Push Admin

DLSU pays tribute to F. Sionil Jose: ‘A life fully lived, the life of literature’

Article (news)

Totel V. de Jesus

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt=" All" s="" quiet="" for="" now.="" The="" F.="" Sionil="" Jose="" Collection="" sits="" on="" a="" corner="" with="" wonderful="" view="" at="" the="" DLSU="" Henry="" Sy="" Sr.="" Hall.="" Photo="" by="" Shirley="" O.="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/02/20/1.jpg"/><figcaption>All&#x27;s quiet for now. The F. Sionil Jose Collection sits on a corner with a wonderful view at the DLSU Libraries, 12th Floor, Henry Sy Sr. Hall. Photo by Shirley O. Lua</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- Since 2014, the F. Sionil Jose Collection at the De La Salle University on Taft Avenue has been home to the personal manuscripts of National Artist for Literature Francisco Sionil Jose. These are drafts of his novels, essays, plays and other literary writings. If one needs to pore over how Jose’s mind worked in developing a story, a student or researcher would see the revisions until the final draft.This special glass-walled section is located at the DLSU Libraries on the 12th floor of the Henry Sy Sr. Hall. It also houses signed copies of books written by Jose’s friends, his own books autographed with dedications for DLSU, framed and filed articles in local and foreign magazines and newspapers, some memorabilia, publications by Solidaridad Publishing and a selection of his 100 recommended books. The pandemic has made this complete depository of Jose’s works inaccessible for now due to safety protocols. One may wonder, why Jose entrusted to DLSU his personal collections, given that in a few years or a decade from now, their value as cultural treasures could fetch lofty sums among credible auction houses.For now, it’s just but fittingly right the DLSU continues to hold in high esteem this brilliant man of letters whose frankness even up to his twilight years gathered all kinds of criticisms. <div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The novels of F. Sionil Jose have been integrated into Lasallian core curriculum courses. Image shows some of the books at the F. Sionil Jose Collection room, now made rare and more valuable because they have autographs with dedications by Jose. Photo courtesy of Shirley O. Lua" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/02/20/2.jpg"/><figcaption>The novels of F. Sionil Jose have been integrated into Lasallian core curriculum courses. Image shows some of the books at the F. Sionil Jose Collection room, now made rare and more valuable because they have autographs with dedications by Jose. Photo courtesy of Shirley O. Lua</figcaption></figure></div>On the 40th day of Jose’s passing, his friendship with DLSU and legacy as a giant in Philippine literature were honored with a Mass tribute titled “Paggunita Kay Manong Frankie: Remembering National Artist for Literature Dr. F. Sionil Jose.” Held last February 14, the online event was organized by the DLSU College of Liberal Arts, DLSU Libraries and the Jose family. It was hosted by Dr. Anne Frances Sangil and streamed on the Facebook page of the DLSU College of Liberal Arts. The tribute started with a Mass officiated by DLSU Assistant University Chaplain, Rev. Fr. Seth Sabata of the Legionaries of Christ.Besides being home to the F. Sionil Jose Collection, Bro. Bernard Oca FSC, president of the DLSU, in his welcome remarks, said Jose is continuously honored by them because his novels “Ermita,” “Gagamba,” “The Pretenders,” “Mass” and “My Brother, My Executioner,” among others, have been integrated into the Lasallian Core Curriculum courses.In 1995, DLSU conferred Jose the honoris causa title for the Doctor of Philosophy in Humane Letters. He was also visiting professor at the Faculty of the Department of Literature, College of Liberal Arts, teaching Philippine Literature and Creative Writing classes.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt=" F. Sionil Jose gives a lecture at the FSJ Collection Room. Photo by Shirley O. Lua" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/02/20/3.jpg"/><figcaption>F. Sionil Jose gives a lecture at the FSJ Collection Room. Photo by Shirley O. Lua</figcaption></figure></div>Bro. Oca revealed Jose held regular dialogues on history and writing at the F. Sionil José Collection Room, “confident that a healthy atmosphere of intelligent exchanges would help mold the fervent mind of the youth.”“His fictions, in particular his masterwork, the Rosales saga, manifest a distinctive narrative vision that reconstructs alternate histories of our archipelago,” Bro. Oca said.“Through his imagining, Manong Frankie has recovered stories of a larger history that are otherwise unavailable, what is not fully known or repressed in the national psyche,” he added.Bro. Oca summed up his views on Jose by comparing him to French novelist and critic Marcel Proust who once said “the real life, at last enlightened and revealed, the only life fully lived, is literature.“Indeed, Manong Frankie had this—a life fully lived, an enlightened life, the life of literature.”<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="DLSU celebrated the 85th birthday of Manong Frankie (from left): Br. Bernie Oca, FSC; F Sionil Jose; Dr. Carmelita Quebengco; Clodualdo Doy Del Mundo Jr.; Bienvenido Lumbera, held on December 1, 2009 at the DLSU Marilen Gaerlan North Conservatory. Photo by Shirley O. Lua" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/02/20/4.jpg"/><figcaption>DLSU celebrated the 85th birthday of Manong Frankie (from left): Br. Bernie Oca, FSC; F Sionil Jose; Dr. Carmelita Quebengco; Clodualdo Doy Del Mundo Jr.; Bienvenido Lumbera, held on December 1, 2009 at the DLSU Marilen Gaerlan North Conservatory. Photo by Shirley O. Lua</figcaption></figure></div>In the latter part of the program, the DLSU Libraries did a walk-through on the F. Sionil Jose Collection Room with a video presentation of Jose’s lectures and dialogues with students, professors and prominent guests like retired Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, among others.Another video presentation prepared by the Bienvenido Creative Writing Center recounted highlights in Jose’s life. In one slide, there was a quote from critic and retired DLSU professor, Dr. Isagani Cruz, saying how having been translated into 24 languages, Jose “is perhaps the best known contemporary Philippine writer in the world.”<div>Losing faith in Duterte</div>There were testimonials from two scholars whose respective theses were focused on Jose’s works. Showing how prolific Jose had been as fictionist, Dr. Feorillo Petronilo Demetrio III of the DLSU’s Departamento ng Filipino said when he was doing a dissertation about 30 novels in English by Filipino authors, one third or about 10 books were written by Jose. Talking about Jose isn’t complete without talking about politics.Prof. Joshua Mariz B. Felicilda shared excerpts of his 2018 interview with Jose sometime when he was doing his thesis for a Master’s degree. When he asked Jose why politics was vivid in his works, Jose said, “Sa bayan natin, almost everything is very political. You cannot avoid politics, hijo, wherever you turn.”“Art is political, life is political, meaning there is a question of conflict. Kapag nagkaroon ng question of conflict, political na iyan. Our society is full of such conflicts. Some of them we are incapable of resolving because these problems go back to the nature of man. The nature of man is very complex. And the nature of man is also political. The complexity of human beings is such that you embrace that all of mankind, in fact, the whole universe itself,” Jose said.Despite being an Ilocano, Jose has been vocal of his hatred for the Marcoses, especially for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Felicilda asked him in Filipino if we’re going to assess our past, which was worse, the Japanese Occupation or the Martial Law years? Jose answered: “Ah syempre panahon ng Hapon but the Marcos years were also horrible. And this is one of the reasons why I don’t like [President Rodrigo] Duterte. I used to like Duterte very much. Pero when he said he was pro-Marcos, ah sabi ko wala na ‘to. Kasi noong umpisa, I thought he would be a kind of [President Ramon] Magsaysay because Magsaysay was our best.”Felicilda followed it up by asking how come Jose has forgiven the Japanese but not the late dictator?“By the time I reached 70, all the people who have done me wrong, I have forgiven them but not forget. And it was a big load of mine. Pero ngayon I haven’t forgiven him because of the harm that he did to this country was really malalim. He decimated a whole generation of possible leaders. Remember that,” Jose said.Felicilda’s further asked, “Malalim po ang sinabi nyong nilipol ni Marcos ang isang salinlahi ng mga umuusbong na pinuno. Pero hindi din po kaya mahirap patawarin si Marcos dahil hanggang sa kasalukuyan ay nagdudusa pa rin ang ating bansa dahil sa mga nagawa nya?”Jose answered: “Yes, of course. This is what many Filipinos don’t realize. Because on the contrary, he could have done so much. That’s the other side of the coin. He wasted all those years.”The full interview titled “Politiko at Panitikan sa Pananaw ni F. Sionil Jose” was published in DLSU’s “Malay Research Journal” also in 2018.Felicilda ended his testimonial by wishing for the days when the Filipinos, including the masses, will be enlightened by the lessons and realizations from Jose’s writings. <div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Manang Tessie and F. Sionil Jose during the launch of the F. Sionil Jose Collection in July, 2014. Photo by Shirley O. Lua" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/02/20/5.jpg"/><figcaption>Manang Tessie and F. Sionil Jose during the launch of the F. Sionil Jose Collection in July, 2014. Photo by Shirley O. Lua</figcaption></figure></div>The tribute also had readings of excerpts from Jose’s literary works. Fictionist Connie Jan Maranan read a passage from “Cadena de Amor,” from the collection “Three Novellas.” Writer-professor Timothy Montes later read an excerpt from “My Brother, My Executioner,” the third of the five novels in The Rosales Saga. Playwright-actor-director Rodolfo “Rody” Vera sang a heart-wrenching rendition of “El Reloj,” one of Jose’s favorite Spanish ballads. “El Reloj” is mentioned in a crucial scene in the first chapter of “The Pretenders,” the fourth novel in The Rosales Saga.Vera said he was supposed to sing “El Reloj” for Jose’s 95th birthday before the pandemic years. He was invited by one of Jose’s children, Jette, who was his class adviser in high school. “But a typhoon threatened Metro Manila on the same day and the birthday celebration was cancelled,” said Vera. Unfortunately, Jette died in December 2021, just a few weeks before her father’s demise on January 6 this year.So this time, Vera said he is dedicating “El Reloj” to both Jose and Jette. <div>Historic, funny moments with Jose</div>DLSU history professor and playwright-essayist Jose Victor Torres shared some delightful moments with Jose. He said among the memorable ones were those spent drinking at the second floor of the Solidaridad Bookshop. It was where friends and members of the six-and-a-half-decade-old Philippine PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists), of which Jose was founder, would have meetings and special gatherings like book launches and birthday celebrations.“I enjoyed Manong’s bar…. that small cabinet [full of drinks] on the second floor mezzanine,” said Torres. He recalled an incident when he was among six writers who finished 12 bottles of red wine in several hours of talk that lasted till late in the night. Torres said they were unforgettable, fruitful conversations. “I guess Manong valued me because I am a historian because for someone who had been there, he was part of history. He loved telling me stories when he was a journalist in the ‘50s and the ‘60s.”One was when Jose and President Magsaysay were in the middle of an agricultural farm in the countryside. Both of them suddenly had “the call of nature” but there was only one outhouse nearby. “Nagkarerahan pa daw sila and Jose outran Magsaysay,” said Torres, laughing. He added he’s very thankful for those background bits and pieces of history from someone who witnessed them firsthand.Another delightful, although embarrassing incident was when Jose celebrated his 90th birthday at a function hall in the Cultural Center of the Philippines. There were lots of VIPS, including Jose’s fellow National Artists. Torres said when Jose saw him and his wife coming from across the hall, Jose shouted at him from several meters away: “’Hey Vic, I have copies of Playboy [magazines] in my car! They are for you!”“Hindi ko alam kung saan ko ilalagay ‘yung mukha ko no’n. [It’s like] someone who is fond of sex is coming into the room,” said Torres.On a more serious side, Torres also shared how Jose reminded him to re-read again the classic novels “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” of Jose Rizal and look at them in a different way beyond “the stories of revolution but more on education and the youth.” In that way, Jose told him Rizal can be appreciated more as a nationalist. He is also thankful to Jose because he introduced him to the jolly National Artist Nick Joaquin. They had lots of meetings with beers and lots of drinks years before Joaquin died in 2004.<div>Jose as father, family man</div>The tribute ended with a final message from the Jose family, represented by daughter Evelina Jose Cichy. She thanked DLSU for the friendship and maintaining special ties with her father for several decades. “We the children hope to continue this special relationship through the F. Sionil Jose Collection,” she said.Jose-Cichy shared what Jose was like as a father. “[If] our mother nurtured our body and enlightened our spirits, our father grew our minds. He taught us basic lessons carried through adulthood that we taught to our children and now to our grandchildren,” she said.“He encouraged us to read. Growing up, we wrote book reports. He taught us to be clean and orderly. He would come to our room, check our closets to see if we organized our clothes neatly.”Jose also taught them the value of hard work. She said in their growing up years, she and her siblings after school would go directly to the Solidaridad Bookshop to work as cashiers and janitors. “Even during weekends, we worked some more, maybe to instill in us that this was our source of livelihood.”She added Jose introduced to them the world not found in textbooks, bringing them to places.“In high school, I became familiar with the slums of Tondo. He brought us there and we became friends with the families he wrote about and helped.”Jose would also encourage them to know what’s happening in the country and other parts of the world. She shared how after dinner, Jose would quiz them about current events and the one who got the correct answer received 10 centavos, which was a big amount back then.“He taught us how to discuss intelligently with openness to the opinion of others, learn to respect different perspectives and agree on a common ground.”At 22 after college, Jose-Cichy said she left the Philippines for further studies in the United States. “It was only there and then when I truly began to appreciate him as a writer.”When she read his short story, “Waywaya,” she wrote him a fan letter.“It was my first and only fan letter to him. I told him his words were lyrical, the story touched me deeply and made me cry. He would later say that receiving my fan letter was the time he felt appreciated as a writer,” said Jose-Cichy.“He was a great writer and also a great teacher. That’s why he loved talking to young people and writers. In his last letter he wrote to us and my mother, he said his love for us was holy and so was his love for his country.&quot; In her parting words, master of ceremonies Sangil said, “We will carry that gift of having known him for as long as we keep on reading his works and living as Filipinos the way he hoped and imagined us to be.”

On the 40th day of F. SIonil Jose’s passing, his friendship with DLSU and legacy as a giant in Philippine literature were honored with a Mass tribute.