TITLE:
The Centipede
AUTHOR:
Rony V. Diaz
He is an award-winning Filipino writer. He has won
several Palanca Awards. He joined The Manila
Times in 2001 as executive director. He eventually
became publisher and president of the Manila
Times School of Journalism. He has taught English
at the University of the Philippines Diliman and has
worked for the Philippine government as a foreign
service corp. He is the author of the story "The
Centipede".
He is a recipient of a University of the Philippines
Fellowship for Literature, a Rockefeller
Fellowship for creative writing and is a member of
the University of the Philippines Writers Club.
SETTING:
-Fields in the Summer (Analeptic Setting)
-Eddie’s Family’s House
CHARACTERS:
EDDIE
-Delia’s younger brother. He is an adventurous
young man who loves every creature and treats
them as his friend.
DELIA
-Eddie’s older sister. She loather animals and
insects and used her affliction to boss Eddie
whenever she gets a chance.
EDDIE & DELIA’S FATHER
-He is a widowed man who is skilled in hunting.
BERTO
-He is the family’s helper, and he often does chores
around the house including chopping wood for
kindling.
BIRYUK
-A stray dog found by Eddie during the time his dad
first took him hunting. They later become friends.
PLOT:
EXPOSITION
-Back when he was thirteen, Eddie’s father taught
him how to hunt in the fields during summer. His
dad tells him to spit before firing his shot for luck as
this was a tradition amongst hunters. Afterwards, he
sees a dog (Biryuk) running towards him and his
dad. He manages to convince his father to keep the
dog until someone claims it. No one ever does.
RISING ACTION
-Over the years, Eddie’s sister Delia increasingly
became cruel to him. She would ask Berto to kill his
monkey because it snickered at her one morning.
She had his pigeon house destroyed because it stank
and had his defenseless butterflies killed as it was
apparently attracting ants. After a string of similar
incidents, it appeared Eddie couldn’t take this
anymore.
CLIMAX
-Berto, the family’s helper found a large white
centipede and gave it to Eddie. Eddie then stuck a
sliver into the carapace of the centipede, and made
sure it was dead. He then went into his sister who
shrieked when he threw the centipede into her lap.
Gasping for air, she accused Eddie of trying to kill
her, and then she dropped on the ground, unmoving.
FALLING ACTION
-Eddie knelt before her in a mixture of pity and
guilt, showing her the dead centipede.
DENOUEMENT
-The story has an open ending, and thus, no proper
denouement. But if one is insisted, then it would be
his silent contemplation after what happened.
CONFLICT:
MAN V. MAN
POINT OF VIEW:
First Person POV
THEME:
Revenge is bittersweet.
NOTABLE LINE/S:
Father had told me that hunters always spat for
luck before firing. I spat and I saw the breeze bend
the ragged, glassy threads of spittle toward the
birds.
“That dog destroyed my slippers again. I’ll tell
Berto to kill that dog if I see it around again.”
She came back from the hospital in the city, pale
and quiet and mean, drained, it seemed, of all
emotions, she moved and acted with the keen,
perversity and deceptive dullness of a sheathed
knife, concealing in her body that awful power for
inspiring fear and pain and hate, not always with its
drawn blade but only with its fearful shape, defined
by the sheath as her meanness was defined by her
body.
“But it’s dead!” I cried kneeling before her. “It’s
dead! Look! Look!” I snatched up the centipede and
crushed its head between my fingers. “It’s dead!”
My sister did not move. I held the centipede before
her like a hunter displaying the tail of a deer, save
that the centipede felt thorny in my hand.
TITLE: DENOUEMENT
Wedding Dance -The reader is left not knowing what will become of
Lumnay.
AUTHOR:
CONFLICT:
Amador Dagui MAN V. SOCIETY
The author, Amador Daguio was born in the Ilocos
province of the Philippines in 1912. In “The
POINT OF VIEW:
Wedding Dance”, he draws upon the culture of his Third Person Limited POV
ancestors to explore Filipino traditions along with
the universal themes of love, suffering, and societal THEME:
expectations. If you truly love a person, you must let them be
happy.
Awiyao and Lumnay most likely to belong to the
Igorot people who inhabit the mountain areas of
Luzon. Even today, dance and gangsa music form
NOTABLE LINE/S:
an important part of their celebrations.

SETTING:
Mountain village during Awiyao’s wedding dance.

CHARACTERS:

AWIYAO
-The lead male in the story who loves Lumnay, but
left her because she couldn’t bear children for him.

LUMNAY
-Awiyao’s former wife who is still in love with him,
despite the fact he married another.

MADULIMAY
-Awiyao’s new, younger wife, with whom he hopes
to have children.

PLOT:

EXPOSITION
-The story begins at night in a mountain village in
the Philippines where Awiyao has just been
remarried.

RISING ACTION
-Awiyao has left his wife Lumnay because she
couldn’t give him a child. He has now married
Madulimay in the hope of giving a son. Lumnay is
upset because she loves Awiyao and doesn’t want
this separation.

CLIMAX
-Outside, the villagers are dancing of the wedding.
Awiyao leaves to try and comfort Lumnay. He
offers her many items of the life that they built
together. Lumnay refuses them and clings to
Awiyao, wishing he would stay.

FALLING ACTION
-Lumnay sits on the side of the mountain
overlooking the blazing fire and dancing women,
thinking about how her life has changed. She has a
sense of desperation, isolation, and worthlessness.
TITLE:
May Day Eve
AUTHOR:
Nick Joaquin
Philippine novelist, poet, playwright, biographer,
and essayist writing in English, the National Artist
for Literature. Joaquin wrote largely about the
Spanish colonial period and the diverse heritage of
the Filipino people. Often, he dealt with the
coexistence of 'primitive' and 'civilized' dimensions
inside the human psyche. After World War II,
Joaquin worked as a journalist, gaining fame as a
reporter for the Free Press. His most acclaimed play
is “A Portrait of the Artist As Filipino” (1952).
Other celebrated works include The Woman with
Two Navels (1961), which title refers to the two
legacies, the Spanish and American, the "navels" of
Filipino history, and Cave and Shadows (1983),
about myths, paganism, Christianity, and the
national identity, written in the form of a mystery
novel.
SETTING:
In a room, with a mirror during May Day Eve
CHARACTERS:
ANASTASIA
-Old woman, who is so obedient to her mistress, accused
for being a witch and believes in superstitious beliefs
AGUEDA
-Pretty, a young woman who is so curious, hardheaded,
brave and very much willing to know her future husband
DONYA AGUEDA
-A resentful old lady who has gray hair, full of
sentiments, and emotional
DONYA AGUEDA’S DAUGHTER
-A vain curious girl, who is persistent to know about the
past of her mother
BADOY MONTIYA
-A revengeful, vain, and good-looking man who will do
everything to get what he wants
DON BADOY MONTIYA
-A great lover, emotional and full of sentiment old man
who repents for what he has done to Agueda
VOLTAIRE
-Believe in superstitious beliefs and was like his
grandma who at an early age want to know who will he
marry.
PLOT:
EXPOSITION
-It all started in a ball on May Day Eve. The ball
had just ended, and the girls were sent upstairs to
sleep. The guests from Europe were feeling bad as
they wanted to party and have more fun in the
tropical country.
RISING ACTION
-At the girls’ room, Anastasia was telling the girls
that witches were abroad, for it was a night of
divination, a night of lovers, and those who cared
might peer in a mirror and would there behold the
face of whoever it was they were fated to marry.
CLIMAX
-Agueda walked from the hall down to the sala
bravely. The girls have not able to stop her and
while facing the mirror, she whispered, “Mirror,
Mirror, show to me him whose woman I will be”.
Agueda felt different, and after a while, she has
company and sees Badoy Montiya.
FALLING ACTION
-Donya Agueda told her daughter the story of what
really happened on that one May Day Eve. And she
told her daughter that she saw the Devil. On the
other hand Don Badoy Montiya told Voltaire, his
grandson, that one May Day Eve, he also saw the
witch.
DENOUEMENT
-Don Badoy went up to the window and with tears,
reminisce that old love.
CONFLICT:
MAN V. MAN &
MAN V. SOCIETY
POINT OF VIEW:
Third Person Omniscient POV
THEME:
Life is full of regret, for we always realize what we
have when it is gone.
NOTABLE LINE/S:
"They began crying to one another about how
carefree were men and how awful to be a girl and
what a horrid, horrid world it was."
"Because you may see the devil."
"I saw the Devil."
"Charms like yours have no need for a candle, fair
one."
"Oh, how I detest you, you pompous young men!
You go to Europe and you come back elegant lords
and we poor girls are too tame to please you. We
have no grace like the Parisiennes, we have no fire
like the Sevillians, and we have no salt, no salt, no
salt! Aie, how you weary me, how you bore me, you
fastidious men!"
"No lack of salt in the chrism in thy moment of
baptism!"
TITLE:
My Father Goes To Court
AUTHOR:
Carlos Bulosan
-Born in Pangasinan on November 2, 1911
-A Filipino-American author, poet, and activist.
-Best remembered as the author of America Is In
the Heart (1946)
-Bulosan’s works describe the experience of
growing up poor in a rural area of the Philippines
and chronicling social and economic conditions
created by the American occupation and centuries
of Spanish colonialism.
-He migrated to America in 1930 and became active
in the labor movement.
PLOT:
EXPOSITION
-There is a family that lived in a small town after
their farm get destroyed by a flood. They had a
neighbor who is rich, who doesn't interact with his
neighbors much. The rich man’s children always
stay inside while the children of the farmer play and
laugh under the sun. They used to smell each day
the aroma of the food that is being made in the rich
man’s house.
RISING ACTION
-As time went on, the children of the farmer grew
up healthy while the children of the rich man
became thin and anemic. The rich man saw and
observed the family of the farmer, and he ordered
his servants to shut all windows and doors in their
house. However, this doesn't stop the aroma from
going out of their house.

-He spent his last years in Seattle, jobless, CLIMAX

penniless, and in poor health.
SETTING:
-The story was set several years after 1918, in a
town.
-Set during the American colonization.
-The events occurred in the narrator’s
neighborhood, and the trial was held in a court in
their locality.
-The rich man filed a complaint against the family
of the farmer for stealing the spirit of his wealth and
food. When the day of the trial arrived, the rich man
came with the rest of his family looking weak and
sick. The trial starts with the judge asking the
farmer questions regarding the complaint, and the
farmer cross-examined the children of the rich man.
Learning of their "logical" reasons, he then
proceeded to give them an equal payment for what
they stole.

CHARACTERS: FALLING ACTION

-The farmer collected coins from his family and he
THE NARRATOR shook the coins which made an audible sound. The
-He is one of the children of the farmer farmer then confirms if the rich man and his
children heard the coins shaking, and after they
THE FATHER (FARMER) confirmed that they heard it, the farmer then says
-The father of the narrator. that they are paid.

MOTHER DENOUEMENT
-The wife of the farmer -The rich man fell to the floor, and the case was
dismissed. The judge then went down to talk with
THE CHILDREN OF THE FARMER the farmer, and the judge, the farmer, his family,
-The siblings of the narrator. They were referred to and the spectators laughed hard.
as strong, robust, and cheerful.

THE RICH MAN THEME:

-The not sociable neighbor of the narrator when We can achieve happiness even without wealth.
they moved to new town.
NOTABLE LINE/S:
THE JUDGE
-The one who is in charge of the case filed by the
rich man.

THE RICH MAN'S CHILDREN

-Described as thin, anaemic, and pale.

SERVANTS OF THE RICH MAN

-The ones who are preparing food for the rich man's
family.
TITLE:
The Dog Eaters
AUTHOR:
Leoncio P. Deriada
He is a multi-lingual writer having produced works
in English, Filipino, Hiligaynon,
Kinaray-a and Cebuano.
His seventeen Palanca Awards include works in
English, Filipino and Hiligaynon. Of these
seventeen, five are first-prize winners, and these
include "The Day of the Locusts" (Short Story,
1975), "Mutya ng Saging" (Dulaang May Isang
Yugto, 1987), "The Man Who Hated Birds" (Short
Story for Children, 1993), "Medea of Siquijor"
(One-Act Play, 1999), and "Maragtas: How
Kapinangan Tricked Sumakwel Twice" (Full-
Length Play, 2001).
He became a Palanca Hall of Famer on September
1, 2001. Aside from his Palanca awards, he has
garnered other prestigious awards such as
the Gawad CCP para sa Sining, Gawad Pambansang
Alagad ni Balagtas (awarded by the Unyon ng mga
Manunulat sa Pilipinas), Asiaweek, Graphic, Focus,
Yuhum Magazine (Iloilo), and Blue Knight Award
from Ateneo de Davao for Outstanding
Achievement in Literature. In 2002, he was one
of Metrobank's Outstanding Teachers.
SETTING:
1970s Artiaga Street, Davao City
CHARACTERS:
VICTOR
-A former body builder and club bouncer; husband
of Mariana
MARIANA
-Collegiate undergraduate because she gets
pregnant; wife of Victor
THE DOG EATERS (VICTOR’S FRIENDS)
-Men who live in Artiaga Street
ALING ELPIDIA
-A fish and vegetable vendor; Mariana’s visitor who
sold potent or some herbal liquid to Mariana
SERGIO
-Small scale store owner of where Victor and his
friends drink tuba with dog dishes as pulutan
RAMIR
-Victor and Mariana’s dog
PLOT:
INTRODUCTION:
Victor marries Mariana who is an undergraduate
college student because she gets pregnant. Victor
befriends the Dog-eaters of Artiaga Street. They are
always drinking tuba early in the morning at
Sergio’s store with Dog dishes as their “pulutan.”
RISING ACTION:
Mariana was very mad because it is not the life she
expected to have. She takes care of their 8-month
old baby and now she’s bearing another one in her
womb. She can’t stand it anymore and tried to abort
her child by drinking some herbal liquid which she
desperately bought from Aling Elpidia for 40 pesos.
CLIMAX:
Mariana and Victor quarrelled. Victor threw the
bottle of herbal liquid out the window. Mariana
pounded Victor with her fists.
FALLING ACTION:
Mariana saw Victor’s dog Ramir while they were
not in good terms.
DENOUEMENT:
Mariana killed Victor’s dog, Ramir, and cried.
THEMES:
-Being tied to vices can damage relationships.
-A marriage can only work into becoming a family
if both husband and wife show full love, respect,
understanding, and responsibility.
-Constant argument can lead to a failed marriage.
-Our society’s social construct is destructive and
shows inequality and injustice.
-“One’s anger must not be blamed to the innocents
around them for they can bring evil on one’s self.”
(Niel, 2013).
-“The right to live is entitled to everybody, even a
fetus or an animal.” (Niel, 2013)
-To be a mother is not an easy task.
-Poverty is one cause why many would rather opt
for abortion.
NOTABLE LINE/S:
“You men can talk because you don’t have to bear
the children. You coward!”
—Mariana
TITLE:
The World is an Apple
AUTHOR:
Alberto S. Florentino
Alberto Florentino is best known for his play, “The
World is An Apple”. It won the First Palanca
Award for Literature.
Florentino's literary talent spilled over to different
genres: drama, television writing and movie scripts.
He was a mainstay of Balintataw, a television series
in the early 70s that boasted the use of original
scripts in contrast to the improvised dialogue that
took place in tele-dramas. Florentino was
instrumental in harnessing the talents of literary
figures of his day for Balintataw, adapting their
short stories for the TV series.
His legacy in infusing pop genre with literary gems
is noteworthy for inspiring the emergence of a crop
of playwrights and scriptwriters. His stint as
publisher of the now defunct peso book editions
introduced affordable contemporary literature to the
reading public.
SETTING:
The story is set in a very poor area in a district
(Intramuros) within the city of Manila, in the
Philippines. More specifically, in front of Gloria
and Mario's house.
CHARACTERS:
EDDIE
-Delia’s younger brother. He is an adventurous
young man who loves every creature and treats
them as his friend.
MARIO
-He is the Father in the story, the husband of Gloria.
He is known to be bad before but he strived hard to
change his life for his daughter and for his wife, but
in the end had to resort back to his old ways due to
losing his job because of theft.
GLORIA
-The wife of Mario. A very good and lovable
woman who just wants a simple, yet decent life. Her
unconditional love for Mario caused him to change
from his bad ways.
PABLO
-The antagonist of the story and the old friend of
Mario. He wants easy and uses dishonest means to
achieve that. He invites Mario to join him once
more at the end when Mario lost his job.
TITA
-The young daughter of Mario and Gloria, who
asked her father for an Apple, which made him
resort to stealing one in order to fulfill her wishes,
and ultimately causing him to lose his job.
PLOT:
EXPOSITION
-Near a small and poor home behind a portion of the
Intramuros walls, lie two wooden boxes on either
side of a doorway. On the left is an Acacia tree with
a wooden bench under it. Mario enters the house
and finds Gloria doing household chores
RISING ACTION
-Gloria asks for money but they end up quarreling
when she found out that Mario already lost his job a
week ago, due to stealing an apple for their daughter
Tita
CLIMAX
-Out of nowhere, Pablo enters the picture and starts
revealing shocking things to Gloria about her
husband
FALLING ACTION
-Gloria begs Mario not to come with Pablo until the
point that she asked him to choose between them.
DENOUEMENT
-Mario chose to join Pablo again, leaving Gloria
and their daughter, Tita, alone.
THEME:
Poverty can cause even the most honest of men to
resort to a life of crime just to take care of their
loved ones
NOTABLE LINE/S:
“Why? Did God create apple trees to bear fruit for
the rich alone? Didn’t He create the whole world
for everyone?”
-Mario.
“I wouldn’t mind losing a thousand jobs for an
apple for my daughter!”
-Mario
“What is honest money? Does it look better
than dishonest money? Does it buy more? honesty?
What is it? Dressing like that? Staying in this
dungeon you call a house? Is that what you call
‘honesty’?”
-Pablo
I knew God wouldn’t let us down. He never lets
anybody down.
-Maria
TITLE: There is no place like home.
New Yorker in Tondo
Love for one’s cherished traditions will always go
beyond the love for worldly things and the lavish
AUTHOR: lifestyle.
Marcelino Agana Jr.
NOTABLE LINE/S:
SETTING:
Kikay’s house in Tondo, Manila

CHARACTERS:

TOTOY
-the Tondo "canto boy" who has a secret love for
Nena
KIKAY
-a balikbayan who adopted the style of living of a
New Yorker
NENA
-Tony’s secret fiancé after Kikay left
TONY
-childhood sweetheart of Kikay who got secretly
engaged with their other childhood friend, Nena
when Kikay left
ALING ATANG
-mother of Kikay who has been carried away by her
daughter’s way of living

PLOT:

EXPOSITION
Kikay used to study Hair Culture and Beauty
Science in New York. After a year, she returned in
the country bringing New York with her manner,
looks, style and her speaking gesture. She doesn’t
even want to call her “Kikay” but instead”
Francesca.” Kikay’s childhood friends, Nena and
Totoy as well as Tony, her fiancé went to visit her
at their house.
RISING ACTION
Nena who was secretly engaged with Tony after
Kikay left keeps pressuring Tony to tell Kikay
about it. Tony then asks Kikay and Kikay tells him
that it was already long forgotten. Upon knowing
that Kikay and Tony broke up, Nena announces that
Tony was engaged to her causing a shock to Kikay.
CLIMAX:
Kikay tried to take back what she said and insists
that Tony is still engaged to her. This created a fight
between Nena and Kikay. Nena later on walked out
angrily with Totoy following her.
FALLING ACTION:
Kikay asks Tony for forgiveness and tells him that
the old Kikay is back.
RESOLUTION:
Tony forgave Kikay and accepted her again.

THEME:
One should never forget to look back at where he
came from.
TITLE: POINT OF VIEW:
We Filipinos are Mild Drinkers First Person POV

AUTHOR:
Alejandro “Anding” Reyess Roces
"You cannot be a great writer; first, you have to be a
good person.”
Alejandro Roces, is a short story writer and essayist,
and considered as the country’s best writer of comic
short stories. In his innumerable newspaper
columns, he has always focused on the neglected
aspects of the Filipino cultural heritage. His works
have been published in various international
magazines and has received national and
international awards.
THEME:
Hospitality consists of giving the best of yourself to
your guests.
NOTABLE LINE/S:
“We drink when we are very happy. We drink when
we are very sad, and we drink for any other
reason”
“The coconut tree symbolizes the Philippines. It
starts up to the sky, but then its leaves sway down to
earth, as if remembering the land that gave it birth.
It does not forget the soil that gave it life.”

SETTING:
The story took place one late afternoon in the nipa
hut of a farmer in a barrio just after the Filipino-
Japanese war in 1945 in the Philippines.

CHARACTERS:

FARMER
-The humble Filipino who invited the American
soldier for a drink

JOE
-The American soldier who was proud and
confident regarding his experiences with alcoholic
beverages

PLOT:

EXPOSITION
-It was a common sight to see American soldiers
almost everywhere because American troops helped
Filipino to fight against the Japanese. In the barrio,
Joe, an American soldier asked a liquor from a
farmer.

RISING ACTION
-Since there were no bars in a barrio, the farmer
invited the soldier to his nipa hut and offered some
lambanog the local liquor of the barrio.

CLIMAX
-Because he was drunk, Joe thought that the farmer
was a Japanese soldier and the farmer’s mom as a
Japanese Kimono girl.

FALLING ACTION
-After hallucinating things, the soldier passed out
and fell asleep.

DENOUEMENT
-The farmer brought Joe back at the garrison
because he was so drunk at the same time. After
that, one of Joe’s friend asked the farmer if he
wanted to join them and have a can of beer, then he
replied, “No thank you, we Filipinos are mild
drinkers.”

CONFLICT:
MAN V. HIMSELF