This document provides a biography of Filipino novelist Lualhati Bautista and summarizes her novel "Bata Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa?". Bautista was born in 1945 in Manila and wrote several acclaimed novels exploring women's issues in the Philippines. The novel follows Lea, a working mother raising two children from different fathers. Issues arise when the fathers want to take the children away from her. Through perseverance and strength, Lea is able to let her children choose who they want to live with. The themes of women's empowerment and challenging social norms are explored through Lea's story.
2. BIOGRAPHY OF
AUTHOR
• NAME: LUALHATI BAUTISTA
• FROM: TONDO, MANILA
• PROFESSION: NOVELIST
• AWARDS:
-SHE WON SEVERAL PALANCA AWARDS
-FILIPINO READERS' CHOICE AWARD NOMINEE
FOR FICTION IN FILIPINO/TAGLISH
-SHE ALSO RECEIVED BEST STORY AND BEST
SCREENPLAY IN METRO MANILA FILM FESTIVAL
(1984)
3. LIFE OF LUALHATI BAUTISTA
• LUALHATI TORRES BAUTISTA IS ONE OF THE FOREMOST FILIPINO FEMALE NOVELIST IN THE HISTORY OF
CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE LITERATURE. SOME OF HER WORKS ARE DEKADA 70', BATA BATA PANO KA
GINAWA AT GAPO.
• LUALHATI BAUTISTA WAS BORN IN TONDO, MANILA, PHILIPPINES ON DECEMBER 2,1945 TO ESTEBAN
BAUTISTA AND GLORIA TORRES. SHE GRADUATED FROM EMILIO JACINTO ELEMENTARY CHOOL IN 1958,
AND FROM TORRES HIGH SCHOOL IN 1962. SHE WAS A JOURNALISM STUDENT AT THE LYCEUM OF THE
PHILIPPINES, BUT DROPPED OUT EVEN BEFORE SHE FINISHED HER FRESHMAN YEAR.
DESPITE A LACK OF FORMAL TRAINING, BATISTA AS THE WRITER BECAME KNOWN FOR HER HONEST
RELISM, COURAGEOUS EXPLORATION OF PHILIPPINE WOMEN’S ISSUES, AND HER COMPELLING FEMALE
PROTAGONIST, WHO CONFRONT DIFFICULT SITUATIONS AT HOME AND IN THE WORKPLACE WITH
UNCOMMON GRIT AND STRENGTH.
4. AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
• SHE RECIEVE THE PALANCA AWARD (1980, 1983, 1984) FOR THE NOVEL DEKADA 70', GAPO AND BATA BATA
PANO KA GINAWA. NOVELS THAT SHOWS HOW WOMENS TREATED IN MARCOS ADMINISTRATION AND TO
SUPPORT FEMINISM. BEING A NOVELIST, SHE IS ALSO A MOVIE AND TELEVISION SCRIPTWRITER, AND A SHORT
STORY WRITER. ALSO TWO OF HER SHORT STORY WON PLANCA AWARDS. "TATLONG KUWENTO NG BUHAY NI
JUAN CANDELABRA"(FIRST PRIZE 1982) AT "BUWAN BUWAN HULUGAN MO AKONG SUNDANG" (THIRD PRIZE.
1983).
• LUALHATI BAUTISTA IS ALSO GOOD AS A SCRIPT WRITER. HER FIRST SCREENPLAY SAKADA (1976) THAT
SHOWS THE SITUATION AND SUFFER OF PHILIPPINE ETHNIC TRIBE. SHE ALSO MADE THE BULAKLAK NG CITU
JAIL, A NOVEL ALSO ABOUT FEMINISM ANG WOMEN IN JAIL THAT ATTRACT MANY AWARDS IN STAR AWARDS AT
METRO MANILAFILM FESTIVAL. SHE WAS ALSO A MEMBER OF UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES CREATIVE
WRITING CENTER NOONG 1986 AND BECAME THE VICE PRESIDENT OF SCREENWRITERS GUILD OF THE
PHILIPOINES AND LEADER OF KAPISANAN NG MGA MANUNULAT NG NOBELANG POPULAR.
5. CHARACTERS
• LEA – A WORKING MOTHER, WHO HAS TWO CHILDREN AND BROUGHT UP THEM WITH HER OWN EFFORT.
(PROTAGONIST-FLAT)
• MAYA-THE DAUGHTER OF LEA AND DING; THE YOUNGEST CHILD OF LEA.
(EXTRA-ROUND)
• OJIE-THE ONLY SON OF LEA AND RAFFY AND THE ELDEST CHILD OF LEA.
(EXTRA-ROUND)
• DING-THE LIVE-IN PARTNER OF LEA AND THE FATHER OF MAYA.
(ANTAGONIST-ROUND)
• RAFFY-THE FIRST HUSBAND OF LEA AND THE FATHER OF OGIE.
(ANTAGONIST-ROUND)
6. SETTING
•THE STORY WAS ALL ABOUT A TYPICAL FILIPINO FAMILY INSIDE
THEIR HOME, SCHOOL AND WHERE THE PROTAGONIST WORK.
7. PLOT SYNOPSIS
•A WOMEN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE NAVIGATES THE CHALLENGES OF
LIFE WITH TWO CHILDREN FROM TWO DIFFERENT MEN.
8. PLOT TYPE/DEVICES
CLASSIC PLOT
•THE STORY FOLLOWS A CLASSIC PLOT WHEREIN THE EVENTS ARE
CHRONOLOGICALLY SEQUENCED. THE STARTS WITH A HAPPY FAMILY AND
SUDDENLY BOTH FATHERS OF HIS SON AND DAUGHTER WANT TO TAKE
THEM AWAY FROM HER AND IT ENDS WITH LETTING HER CHILDREN TO
CHOOSE WHO THEY WANT TO GROW UP WITH.
9. Exposition:
Everything in Lea's life was going
smoothly.
Rising Action:
Lea’s children were both
growing up and there are
changes in their ways and
personalities
Climax:
Suddenly, the two father of
Lea’s children want to take
her children away from
her.
Resolution:
She delivered a speech an
inspiring one and she told
the graduates that
graduation is not the end
but is just the start of new
things to come.
Falling Action:
Her children choose to
come with her
Prey’s Pyramid
10. TYPE OF CONFLICT
•MAN VS MAN
-BECAUSE LEA’S SITUATION SHOWS THAT SHE’S AGAINST INDIVIDUAL
CHARACTER. SHE WAS AGAINST HER FORMER HUSBAND WHO WAS LIVING IN
STATES BUT CAME TO PHILIPPINES TO TAKE HIS SON TOGETHER WITH HIM
LEAVING LEA WITH HER ONLY DAUGHTER. NOT KNOWING THAT HER DAUGHTER
WILL ALSO BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HER. HER CHILDREN GROWS AND THEIR WAY
AND ATTITUDE WAS CHANGING SO SHE’S ALSO AGAINST HER CHILDREN BUT
SHE LET THEM DECIDE WHAT HER CHILDREN WANTED TO DO.
11. THEME
•THE THEME OF THE STORY SHOWED WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND
OPEN MINDEDNESS. IT SHOWS HOW THE WOMAN HANDLES HER
MARITAL AND FAMILY CONTEXT IN A JUDGEMENTAL AND FLAWED
COMMUNITY. IT ALSO SHOWS THE PEOPLE PERCEPTION OF A
WOMEN. HOW IT IS TO BE A MOTHER AND HOW WILL SHE
EXECUTE HER ROLE AND THE CONCEPTS OF PARENTHOOD.
12. SYMBOLISM
• IN THE STORY SHE SHOW THAT EVEN SHE
DON’T HAVE HUSBAND TO BE WITH BUT SHE
DO ALL SHE CAN TO FILL THE FATHER’S PART
FOR HER CHILDREN. WE SHOULDN’T
UNDERESTIMATE WHAT WOMEN’S CAN DO
BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO PLAY A
ROLE IN THIS SOCIETY. Feminism
13. POINT OF VIEW
•THE STORY FOLLOWS AN OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW. THE STORY
IS ON AN OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW WHERE THE NARRATOR
KNOWS EVERYTHING AND WHAT EVERY CHARACTER THINKS.
THIS TYPE OF POINT OF VIEW CIRCULATES THROUGHOUT THE
STORY.