“You are going to meet F. Sionil Jose this Friday.  You are to interview him…  It will replace our regular class.”

    Stunned,  scared and excited -  these were the feelings we had when Ms. Chuchi Pacia told us about meeting a National Artist for Literature,  Francisco Sionil Jose.

    Armed with a pen, a notebook and a few curious questions, we, JR Villaflores, Yna Quizon, Jennel Ojinal and I, went to La Solidaridad, the bookstore of Mr. Jose,  together with Miss Pacia, on the afternoon of July 20.

    We all felt scared and intimidated when we met him.  Here was an 82-year old man who had written so many great novels.  It was an honor to even be standing next to him, I thought to myself.

“On  Art and Morality”

   The first words that came out of him was sheer brilliance. He said,  opening that sort of afternoon class,  “All art is moral. The only time it becomes immoral is if the writer is a bad writer. Art is a celebration of human order. Therefore, to understand humanity is to understand morality.”

    That was it!  That was the invitation for the two hour conversation that followed.
       
     I thanked him for his wonderful view on art’s morality and  talked to him about his hometowon in Rosales,Pagansinan, mentioning that my family is also from Pangasinan.  .

     Gleefully,  he said that he often went there.  As a matter of fact,  he said,  he went there just recently. He brings his grown children along with him. He does that, he said, because he is a man who has always valued his own history.

“On the sense of History”

     We asked him why his novels were hooked on history, why he feels there is a need to understand and value our past. To this, he replied:  “History is very much our sense of identity.  It is very crucial.  Once one forms a sense of history, he could easily form a sense of identity.Then,  with a sense of identity, one forms his sense of community. Ergo, a sense of nation.”
       
“On His Writing”

      His wife sat beside him during the whole interview.  When asked who his influence were in his writing,  he candidly pointed to his wife and said,  “Siya O."

      We all went “awwww”  at that point,  sensing how they are still sweet with each other.  But seriously speaking, he said that he was a very voracious reader as a kid.  His favorite novels were the two novels of our national hero, Jose Rizal --  “Noli Me Tangere”  and “El Felibusterismo”, “Don Quixote” and Willa Cather’s  “My Antonia.”
He cited his wife and mother as major influences too.

      When we asked him why his writings were not translated into Filipino, he heartily laughed and invited us inside his office. Oh, at that, I was blushing!  To be invited into his office!  What an honor!  He then said  that two of his works have recently been published in Filipino.  He showed us his other works in other languages.  He made us hold and leaf through “Ermita” in Bahasa (Indonesian),  “The Pretenders”  in French and "Po-on "in Spanish. It was pure joy! I would have somersaulted had it not been too embarrassing!

“On Reading Deficiency”

      We went back to the round table and he was still talking -  more like a little complaint.
      “Filipinos do not read,”  he said.  He sounded a bit disappointed.     He then proposed several things to “cure”  this literary deficiency we have: 
(1)  Start reading very young.
(2)  Celebrate this  country’s writers. 
(3)  Never stop reading. 
    It was actually a long amusing proposal on how we could encourage  Filipinos to read.

    To end our interview, we asked him if he still writes. He said he just published a new novel, and that we would be seeing some of his old characters again. He likes continuance, he said. Laughing, he said he feels his characters are very alive. He uses people and characters that he knows in real life. He caricatures them. He would use these characters again and again until he has exhausted the character’s potential.

“On Economics  101”

    We thanked him.  About to leave, he stopped us.  He said he would give us a brief lesson on Economics 101.
   
    He said,  “The people who have money have no sense of nation. Our leaders lack vision for our country.  It isn’t just about our leaders, the whole society is to blame for what is happening to our country. Our situation isn’t entirely about corruption.” It was actually a very enlightening talk about how basic economics could solve our problem.

    I was surprised that he wasn’t as intimidating as I thought he would be.  He answered all our questions warmly and lengthily.  We didn’t even notice that it was getting late and that we had to go home already.

    At the end of that interview,  more of like a pleasant afternoon conversation, he challenged us to think more about the loyalties we want to keep, about our ideals, about how we have the power to influence.

    He said,  “the youth have the power to change the future.”  He said  “Make the right choice.  The choices you make will influence our very country.

    He signed my book with  “Sana!” I didn’t understand what it meant at first,  but looking back at this “afternoon class,” I realized it was like a little prayer hoping that we all digest what he taught us that beautiful day in July.