Filipino perspective on fiction

An interesting and fresh perspective to fiction and writing was presented by the panel of authors from the Philippines. The session was poorly organised and wasn’t given the time it deserved.

The panel was moderated by Pedro Jun Cruz Reyes and consisted of Neila Balgoa, Luna Sicat-Cleto and Christine Godinez-Ortega.

Pedro is an award-winning writer, painter, sculptor and filmmaker, who opened the conversation by posing the question of how one picks a form for expression. He considered all forms of expression film, painting, sculpting, poetry, literature, etc as equals.

They may be different mediums but their intentions are unified in their need to convey something to the audience. With respect to writing, he called the author’s ability to put words on page only half of the cycle. Without the reader the author and his work is incomplete.

Neila Balgoa has written short stories in fiction. She shared her perspective as a teacher when she interacted with students in the Philippines.

She wanted to bring attention to how integral the student's background, demographics, gender, life experiences, culture, religion, etc, were critical in how a student would read and appreciate a story.

Considering English wasn’t a native language she considered it imperative that the authors take this into account when writing for a Filipino audience.

The western literature approached short stories with a focus on the morality being addressed in the tales. She, however, thinks that the eastern approach and familiarity with tales stems from how the characters interact, the context and the experience of the tale itself.

Lunca Sicat-Cleto recounted how her inspiration to write came from her father’s work in fiction. She stated that fiction was liberating her to express giving her free reign.

She was of the belief that writing should be open to interpretation to bring in all possible perspectives. Her philosophy to writing is if you don’t like what you read then write your own version.

Christine Godinez-Ortega retells traditional tales for the contemporary audience. She narrated a traditional short story which was originally over 10 pages but she had abridged it to one page.

She believes that traditional tales need to be preserved but acknowledges the need to change them to fit the current generation.

Her approach to these retellings is to stay true to the spirit of the tale but in the future, she wants to tweak these tales to reflect the current contemporary landscape of Philippines and its people.
-SA