Stranger than fiction

MANILA, Philippines - We wanted to do something different for our September issue to kind of buck certain trends. We were really happy with the reception of our first Fiction issue and were raring to do the next installment. With the current zeitgeist of stories being told both in local fiction (Manila Noir) and non-fiction (the continuing saga of Janet Napoles) we thought it was the perfect time to highlight and celebrate the power stories hold on society.

It all began in an editorial meeting, discussing whether to put Jessy Mendiola or Jose Almonte on the cover. We went with Jessy because she looks better in a Boom Sason maillot. 

Our Jessy cover story is actually 22 short stories written by associate editor Luis Katigbak, who never even met her. He did, however, listen to her words, possibly over and over again. Just like Jessy, who would listen to tapes her expatriate musician father would send of himself singing songs. There are other kinds of truths uncovered with distance and separation. 

Just because guys are openly taking OOTDs now doesn’t mean we didn’t go through some sartorial growing pains. The article “How We Dress Now: An Oral History” traces the Filipino man’s growing fashion awareness throughout the decades, with interviews from Ben Chan, Jappy Gonzalez, JC Buendia, and Ino Caluza among others. Your takeaway: the fact that you can afford skinny jeans doesn’t mean you should wear skinny jeans.

Rolled up in a special kind of paper is our hefty 20-page fiction special with a special blend of hard drugs, dry sex, a talking goat, and a little bit of Jesus. All from the minds of Jessica Hagedorn, Eric Gamalinda, Maria Carmen Santiago, Ian Rosales-Casocot, and Francezca Kwe.

“I sew better than my wife.” “I’m practically a plagiarist.” “We were entering the theater and out of the blue he punched me in the eye.” Woody Allen, Butch Dalisay and Gabriel Garcia Marquez are the three storytellers featured in this month’s What I’ve Learned. Guess who said what.

In Erwin Romulo’s welcoming remarks for the September issue, he makes the case that “fiction should never be without truth” and we delve into the truth behind the country’s greatest spy in Jose Almonte as he exclusively tells Esquire some of his (and the country’s) biggest secrets and just how he built his reputation as a “deep-penetration agent” (Wikipedia’s words, not ours.)

There are even more stories both fact and fiction uncovered all throughout our September issue. Plus a funny joke told by Mariana Henud.

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Audrey Carpio is the features editor and Jonty Cruz is the deputy managing editor of Esquire.