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Born on December 4, 1924 in Ilocos, Philippines, Francisco Sionil Jose is considered on of the most important literary authors today. In fact, the author received numerous awards most notably was the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts in 1980. Then, in 2001, he was proclaimed as a National Artist. Having been a product of the American public school system in Ilocos, he then enrolled himself in the University of Santo Tomas where he came across brilliant writers such as Paz Latorena and Juan Labrador. In 1966, he formed his own publishing company, Solidaridad, where his works are being published. Today, his works include 5 books of short stories, and a book of verses, the much acclaimed Rosales family saga, and 5 novels which the newest, Ben Singkol, is under. The novel revolves around the life of Benjamin Singkol, from his boyhood in Selasor, Ilocos where he belongs to a dysfunctional family, his struggling days in the newspaper, the love of his life- Nena, his life in serving the army against the Japanese in World War II, and his fame and fortune and entrapment in Manila during the Marcos regime. His being an accidental hero paved the way for him to leave his life of poverty and shambles to live a comfortable and worry free life. Yet some intangible events in his life like Froilan Dawel, keeps on resurfacing everywhere that makes him run away. Run away from the his past life and from the events of his boyhood that still haunts him to this day. That is the life of Ben Singkol, a life where gratitude or ‘utang na loob’ and power is the norm. It is the gravitational force that pulls people together willingly or unwillingly to a bond that no one can break because the cycle of gratitude never ends. Ben Singkol is trapped in this kind of life, sometimes it is advantageous yet there are times that one simply would want to run away from it, run away until one’s feet cannot stand anyone, run until one reaches the ends of the earth. The novel, believed to be one of the best written works of F. Sionil Jose not only tackles the life of Ben Singkol but more so it tackles the lives of many of us who is trapped in ‘utang na loob’ with other people and the power hungry, power grabbing society where we are in. In the novel, Ben Singkol is very much in debt with Froilan Dawel because that one faithful day on the end of March, he saved Ben Singkol from drowning and uneventfully ending his very short life on earth (page7). Thus, Ben Singkol will owe his forever gratitude to Froilan Dawel, among others. Ben Singkol met a lot of different people in his course of life, many of them touched his life in some way or another, some had gratitude for him due to the fact that he is a hero in their eyes, and there are some who he feels imbedded to because of the acts of kindness have they have bestowed upon him.
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