Ang Puting Timamanukin

A one-act play co-written with Gil Quito.

Synopsis:

The puting timamanukin is the ancient Tagalog symbol for Bathala (God).

The play is the dream of the paralytic man we see onstage at the opening of the play. A child, the main character, Animong Bata (animo is a pun on anino, or shadow), emerges from the paralytic man and longs for his puting timamanukin, Asa, which he lost when his parents quarreled and left him.

He meets three kings searching for the "waters of the silver star." Hari Mala (from Malaking Bata, or "large child"), the leader of the three, seeks the waters that alone can give life to his dying crops. Hari Pepe (from Pipi, or mute) will bathe in the waters to rid himself of the shadows that lodge within him and bind his tongue. Like the three princes of the Philippine narrative poem Ibong Adarna, he will bring the waters with him to sprinkle over the red waters where his daughters had dissolved. Hari Ale (from Alingawngaw, or echo) yearns for his lost wisdom, which is now merely an echo.

The three kings have traveled over mountains and lakes, undergoing trials in their search for the waters of the silver star. They persuade the child to join their quest. However, they explain to him that he will surely find his timamanukin if he consents to be killed by them. As the three kings poise their daggers over him, he screams: "Huwag na, hindi na bale. Pabayaan mo nang mawala si Asa" ("Never mind. It does not matter. Let Asa disappear.") The dream ends and then begins again. Animong Bata emerges once more from the paralytic; the three kings appear once again.

Theatre Productions:

First produced in 1967 in the Audio-Visual Room of the Ateneo de Manila High School.

Director: Paul Dumol

Awards:

First place, Dulaang Sibol Paligsahang Pandulaan (1967)

Published Version:

1967 typescript printed as a book.

References:

1. Fernandez, Doreen G. (1983). "Contemporary Philippine Drama: The Liveliest Voice." Philippine Studies, 31(1), 5–36.

2. Fuentes, S. J. (2012). "New Trends in Adolescent Catechesis: Methods, The Catechetical Experience." Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 17(1), 12.

3. Lumbera, Bienvenido. (1987). "Philippine Theater, 1972–79: A Chronicle of Growth Under Constraint." 大阪外国語大学学報, 74(1–2), 97–120.

4. Tiongson, Nicanor G. (2012). "Philippine Korido: Ang Puting Timamanukin." Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 17(1), 13.