Secrets of the Eighteen Mansions by Mario Miclat

Author:Mario Miclat [Miclat, Mario I.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789712727788
Publisher: Anvil Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2017-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

December 13—18, 1971

Mommy: I caught your son reading Playboy!

Daddy: Impossible! He’s only seven. How could he have gotten a copy?

Little Boy: From under your bed, Dad.

I suppressed my laughter reading this joke from Liwayway magazine. Nanay was reading the news in Taliba that I had exchanged with her. We started the habit of reading the Tagalog newspaper and magazine while the rest of the office had their early morning political meetings. I read them line by line, page by page. Whatever information from back home kept me grounded. I started liking the non-proletarian jokes sent by readers. They reflected the Filipino psyche. Nevertheless, I told our section chief to subscribe as well to English language publications like the Manila Times, Manila Chronicle, Manila Daily Bulletin and Asia Philippines Leader which had more substantial information about the country.

Offices were not ordinarily allowed to order reading materials in a language other than what they officially deal in. They quoted me to the higher ups to justify the subscription. I said that the national question in the Philippines had special characteristics in so far as the colonial tongue was the lingua franca and language of intellectual discourse. We got our request a couple of months later. When Marcos declared martial law in 1972, the Daily Express took the place of the first two newspapers. Later on, we also had Sagisag in lieu of the banned Leader.

Someone entered and silently left a news item on my table. It was about recent events in the Indian subcontinent, but the Hsinhua News Agency might as well be describing another planet. It talked about Indian intransigence in sponsoring an anti-Pakistan “liberation army” to vainly attempt to establish a puppet “Estado ng Bengal” or Mengjialaguo.

Luo Ma explained that “Mengjiala” was the Chinese transliteration of Bengal, while “guo” meant country, kingdom or state. I mulled over the terms and how to reconcile them with what I read from the Associated Press and the United Press International that the Philippine press invariably quoted. Pakistani troops were supposed to be perpetrating atrocities against the Bengalis who had declared their independence earlier in March. I asked her to please consult with other languages about these terms. “Liberation army” turned out to be “Mukti Bahini” and the Indian-puppet regime was none other than “Bangladesh”.

Wednesday was Nanay’s birthday. Long Aicheng informed me about a phone call the section chief received from ILD. We had to return to the Eighteen Mansions immediately. I thought they were giving Alma a surprise birthday party. Everything was possible in China.

As we got off our radio car in front of our house, an ILD car was waiting for us. Comrade Li Changhong said the other delegation members were already at Building No.1. Geng Biao, ILD head, would brief us on the international situation.

After formal greetings over tea in the reception room, we moved to the meeting room with its long table. This would be the first of many so-called exchanges of views between two parties. Our hosts talked most of the time; we listened.

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