100 Tula Para Kay Stella

Children of the City by Amadis Ma. Guerrero

Theme: Ugly truth of the real world

Characters:

Victor was once a naïve little boy who was awakened by the harsh truth through the hard way.

Victor’s father was a man of his words and his beliefs.

Victor’s mother was easily wavered by temptations.

Nacio was a wise boy who knew his way through the streets.

Tio Pedring was a reliable relative who is willing to lend a hand.

Summary: Victor, once a hopeful kid, realizes how awful the world can get even through the eyes of a young boy. At the age of eight years old, he already lost his father to the chaos of a strike and his mother to another man. Luckily, he was given a chance to work for his Tio Pedring’s newspaper business wherein he experienced things a child can only imagine in their dreams. Victor’s story proves that once you peek behind the curtains, there’s no turning back.

Amadis Ma. Guerrero’s “Children of the City” low-key depicted the events to be in relation with the Marcos Administration. In my opinion, I already saw the connection at first glance because when did the Philippines ever experienced its ultimate (in my opinion) downfall and degradation of human rights? That was only during the Marcos Administration.

First, we could see that the root of Victor’s father’s problem was unjust payment of wages which was an evident issue during the Marcos Administration. The capitalists were not treating their employees correctly thus making themselves richer and more powerful. It is obvious that there is no way for them to not work but still be able to provide for their families and so they are making “tiis” with the low wages.

Second, there were a lot of instances wherein riots would just happen out of nowhere in the story and higher officials would be shown harming citizens that are out of context. Where else could we relate this to rather than the Marcos Administration?

Lastly, people on the streets showed no signs of remorse as to hurting others and would even harm their fellow Filipinos that are doing nothing to them. This for me is my saddest realization. I realized that violence was such a common thing back then that they did it out of habit and suddenly became a part of what people on the streets normally did. Instead of fighting back, victims would just let themselves be badly injured or on worst cases, victims would die.

P.S. On a lighter note, I found it funny how the story is so conyo. I cannot imagine Filipinos actually saying “You buy newspaper from me, sir. Sige na, Joe.” Although, it really is amusing just thinking about it. J