Literary Criticism--My Official Occasional Paper Number 1

Janie Salazar

A Histo-Biographical and Moral-Philosophical Criticism on

Emmanuel Torres’ “Another Invitation to the Pope to Visit Tondo”

In the 1970s, the most memorable event that brought thousands upon thousands to the mother church of the country was perhaps the visit to the Philippines of Pope Paul VI in November 27, 1970.  Many literary works were written in remembrance of this memorable event in the Catholic Church’s history. One of these writers is Emmanuel Torres who wrote “Another Invitation to the Pope to Visit Tondo” in 1972, two years after the pope visited the Philippines. Torres’ poem talks about the events which happened during the pope’s first visit as well as the social issues prevailing in the Philippine society during the Marcos’ regime. The poem also in some ways is a mockery of the church and the Philippine government as well as how informal settlers and scavengers were used as a representation of poverty in a satiric and ironic way.

During the pope’s visit in the Philippines, the then First Lady Imelda Marcos tried her best to see to it the pope’s visit will be comfortable and memorable by presenting only the “beautiful face” of the Philippines. Squatters’ areas at that time were whitewalled, possibly in order to make an impression on the Pope. But the pope, being a holy person saw right through it, however, and insisted on meeting a family from the area (Tondo). There he saw the real situation of the Philippines and its people. It was also during the pope’s visit in the Philippines when he became the target of assassination on November 29, 1970 at the Manila International Airport when a terrorist clad in clerical clothing so he may be able to get near the pope. Fortunately, the pope was not critically injured.

Although the poem is historical in some aspects because it mainly talks about the time when the pope visited the Philippines, it also has moral and philosophical underpinnings. The poem hints sarcasm towards the pope’s deeds all throughout the poem. It says that the pope hasn’t seen the worst on his first visit and so the people are willing to show him what poverty really is in a more ruthless manner. The poet’s words were also I can say disrespectful towards the pope. To the Catholics, the pope is a person who is considered as the most holy of all persons on Earth but the persona in the poem talks as if he does not believe in the holiness and kindness of the pope. He sounds as if he is challenging the pope to witness what he calls as the “exemplary poverty” of the Filipino people.

The poem also targets the Philippine government who tried to hide the dark face of the Philippine society from the sight of the pope. They were people clad in pretence that they only planned to show the beautiful scenes in the country but the pope saw through it. He insisted on visiting a family in a slum area to witness the real part of the story.

All in all I can say that in the poem, the squatters, scavengers, beggars – figures of the urban excess have served as important, politicizing images of social contradiction in the strong Philippine tradition of protest through literature, from the 1960s to the present. Poets like Emmanuel Torres presented his protest to the Church and the Philippine government through his poem.

References:

Roxas.Another Invitation to the Pope to Visit Tondo. Retrieved from: http//thepinkponder

.blogspot.com/2005/01/another-invitation-to-the-pope-to-visit.html.December 10,2011.

A Journal of Contemporary Art. Uploaded Issue No. 5. January 2007, 2nd Edition Retrieved from: http://www.ctrlp-artjournal.org/pdfs/CtrlP_Issue5_2ndEd.pdf. December 11,2011.