It was a nice morning and we decided to take our little daughter out for a walk. Fall is my favourite season. although it wasn’t cold enough for the leaves to change color, the cool breeze was perfect. I didn’t have time to drink my morning coffee, so my husband suggested we buy outside. But I reminded myself that I needed to avoid spending money on takeout. So instead, we made coffee at home and poured it into a thermos.
We had such a lovely time.
I also decided to update my reading list. I’m mainly reading e-books now since collecting physical books requires space, which is limited at the moment. I don’t mind as I only want to collect books I’d like to read again.
I’m currently using Everand to read. It’s a digital subscription service for e-books, audiobooks, and podcast. Like Netflix, but for books.
If you haven’t tried Everand yet, join now and avail a 30 days free trial: https://sovrn.co/1bluj6e . Don’t forget to use my referral link.
I’m not a huge fan of self-help books, but I decided to include a few on my list. I don’t entirely dislike them. I just prefer reading fiction because it gives me the opportunity to analyze different situations and form my own perceptions and opinions unlike self-help books, where the lessons are often presented like instructions. I also added some ghost stories to celebrate Halloween, along with historical books about topics I’m interested in. I included a few YA fiction titles too, for some light reading while relaxing.
When Alison found a torn childhood photograph of her mom and aunt Dulcie, her mother’s estranged sister, in an old book, she was intrigued by the identity of the child that was supposedly in the picture with them. She accepted Dulcie’s invitation to spend the summer with her and babysit her cousin, Emma, while vacationing in their summer house where her mom and aunt used to spend the summer when they were young.
They met Sissy, a spiteful kid who won’t leave the cousins alone and tried to brainwash Emma into bullying Ali. Sissy always gets Ali into trouble and scares her through mentioning Teresa, a young girl who drowned in a nearby lake when Claire and Dulcie were kids, and whose body was never recovered.
Mary Downing Hahn is one of my favorite authors. I’ve been dying to read this story and I wasn’t disappointed. Deep and Dark and Dangerous is more than a horror story. Just like other ghost stories written by this brilliant author, it relates other underlying issues and this time, it’s about parenting and how a childhood trauma could affect your future, if left unresolved.
I thought Claire, the protagonist’s mom was the bad person and I could understand why Ali would like to get away from her even for the summer. But I found out later on that Dulcie, her aunt was worse and Claire’s overprotectiveness soon made sense. At least Claire was responsible enough to seek professional help and acknowledge that her behavior is affecting her family while Dulcie tried to cover up her mistake with a brave front.
I love how mature the main character is and I feel bad for how Dulcie treated her during their stay at the vacation house. Her cousin is a total brat which was not surprising, being raised by a mentally unstable mom. I just hope Ali got paid for being Emma’s babysitter.
I saw comments of disappointed readers in goodreads who even compared this to Wait Till Helen Comes, another ghost story from the same author, but as much as I love Wait Till Helen Comes, I have to disagree with them. Deep and Dark and Dangerous definitely has my vote. It’s chilling and sad at the same time. The ghost was not exactly a friendly one and someone to be scared of like Helen but there’s something about her that gained my sympathy which I didn’t feel for Helen. Perhaps, it’s because they haunt for different reasons. Helen wanted someone to share her loneliness with ( aside from her longing for her parents and wanting to find their missing bodies) while the ghost in Deep and Dark and Dangerous just wanted the truth to come out and for her body to have a proper burial so she could rest in peace.
GomBurZa (2023) is a Philippine historical film directed by Pepe Diokno that tells the story of three Filipino priests Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, also known as GOMBURZA. The film follows their lives and the events leading up to their execution in 1872 by the Spanish authorities. A moment that inspired the Filipino people to fight for their freedom and became a turning point in Philippine history.
I’m not familiar with the life story of Gomburza, aside from being the inspiration for Jose Rizal to write El Filibusterismo. It was probably the reason why I was able to enjoy the movie despite already knowing how it would end.
It was great to be able to know the story of the three priests that I only learned in passing during my school days. It was only through the movie that I found out some interesting facts about the priests, like their having Spanish ancestry, their ages when they died, and the moment that led to their execution. I should have done my research, I know. I should have been more informed about our national heroes, and spending my college years abroad is not an excuse for not knowing these facts. Didn’t you learn it in high school? To be honest, I don’t remember. I was more familiar with the lives of other notable heroes, like Gregorio Del Pilar, Andres Bonifacio, and, of course, Jose Rizal.
Going back to the film, I believe Cedrick Juan was a good choice for the role of Burgos, despite Enchong Dee being a more popular actor. He wasn’t a familiar face, so it wasn’t difficult for me to see him as Fr. Burgos. Unlike Piolo, despite having a remarkable role as Padre Pedro Pelaez, I only saw Piolo Pascual. It also didn’t help that I watched Mallari before watching Gomburza.
Cedrick’s brilliant portrayal of Padre Burgos gave the character a separate identity away from Gomburza. He wasn’t just a martyr priest; he was a hero, at least in the eyes of his fellow priests, parishioners, and his students, who also tried to fight for equal rights for secular priests. Padre Gomez was the true epitome of a martyr. Being the oldest, he became the solace of the younger priests, consoling them instead of wasting his time proving his innocence. He willingly accepted his fate and entrusted everything to the Lord. He reminded me of Jesus Christ. To be fair, he was already 72. He had lived a fruitful life and endured enough that he was almost ready to leave (it was still not fair to die that way, though). while Fr. Burgos and Fr. Zamora were only in their thirties. While life may not be ideal, no one’s ready to die that young.
I wish I could find more information about the life of Fr. Zamora. The movie didn’t do him justice. Despite the great performance of Enchong Dee, I felt like Fr. Zamora was treated unfairly both by the Spaniards and the scriptwriter.
Fr. Zamora did not even have the opportunity to say his last words. He was already lifeless, even before he was executed. Being accused of something you didn’t do could cause trauma, let alone be sentenced to death for it. It reminded me of that time when my third grade teachers embarrassed me in front of the other students and teachers. Two of my classmates fought because of a game. It was one of those stupid games where you would hit the person next to you, and he would pass it on to the person next to him. It was popular at the time, so it wasn’t the first time we played it. I was the unlucky person sitting between my two classmates. As I was busy drawing, I was absentmindedly “passing” the message to the other guy until I got annoyed and stopped. I had no idea what happened after I left them, minding my own business. Before I knew it, they were already hitting each other for real. Our class adviser was called, and my history teacher came too (I’m still confused about why she needed to be there), and they felt that someone should take the blame, and they both decided it would be me because the two were already hysterically crying and mentioning my name, putting the blame on me. For goodness’ sake, I didn’t tell those two morons to kill each other. How did it become my fault? They were the ones who were disturbing me in the first place.
I wasn’t given the opportunity to explain my side, and the angry face of my teacher interrogating me made me a coward. I was a pushover and never had the courage to defend myself back then. I just accepted the unfair treatment and moved on. But I still think of it now, still upset and crying for justice. Before that incident, I dreamed of becoming a teacher, but I had already lost trust in teachers, so I decided to take a different path. This memory came back when I watched the life of Fr. Zamora.
Out of the three, I pity Fr. Zamora the most. He was the most innocent among the priests and was included in the execution because of bad luck. Some even questioned if he deserved the recognition. He only became a martyr due to a wrong timing. But a martyr is someone who became a sacrificial lamb for a supposedly greater good. Fr. Zamora is a martyr. He didn’t need to have a motive to be worthy of the recognition. His death symbolizes the injustices during the Spanish era and how unfair life was. He was a victim of the cruelty of the Spanish government, and his death provoked the Filipino people to rebel against the government.
The actor who played Carlos María de la Torre was another great casting. He looked straight out of a history book, and he resembled the real governor-general a lot. His scenes were some of my favorites. He was a beacon of hope to the Filipinos and even to me as a viewer, at least for a short while, only to be let down.
If Fr. Gomez is Jesus Christ, Dela Torre is Pontius Pilate. His actions, though, were understandable. He was still a Spaniard and was put in a difficult spot. There was a limit to one’s generosity, and he wasn’t willing to risk his life for the Filipinos, who themselves were not willing to fight for their own nation. Besides, what can he do? Next to the highest leader of Spain, the King, his power is nothing.
I can’t even talk about Francisco Zaldua, played by Ketchup Eusebio. I want to feel bad for him, being the fall guy of his rich amigos but I would like to think he got his karma. I believe the reason why he was still executed after providing the Spaniards the needed information to persecute the priests was because they were afraid that he would feel guilty and eventually change his narrative. They needed to eliminate him first to avoid future complication and hide the fact that the priests were really innocent.
It was nice to have a glimpse of Paciano’s life, as I only knew him as Jose Rizal’s brother. In the movie, Paciano brought a young Rizal to witness the execution. Although I read somewhere that the scene was merely fiction. Rizal was not present when the priests were executed. The ending showed an already older Rizal writing El Filibusterismo. At least in the movie, it gave a clear perspective on why Rizal dedicated El Filibusterismo to the martyrs and why he spent his life fighting for reform. He witnessed the cruelty of the Spaniards at a young age. While kids today are watching TikTok videos, he was watching three innocent priests being executed publicly.
Despite being a historical movie, it didn’t have a lot of brutal scenes. Even the execution was brief, which is fine, I guess, as the story was tragic enough.
Gomburza made me realize why the Catholic Church still plays a relevant role in the Philippines today. The Catholic Church is not just a major religion but a part of our history. Although it was used as a weapon to further enslave the indios, the secular priests contributed greatly to the Philippine Revolution.
One of the unforgettable scenes that stuck with me was the conversation between Archbishop Gregorio Martinez and Governor General Rafael Izquierdo. The archbishop said in Spanish, “Karamihan sa mga indiyo ay hindi magrerebelde. Dahil tayo, ang simbahan, ang nagturo sa kanilang maging masunurin.”
We see history repeating itself everyday. Some churches, not only Catholics, using the Bible to make people submit to church rules, while extorting them using emotional manipulation, which is why it’s important to know our history.
OC Chronicles 
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