"This is the harsh truth about us: not only do Filipinos ignore books, literature - we do not underst..." — F. Sionil Jose

It was in the sugar hacienda in Negros, Panay and in Central Luzon where I saw the injustices heaped upon the sugar workers, particularly the sacadas, or seasonal workers.

Poetry is emotion, passion, love, grief - everything that is human. It is not for zombies by zombies.

I do not want to be bored listening to music that is muffled and known only to the poet himself.

I can't understand Urdu, Bahasa or Russian, but when the Pakistani Faiz, the Indonesian Rendra and the Russian Rosdentvensky declaim, I can feel the living throb of rhythm and music, the warmth and passion of their poetry, as do the hundreds, not a mere roomful, of poetry lovers in the audience.