The 100-word story that didn’t win

The Forgiven

Prisoner No. 42146 Anastacio Zabala, 60, sheds quiet tears as he faces Dolores Misericordia, 75, from across the table at the visiting room of the National Penitentiary. As usual during her weekend visits in the past decade, she spreads out a delicious meal for him. Afterward, Dolores, a devout Catholic, prays over Anastacio before she leaves, “God be with you,” she whispers to him and, together, they make the Sign of the Cross. Anastacio sheds more tears as he watches Dolores disappear around a corner. She is the mother of the girl that Anastacio raped and killed 10 years ago.

That’s the story that I sent to the Reader’s Digest 100-Word Story contest launched in November last year. Believe it or not but I wrote it in September last year at the lobby of W! Hotel in London while waiting for the shuttle to Heathrow Airport on my way home after interviewing One Direction (as Penshoppe endorser). I wrote it in a hurry on my celfone and saved it on “Folders” after recounting the words — 100 only.

Back home, I sent it posthaste to Reader’s Digest and waited, and waited for the results to be announced. Well, I just got my subscriber’s copy of the magazine’s April 2013 issue and, sob, my story didn’t win. First prize went to a young man from Pakistan, second prize to a young woman from India and third prize to a young woman from the Philippines. I’m happy for them, congratulations!

Before then, I’d been showing my story to some friends and they liked it (very encouraging!). Poet Juaniyo Arcellana (son of the famous Francisco Arcellana), one of STAR’s section editors, read it and smiled, “Parang Lino Brocka!” Approved!

They didn’t believe it, though, when I told them that my story actually happened, although I changed the names and ages of the characters to protect the people involved. Like Pope John Paul II who personally visited his would-be assassin (Agca) and forgave him, Dolores Misericordia (fictitious name) did pay the rapist-killer of her teenaged daughter regular visits in prison. Was that a case of killing somebody with kindness?

Of course, I’m not about to reveal the identity of the forgiving lady who belongs to a wealthy, influential clan. But if Ate Charo (Santos-Concio) is interested in dramatizing the story on her long-running Kapamilya drama anthology Maalaala Mo Kaya (MMK), I will very gladly tell her who the real Dolores Misericordia is and I’m sure Ate Charo will be pleasantly surprised.

If ever MMK picked up my story, this loser would surely feel like a winner, hehehehe! (Suggested casting: Susan Roces as the mother, Kathryn Bernardo as the daughter and Pen Medina as the rapist-killer, with my friend Jeffrey Jeturian as director.)

apl.de.ap shows ‘em the way

By the way, the cover of the Reader’s Digest April 2013 issue is none other than Allan Pineda Lindo Jr., a.k.a. apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas.

Of course, everybody knows the inspiring story of the 38-year-old Allan who is, as Funfare reported a few years ago, legally-blind (due to “involuntary movement of the eyes which results in blurry or limited vision,” a condition called nystagmus with which he was born) — from the time he was born in Angeles City to an Afro-American father whom he has never met and a Filipina mother who ran a charcoal store in front of her shack to singlehandedly raise seven children (the six are from a second marriage) to the time his mother signed him up with the Pearl S. Buck Foundation for adoption by an American lawyer (a single parent) who sent him to school to the time Allan joined a break-dancing group and became famous as member of Black Eyed Peas. (For the whole story, buy a copy of Reader’s Digest.)

What’s even more inspiring about Allan is that he knows how to look back where he came from (marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan). Wong Kim Hoh, author of the story, wrote that a decade later, the now-famous Allan returned to the Philippines and built a house and bought a rice field for his mother and got her a 10-year US visa.

Allan was quoted as saying, “After the third album, I’d go home to the Philippines every Christmas. That was when I started to see the difference between the US and the Philippines. And then it hit me — I was one of those kids, too,” including those begging in the streets.

So he put up his Apl.de.Ap Foundation and started by buying a building equipped with 25 laptops so that all kids in the neighborhood can learn about computers. His  foundation now works with San Miguel (of which he’s an endorser), the Ninoy & Cory Foundation and the Ayala Foundation in building schools, set up school feeding programs, etc. Pres. Noynoy Aquino last year appointed Allan as ambassador “to promote peace in the country.” He has collaborated with Muslim artists in writing a peace song. (apl.de.ap is a judge on the ABS-CBN talent search The Voice of the Philippines.)

Now, if only other Filipino artists, especially those who have made good abroad, followed Allan’s example, didn’t you think the world would be a better place?

If only…

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)