Gemma Cruz-Araneta Constantly rediscovered

It seems to us that part of the Gemma Cruz-Araneta mystique is borne out of the multiple talents she possesses, yet is never imposed on you. This, therefore, makes the discovery of yet another aspect of her personality that is fresh and exciting. Most familiar to most, of course, is Gemma the beauty queen, the impelling presence of a woman of mystery. The most unfamiliar is that of Gemma the writer, although she has published three books and has contributed to various publications.

We are on a “Hi and Hello” basis as she doesn’t appear the kind to dwell on useless chika and neither are we. However, we know enough of one another as we would bump into each other at the Instituto Cervantes functions, here and there where most often she would go alone, minus the coterie less famous people surround themselves with. But naturally, she could do no less. Her heritage that goes back to Jose Rizal demanded such.

We were most pleased when she invited us to attend the historic reunion of Rizal descendants and launch of Jose Rizal’s Haec Est Sibylla Cumana book. Apparently, the book of oracles had been with Paciano Rizal’s family for 114 years, waiting for the right time to share it with the public. This was on Dec. 8, 2011, Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary. It revealed an irreverent and humorous Rizal, written during his exile in Dapitan 1892 to 1896 where he set up a school and, to keep his students interested in his lessons, invented this game called the Sibylla Cumana.

It is said, however, that the best way to know a person is through his writings — stories, letters, novels, musings. While leafing through a collection of rare Filipino publications at a bookstore recently, we came upon Sentimiento Fiction & Nostalgia/Katha at Salamisim written by Gemma Guerrero Cruz. It was released in 1995, published and distributed by Anvil, printed by Cacho Hermanos, and had English and Filipino text with Virgilio Almario as translation editor. But before it came to this, the handsome 288-page book took a circuitous route that involved many translators and illnesses along the way. While in the car, we started reading the chapter on Sentimiento that covered 57 pages including Filipino translation and didn’t stop until we were finished. The late Blas Ople mentions the story in his foreword as the first-prize winner in the Philippine Graphic short story competition. It was certainly one of the best discoveries we have made.

It took two years for the book with its translations to see the light. The requirements from Gemma were tricky. She wanted the text in English to cover one page, and on the opposite page its translation in Filipino. It was so difficult for translator Virgilio to find the exact words in English on the left page that would correspond to the translation in Filipino on the right.

For instance in Sentimiento, the left page began with Gisela’s statement “Love is the absence of thought” and ended with “He would ask, repeatedly, why I wanted him when I had so many men in the palm of my hands.” The right page read, “Ang  pag-ibig ay kawalan ng pag-iisip” and ended with “Tanong siya nang tanong kung bakit siya ang aking nagustuhan samantalang ang daming lalaking magpapakamatay para sa iyo.” We marvel at Virgilio’s aptitude and diligence in facing this task. But he quickly demurs in his own introduction, “Inaamin ko, hindi ako laging matagumpay sa paghahanap ng katapat.”

The Myth or Ang Mithi is another bittersweet romantic tale that had won third prize in a short story contest conducted by The Philippines Free Press. It was longer than Sentimiento at 83 pages and was set in the British Isles where the heroine went to school and carried on an affair with Luis Retajanara, a rebel from Puerto Rico. It showed off Gemma’s significant knowledge of history and practices from various countries around the globe as she would people her tale with a Cambodian prince, a Chinaman from Hong Kong, someone from Burma, just as she would include the practice of the rich and landed in the Philippines to marry off their daughters to the similarly political rich barons of Mindanao in order to protect their territory. Of course, the love story would end in tragedy as all historically based love stories do until they remain but a memory.

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