This is the story of Glo a conscientious young lady whose family became rich
due to illegal logging. Her father died of guilt and so Glo devotes her life
working in an non-governmental organization called NGO Saklolo. She and
her group go to all the places where there is catastrophe. With Philippines as
the story's setting, Edroza-Matute, had enough scenes for the poor Glo to pay
for the sins of her father. That guilt is her wound or sugat and it will take her
whole life to heal it. That's how conscientious she is.
Her bestfriend Flor does not share that guilt, however. Flor and her father Don
Emilio used to live in the same slum Daang Riles with Glo and her parents. Then
Don Antero ventures into an import-export business and meets crooked
politicians who are into illegal logging that is being protected by a cabinet
minister. So, Don Antero gets rich, transfers his family from Daang Riles to
Dasmarinas Village, and invites his friend, Glo's father, Daddy Antero to occupy
the nearby house in Dasmarinas Village. However, Daddy Antero is a morally
upright man. When he sees the rampant flooding caused by fallen mountain
trees, he falls sick and eventually dies.
When Glo confronts Flor for them to pay the sins of the father together, you
know join the NGO, the latter gets angry saying that the problem with the
former is thinking that she is holier than thou. So, they part their ways and live
their separate lives. However, they have shared a lot when they were still in
Daang Riles and the people they grew up with still connect their lives. The boys
they like, for example, are confused between them. But let's not get into that
because that is too mushy for me.
The plot is nice. The message of the importance of environmental protection
is clear and made the book a timely read. The guilt-stricken Glo should be the
role-model of all the country's crooks, particularly those who got rich because
of their association with corrupt politicians.
In fact, reading the book reminded me of Janet Napoles and the Pork Barrel
Scam. If she could just have Glo's conscience, then this country would have
been a lot better place to live in. To hell with Flor's argument that if her father
would not do it (illegal logging), other people would have done it. When was
the first time I read that line? From the guy who dropped the atomic bombs in
Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
My problem with this book are two: (1) Edroza-Matute needs to have a good
editor to remove all those lines that are repeated so many times I felt like an
idiot while reading. For example, Edroza-Matute had to tell me again and
again that Daddy Antero died because of guilt; and (2) the book is first
published in 1995 but her Tagalog was the one during her heydays as a
popular female writer before WWII:
Sa pusikit ng karimlan ng madaling-araw, na kutitap man ng isang bituin ay
tumatangging tumanglaw sa kanila, hindi makadulang ng paraan ang
dalawang babae.
I mean, if the novel was written and published in the 40's up to 70's then maybe
I would understand. Or maybe Anvil Publishing House only coerced EdrozaMatute to publish this old work now that she is on her twilight years? Well,
maybe that explains the language but Anvil should have put an intro
explaining the whole thing. My five cents.