The Rosales Saga

The Rosales Saga

By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

October 5, 2019

I

I grew up in Antipolo, a town in Rizal Province about seventeen kilometers from Manila. Our house – in the middle of the street – was in a new suburban area (called a "subdivision") so there were few houses back then. When I peer out the gate or above our high walls, all I could see was trees and grass. I wasn't allowed to go out but we had a big garden and an even bigger backyard, and I had a dog named Hutch so I was fine. There was a talisay tree out front, and more trees at the back – mango, avocado, santol. The avocado tree was slanted, almost uprooted from a storm, and that was the easiest to climb. 

II

All these came back when I read "Don Vicente" by F. Sionil Jose, National Artist For Literature. I'm not a sentimental person by nature, but I do have so many wonderful memories. I'm blessed to have a happy and prosperous childhood, like the narrator who also lived in a big house surrounded by nature. I once told a friend that I like to go to hills overlooking whole villages, ride a carabao though rice fields, and swim in a flowing river where women are washing their clothes at the banks. My friend said those days are gone now, but this is how I see Rosales in Pangasinan before the war. 

III

I've seen the great writer F. Sionil Jose in person. I was at his bookstore Solaridad on Padre Faura Street in Manila years back, just browsing. He came out from the back and stood on the counter. I was four feet away. I have creds because my first short story was just then published in Philippine Graphic and I had just sent a manuscript to Philippines Free Press, but I was too shy to approach. I'm a great fan, and I admire him for his novels, especially his masterpiece, the five-book Rosales saga – Po-on, Tree, My Brother, My Executioner; The Pretenders and Mass. The story of the two-novel "Don Vicente" is Tree and My Brother, My Executioner.

IV

The story of "Tree" begins when the unnamed narrator was still a young boy. He was the only son of a wealthy landlord, Don Espiridion, who is also the right-hand man of the richest man in Rosales, Don Vicente Asperri. They own the land, and the farmers, known as tenants, would pay them to plant and gather the harvest. They have many servants, mostly the children of the tenants who are unable to pay them back. A man named Baldo tried to change the situation, but he lost, and he died. My favorite scene is when the boy and his grandfather, the beloved former gobernadorcillo, went to the fields in Carmay after the harvest. "Boy, the silence of a field can give a man beautiful thoughts," Grandfather said on the day he died peacefully. "Here, more than anyplace, you are nearer God."

Narrator – Daniel Padilla/ Nash Aguas

Teresita – Kathryn Bernardo

Father – Robert Arevalo

Grandfather – Tony Mabesa

Old David – Dante Rivero

Don Vicente – Ronaldo Valdez

Baldo – Coco Martin

Pedring – Jericho Rosales

Clarissa – Kristine Hermosa

Marcelo – Cesar Montano

Benito – Eddie Mesa

Padre Andong – Jaime Fabregas

Doro – Noel Trinidad

Antonia – Celia Rodriguez

Sepa – Caridad Sanchez

Angel – Vandolph

Ludovico – Yul Servo

Andring – Baron Geisler

Martina – Alessandra De Rossi

Nimia – Dina Bonnevie

Ms. Santillian – Bea Alonzo

Mr. Sanchez – John Lloyd Cruz

Feliza – Irma Adlawan 

Father's mistress – Tessie Tomas

Hilda's father – Menggie Cobarubias

Ludovico's father – Bodjie Pascua

Angels mother – Gina Pareño 

Angel's father – Pen Medina

Chan Hai – Tsing Tong Tsai

Photo courtesy of Amazon