El Filibusterismo (El Fili) – Chapter 25
Chapter Title: Laughter and Tears
Setting: Evening, Panciteria Macanista de Buen Gusto
Characters:
- Sandoval
- Isagani
- Tadeo
- Macaraig
- Pecson
- Padre Irene (mentioned)
- Simoun (mentioned)
- Juanito Pelaez (mentioned)
- Basilio (mentioned)
- Don Custodio (mentioned)
- Chinaman Quiroga (mentioned)
- Ben Zayb (mentioned)
- Padre Fernandez (mentioned)
- Padre Sibyla (mentioned)
Plot:
The students sarcastically celebrate their “victory”.
Chapter Summary:
Fourteen young men gather to celebrate as Padre Irene suggested, but they throw a party ironically as they are unhappy with the result of their petition. They have placed on the wall a sign that says “Glory to Custodio for his cleverness, and pansit on earth to youths of good will!”
They laugh and joke but do it with bitterness. In the sala there is pansit, pastries, tea, and wine bottles. Sandoval studies everything while everyone talks about the French operetta and Simoun. There are rumors that he was found wounded in the streets, and tried to commit suicide or was attacked by someone who wanted to revenge.
In the restaurant, there is a sign that says:
De esta fonda el cabecilla
Al publico advierte
Que nada dejen absolutamente
Sobre alguna mesa o silla.
(The manager of this eatery
Warns the public
That absolutely nothing may be left
On any table or chair.)
Sandoval jokes that it sounds like a poem that Isagani should see. Isagani arrives looking happy. Juanito Pelaez did not come. Tadeo says they should have invited Basilio instead so he could get drunk and spill secrets.
Macaraig says the pansit lang-lang (Chinese pansit) tastes good and they should name it “proyecto de sopa/project soup” in honor of Don Custodio. They consider dedicating the lumpia (pork spring rolls) to Padre Irene, and one student says Padre Irene does not eat pork unless he moves his nose away. Everyone says “Down with Padre Irene’s nose!” Pecson asks everyone to be respectful but they ignore him. They dedicate the torta (crab omelet) to the friars “for being such crabs”, so they call it torta of friars.
Macaraig dedicates the pansit guisado (sauteed noodles) to the government because it is believed to be a Chinese or Japanese dish but is actually Filipino. Isagani wants to dedicate the pansit to Chinaman Quiroga. He jokes that Chinaman Quiroga is “one of the four powers of the Filipino world”. Someone suggests dedicating it to Simoun.
Someone announces that people in the plaza are listening to them because it has gone quiet outside. Macaraig tells Tadeo to make a speech. Tadeo plagiarizes a speech by the president of the academy and instead talks about chicken being “the treasure of a people”, yet now they are just eating it
The students demand the lumpia. Sandoval does not like lumpia because it has grease outside and tough pork inside. Pecson quotes a line from Ben Zayb’s article, that is supposedly a quote by Don Custodio: that a full belly glorifies God and a hungry belly glorifies the friars. Isagani says he respects one friar.
Sandoval sings: Un fraile, dos frailes, tres frailes en el coro,
Hacen el mismo effecto que un solo toro!
(One friar, two friars, three friars in the choir-loft
Has the same effect as one solo horny bull!)
Pecson says that friars are with them from the start of life (baptism) all the way to death (burial) and everything in between (school, marriage) so they should try to pamper them because their absence would leave a void in society. Pecson explains that friars unite them, and that without friars there would be no entertainment or rules or values. Pecson continues saying that the friar is the sculptor and that the Indio is the statue. Without friars and Indios, the government would be in the hands of the Chinese. Isagani says it will be a torta (crab).
A student announces that they are being watched by ‘the favorite of Padre Sibyla’. They see someone leave the pansiteria and enter the carriage of Simoun. Macaraig says it is Padre Sibyla’s slave.
Trivia:
- Isagani states that he respects one friar. At first, one can assume he is talking about his uncle, Padre Florentino. However, in a later chapter (Chapter 27), it is revealed that the only friar Isagani makes exceptions for is Padre Fernandez.
- The beginning of the chapter states that there are fourteen students in total who attend the party. However, the only ones identified are Sandoval, Isagani, Tadeo, Macaraig and Pecson. The nine other students are unnamed.
Quotes:
Students: Down with Padre Irene’s nose!
Pecson: (quoting Don Custodio’s line from Ben Zayb’s article) Si tripa plena laudat Deum, tripa famelica laudabit fratres (If a full belly glorifies God, a hungry belly glorifies the friars).
Sandoval: (singing) Un fraile, dos frailes, tres frailes en el coro, hacen el mismo effecto que un solo toro! (One friar, two friars, three friars in the choir-loft has the same effect as one solo horny bull!)
Pecson: Evil blows its foul breath over the verdant shores of Friarlandia, commonly known as the Philippine Archipelago!
