IP 362: Final Exam Paper

Rachelle M. Aurellano

IP 362: Philippine Drama: Art, History, Culture

Final Exam

9. Cite dramatics works you have studied that depicts social, cultural, and political conditions of the Philippines.

Upon taking this course, I have come across many dramatic works that led me to the exploration of Philippine theater, as a history, art, and culture. Blessed Are the Grafters (Wilfredo Ma. Guerrero), Wanted: A Chaperon, and But Not My Sons Any Longer (Severino Montano), are works that I chose to discuss, particularly because I studied these works, enjoyed it, and made these my favorites. I chose these specific dramatic works because they depict social, cultural, and political conditions of the Philippines. All aspects of Philippine theatre are found in these plays.

In Blessed Are the Grafters, it represents the political conditions of the Philippines. Although the play is imaginary, in a way, it actually resembles actual situations seen in the Philippines today, as drama is an element of real life situations. The scene takes place in the office of Salsipuedes & Co. Several characters are introduced, but each character has a significant role in this play. Throughout the story, its obvious how corrupt people can be and how money-hungry many of them are. In many of these characters, especially the characters that pay a visit to Mr. Salsipuedes, “personally profit,” as they manipulate the system due to their high positions. This manipulation is an example of a political condition of the Philippines. These grafters can be found in all areas of powerful positions, whether it be the government (i.e. President), judicial system (i.e. judges), police officers, etc., they are able to manipulate their respective systems and extort tons of money from the government. A good example would be the former President of the Philippines, Estrada, who used government funds to benefit himself.

In Wanted: A Chaperon, it represents the social and cultural conditions of the Philippines. It is a play about a wealthy family in the Philippines. The social condition is obvious, as the mother of the family, prohibits her children, who are almost adults, from going out at night with friends without a chaperon. The purpose of the “chaperone” is to make sure the children don’t go out and do anything stupid. Although the parents have two children, a son and daughter, the mother put more emphasis on their daughter, because of the cultural aspect of being Filipinos. Filipino girls, like myself, have been sheltered to experience life outside the home, because of that certain idea that they will get themselves into something they weren’t ready for (i.e. pregnancy). And so parents, are overprotective over their daughters. The reason being, as it is much of a social as it is a cultural aspect of Filipinos, that when a girl is seen in public with a boy, say for instance holding hands, it’s kind of like “taboo,” as these things are meant only for the “married couple.” And so when that is seen, these children are almost “forced” to become married, for the idea that it might bring “shame” to the family, regardless if they didn’t even have intercourse. Holding hands, or even being near a boy, sends mixed messages.

But Not My Sons Any Longer is one of my favorite works written by Severino Montano. It reflects the social, cultural, and political condition of the Philippines. The play is a portrayal of old Filipino values versus new Filipino values and unbiased presentation of Filipino-American relationships. Socially, the characters of the Reyes family are almost torn in two, as the two eldest children have taken American views and the youngest child, along with their father has kept their old Filipino views in tact. This story is a clash between traditional Filipinos and Americanized Filipinos, and throughout the story, every character has their reasons of why they chose to view the world in that way. It’s a tragic story, but there are lessons to be learned, especially from the view of the father. Socially, culturally, and politically, you cannot change the views of a Filipino who is too busy becoming an American. This is quite evident in the play, as the loneliness of a father to a young man in love, cannot help a person realize what is in fact more valuable than just money, or progress. The idea of a close-knit family is broken in this play as the very end, a tragedy is experienced.

All the works that I have studied portrayed a kind of reflection to the conditions of the Philippines. However, there are so much more dramatic works to discuss, but these three plays are my favorites. After taking this course, I have a different view about Philippine drama. The experiences of surveying Philippine drama from pre-colonial to contemporary period has given me a better understanding of Philippine drama, as a history, art and culture. I appreciate even more my Filipino history, art and culture, by having more appreciation of Philippine society and multicultural and artistic diversity. Critically, I think I have a better understanding of culture and artistic diversity of the Philippines.