The Condemned

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero

This ebook is made available by

Pantas Project Philippines

www.pantas.ph
 The Condemned

WILFRIDO MA. GUERRERO

(1930?-1995)

WILFRIDO MA. GUERRERO was born in

Ermita, Manila. He studied at the Ateneo de
Manila University, at the University of the Phil-
ippines, and briefly, at Columbia University. He
wrote his first play at age fourteen, and his play
in Spanish, “No Todo Es Risa”, was produced
at the Ateneo when he was fifteen.
He was later a reporter and proofreader for La Vanguardia, and drama critic
for the Manila Tribune. He worked for some time in Philippine Films (1939) as a
scriptwriter. He organized and was the director of the Filipino Players (1941-
1947).
In 1947, Bienvenido Gonzalez, then president of the University of the Philip-
pines, appointed Guerrero as assistant professor of dramatics despite his lack of a
degree. He became director of the UP Dramatic Club for which he produced and
directed over 120 plays. He wrote and directed for radio for one whole year (1950-
1951) for Purico’s “Dulaan ng Buhay”. In 1959 he adapted six of his plays and
directed them for TV’s Caltex Caravan.
In 1962 he organized and directed the UP Mobile Theater, with over 1880
performances so far, that goes on the road all over the Philippines. The UP Mo-
bile Theater has been the recipient of two awards: The Citizen’s Council for Mass
Media trophy (1966) and the Balagtas Award (1969).
Guerrero has extensively observed the theater and drama schools in the US
(on a UP scholarship, 1956-57) and in England (on a British Council scholar-
ship, 1965). Several Guerrero plays have been translated into and produced in
Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano and Waray. Six of his plays
have been produced abroad: “Half an Hour in a Convent” at the Pasadena Play-
house, California; “Three Rats” at the University of Kansas; “Condemned” in
Oahu, Hawaii; “One, Two, Three” (premiere performance) at the University of
Washington, Seattle; “Three Rats and “Wanted: A Chaperon” at the University of
Hawaii; and “Conflict” in Sydney, Australia.
Twelve of his works are included in 23 college and high school textbooks and
anthologies, and are also included in the Russian Encyclopedia. His plays have
been the subject so far of seven Master of Arts theses in English literature.
Guerrero has been the recipient of three national awards: the Rizal Pro-Patria
Award (1961), the Araw ng Maynila Award (1969), and the Republic Cultural
Heritage Award (1972). He has the unique distinction of being the first Filipino
who has had a theater named after him in his own lifetime: The Wilfrido Ma.
Guerrero Theater of the University of the Philippines in Diliman.
Upon his death in May 1995, his colleagues in the theater and the academe
drafted a resolution declaring him National Artist. Two years later, the national
government officialy proclaimed Guerrero as “National Artist for Theater.”

(Reference: Critical Survey of Philippine Literature)

 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero

CHARACTERS
PABLO GONZALEZ, the condemned
ANGELA GONZALEZ, his mother
CRISTINA, his fiancee
TIA CHEDENG, his aunt
ANDRES GOROSPE, an old friend
SIMEON SERENO, another friend
FATHER LIM, prison chaplain
WARDEN
 The Condemned

THE CONDEMNED

The rime is set an hour before the execution. The secne is the
prison waiting-room. A door at the rear which, when opened,
reveals the bars of the death cell. Another door on right side of
stage. Two high, small windows with bars on rear walls, through
which the sky can be seen.
When the curtain rises, the stage is completely dark, except
for the lighted candle. The metal rustling of heavy keys is heard.
Presently, the right door opens. FATHER LIM and the WAR-
DEN appear. FATHER LIM is about forty, brisk-mannered but
soft-voiced. He carries a breviary in one hand, and a small bag
in another.

WARDEN: Come right in, Father. The prisoner has been

waiting for you.

FR. LIM: How is he?

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
WARDEN: He’s calm and quiet, Father. He slept well.

FR. LIM: The execution is set?

WARDEN: Within an hour. Exactly at six.

FR. LIM: May I see him now?

WARDEN: Certainly. I’ll bring him out.

FR. LIM: Here?

WARDEN: Yes, it’s permissible. One moment.

WARDEN goes to rear door, opens it. PABLO is seen through

the bars, seated on a bench, his bead in his hands.

WARDEN: Father Lim is here.

WARDEN opens cell, leads PABLO out into the waiting-room,

closing rear door.

FR. LIM: Pablo!

PABLO: Father!

PABLO GONZALEZ is twenty-four. He’s tall, well-built.

His sufferings can be seen in his tense manly features, in his dark
piercing eyes, and in the tight expression of his mouth. His move-

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 The Condemned
ments are quick and nervous. He wears the orange uniform with
a large cross at the back. His hair is cropped.

PABLO: I’ve been expecting you! Any news, Father?

FR. LIM shakes his head.

FR. LIM: None, my son. I’ve tried God knows how much.

PABLO: I understand, Father.

Right door opens, WARDEN appears.

WARDEN: Mr. Gonzalez, any last request you wish to make?

I mean, any kind of food or drink you might want?

PABLO: Can I ask anything?

WARDEN: Anything within reason.

PABLO: A bottle of whiskey, could I ask for a bottle of whis-

key?

FR. LIM: (smiling) Whiskey?

PABLO: You see, Father, I could not afford to drink it before.

I got used to the cheap ginebra and tuba. I’ve always dreamt
of being able someday to drink whiskey, a whole bottle.
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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
WARDEN: Anything more?

PABLO: Yes. Two glasses.

WARDEN: Isn’t there anything you want with the whiskey?

PABLO: Yes. Make it three glasses. We’ll all drink.

WARDEN and FR. LIM look at each other comprehendingly.

WARDEN: What I mean, Mr. Gonzalez, is there any food

you might want?

PABLO: Food? No, nothing more.

WARDEN: Very well. (He is about to go.)

PABLO: Warden, has my aunt arrived?

WARDEN: Not yet. But there’s a young girl.

PABLO: A young girl?

WARDEN: Dressed in black.

PABLO: (to himself ) Cristina.

FR. LIM: Your?

PABLO nods, bitterly.

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 The Condemned
WARDEN: Shall I let her in?

PABLO: No, not yet. I’ll let you know.

WARDEN proceeds to the door.

WARDEN: If you want anything, Father, I shall be just out-

side the door.

WARDEN goes out. FR. LIM sits on bench beside the table;
PABLO remains standing, staring in front of him.

FR. LIM: Pablo? (He doesn’t answer.) Pablo!

PABLO: (as if waking up) Forgive me, Father, I was thinking.

FR. LIM: Take a seat. (PABLO sits down.) What were you
thinking of, my son?

PABLO: I was thinking I can’t believe it that I should be here

condemned to be hung in an hour at the age of twenty-four.
(He covers his face.)

FR. LIM: Be calm, Pablo. I went to see the governor for a

reprieve a few days more at least but he said he couldn’t do
anything.

PABLO: Father (Suddenly he breaks down and puts his head on

edge of table. FR. LIM goes back to his seat.) Father, do you
think?
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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
FR. LIM: Yes.

PABLO: What you said last night that God could forgive me,
forgive me after all I’ve done?

FR. LIM: My son, Christ has said that if your sins are as
scarlet they shall be as white as snow if you ask his forgiveness.

PABLO impulsively kneels in front of FR. LIM. PABLO hesi-

tates, and stands up.

FR. LIM: God’s mercy is infinite, my son.

PABLO: No, I can’t. Not yet.

FR. LIM: As you wish, Pablo.

PABLO: If my mother had only taught me to believe and to

pray. But she never did that’s why I’m here now.

FR. LIM: Your mother still living?

PABLO: Yes, but I hope I don’t see her again!

FR. LIM: Why?

PABLO: What’s the use, Father? It’s a long story.

FR. LIM: While entering the prison gate, I noticed a woman

standing on the sidewalk and looking toward the cells. It could
be a mere coincidence, but a certain resemblance…
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 The Condemned
PABLO: Is she tall?

FR. LIM: Yes, rather. And wearing a colored dress.

PABLO: Curly hair?

FR. LIM: (wondering) Now that I come to think of it yes.

Her face was...

PABLO: Covered with too much paint?

FR. LIM nods gravely.

FR. LIM: Wearing earrings and bracelets.

PABLO: That’s her all right. I wonder why she’s here.

FR. LIM: Don’t you expect a mother to see her son?

PABLO: I don’t want to see her!

FR. LIM: Pablo, what you told me a moment ago that your
mother never taught you to believe and to pray, is that the
reason you don’t want to see her?

PABLO: (looking at him) That, Father and more. But let’s not
talk about it. I want to rest a little. I’m tired and a little nerv-
ous. I hope you don’t mind.

FR. LIM: No, no, of course you should he down for a while.
You want me to go?
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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
PABLO: No, not yet, Father. Will you read me something?
My heart is so weary. Perhaps your books could give me some
comfort.

FR. LIM: I’ve two books here. The Confessions of St. Augus-
tine and Kempis’s The Following of Christ.

PABLO: The second book yes.

FR. LIM opens the book at random and starts reading.

FR. LIM: (reading aloud from Book One, Chapter 12) It is

good for us now and then to have some troubles and adversi-
ties; for oftentimes they make a man enter unto himself, that
he may know that he is an exile, and place not his hopes in
anything of the world... Therefore, ought a man so firmly to
establish himself in God, as to have no need of seeking many
human consolations... Then is he weary of longer fife; and
wisheth death to come, that he may be dissolved, and be with
Christ. Then also he well perceiveth, that perfect security and
full peace cannot be realized in this world.

PABLO: That is good, Father. But my eyes, they are weary.

FR. LIM: I shall continue reading it for you, if you wish.

PABLO: Yes, yes. In my cell.

Both exit. WARDEN enters, carrying a bottle and several glasses

on a tray which he places on a table. ANDRES GOROSPE, a
childhood friend of PABLO, also enters.
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 The Condemned
WARDEN: The chaplain is in with him now.

ANDRES: I shall wait.

ANDRES GOROSPE is twenty-six. He has settled down early

in life. A childhood friend of PABLO, ANDRES has never asked
much from life, his ambitions are few and modest. ANDRES has
quiet manners and speaks rather slowly. He is attired in a simple
suit and wears a tie. WARDEN is about to open the rear door.

ANDRES: No, don’t bother him just yet. Can I ask a few
questions?

WARDEN nods.

ANDRES: I’ve just arrived from the province. All I know is

from the morning papers. I can hardly believe it’s true. Can
you tell me why he murdered that man?

WARDEN: It seems this fellow, the victim, annoyed the pris-

oner’s girl once. During the trial the prisoner testified that he
was not a jealous person by temperament, but that when this
other fellow went to the extreme of laying his hands on her,
he vowed revenge and killed him.

ANDRES: Was that sufficient reason to give him the death

penalty?

WARDEN: Many other circumstances aggravated his case.

For one thing the murder was deliberate. It was done in the
evening and he purposely got drunk.
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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
ANDRES: What weapon did he use?

WARDEN: A knife. About a foot long. It pierced the man’s

heart.

ANDRES: Pablo used to be so afraid of a knife!

WARDEN: The prisoner afraid of a knife?

ANDRES: Oh, I’m talking of the time we were children.

WARDEN: He pleaded guilty.

ANDRES: How strange. If I could only help him.

WARDEN: Too late now. In less than an hour.

ANDRES: Er, this girl?

WARDEN: What girl?

ANDRES: The girl you mentioned, the one Pablo killed the
man for?

WARDEN: She’s the one out there (pointing to right door)

wearing a black dress.

ANDRES: I can’t understand how Pablo? And then the death

penalty?

WARDEN: But you see, he had had previous convictions,

estafa, disorderly conduct, assault against constituted authority.
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 The Condemned
ANDRES: Estafa, too?

WARDEN: A year ago he forged a check for two hundred

thousand pesos. He was an inveterate gambler, you know.

ANDRES: I didn’t know.

WARDEN: You wish to see him now? You’re allowed five

minutes.

ANDRES: Yes. Thank you.

WARDEN opens rear door. We see the chaplain reading to

PABLO who’s sitting on a bench with his face buried in his hands.
He looks up.

WARDEN: A visitor, Mr. Gonzalez.

PABLO stands, goes out, WARDEN closing door.

WARDEN: The whiskey is here, Mr. Gonzalez.

PABLO: Thank you.

WARDEN goes out.

ANDRES: Pablo.

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
PABLO: (trying to remember) I don’t…

ANDRES: Don’t you remember me, Pablo? Andres, we were

childhood friends. We used to play escondite, remember?

PABLO: (recognizing him and shaking hands) Ah, yes, I re-

member now.

ANDRES: (both sit down) You used to push me into the river,
remember? Whenever we played near the bridge. Have you
forgotten?

PABLO: No, Andres. I haven’t forgotten. I only wish we were

children again. We were happy then, weren’t we? (ANDRES
nods sadly, evading his gaze.) You’re the only friend who has
come to see me. The others, my so-called friends, I haven’t
seen them since the trial.

ANDRES: They are probably busy.

PABLO: (laughing grimly) Yes, too busy evading me. But your
coming, Andres, is a complete surprise to me. I mean, I didn’t
expect you —

ANDRES: I arrived from Isabela yesterday. I came to Manila

on business. I knew nothing about this until I read the papers
last night.

PABLO: I’m glad you came, Andres.

ANDRES: There’s a young lady outside. She should have come

in first, but when she was near the door she turned to me and
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told me to go ahead. Is she your wife?

PABLO: (shaking his head) No. We were to be married when

this happened.

ANDRES: Is there anything I can do, Pablo? Anything?

PABLO: Thank you, Andres. No, there’s nothing you can do

now.

ANDRES: But I can’t understand. When I saw you last we

were in the sixth grade. My father was appointed provincial
treasurer of Batangas, so we had to move there.

PABLO: I chose the wrong path, that’s all. Tell me, are you
married?

ANDRES: Yes, and with two children. I should like you to

meet my wife. (Suddenly they stare at each other, at the ironic
impossibility of the wish.)

PABLO: What are you doing now?

ANDRES: I’m a doctor. I’m assistant head of the Isabela Pro-

vincial Hospital.

PABLO: Are you happy?

ANDRES: I have no complaints. I’ve a little house of my

own.

PABLO: You’ve gone far, Andres. And where am I now?

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
ANDRES: Pablo, just a suggestion. Why don’t you see the
girl outside?

PABLO: Yes.

ANDRES: Have you thought of marrying her?

PABLO: Now?

ANDRES: Why not?

PABLO: And destroy her future?

ANDRES: If you love her.

PABLO: I do. No, I can’t marry her now!

ANDRES: Does she love you? (PABLO stares at him and nods
bitterly.)

PABLO: That’s just it. She does. I’ve been very selfish all my
life.

ANDRES: She wouldn’t care.

PABLO: Maybe not now, but later she’ll regret it. Why make
her the widow of a murderer?

ANDRES: Tell me, Pablo, your father died when we were still
in school?

PABLO: Yes, and after his death I lived with an old aunt, Tia
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 The Condemned
Chedeng but when I was fourteen I ran away.

ANDRES: You, you used a knife, they say. You were so afraid
of a knife when you were a kid.

PABLO: Yes, I was afraid of many other things besides. I didn’t

gamble, I didn’t drink.

ANDRES: What happened?

PABLO: I don’t know. I grew up without discipline. I was

allowed to steal small sums of money to gamble on street
comers, to smoke under the bridge. And when I grew older,
the wrong friends, the lack of faith in anyone or anything, the
bitterness…

ANDRES: Your mother still alive?

PABLO: Yes.

ANDRES: Is she here?

PABLO: I hope not!

ANDRES: (not understanding him) I understand. It’s best, I

suppose.

PABLO: You are mistaken, Andres. I hope never to see her

again!

ANDRES: Your own mother? But…

WARDEN enters.
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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
WARDEN: There’s a man who insists on seeing you, but he
has no pass.

PABLO: Did he give his name?

WARDEN: Yes. Simeon Sereno. (PABLO, from the expression

on his face, recognizes the visitor, and his smile has a tinge of
bitter contempt.)

PABLO: No, I don’t want to see him.

WARDEN nods, goes out.

ANDRES: Somebody you know?

PABLO: He’s one of my companions from the past who

dragged me to the gutter.

WARDEN comes in.

WARDEN: Time is up, Mr. Gorospe.

WARDEN goes out.

ANDRES: Pablo. (Both shake hands warmly.)

PABLO: Thanks for coming, Andres. I’m happy to die know-

ing that at least I have a friend.
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 The Condemned
ANDRES: Goodbye. (He breaks down momentarily, but quickly
pulls himself together.) Goodbye. (Hastily he goes out, WAR-
DEN enters.)

WARDEN: Half an hour left, Mr. Gonzalez. You wish to rest

a little?

PABLO: (with a brief, grim laugh) Rest now? I’ve all eternity
to rest in, Warden.

SIMEON enters. He’s about twenty-five, in drab trousers and

pants, his hair is tousled. He is smoking a cigarette. PABLO doesn’t
see him at first.

SIMEON: (to WARDEN) Do you mind leaving us alone?

(PABLO glares at SIMEON resentfully.)

WARDEN: (to PABLO) You wish to see him? (PABLO doesn’t

answer, but his silence is taken for consent. WARDEN leaves
quietly.)

SIMEON: I read in the papers.

PABLO: I didn’t want to see you. You’re partly to blame for

my being here.

SIMEON: Don’t be too hard on me, Pablo.

PABLO: You taught me many of the evil things I learned.

SIMEON: I regret it deeply.

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
PABLO: Your regret, will it save me from the chair?

SIMEON: If I could do something.

PABLO: What can you do now?

SIMEON: You say I taught you many evil things. That’s true.
But I too had been taught in my younger years by other friends.

PABLO: You pretended to be my friend.

SIMEON: I’ve always been your friend, Pablo.

PABLO: That’s why, I suppose, you never came to see me

during the trial.

SIMEON: How should I have known you wanted to see me?

I didn’t dare.

PABLO: You were my closest friend, the one I trusted most.

We were partners in drinking, gambling, and women and that
doesn’t merit the word friendship?

SIMEON: True, Pablo and yet I think you’re being unfair to

me.

PABLO: Unfair?

SIMEON: (sitting) You have a mother. You are lucky to have

one. My mother died when I was five, my father a year before
that. I was raised in an orphanage, but I escaped when I was
twelve and since then I’ve been alone in this world! To have a
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 The Condemned
mother, how sweet and beautiful it must be. When I was a
kid, I’d sometimes have fights with other kids, whenever I got
licked, I’d cry but I had no one to dry my tears. I still remem-
ber the garden in the orphanage, how often I’d run to a comer
of that garden. There was a bench behind some thick bushes
and there I would weep quietly. That’s why I grew up to be
bitter.

PABLO has gone near him and has gently put his hand on his
shoulder.

PABLO: (gently) You never told me this.

SIMEON: (bitterly) Each one of us carries a secret in his heart

which he can’t reveal to anyone.

PABLO: To have a mother, how sweet and beautifully consol-

ing it must be. Yes, how wonderful it must be.

SIMEON stares at him.

SIMEON: She’s still alive? (PABLO nods.) Then?

PABLO: I, too, have my secrets, Simeon.

SIMEON stands up.

SIMEON: I’m leaving for Palawan tomorrow.

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
PABLO: Palawan?

SIMEON: I have a job at the Leper Colony.

PABLO: Among the lepers?

SIMEON: Among the lepers. I met a nice and fine girl two
months ago.

PABLO: She’s working there?

SIMEON: She’s going to live there.

PABLO: Live there? But why?

SIMEON: She has leprosy.

PABLO: Leprosy!

SIMEON: I am going with her. That’s why I’ve decided to

work there, too.

PABLO: You love her, Simeon?

SIMEON: Yes. And I want to expiate my past.

PABLO: But why go to that extreme?

SIMEON: Great crimes, Pablo, demand great expiations.

PABLO: (suddenly shaking Simeon’s hand) Forgive me, Simeon!

I see you’re a better man than I am.
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 The Condemned
SIMEON: No, Pablo, I’m no better than you are. I’m worse.
But to this girl I owe the change. I was spiritually and morally
dead and she brought me back to life.

PABLO: We’ve never been so close to each other as we are

now.

SIMEON: Now we can part, not with bitter reproaches and

resentment but with complete understanding.

Hastily SIMEON breaks away and rushes out. PABLO,

shaken, sits and buries his face in his hands. WARDEN enters.

WARDEN: Chedeng Gonzalez to see you.

PABLO: Tia Chedeng! Let her in.

WARDEN goes out. CHEDENG enters. She is an old woman

of sixty. White-haired, with a wrinkled but kindly face. She stoops
a little. She wears saya and camisa, her shoulders covered with a
panwelo. PABLO kisses her hand.

PABLO: Tia Chedeng! (Leads her to a chair, be sitting beside

her and holding her bands.) I am so happy you came.

TIA CHEDENG: I did not want to come today. I told you

yesterday, but…

PABLO: I wouldn’t have forgiven you if you didn’t come to-

day, Tia.
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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
TIA CHEDENG: I tried, Pablo, I tried to see the president
but I couldn’t find him in his office nor in his house. I have
failed.

PABLO: No matter, Tia, no matter now.

TIA CHEDENG: Yesterday you asked me to get you some

mangoes. I promised I would get you some, but October is
not the season for mangoes.

PABLO: How silly of me, Tia.

TIA CHEDENG: Pablo, I failed you in everything. If only I

had not let you go years ago but then you ran away.

PABLO: Why blame yourself, Tia? It was my fault. If only I

had stayed with you, how different things would have been.

Suddenly TIA CHEDENG bows her bead, bites her lips, as

tears roll down her cheeks. PABLO caresses her hands. Presently
she takes something from her handkerchief.

TIA CHEDENG: Wear this. (Gives him a small crucifix with

a chain. She puts it around his neck.)

PABLO: Thank you, Tia. How can I repay you for all your
kindness?

TIA CHEDENG: Only one thing, Pablo, my dear, will make

me happy. What I’ve been asking you these last few days.

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 The Condemned
PABLO: Father Lim read me The Following of Christ a while
ago.

TIA CHEDENG: I don’t mean that, Pablo.

PABLO: You mean, confession? (She nods.) I don’t know, Tia.

It’s too early yet.

TIA CHEDENG: It might be too late, Pablo! (WARDEN

enters.)

WARDEN: Sorry. Time is up.

TIA CHEDENG: (rising) Thank you, I was just going. (WAR-

DEN goes out.)

PABLO: (holding her hands) Tia, did you see somebody wait-
ing outside?

TIA CHEDENG: Have you seen Cristina?

PABLO: I don’t mean her.

TIA CHEDENG: Your mother? (He nods.) I saw her waiting

on the sidewalk. But you know we have not been on speaking
terms all these years. Has she seen you?

PABLO: I don’t want to see her!

TIA CHEDENG: Forgive her, Pablo. A mother remains a

mother, whatever her faults.

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
PABLO: If she had been a true mother, I wouldn’t be here!

TIA CHEDENG: Your father’s death left her embittered and

lonely.

PABLO: No, I can’t forgive her! (WARDEN enters again.)

WARDEN: Very little time left, Mr. Gonzalez. The girl wants
to see you. (WARDEN goes out.)

PABLO: Tia. forgive me for all the pains I’ve given you.

TIA CHEDENG: I shall wait outside. And I shall be pray-

ing. (She kisses him on the brow.)

PABLO: Farewell, Tia, and pray for me!

TIA CHEDENG: All my life, son, all my life.

WARDEN opens door, as TIA CHEDENG runs out without

looking back. PABLO sits down, very tired. CRISTINA enters.
WARDEN closes door. CRISTINA is about twenty-one, dressed
in black. She is pale, but pretty; shy and quiet; her voice soft.
With her hands clasped on her breast, she stands beside the door,
staring at PABLO. Presently he notices her presence.

PABLO: (without rising) Cristina! (She advances toward him.)

CRISTINA: We have so little time left, Pablo. (He makes her

sit down, sitting beside her.)

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PABLO: What can we say to each other?

CRISTINA: I just want to say I’ll always love you.

PABLO: I’m not worthy of you, Cristina.

CRISTINA: If you really love me don’t go away without…

PABLO: Without marrying you? Can’t you see it would be

unfair to you? I should like to marry you now, even if I’m
about to…(CRISTINA puts her hand on his mouth.)

CRISTINA: Let’s not think what the next few moments will
bring. (A long pause during which they dare not look at each
other.)

PABLO: (talking almost to himself ) For the first time in my

life I know what real love is the deep silent affection, the quiet
understanding, the feeling of gentle gratitude, the sense of
being alive (bitterly) yes, alive. Neither a mother’s nor a wom-
an’s love I have known. Early in life I soiled my mind with
unworthy thoughts, my mouth with drink and dirty language,
my heart polluted with petty desires my hands with stealing,
gambling and now, murder! And then you came. Cristina,
you came into my sordid, lonely life and cleansed my mind
and soul and brightened my world. Until that night…

CRIST1NA: Why, oh God, why? If only I hadn’t been walk-

ing alone that night.

PABLO: When you told me the next morning how that fel-
low had tried to rape you! I forgot myself. I forgot you. I

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
forgot everything! I only knew I had to wipe away the insult!

CRISTINA: But why with blood, Pablo? You shouldn’t have…

PABLO: With blood, yes, because it was the only way. That
insult had to be wiped away with blood! If we get married
now, what can I offer you? Nothing. Premature widowhood,
the name of a murderer, a few memories of what might have
been.

CRISTINA: What do I get? Widowhood, yes, but also the

assurance of your heart and mine faithful unto the end and
for always. A few memories, I wish there had been more! But
still, memories I shall cherish all through eternity.

PABLO: After I am, after this is over, you’ll forget me.

CRISTINA: I shan’t be able to forget, Pablo!

PABLO: If someday you should meet a better fellow who can

offer you a better future, you’ll be glad you didn’t marry me,
that you were free.

She weeps quietly on his shoulders. FR. LIM appears.

FR. LIM: It’s nearly time, my son. (PABLO and CRISTINA

look at each other.)

PABLO: Father, this is Cristina. (FR. LIM nods to her.)

Father, could we…

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 The Condemned
FR. LIM: Yes?

PABLO: Could you marry us now? (FR. LIM looks from one
to the other.) It’s the last favor I ask of you, Father! Could you?

FR. LIM: But…

PABLO: Yes, I know I’m going to die in a few minutes.

CRISTINA: We love each other, Father.

FR. LIM: Have you known each other long?

PABLO: Seven months.

FR. LIM: But at this moment?

CRISTINA: I want to marry him even at this moment.

FR. LIM: Time is short. We shall need two witnesses.

PABLO: My Tia Chedeng is outside. (FR. LIM goes out, right

door.) Are you sure, Cristina, you want this?

CRISTINA: Surer than ever. (FR. LIM. returns with TIA

CHEDENG and ANDRES, followed by the WARDEN. The
following scene is all pantomime with musical background. FR.
LIM puts on surplice, opens breviary. PABLO and CRISTINA
are ordered to kneel down, ANDRES and TIA CHEDENG
standing beside them. The WARDEN stands near the right door.
The mumbling of prayers by the priest is indistinctly heard. As
the ceremony progresses, CRISTINA little by little loses poise, covers
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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
her face as PABLO holds her by the shoulders. The ceremony
over, TIA CHEDENG kisses CRISTINA who is weeping silently.)

PABLO: (seeing the bottle of whiskey) I almost forgot! The bot-

tle of whiskey! Let’s all celebrate! (He looks at the others who
remain glum. He stares at CRISTINA who has her eyes down.)

PABLO gulps down his share, but suddenly throws the glass
on the floor, breaking it. He sits down and leaning on the table,
breaks down. CRISTINA goes near him and he puts his arm
around her waist briefly. WARDEN, after an awkward pause,
touches PABLO on the shoulder.

WARDEN: Five minutes left. (Suddenly voices are beard out-

side. WARDEN runs to the door. His voice is heard off stage).
You can’t get in without a pass!

ANGELA: (outside) Let me in! Let me in! (Everybody looks

towards the door.)

WARDEN: (outside) Who are you?

ANGELA: (outside) I am his mother! (PABLO’s reaction is to

be imagined.)

WARDEN: (outside) But you don’t have a pass!

ANGELA: (outside) He’s my son and I have the right.

PABLO: (quietly) Warden, will you let her in?

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 The Condemned
ANGELA enters, stands near door.

WARDEN: Is she your mother?

PABLO: She used to be. (They all look at him.)

FR. LIM: (going to rear door) I shall wait in here. (He goes out.
PABLO embraces CRISTINA briefly.)

PABLO: Wait for me, dearest. I shall call you. (PABLO kisses
TIA CHEDENG’s hand.) Tia, will you take care of Cristina
for me? (TIA CHEDENG nods. PABLO shakes ANDRES’
hand.) Stand by them, will you, Andres? (CRISTINA supports
TIA CHEDENG, and all go out, closing door behind them.
ANGELA GONZALEZ takes a few steps forward, extreme front
stage, right. PABLO stands an extreme left, front. ANGELA is
over forty-five, but is trying to retain her faded youth and beauty
by the overuse of cosmetics. There is an air of bad taste and vul-
garity about her, accentuated by her gaudy colored dress and the
use of big bracelets and earrings. Her voice is husky.)

PABLO: (without looking at her) What do you want?

ANGELA: I wanted to see you.

PABLO: What for? To offer me your sympathy? Thanks. I

don’t need it. You didn’t try to see me during the trial.

ANGELA. I couldn’t. I was ashamed.

PABLO: Ashamed? And aren’t you ashamed to be here now?

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
ANGELA: I am your mother, Pablo.

PABLO: The woman I used to call mother died when after

Father’s death, she lived with Marcos Nable.

ANGELA: You hate me so.

PABLO: I don’t hate you. My feelings for you are what I would
feel for a stranger.

ANGELA: I have left him. I left Marcos for good.

PABLO: And so you came here to feel pride in your work.

ANGELA: I don’t understand.

PABLO: If I’m here now, if I’m condemned to the chair it’s

because of you!

ANGELA: Me!

PABLO: Yes, you! Have you ever been a mother to me? Did
you ever give me any care or attention? Isn’t it true that you
spent all your time gambling while you left me with Tia
Chedeng? When Father was sick and dying, weren’t you out
gambling?

ANGELA: I fed you, clothed you.

PABLO: And you thought you had done your duty! You
thought that in bringing me into this world your work was
finished! It had only begun!
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 The Condemned
ANGELA: What did you want me to do?

PABLO: Did you ever correct my faults? Did you care who
my companions and playmates were? Did you ever check me
from committing petty thefts, correct my bad language, my
bad tendencies?

ANGELA: I really tried, I…

PABLO: And did you ever teach me to fear God? (Pause) Tia
Chedeng taught me a few prayers which I quickly forgot be-
cause I ran away. My faults became habits and my bad habits
enslaved me.

ANGELA: I wasn’t to blame, try to understand, my son.

PABLO: Son! You dare call me your son! And a few months
after Father’s death, I was ten then, you fell in love with Marcos
Nable, lived with him, pueh! My own mother!

ANGELA: I left him.

PABLO: And may I know why? Not that it matters.

ANGELA: When I read about your sentence a few weeks ago,

I, I realized that I had done wrong—

PABLO: In the meantime what had you done to me? You

broke my ideals, tore away my faith, you filled me with bit-
terness — the bitterness of a son who’s ashamed of his own
mother!

ANGELA: (going near him) Pablo! Have pity!

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
PABLO: Pity! You never had any for me! You sent me out
into the world without faith, without anchor, without dreams!
I wandered alone and lonely without a home until I met
Cristina, the girl I’ve just married.

ANGELA: Married! (Looking back towards right door remem-

bering CRISTINA.)

PABLO: And now that I’m about to die, how I wish to have
my own mother at my side, to be able to tell her how sorry I
am, to be able to part from this life with a mother’s kiss. But
no! It’s my own mother who has sent me here!

ANGELA: Pablo! Pablo, my son!

PABLO: Tears! How can your tears move me now when I

drowned my own tears in drink?

ANGELA slowly raises herself up. PABLO covers his face with
his hands. There is an expression of determination on ANGELA’s
face. Slowly and quietly, she takes off her earrings, bracelets, rings,
and gently puts them on the table. She also tries to wipe off the
cosmetics on her face. When she speaks, her voice is low and soft.

ANGELA: Listen to what I have to say. I was forced to marry

your father against my will. I didn’t love him and he knew it.
It wasn’t my fault! My family shouldn’t have opposed my
marriage to the man I really loved. To forget my unhappiness
I turned to gambling and to pleasure. That kept me away
from your father. I didn’t want a baby, you might as well know,
so when you came, well, I just left you to the care of servants.
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 The Condemned
(Her voice rising.) But few knew that our married life was
unhappy. And when your father died, I sought an outlet for
my lonely years.

PABLO: Tia Chedeng wanted to make me believe Father’s

death had made you lonely and bitter, yes, but for different
reasons.

ANGELA: I left you in Tia Chedeng’s care, then. She wanted

you. When you were eleven, that was the time I met Marcos.
Tia Chedeng knew about my unhappy marriage with your
father.

PABLO: She knew and never told me.

ANGELA: I’ve told you everything! Now condemn me if you

dare!

PABLO: If I could believe you, I would ask you to take care

of Cristina for me but no, it’s impossible! Too late!

ANGELA: Yes, son, let me take care of her! I’ll be a real mother
to her what I haven’t been to you!

PABLO: If I could die with the word “Mother” on my lips, if

I could call you Mother! (Desperately.) God in heaven, why,
can’t I call you Mother? (Right door opens, WARDEN comes
in.)

WARDEN: Time’s up! The officials await you in your cell.

ANGELA: Not yet, not yet! (FR. LIM appears.)

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 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
FR. LIM: We must start, Pablo.

PABLO stares at the WARDEN and FR. LIM as if in a trance.

WARDEN: If you wish to see your wife

PABLO: My wife? Oh, Cristina. Yes, no, never mind. Why

hurt her more? (Turning to FR. LIM) Father, I am afraid to
die.

FR. LIM: Don’t doubt God’s mercy. His mercy is as wide and
as deep as the ocean.

PABLO: Father, will you hear my confession? (FR. LIM nods,

as PABLO kneels in front of him. Music. Stage becomes dark.
FR. LIM gives the absolution.) Let’s go!

ANGELA: My son!

PABLO looks at her with compassion in his eyes, makes a

gesture of bending towards her, but turns abruptly, and goes out
through rear door with WARDEN, closing door behind them.
Bells begin to toll outside. The door opens. CRISTINA, TIA
CHEDENG, and ANDRES rush in.

CRISTINA: (rushing to rear door and banging it repeatedly)

Pablo! Wait! (Stage is darkened as bell continue tolling.
CRISTINA breaks down and collapses in front of rear door, a
figure of utter dejection. TIA CHEDENG sits on chair, with

34
 The Condemned
ANDRES behind her. Music continues. ANGELA stands, front
right, with hands folded tightly and bead down, as if praying.
TIA CHEDENG prays with a rosary in her hands. The pause
continues for twenty seconds, interrupted only by CRISTINA’s
sobs. Suddenly the bells cease tolling. Another pause of fifteen
seconds. Steps are heard. All raise their eyes toward rear door in
an attitude of expectation. Rear door opens, FR. LIM appears,
closes door. CRISTINA and ANGELA come nearer with a ges-
ture of supplication.)

FR. LIM: It’s all over. His last words were, his last words…

CRISTINA and ANGELA. Yes?

FR. LIM: “Cristina” (Here CRISTINA sobs.) “Tia”…

ANGELA: Was that all?

FR. LIM: (staring at her)…and “Mother.” He whispered, like

a prayer, the word “Mother” twice.

ANGELA: Mother twice.

As CRISTINA breaks into sobs, ANGELA bends over and

enfolds her in her arms. TIA CHEDENG makes the sign of the
cross.

THE END

35