment. Fas-ang, who becomes subordinate to Tanabata according to dominant codes, falls victim to the cinema, “the force of market capitalism and cosmopolitan business.” The problem is resolved upon Fas-ang’s return. “The patriarchal family overcomes all obstacles and triumphs in the end.”51

Asked to comment on this observation, Hamada maintains that the story “is not as deep as that.” Aside from being a love story, it is “a contrived portrayal of any Japanese man’s love for child ren.”52

Hamada’s college years at the University of the Philippines not only improved his craft as a writer, but considerably broadened his vision of life and the world. Fas-ang or Hamada’s attitude towards mixed cultures crosses another boundary, i.e., confrontation. Fas-ang shifts from mere literary ornamentation to a stark manifestation of conflict of cultures and gender. However, for the maturing Hamada, Fas-ang is not meant to cause further disorder in the tension created by these cross-cultural clashes. As seen in the stories included in this section, e.g., “Tanabata’s Wife,” a compromise is implicitly arrived at in the end. Hamada’s vision then goes beyond the prejudice and discrimination as he works toward the notion and realization of universaIity.

CROWING CONVICTION: UNIVERSALITY ANDBROTHERHOODAccording to Hamada, it was only after college that he conceived of the notion of the brotherhood of man. It should be remembered that immediately after graduation from law school and passing the bar exam, Hamada set up his law practice in Baguio and wrote for the family-owned tabloid, The Baguio Midland Courier. He likewise taught at the Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF) Law School and became president of the Baguio Press Club, reactivated after the war. Worth noting is his stint as chairman and general manager of the Mountain Province Development Authority (MPDA) from 1965 to 1973. These experiences brought him closer to the issues plaguing his native Cordillera and his highland brothers, and the sincere desire to be of service to them was further strengthened.53

51 E. San Juan, Jr., “Ideology, Text, History: A Contextual Interpretation and Cri tique of Fiction by

Filipino Writers,” Kultura 1 (1988): 15.


53 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 5 February 1987.


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Hamada’s exposure to different people, cultures, ideologies was made possible by two foreign grants. For five months, between 1960 and 1961, Hamada travelled to the United States on a journalism grant provided by the US State Department. Aside from the mainland and Hawaii, Hamada visited Puerto Rico to witness “Operation Bootstrap.” He admitted that the small island was really pulling itself up by its bootstraps with American encouragement.54

“America,” an unpublished postwar poem is Hamada’s fitting recap of his experience:

In the cup of handWhat diversity of skyline Or destiny,Of racial color, or dreamOf humanity.

But he is quick to add, “A light will probe darkness/ in the American dream” for “the Torch of Liberty/ shall light the World.”

A Japanese grant under the Colombo Plan brought Hamada to Japan from 1 May to 30 June 1971. This trip was in his capacity as MPDA Chairman.55 His admiration for Japan is seen in another unpublished poem, “Japan:”

There is uncanny intelligence Fashioning West out of EastAping technocracy, surpassing model.

Hamada visited China on a Chinese Friendship grant for ten days between 1978 and 1979. Touring China from north to south, he noted the “absolute honesty” of the Chinese government.

Hamada claims he has not written any short story with the idea of universality explicitly in mind, but one story, “Out of Darkness and the Wilderness,” written in 1954 does consider the notion.56

“Out of Darkness and the Wilderness” is intended to portray the struggle of the natives to climb out of their primitive surroundings in order to rise in the world.57 The story points to a fictional tribe, the Dalikno. Hamada is actually 54 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 14 May 1987.

55 Ibid.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid.


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referring to the Cara-ao, a non-Ibaloi tribe who migrated from the Mountain Province to the Bokod area. They adopted the language and ways of the Ibalois, intermarried with them and have been accepted. However, they proved to be more virile and skillful than the local inhabitants. The Daliknos are a “pushing race . . . groping their way to fulfillment” (p. 140). Hamada attributes this to the fact that immigrant tribes seek to surpass the energies of the original settlers. As competition is inevitable, the immigrants realize the need to excel.58

The story focuses on another migration pattern. Baroy Apolog, a Dalikno, runs away and joins the US Navy after World War 1. He marries an American woman, Helen, who bears him a son. When Baroy is killed in a sea battle, his brother-in law, Jack comes to the Philippines to learn about Baroy’s culture and to meet his native wife and son. Prior to his marriage to Helen, Baroy was forced into a tribal union by his father and this brief union brings forth a son, Adigan Apolog. Ironically, Jack understands that the young Apolog’s mission is to leave, but only “to return among [them] and lead [them] forth out of darkness and the wilderness” (p. 141).Shalmia, Apolog’s mother, knows that he will leave like his father before him and all her entreaties “to keep him among his people, to lead as he was destined by God” (p. 141), will be in vain. She, along with Baroy’s father, believes that Baroy has failed his people. They fail to see that his urge stems from a natural inclination of someone who has been educated and exposed to the outside world. For “the primitive mind would stop in the land . . . [but] someone has to lead those stumped in the next transition to the realms of the mind” (p. 141). There is a need to leave, only to return.

Hamada believes this is tied up with the idea of one world. If all the facilities of education and enlightenment were to be given to the native and all peoples of the world, the brotherhood of man would come to a concrete realization. Hamada feels that the constraints of education are divisive of humanity. Hence, if there were a freer and more facilitated communication of ideas, cultural differences not withstanding, there would be no reason for mankind to be divided and feel hostile towards each other.59

“Out of Darkness and the Wilderness” can be seen in the light of a biblical “Exodus,” where Baroy Apolog serves as Moses for his people. But this Moses is “leading his people out of the realms of the land into the realms of the mind” (p. 2). The theme of returning is significant because “it is not just returning in the ordinary sense, but returning in the sense of resurrection and eternal recurrence” (p. 2). Although Moses (Baroy Apolog) is unable to carry out his mission because of his untimely death, his son, Adigan Apolog is his worthy successor who, in turn, will bequeath to another the task of leading his people 58 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 20 September,1988.

59 Alegre and Fernandez, manuscript of interview with Sinai C. Hamada, p. 20.


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out of darkness and the wilderness into a bright and civilized world. In this sojourn, no miracle like the parting of the Red Sea is needed, but a sincere attempt on the part of the entire village to understand the value of education outside the perimeters of the tribe or an earnest effort on the part of the educated to enlighten the elders.

Education makes socialization possible. Socialization refers to all the factors and processes which make an individual live in the company of others. This includes training in basic human social processes, e.g., dialogue, bargaining, status awareness, emotional control and a sense of obligation without which an individual cannot cope with any society, whether it be his indigenous one or an alien one.60 Education and socialization can help the primitive mind advance in the changing world.

It should be recalled that the idea of education for the primitive is used in “As Time Goes On,” with Rebecca as “the exemplar of the triumph of education over primitiveness.61 However, in that story, education becomes a means to rebel against tradition. Rebecca does not wish to marry the native man chosen by her father. Education helps make her independent-free to choose her man and her destiny. In “Out of Darkness and Wilderness,” education serves as the motivation to return to one’s village and lead one’s people from primitiveness to civilization.

Hamada sees the need to stress this because more and more natives are using their access to education as a means of escape rather than return.Most of them flock to the cities and other urban centers upon graduation. They return home only for brief visits and/or to participate in rituals like the cañao.

The poem “Western City” illustrates the constraints between a highly urban western city and its Asian counterpart. The persona, undoubtedly an Asian, finds himself lost in an unfamiliar environment and climatic condition. Also, he is overwhelmed by the high tech living in the WesternCity:

The race of time runs on wheelsOver subways, expressway, bahns, panting and suffocating.

For him, time ticked leisurely while he was on “a carabao’s back.” His culture shock however dissipates upon realizing that there is language to fall back on:

Were it not for words, commonly understood. I would have come unprepared like I write, the tongue bridges. The brotherhood of man.

60 Warren, p. 127.

61 Icasiano Habana, “Asian Influences,” p. 96.


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In another poem, “When the World Calls,” the plea for universality appears more urgent. Amidst the “suffering humanity . . . grinding ‘neath skyscrapers” and “ . . . trembling life/peeping out of pain/ crying out of the misty depths,” there is a plea for world understanding. This plea however falls on deaf ears-those who, in ignorance and/or indifference and apathy, “shall have no story to tell,” will remain “stunned and ununderstanding.” The persona knows it is pointless to admonish these individuals:

You know not what—Ah, better for you.

But for dedicated and· concerned persons, “the world calls.” Though the “mission trail” is long, like “heaven’s rainbow,” these unselfish souls shall ease man’s tensions:

For the divine spark lurksunsuspectingly

In the bosom ofman.The world calls indeed to the

listening heart.

Hamada says that writers need not stress the themes of universality in their works. The mere use of English would help. It is so flexible and malleable that one can write of actual Filipino situations and conditions using English without much difficulty or hesitation because of the translation of vernacular words. English therefore could be a versatile medium for expressing even the so-called Filipino soul.62

CONCLUSIONThe shift in the treatment of fas-ang from local color to confrontation is evident. However, in the third stage, the idea of fas-ang in not as clear. First, there is not much materia lto work on. At this point, Hamada was busy with his careers as lawyer and journalist, and no longer devoted much time to creative writing. Second, fas-ang as conviction or as a means toward the realization of the brotherhood of man was still an evolving idea. The seeds of universality are now beyond the germination stage and have begun to flower.

62 Interview with Hamada, Baguio, 14 May 1987.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SINAI HAMADA’S WORKS AND LIBRARY LOCATION

SHORTFICTION“As Life Goes On.”* Graphic, 20 September 1934. Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila

University, Quezon City (ADMU).“Call of Huntlands.” Philippines Free Press, 20 August 1949. ADMU.“A Christmas Boy.” Entitled “Chinayon’s Gift” in Focus Philippines, 13 December 1975.“Compensation.” Graphic, 9 July 1930. ADMU.“Death in Love.” Philippine Magazine, March 1933. ADMU.

In Philippine Cross-Section. Edited by Maximo Ramos and Florentino B. Valeros. Manila: EF David and Sons, 1953. ADMU.

In Storymasters JI. Edited by Alberto S. Florentino. Manila: Cacho Hermanos, 1973. ADMU.

“End of Summer.” Graphie, 6 June 1935. ADMU.“The Fall of Irisan Bridge.” Philippine Collegian, 30 November 1933. ADMU. “Five Men and the Carcass of a Dog.” Collected Short Stories. By Sinai C. Hamada.

Baguio City: Baguio Printing and Publishing Co., Inc., 1975. ADMU.“Gifts.” The Herald Midweek Magazine, 6 January 1932. ADMU.“The Girl on Florida.” Graphic, 4 January 1934. ADMU.“Goodwill.” The Herald Midweek Magazine, 28 December 1933. ADMU.“Homecoming.” Graphic, 18 May 1933. ADMU.“Kintana and Her Man.” The Literary Apprentice, UP, 1931-32. ADMU.

In Philippines, September 1937. ADMU.In Storymasters II. Edited by Alberto S. Florentino. Manila: Cacho Hermanos,

1973. ADMU.“The Last Slave.” Philippines Free Press, October 1954. ADMU.“Lin-ey’s Strange Request.” The Herald Midweek Magazine, 20 September 1933. ADMU.“Lonely Valley.” Philippines Free Press, 30 November 1946. ADMU.“The Mouse and the Kingfisher.” Philippine Journal of Education, February 1934. ADMU.“The Mouse and the Monkey.” Philippine Journal of Education, November 1932. ADMU.“O Returning Day.” The Sunday Tribune Magazine, 1935. ADMU.“Out of Darkness and the Wilderness.” Philippines Free Press, October 1954. ADMU.“The Pagan.” The Literary Apprentice, U.P., 1931-32. ADMU.“The Punishment of Kutnon.” Philippine Journal of Education, September 1934. ADMU.“The Quest of Dagoy.” The Sunday Tribune Magazine, 1 March 1936. ADMU.“The Road to Alno.” The Literary Apprentice, UP, 1931-32. ADMU.“Ruth and Napolia.” Collected Short Stories. ADMU.


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“Simple Annal at Red Camp.” Philippines Free Press, 7 October 1961. ADMU. “Sometimes I am Crying.” Entitled “End of a Man” in Focus Philippines, 29 January

1977. ADMU.“Sunka.” Philippine Magazine, October 1931. ADMU. “Tanabata’s Wife.” Graphic, 12 October, 1932. ADMU.

In The Best Filipino Short Stories. Edited by 0. Sta. Romana, Manila: Wightman Printing Co., 1935. ADMU.

In The Literary Apprentice. UP, Silver Jubilee, ed., April 1952. ADMU.In “A Critical Study of the Short Story in English as Written by Filipinos From

1910-1941.” By Virginia Moreno. M.A. Thesis, University of the Philippines. April 1952. ADMU.

In PEN Short Stories. Edited by Francisco Arcellana. Manila: Regal Printing Co., 1962. ADMU.

In Philippine Writing, An Anthology. Edited by T.D. Agcaoili. Manila: Archipelago Publishing House, 1953. ADMU.

In Storymasters II. Edited by Alberto S. Florentino. Manila: Cacho Hermanos, 1973. ADMU.

In Philippine Short Stories 1925-1940. Edited by L.Y. Yabes. Quezon City: UP Press, 1975. ADMU.

* Not included in Sinai C. Hamada, Collected Short Stories (Baguio City: Baguio Printing and Publishing Co., Inc. 1975).

“Two in a Mining Town.” The Literary Apprentice. UP, 1934. ADMU. “Whose Home?” Graphic, 8 January 1930. ADMU.

“Willy Nilly.” Graphic, 9 March 1933. ADMU.“A Woman Hurt.” Collected Short Stories. ADMU.“The Woman Who Became Alive.” Philippine Magazine, 1932. ADMU.

In “A Critical Study of the Short Story in English as Written by Filipinos from 1910-1941.” By Virginia Moreno. M.A. Thesis, UP, April 1952. ADMU.

In Best Philippine Love Stories. Edited by Trinidad Tarrosa-Subido. 1957. ADMU.

POETRY“Adivay.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Aging and Dying.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “America.” Composed

Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“And Sometimes.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. ‘.’Baguio City High

Anthem.” 1988. Unpublished.


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“Benguet Song.” The CSC Monograph Series 2 (1984): 76. Cordillera Studies Center Library, UP College-Baguio (Cordillera Library).

“Bird.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Dawn.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Drift of Song.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Ecstasy.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Florelianne.” Composed UP, 1937. Collected Short Stories.ADMU.“Give Me the Mountains.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Heaven at

Night.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Hill Poem.” Composed in 1938. Unpublished.“Hills of Langilang.” Composed Bangued, 1938. Collected Short Stories. ADMU.“Homeward Flying.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“In Old Chulyaa.” Composed Bontoc, 1941. Collected. Short Stories. ADMU.“Japan.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Man.” Composed Postwar,

c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Memoirs.” Composed Tublay, 1932. Collected Short Stories. ADMU. “Memory Road.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Mother.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Mountain Province.” Mountain Province Development Authority Annual Report,

1966. Mimeographed Copy. Cordillera Library.“Mount Pulag.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “November.” Composed Tuba, 1932. Collected Short Stories. ADMU.“Often.” Composed Mainit, 1948. Collected Short Stories. By Sinai C. Hamada. Baguio

City: Baguio Printing and Publishing Co., Inc., 1975. ADMU.“Oh, The Days!” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Oh, To Be Back There.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Only One.” Composed Baguio, 1932. Collected Short Stories. ADMU. “Only Yesterday.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s.Unpublished.“O, Virgin Mary.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s.Unpublished.“The Roof of Her House.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Shores of Liberty.” Composed Luneta, 1946. Collected Short Stories.ADMU. “Song for Benguet.” Composed Baguio, 1973.ADMU. Entitled “Benguet Song” in The

CSC Monograph Series 2 (1984): 76. “Sonnet.” Composed UP,1934.ADMU. ·“Sorrow.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“Till God’s Orienvt Removes.” Composed Manila, 1946. Collected Short Stories. ADMU.“Toying Only.” Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.


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“Walk Along with Me.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished. “Western City.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.“When the World Calls.” Composed Postwar, c. 1980s. Unpublished.

ESSAYS“ACCFA and the Mountain Province Farmers.” Cooperative Farmers 5 (June 1957).

Not available.“As I Look Back and Around.” Philippines Free Press, 2 September 1961. Not available.“A Visit to Japan.” Philippines Free Press, 18 April 1972. UP College Baguio Library,

Baguio City.“The Biggest Drum in the World.” Graphic, 30 March 1933. ADMU.“A New Frontier.” Philippines Free Press, 29 December 1968. Not available. “Playtime in Baguio.” Graphic, 6 May 1931.“Proposed Initial Program for the Mountain Province of Cordillera Central Region.”

Paper read at the Mountain Province Coordinating Council Conference, Baguio City, 8-9 January 1970. Mimeographed copy. UP College Baguio Library, Baguio City.

“Reclaiming the Hillmen.” Graphic, 29 April 1931. ADMU.“Why Not English?” Philippines Free Press, 29 May 1965. Not available.

Originally published in Philippine Studies Volume 39, no. 2 (1991): pp. 135-57. Copyright © Ateneo de Manila Universtiy. Used with permission.

ANNA CHRISTIE V. TORRES was the former Dean of the College of Arts and Communication, University of the Philippines Baguio. She finished her Ph.D. in Philippine Studies at the College of Arts and Letters in UP Diliman. She teaches literary criticism and cultural studies. As a critic, she has published various essays that tackle issues of representation pertaining to Cordilleran culture.


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Reverential References..............................................................................Fred Hawson

TANABATA WAS A LONELY Japanese farmer who immigrated from Okinawa to run his own farm in Trinidad Valley in the Mountain Province back in the 1920s. One day, he hired a young and pretty Bontoc tribeswoman Fas-ang to help him in his house and farm (cabbage and strawberries) for P4.00 and unlimited rice. Eventually, Tanabata and Fas-ang fell in love and lived together as husband and wife. Even if they soon have an infant son Kato, differences in their culture eventually crept its way into their relationship and threatened it.

From the very first frame of this indie film, I immediately felt that this would not be an ordinary film. This did not look or feel like a Filipino film at all. The angles and aesthetics of the scenes made it look and feel like a classic Japanese film, and I loved the grace and beauty of its photography (by cinematographer Nap Jamir). Those scenes of Tanabata sitting outside his house looking longingly into the distance looked and felt like Yasujiro Ozu. That scene with the tight close-up on Tanabata’s face and its varying expressions into gradual fadeout looked and felt like Akira Kurosawa.

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This Japanese aesthetic was so consistent throughout the film it was impressive. Tanabata’s house of straw and sticks looked so good on that big screen. Even if there were scenes with numerous unwanted insects flying around, the actors were so zen and unfazed. There were some very unique dramatic transitions between scenes (by film editor May-i Guia Padilla) that were truly remarkable, heretofore unseen in other Filipino indies I’ve seen before.

Also very Japanese was the way the story was divided into three distinct sections representing the stages of Fas-ang’s relationship with Tanabata, each with an introductory card with a symbolic moving image and labels in Japanese calligraphy (as well as the English translation). It was so nice how they showed the gradually progressive closeness of Tanabata and Fas-ang’s relationship.

In his portrayal of Tanabata, the Japanese lead actor Miyuki Kamimura seemed to be channeling classic Japanese film actor Toshiro Mifune himself. He registered very well onscreen and consistently came off as a good and positive person. Yoshihito Tsukasa and Yoshiro Takada, who played Tanabata’s supportive Japanese neighbors Okamoto and Terada, also gave very natural and realistic performances.

The new Filipino actors were still raw, and tended to be awkward in their acting, but were nonetheless effective in their roles. As the title character Fas-ang, Mai Fanglayan toed that thin line very well as she portrayed a character so brave yet so naive. Her unpreparedness to be a wife and mother were seen as much by her fondness for watching comedy movies, as by the rashness of her decisions. Kurt “Ayeo-eo” Alalag played Okdo, Fas-ang’s prideful male friend from the tribe. (Alalag was also part of the film’s music team together with film editor Padilla and Mark Tan.) Danilo “Guintapan” Bulanay played the loyal Tiago, the lowlander farm hand of Tanabata.

Inspired by a similarly titled short story written by Sinai Hamada, this film was directed by three directors according to the end credits. These are: Charlson Ong (who also wrote the original script), Choy Pangilinan (who helped with the screenplay along with Ong, Mao Portus, and Juan Carlo Tarobal) and Lito Casaje (who also played a brief role as a stingy Japanese businessman Watanabe in one scene). While the story was seemingly simple, the screenplay was very smartly-written with lines in Japanese, Ilocano, and Kankanaey, rich in provocative ideas and subtle humor. 9/10.

Posted by Fred Hawson at September 13, 2018.* First published at https://said-fred.blogspot.com/2018/09/tofarm-2018-review-

of-tanabatas-wife.html

FRED HAWSON writes movie reviews in his own blog http://said-fred.blogspot.com/ and Rappler.


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Love and Freedom A Review of Tanabata’s Wife..............................................................................J. Neil C. Garcia

DIRECTED BY A triumvirate of academics—the fictionist Charlson Ong, the playwright Lito Casaje, and the film scholar Choy Pangilinan—the screen adaptation of Sinai Hamada’s beloved short story, “Tanabata’s Wife,” is currently showing at selected movie houses across the country, as part of this year’s TOFarm Film Festival.

This festival’s uniqueness is also, arguably, its “value added”: its films are required to thematize Filipino agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural, or otherwise broadly environmental issues, that immediately commit the filmmaker to “ground” his or her project in our beautiful but imperiled verdant and archipelagic localities in all sorts of literal and metaphorical ways.

From the get-go, the team behind this adaptation project had their work cut out for themselves: Hamada’s memorable little story about an early twentieth-century Baguio-residing Japanese farmer falling in love with and becoming the common-law husband of a younger and “inconstant” Bontoc woman is so well-

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written, so artfully realized, and so poignant that the burden of comparison would simply be inevitable.

And the good news is, this film by Ong et al. beautifully holds a candle to this remarkable text, illumining it even more precisely because it comes into its own as an equally remarkable work of (cinematic) art. While the script hews very closely to the short story, it also owns and reimagines it, affording the viewer the chance to sympathize not only with the man, but also with the woman, to whom it bequeaths an inner life that Hamada’s work merely provides the briefest glimpses of.

The story’s central mystery has always been why Fas-ang would want to leave her husband, who has been all but entirely kind to her and their son, on whom he fervently dotes. Hamada’s story would seem to suggest that she was simply too young when she agreed to marry the somber stranger, for whom she had initially worked as a servant and farmhand. Becoming his wife, and a mother, may have simply been too much too soon, as can be gleaned from the way she avidly loses herself, after going through a difficult childbirth, in the Hollywood movies being shown in the center of town. Perhaps, what the experience provides her is the chance to dream herself into the romantic freedom of the stories that these magically moving pictures are offering.

And so, when the opportunity to escape presents itself—in the person of a Bontoc man, a hot-headed local warrior who was probably a former suitor—in a moment of heedlessness she decides to run away with him, bringing her son with her and abandoning the poor farmer, who very quickly withers away into anguish, along with the once robust cabbage and strawberry fields to which he had been lovingly tending, but which now lie fallow and forlorn.

And so, here at the story’s crisis point, the “vegetal” metaphor that has flitted in and out of sight throughout the film finally fully unfurls itself: love is the pain and rapture of being truly alive; it is life’s burning and blossoming point, in which the Self ’s cherished bliss is revealed as living fully and radiantly in the Other. Because love is life lived at its fullest, at its most fecund, its disappearance or forfeiture must result in life’s very own curtailment.

The film keeps Hamada’s proffered motivation for Fas-ang’s action, but textures and deepens it, by insinuating into the picture the quietly seething “cultural” conflict between identity and difference. In the film, Fas-ang leaves Tanabata partly because despite his love she still can’t completely accept his “otherness,” and seeks the comfort of the familiar and the same (“her own blood”). Soon enough, she realizes that personal goodness has nothing to do with kinship, nor with socially approved structures of familiarity. It is at this point that she remembers the radiant truth that


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the stranger she has cruelly abandoned is her husband, who unconditionally loves her and her son.

Scripted by Ong, whose award-winning short and extended fictions and plays are distinguished by their closely observed portraits of human vulnerability and strength, the film also allows the viewer the satisfaction of reconsidering love’s true meaning: it is perfect kindness on one hand, and its very nature requires that it be freely given and freely received, on the other.

Returning from her increasingly extended trips to the “cine” one day, Fas-ang curtly answers her husband’s admonition by saying that while his house is also her house it is also a cage. As Ong’s script would have it, she is the one who needs to remember that she has never lost the freedom to leave Tanabata’s home, and she does indeed leave, if only to be able to allow herself the freedom to come back, this time with a wiser and more “organic” understanding of what love actually is.

After all, it can be said that it was nothing if not her youthful brashness, her material neediness, her immaturity that effectively pushed her into a socially unsanctioned marriage with the older man: in a manner of speaking, she had probably “accidentally” married him out of little else than whimsy, curiosity, and/or convenience. Only upon returning to him at film’s end—after giving herself the chance to experience her freedom to choose what kind of life, what kind of love she actually and deeply desires—does she truly and meaningfully “marry” him, this time as an act of her own carefully examined and fully deployed volition.

The film is distinguished not only by its excellently adapted script, but also by its technical polish, its visual and sonic beauty, the dramatic lyricism of its three-act structure, and its strong performances. The actors must be commended for memorably enfleshing their characters (who spoke in any of the script’s three languages). Particularly notable are the veteran theater actor and teacher Miyuki Kamimura (whose pained but dignified countenance, chiaroscuroed with epiphanous joy, ends the film) and the lissome newcomer Mai Fanglayan: they enacted the roles of Tanabata and Fas-ang with an admirable gestalt of strength, sympathy, and respect.

Hamada’s story is a domestic drama for the most part, and this film’s rhythms successfully capture its calm and subtle movements, even as the preponderance of close shots and the “minimalist” production design—in particular, Tanabata’s practically ramshackle house, which going by the story should’ve been a mite better appointed—do reveal the constraints within which this production obviously needed to work.

In any case, a clear takeaway from this wonderful film is the luminous truth that it is possible (meaning, it can actually be done): the loveliest gems of our literary

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tradition—anglophone, yes, but also in all our other literary languages—can and do eminently lend themselves to filmization.

All that will be needed are comparable modicums of commitment, responsibility, talent, collaboration, intelligence, derring-do, and institutional support that have made this outstanding “transmedial translation” of one of our most memorable fictional classics possible.

In the end, one just has to say (actually, pray): more such adaptations and/or “translations,” please (possibly, stories by Gonzalez, Arcellana, Joaquin, Tiempo, Brillantes, Cordero-Fernando, Rivera-Ford, et al.).

To the literate local moviegoer: please go and watch this very special film.

*First published at https://www.facebook.com/notes/j-neil-c-garcia/love-and-freedom-a-review-of-tanabatas-wife/10156684542049324/?hc_location=ufi

J. NEIL C. GARCIA is an established poet and cultural critic. Some of his works are Philippine Gay Culture (1996), Performing the Self: Occasional Prose (2003), The Garden of Wordlessness (2005), Misterios and Other Poems (2005), and Postcolonialism and Filipino Poetics: Essays and Critiques (2003). He teaches at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at UP Diliman.

BEHIND

THE

SCENES

AND

MOVIE

STILLS

Behind the Scenes and Movie Stills

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Tanabata (Miyuki Kamimura) teaching Fas-ang (Maribeth Fanglayan) to plant was the first sequence to be shot for the film. The actors internalize while waiting for cinematographer Nap Jamir to complete his camera preparations. Photo by Mao Portus

Miyuki Kamimura attempts to cheer up the baby actor who was crying because of unfamiliar faces. There were no usable shots of the baby for this sequence. Photo by Ken Aliliran


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Cinematographer Nap Jamir is in deep thought on how to execute this sequence involving three Japanese friends discussing their crops. Photo by Mao Portus

The CMB crew merrily sets up the camera dolly tracks despite the challenging terrain of slippery mud. Photo by Mao Portus


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The sun has set, the heavy rain continues, the team is relentless in finishing the sequence.Photo by Mao Portus

Monitors frame raincoat-covered stand ins demonstrating the actor’s movements for the sequence.Photo by Mao Portus


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Director Choy Pangilinan (wrapped in a large garbage bag as a raincoat) and assistant director Carlo Tarobal having a discussion on top of a hill. Photo by Mao Portus

Danilo Bulanay who plays Tiago in the movie helps in preparing the cogon grass which will cover the roof of Tanabata’s house. Photo by Mao Portus


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Miyuki Kamimura is drenched in the rain for this solo scene. Photo by Mao Portus

Actresses portraying the Bontoc women hold hands tightly as they make their way down the slippery slope of a high hill. Photo by Mao Portus


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Workers rush through the mud to complete the cogon roofing so the shoot may continue.Photo by Mao Portus

Miyuki Kamimura finds a quiet time away from the crowd to read his script.Photo by Mao Portus


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The flimsy roof of Tanabata’s house gives way under the weight of the wet cogon grass. The shoot is halted. Photo by Mao Portus

Omitted night scene of the Dap-ay. Photo by Mao Portus


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DIY guerilla shooting at Camp John Hay for a reshoot. Photo by Mao Portus

Kakabsat. (Back from left to right: May-i Padilla, Rainell Cosme, Danilo Bulanay, Shane Daweg, Maribeth Fanglayan, Kurt Alalag, Choy Pangilinan, Juan Carlo Tarobal. Front from left to right: Kislap Alitaptap, John Sagamla, Mao Portus) Photo by Mao Portus


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Si CHOY PANGILINAN ay Senior Lecturer sa UP Film Institute, Kolehiyo ng Pangmadlang Komunikasyon, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas Diliman. Nagtuturo siya ng Introduksyon sa Pelikula, Kasaysayan ng Pelikulang Filipino, Scriptwriting, World Cinema, Sine Pinoy, at Sine at Kultural na Praxis. Ang ilan sa kanyang mga kritikal na sanaysay ay lumabas na sa Plaridel: A Philippine Journal of Communication, Media and Society, Philippine Humanities Review, Social Science Diliman, Kontra-Gahum: Academics Against Political Killings, ArtPh, Serve the People: Radikal na Kasaysayan ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Media at Lipunan (UP Press), at Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education. Co-editor din siya ng librong Communication and Media Theories (UP Press) at ng Sa Madaling Salita: Kasaysayan at Pag-unlad ng Wikang Filipino (SWF-UPD). Co-director din siya ng mga dokumentaryong Bingat, Sa Madaling Salita at Project Poldet. Isa siya sa tatlong direktor ng Tanabata’s wife at kabahagi din ng nagsulat ng screenplay nito.

Editor

TANABATA’S WIFEFrom Text to Screen

© 2019 by U.P. Institute of Creative Writing. All

rights reserved.

No copies can be made in part or in whole without

prior written permission from the editors and

the publishers.

Published through the generous support of the Office of Senator Loren Legarda.

ISSN: 1908-8795

Documents

Tanabata’s Wife...ISKRIP/SCRIPT Fas-ang, A Script Inspired by the Short Story ... Ilan sa mga ito ang pelikulang Noli Me Tangere (Dir: Gerardo de Leon, 1961) at El ... Me (Dir: Erick