Lualhati Bautista

Lualhati Bautista is considered one of the most important Filipina novelists in contemporary Philippine literature, known for works like Dekada ’70 and Bata, Bata, Pa’no Ka Ginawa?. She was born on December 2, 1945, in Tondo, Manila, and was influenced early on by her parents’ love for writing. Bautista studied Journalism at the Lyceum of the Philippines but left school to fully pursue her passion for writing, which she began at age 16. Throughout her career, she earned multiple Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards and was named a National Fellow for Fiction by the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center in 1986. Quotes Ang payapang pampang ay para lang sa mga pangahas na sasalunga sa alimpuyo ng mga alon sa panahon ng unos. (Tranquil shores are only for those who boldly oppose raging waves during storms.) Dekada '70, Early-middle chapters (1983) Tama na sa akin 'yung maligaya ako paminsan-minsan. Para kapag malungkot ako, masasabi ko sa sarili ko: Minsan naman, maligaya rin ako. (It's enough for me to be happy once in a while. So when I'm sad, I can tell myself: I was happy too , sometimes.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, Early chapters (1988) Sabi ng nanay ko, 'yan daw totoo... di raw dapat ikahiya! E kung magnanakaw ka, di mo ikakahiya? Sabi ng nanay ko, kung ikakahiya mo... h'wag mong gagawin! (My mother said that's what's true... it shouldn't be something to be ashamed of!But if you were a thief, wouldn't you be ashamed?'My mother said, if youre ashamed of it —don't do it.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, middle Chapter, (1988) Hindi achievement ang tawag ko sa gano'n. Suwertihan lang 'yong ipinanganak ka nang maganda. Ang achievement e something you work hard to attain. (I don't call that an achievement. Being born beautiful is just luck. Achievement is something you work hard to attain.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?,middle Chapter , (1988) Minsa'y naiisip n'ya na sana kung may operasyon sa utak at may operasyon sa puso sana'y may operasyon din na magbubura ng masasakit na alaala sa utak at puso ng tao magtatanggal sa parte ng utak at puso na sisidlan ng mga gunitang dapat nang kalimutan. (Sometimes she thinks that if there are operations for the brain and heart, there should also be one that erases painful memories from them—removing the parts that store the memories that should already be forgotten.) Desaparesidos, middle-late Chapter (2007) Totoong mahal pa rin ang galunggong at wala pa ring makain ang mga nagtatanim ng bigas. At iyon mismo ang dahilan kaya patuloy ang pagtatanim ng mga pangarap... patuloy ang pagsulong ng mga adhikain. Pero hindi isang lipunan ng mga desaparesido ang nalikha ng lahat ng pakikipaglaban... kundi isang buong magiting na kasaysayan. (Fish is still expensive and rice farmers still have nothing to eat. And that is exactly why dreams continue to be planted...ideals continue to move forward. What was created by all the struggle is not a society of the disappeared—but a brave history) Desaparesidos, Late Chapter (2007) Look what's happening around us: war, hunger, poverty, epidemics... tapos, ang iniisip natin, pagandahan? My God, Pilar; ang importante sa tao'y ang kabuuan niya bilang tao... hindi kung maganda ba ang mukha niya o makinis ba ang kanyang binti! (Look what's happening around us: war, huger, poverty,epidemics...and yet we think about beauty?What matters is a person as a whole—not how beautiful their face is or how smooth their legs are.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, middle Chapter (1988) Para kay Lea, maruming tingnan ang isang batang naka-make up at lipstick. Imbis na makaganda'y sinisira nito ang kalinisan ng isang batang mukha. Nilalagyan ng anyo ng kamunduhan at karanasan. (For Lea, a child wearing makeup and lipstick looks unpleasant. Instead of making her beautiful, it ruins the natural purity of a child's face and gives it the look of worldliness and experience.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, Early-middle Chapter (1988) Iyan ang hirap sa usapang ito. Ano ba naman ang kamuwangan ng mga pipituhing taon sa mga beauty contests? Laro lang ang tingin nila sa lahat ng bagay at komo laro, gagawin lang nila pag gusto nila. Pag nasa mood sila. Karaniwan na ina lan ang may gustong mapalaban ang anak nila, masabing kabilang ito sa magaganda maging ang pinakamaganda kung maaari. Baya'n mo Baya'n mong mabilad siya sa init, mapagod siya, lagnatin siya, sipunin siya. Gusto ng nanay ang tropeo, gusto ng nanay ang karangalan. (That's the problem with this issue. What do thirteen-year-olds know about beauty?They treat everything like a game, doing it whenever they feel like it, while parents often push their children into it just so they can become beautiful.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, middle Chapter (1988) Klik! Anak ko 'yon! Hahahaha! Mga kaibigan, si Maya ko 'yon! Klik! Narinig n'yo ba? Anak ko 'yon! Klik! Klik!Anak ko sa labas. 'Yong batang konti ko nang tinunaw no'ng araw. Kundi ko lang naisip na lahat ng bata'y kailangang bigyan ng pagkakataong maging tao. (Click!That's my child!Hahaha!Friends,that's my Maya!Click!Did you hear?Click!Click!My child out there.The child I almost destroyed before. If only I hadn't realized that every child deserves the chance to become human.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, Early Chapter, (1988) Sanay na siya sa mga damdamin nya, matagal na niya 'yong tinanggap. Na siya'y isang babae: hindi itim hindi puti, hindi masama't hindi mabuti.. basta isang babaing malaya sa kadena ng mga inhibition at pagkukunwari. (She has long accepted her feelings. She is a woman—not black, not white, neither bad nor good—just a woman free from the chains of inhibition and pretense.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, Middle Chapter (1988) Ang buhay ay di nagsisimula sa pagtuntong sa sisenta. Nagsisimula ito sa bawat ngiti ng umaga. (Life does not begin at sixty It begins with every smile of the morning.) Sixty in the City, Early reflections (2005) Yan daw alak at gamot at pagkaapi, nakakasanayan. Kalaunan daw, hindi ka na tatablan pa. Pero hindi totoo 'yon. Lalo na sa kaso ng pagkaapi. (They say alcohol, medicine , and oppression become habits. That in time, you no longer feel them. But that's not true—especially in the case oppression.) 'GAPÔ ,middle Chapter (1988) Anu't anuman, dito naganap ang mga unang pangamba ko, na ang anak ko'y hindi na isang estudyante sa loob ng kampus...unti-unti'y nagiging bahagi na rin siya ng mas malawak at balisang lipunan, ng mga bagong tao ng ngayon na siyang magpapasiya ng bukas: isang malinaw na mata at tainga at tinig ng kanyang panahon. (Whatever happens, this is where my first fears began—that my child is no longer just a student inside the campus...but is slowly becoming part of a wider, restless society—the new people of today who will decide the future: a clear eye, ear, and voice of their time.) Dekada '70, middle chapters (1983) Sino ang may sabi na may ipinagkaiba ang damdamin ng isang sisenta'y singko sa isang disisais? Walang pinagkaiba yan, magkasingtalim lang ang damdamin niyan ng pagkabigo, magkasingdami ang luhang ititigis sa kamatayan ng kanyang pag-asa. (Who says there is a difference between the feelings of a sixty-year-olds and a sixteen-year-old?There is none—the pain of heartbreak is just as sharp, the tears just a many when hope dies.) Sixty in the City, Middle reflections (2005) Alam mo, maski mahal ng isang babae ang isang lalaki, hindi nya pinapatay ang mga kaangkinan niya. (You know, even if a woman loves a man, she does not erase her own identity.) Bata, Bata... Pano Ka Ginawa?, Middle Chapter (1988) Niyakap ko siya nang mahigpit, kung maaari lang na ibaon ko siya sa dibdib ko. Siya na mataas pa nga sa'kin pero kailan lang ay isang sanggol na kalong ko at ipinaghehele. Higit kailanman ay ngayon ko nadarama ang mga trahedya ng maging ina. Hindi pala natatapos ang hirap at kirot sa pagsisilang ng anak, may mga sakit na libong ulit na mas masakit kaysa mga oras ng panganganak. Bakit gano'n, hindi mo maangkin ang mga dinaramdam ng anak mo. Bakit gano'n, wala kang magawa kundi iyakan ang mga pagdurusa niya! (I hugged her tightly, wishing I could keep her close to my chest. She's taller than me now, but she was once the baby I carried. Now I feel the tragedies of being a mother—because he pain of motherhood never really ends.) Dekada '70, Late Chapter (1983) Sana'y isang maganda at payapa kahit di na masaganang bagong taon. Isang taon ng kaligtasan sa mga di-pagkakaunawaan, sakit, aksidente, raids, mass arrest, encounter, assassination, at mga pa-traidor ng kamatayan! (May it be a beautiful and peaceful, if not prosperous,new year—a year of safety from conflict, illness, accidents, raids, mass arrests, encounters, assassinations, and betrayal by death.) Dekada '70, Final Chapter (1983) Alam mo naman pag walang sex life ang tao, puro sex ang sinasabi! (You know, when a person has no sex life, all they talk about is sex.) Sixty in the City, Middle Chapter (2005) Tinawag niya ang luho ng 'pangangailangan. (He called luxury a 'necessity.) 'GAPÔ ,middle Chapter (1988) Sulat-kamay niya. Ginawa long long time ago, noong nagmamahalan pa ang isa't isa sa pamilya nila. Ang lungkot isipin. (It was her handwriting—like that of a grade school child—written long ago, when their family still loved each other. It's sad to think about.) Sonata (2011) Ang manunulat ay pinakamabisa sa kanyang pag-iisa. (A writer is most effective in solitude.) Sonata (2011) Sapagkat ang babae ay hindi isinilang para sa musika at selebrasyon ng sariling buhay; ang babae ay isinilang para maging musika ng kanyang asawa't mga anak (A woman is not born for her own celebration;she is made to become the music of her husband and children.) Sixty in the City, Middle Chapter (2005) Maaring Bartolo ang apelyido ko o Cruz o Santos-- pero apelyido 'yon na minana ko lang sa tatay ko, at minana ng tatay ko sa tatay niya. Oo nga pala, bakit puro sa tatay nagmamana ng apelyido? Bakit kahit minsan, hindi sa nanay? (My surname may be Bartolo, or Cruz, or Santos—but that's a name I only inherited from my father, and he from his father. Why is it always from the father?Why not, even just once, from the mother?) Bautista Feminist theme (1980s-2000s) Pero ang babae (ang tao, for that matter), talian man ang katawan o suutan ng chastity belt, ay may uri ng kalayaang hindi mananakaw ng kahit sino; ang kalayaan niyang mag-isip. (But a woman (a person, for that matter), even if her body is restrained, possesses a kind of freedom no one can steal—her freedom to think.) Bautista Feminist theme (1980s-2000s) Kung sambahin kasi natin ang US products, talo pa ang pagsamba natin sa Diyos. If we worship U.S products, we may end up worshipping them more than we worship God.) Bautista Social Commentary (1980s-2000s) External links Category:1945 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Filipino novelists