During my younger years, I had my favourite “things” such as Maths, Drama, Journalism, Debating and Dancing. I could ace my Trigo exam without even studying but unfortunately History was my waterloo.

I couldn’t see the logic of studying the past when I was a very active child always looking forward to the future. But as I grow older, I have learned to understand the essence of our old Filipino saying “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinang-galingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan” translated as “He who does not look back into his past, cannot reach his destination”.

Her Son, Jose Rizal (the play) had not only allowed me to have a glimpse of the past but gave me an understanding of who we are today.

I – The Calamba Scene – reminded me of a typical Filipino family where religion plays a big part in our lives. This took me back to my childhood when the elders used to talk about us kids – our achievements, their plans for us and the times when we would present our talents, the elders being our audience beaming with pride. I found the capture of Dora Teodora symbolic to the imprisonment of our nation under the hands of our so-called foreign “allies”.

II – The Fiesta Scene – provided explanations of our competitive spirits. Fearing for their lives, our ancestors had to do everything to please those people in power in order to protect their lives, survive and/or gain their favours. I admire our perseverance or what others call “fighting spirit” but had now evolved into political strategy. If you think about it, this is still happening in our dear Philippines; those who have access to people in power will compromise their convictions in order to gain cookie points, protect their interests and/or advance their position.

III – The Dormitory Scene – it first took me back to the family system. Soledad symbolizes our playful spirits while Paciano represents our protective older brother/s or sister/s. Pepe’s departure to me shows the plight of our relatives who have the best intentions to improve their family’s lives. Like Pepe, we have highly intelligent and capable people but had no freedom or opportunity fulfil these dreams and forced to seek further education and better career in a foreign land.

IV – Return to Calamba – Pepe’s return to me is synonymous to Ninoy Aquino’s fate. Here we have a soul full of hopes and willing to fight for the truth. We also have our nation represented by Dona Teodora who turned a blind eye on what’s going on in our society today; compromised her faith feeling hopeless due to the sufferings and punishment she received for her courage and values she once demanded from her people.

Deep in my heart, I know we have a lot of Pepe’s out there; who have the desire to speak of the truth waiting to be heard and for unity to summon the moment to rise up. It’s time to say “NO” to those who abuse their power, punish or disrespect our people for what they believe in. We cannot allow history to keep repeating itself.

I wish to thank Kate Andres for the invite to Her Son, Jose Rizal; we enjoyed the play immensely and I was moved by the performance of Belen Mendoza during the Thursday night performance.

I hope the play allowed us to find Pepe’s voice inside each one of us and not let such a brave man, our hero, die in vain.

Other post/s by Bless Salonga

• One Journey in Five Parts - March 26th, 2012
• Calling Australia home is more than words - January 26th, 2012
• Education starts with DO-RE-ME - January 17th, 2012
• Chained by Fate - November 27th, 2011
• Isang Hibla - July 25th, 2011