OTHER WRITINGS

  (A contemporary fairy tale I wrote in 2008) PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES VS. MARYANG MAKILING By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol No amount of soothing words could appease the mountain goddess Maryang Makiling. Her husband, Banahaw, tried his best to mollify her, but failed. What triggered her outburst was the news that her former domain, the Mount Makiling Forest Park, is now officially a city--- and with a new name to boot. Apolonio Vallejo was the present mayor`s grandfather. He was the architect of the mountain town`s urbanization. It was he who allowed a network of roads to be built and the hilly terrain cleared of trees and subdivided into residential lots. So, the town council saw it fit, when the time came to declare their town a city, to change it`s name to Mount Apolonio. That was the last straw. For decades, Marya suffered in silence. She just watch with foreboding the lowlanders gradual encroachment on her home. She said and did nothing when villages for the new rich sprouted alo...

  SEA FREAKS: The Story of Brandong Palikpik The village where Brando was born was a once famous seaside resort. It was a divers` haven skirted by ribbons of corals. But not for long. The place lost its charm when the corals were destroyed. They were smashed to pieces by the boy-fishermen to drive the fishes away from their coral homes and into the waiting fishing nets. The boy-fishermen worked for the muro-ami fishing magnate, Don Andres. Though only twelve years old, Brando`s skill in swimming was without match. He has a physical advantage, because you see, his feet are webbed. He was born that way. He only has three toes on each foot, which are both flat and longish, and resemble a scuba diver`s fins. To questions as to why Brando was born with them, his mother could only answer that they were caused perhaps by her frequent staring, while pregnant with Brando, at pictures of her late husband wearing his diving fins. But village kids believed otherwise. Teasing, they insisted tha...