CALMA, Ingrid P.
4CA4 | 2012045196
Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil: A Modern Take on a National Classic
Critically acclaimed and brought back from 2004, Nicanor Tiongson’s Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil is
a contemporary portrayal of Dr. Jose Rizal’s masterpieces Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. While
the two national classics are by themselves timeless and enjoyed by people of all ages, Dekada Dos Mil
appeals to the twenty-first century nationalist in us. Through this adaptation, we are called to be critical of
the deep-rooted problem prevalent in our country today. Is Rizal’s discourse about the “Cancer of Society”
still existent and still the same as it was centuries ago?
The play not only puts forth political issues as it also focuses on the environmental issues that
caused the heavy flood and landslides during the typhoon’s landfall. Social issues and norms are portrayed
as well, bringing into focus the networks used by each character to exploit and attain power from the
administration. Aside from Political, Environmental, and Societal issues present in the play, common
Filipino characteristics are also skillfully portrayed by the characters – updated, yet still consistent with their
original depiction in the novels.
Tiongson cleverly renames and recasts Dr. Rizal’s characters into a more timely manner, naming
Crisostomo Ibarra as Ibarra Marasigan, the idealistic young mayor of Maypajo. Maria Clara makes her
appearance as Clarissa Santiago, Ibarra’s fiancee. Elias becomes Kumander Elias, Ibarra’s longtime friend
and leader of a secret faction against the government. Padre Salvi is given a more active and important
role in the play as Colonel Salvador Salvatierra, an influential figure in the military and one of the primary
antagonists against Ibarra’s ideals and good motives. Padre Damaso is made Monsignor Damaso Villareal,
the newly-appointed archbishop of the diocese. Some characters, notably Donya Victorina, are comically
redesigned to reflect her gaudy and kitschy counterpart in a modern setting.
Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil is divided into two parts – each corresponding to the events of Noli and
Fili, respectively. It takes place in the quaint town of Maypajo, Province of Quezon in the Southern Tagalog
region, bringing to light the Typhoon Winnie incident back in 2002.
The play starts in the middle of the storm, showing a family struggling to survive while being
doused with real water onstage. Later, Ibarra Marasigan, the new mayor of Maypajo, decides to impose a
total log ban on the mountains of Sierra Madre as the preventive solution to flood and landslides. As mayor,
he elects the help of several townspeople, including his fiancee Clarissa, to find alternative livelihood for
those whose work was originally to cut trees for lumber. While local parish priest Fr. Ino, Maypajo National
High School Principal Mr. Antanacio, and Barangay Chairman Kapitan Badong fully support the mayor in
his endeavors, several malicious underground networks from the previous administrations find that their
undisclosed business deals with the logging companies are put at stake. Despite Ibarra’s efforts to quell the
number of companies cutting wood from the mountains, Colonel Salvi threatens and bends the arms of
those who desist. Eventually, Ibarra gets thrown out of office when he attempts to fight his adversaries
head-on and even branded as the corrupt traitor behind the illegal logging issue through false propaganda.
While Ibarra and his allies are persecuted for crimes they did not commit, Colonel Salvi continues to enjoy
the by-products of his agreement with the logging companies. He convinces Santiago to marry off his
daughter, Clarrisa, to him despite her clear objection.
With Elias’s help, Ibarra manages to escape prison. However, Elias does not survive the turmoil
that broke and died, leaving Ibarra to find the kilusan against the government hidden in the mountains.
In the second arc, Ibarra takes up the alias Simon and bears arms against the government for the
kilusan – The National Liberation Army – that Elias was a former member of. Fueled by revenge, he solicits
the help of his former allies inside Maypajo to infiltrate and take over the corrupt system set up by Salvi and
his men. Basilio and Isagani, former wards of Ibarra’s late father, were enjoined to educate the people of
Maypajo to the truth of the matter. Basilio and Juli acquaints cooperative groups with ways to improve their
state of life and to find alternative means for income. Isagani informs the public of the atrocities of
corruption and illegal logging through a community newsletter. Those who continue to support Ka Simon’s
endeavors, however, suffer when Colonel Salvi catches wind of their actions. While the kilusan plots an
insurgent operation against the military and the government, Simon secretly uses the operation to fulfill his
selfish intentions. Eventually, Basilio and Isagani’s trust in Simon wavers when he starts to behave
eratically, making his intentions clear to them: to take Clarissa from the Colonel’s grasp. In a turn of fate,
Clarissa gets into an argument with Salvi and dies after he fires a gun at her. Simon, having learned of the
news, loses motivation to finish the insurgent operation. This results in its failure, and several members of
the kilusan dead and wounded. In his last resort after the kilusan disowns him, he decides to infiltrate a
wedding celebration with a bomb disguised as a wedding present. Simon’s efforts, however, do not bear
fruit as the military thwart his plans in the last minute. He leaves, mortally wounded, to seek refuge in a
cave where he and Elias used to go to as children. There, he passes away as he converses with Fr. Ino,
similar to the way Simoun dies at the end of El Filibusterismo.
The play, however, does not end there. At the resolution, a musical number composed by Noel
Cabangon is sung by the actors, kindling hope in the hearts of the audience that change is still possible
even when all seems lost.
Nicanor Tiongson writes in his author’s note in the play program that in writing Noli at Fili: Dekada
Dos Mil, he wanted to enlighten the viewers of how corruption runs deep through networks and how it
affects society as a whole. This is why, despite not aiming to equal Dr. Rizal’s masterpieces, Tiongson
chose Noli and Fili as the foundation of his composition in order to “update” the same subject matter in the
current time and year. Nicanor Tiongson asks the fundamental question: Is the “Cancer of Society” during
Rizal’s time the same as today?
Rizal’s discourse of the “Cancer of Society”, and Nicanor Tiongson’s depiction in the play then
brings us to the main issue: Our country suffers from a long history of corruption and a faulty
administrative system.
Several reasons may be put forth to support this idea.
First, many politicians and community leaders abuse their powers for personal gain.
While this reason is vague and needs to be investigated further in order to be substantial to this
paper, I will settle with past evidence pointing to Philippine politicians in history being corrupt in practice.
Corruption is a major theme in the play and Nicanor Tiongson skillfully illustrates how it works through
networks spread throughout the government system. We see Colonel Salvi taking advantage of his position
and his command to commit crimes hidden from the public eye. This is also seen when he spreads false
propaganda to frame Ibarra as the culprit. More evident in both spoken word and action is Santiago who, in
order to fulfill Clarissa and Ibarra’s wishes, speeds up the process of the Total Logging Ban law through his
influence in the congress. While Ibarra’s intentions were good, there was still the abuse of influence and
power evidenced through Santiago’s actions. What more if the intended end was malicious? In the
examples and situations from the play stated above, we can see that the reason why these people in power
use their influence is for personal gain. Salvi made contracts and agreements with the logging companies
in order to gain additional revenue. He also framed Ibarra in order to protect himself from being accused.
Santiago, on the other hand, used his power in the Congress to make the passing of the law easier and
more convenient for Clarissa and her fiance. The Filipino people today suffer the same plight as there are
reports of officials in the government using their power over their men and money to bend things to their
will. This affects not only the general public, but also the system that the Philippines run by.
Second, many of our countrymen suffer from poverty. The need to generate income forces
them to take up any kind of occupation presented to them.
Here in the Philippines, Corruption and Poverty are directly correlated to each other especially
when discussing which causes which, or which one is the effect of the other. In my point here, the circle
has no beginning or no end.
Confusing as it is to process, the principle is quite simple. Because many politicians have used
their power and public money for their selfish wants, the development of the state is put at stake and on
indefinite hold. The funds needed to give the Filipino citizens the quality of life they deserve are used by the
corrupt government for their own agenda. Thus in the long run, most underprivileged Filipinos are deprived
of quality education, good living conditions, and adequate food supply and nutrition. This situation causes
most of them to acquire any means necessary in order to lift the quality of their lives. Some of these means
are unlawful and inhumane. This is evidenced in the play when some townspeople of Maypajo do the
bidding of some military officials just because they need to protect their family and/or need to acquire
income in order to support their families. This gives the officials avenues to continue their malpractice of
their duty for the government. The cycle spans on for generations until there are circumstances where the
causes and effects seem to have become confusing and irreversible.
The part where the media men spread false accusations about Ibarra is also a result of the need of
the media to gain extra income. In Tagalog, the phrase “negosyo/trabaho lang, walang personalan” is
almost always used as a way to recompense for their actions.
Lastly, Most Filipinos are grounded on the principles of “Pakikisama” and the value of
“community”
Numerous Sociological theories and perspectives state that Filipino values, attitudes and beliefs
are predominantly based on the idea of “community” and “togetherness”. In the play, we see some
instances where a character will do someone’s bidding because they owe the person a debt. This is
especially sgnificant in the part where Basilio and Isagani are forced by Ka Simon to do his bidding,
bringing forth the fact that it was Ka Simon’s father, the late Mayor Marasigan, who sent Basilio and Isagani
to school. While “Utang na loob” is not in itself a bad quality, many Filipinos use this to their advantage
because they know that the person owing them a debt will be useful to them in the future. Worse, some
people use this for selfish gain.
On the other hand, the sense of community can also imply many positive things to be gleaned from
the Filipino attitude and values system. In some instances, however, this can also make most of us entirely
dependent of each other, believing anything that a trusted person will say rather than fully investigating and
studying the matter by themselves. This advantage is sometimes taken by some people in power in order
to make it appear that the public has formed a collective opinion that must be heard and acted upon. This is
evident in the play when Colonel Salvi uses his connections with the media and bends statements and
actions made by Ibarra in order to brand him a traitor in the public’s point of view. The media, after being
paid by Salvi, spread false accusations about Ibarra that the townspeople immediately believed the
moment they have heard of the news. Even if they are not aware of the entire story behind the issue, the
citizens of Maypajo unanimously cried for the removal of Mayor Ibarra from his position.
In view of all the issues and challenges the characters have enocountered in the play, I must
consider how some characters have fulfilled and realized Christian values that the University of Santo
Tomas have taught me thus far. At the beginning of the play, the 3C’s, or Compassion, Commitment, and
Competence was seen through Mayor Ibarra and his honest way of running the local government in order
to match his good ideals and intentions. Compassion is evidenced through Clarissa as she finds ways to
help the citizens of Maypajo find alternative livelihood while the Total Log Ban was imposed. Compassion is
also seen through Fr. Ino’s actions toward Simon as he converses with him at the end.
Love, and Respect towards Parents, Elders, and Leaders of the Church is evidenced
throughout the play, especially at the first arc where many of the characters show respect towards the
parents and priests present at each scene. This is especially seen even when Fr. Ino was in objection of
Monsignor Damaso’s commands, he reverently follows each order and asks for the Monsignor’s hand
before he takes his leave.
Above all, being Stewards of God’s Creation, and Dedication to the Care of the Environment
is seen as one of the main issues tackled in the play is about preserving the worsening conditions of the
environment.
Applying theories from Public Relations will be concentrated mainly on the scenes where the
networks used by public officials are shown and on scenes where the media men spread false propaganda
about Mayor Ibarra.
Theory 1 in PR is applicable . However, most communication lines are not as linear and one-sided
as Shannon and Weaver’s model. To modify this, Public Relations and Information dissemination do not
only start by one source. Ibarra’s downfall may be a product of many instances regarding word-of-mouth,
gossip, and ill-sourced news. This shows that a message may be modified as communication may travel in
numerous directions, and may even result in feedback and re-evaluation among the participants. A more
suitable and up-to-date model will better describe how Public Relations and Information Dissemination work
in the field.
Theory 2 based on James Carey’s findings is also applicable as Multi-channel Communications
work their way throughout Maypajo. There were news articles, announcements, and word-of-mouth
communications prevalent that made Ibarra’s downfall possible. This proves that the strength of PR and
Information dissemination also lies in the media used to reach the target audiences.
Robert Cialdini and Influence in Theory 4 is also seen in the play as the Six weapons (Reciprocity,
Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority, and Scarcity) were employed by Colonel
Salvi, and the media men by taking steps to ensure that the public is informed of their version of the issue.
However, not all of the six weapons were highly evident and as applicable to executing a good PR plan
because what they were doing were essentially falsifications of the real story.
Theory 5, which is by Patrick Jackson et al., discusses steps to affect behavior change. By
Awareness, Knowledge, Interest, Action, and Preference, the media had successfully engaged the public
into action by changing their behavior towards Ibarra.
According to research, using emotional tactics in PR and Information dissemination is one of the
most effective to Filipinos. Thus, Theory 9 or using Emotional Intelligence plays a big part in Colonel
Salvi’s efforts to bend people to his will. This is also seen when the media uses emotional tactics to reach
the people saying that the “Mayor didn’t care for the townspeople at all, but only took up the position for
personal gain”.
SUMMATION
Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil is a play by Nicanor Tiongson that tackles political, social, and
environmental issues relevant today. The main underlying issue suffered by our country and our
countrymen is because of rampant corruption and a faulty administrative system. Some of the reasons that
caused this is poverty, abuse of power, and the Filipinos’ “community mindset”. While the issue seen at
hand is grave, some characters in the play displayed traits and values that are taught to Thomasians in the
University. First is the 3C’s or Compassion, Commitment, Competence. Second, Love and Respect are
also shown. Third, being Stewards of God’s Creation is instilled as the idea of the whole production, and is
also one of the values that the author and the director of the play wants to relay to the audience. In relation
to PR, several theories are modified or affirmed from the play. Some of these include Shannon and
Weaver’s Linear Communication Model, James Carey’s Multi-Channel Communication model, Robert
Cialdini and the Six Weapons of Influence, Patrick Jackson et al.’s steps to affect behavior change, and
using Emotional intelligence to appeal to an audience.