Anna Villaverde: The Ear-Splitting Silence of Her Prophecy

“Anna, on the other hand, was among the powerless of powerless…”

Anna Villaverde, one of the protagonists in Ninotchka Rosca’s literary piece, State of War, was considered to be of such standing in the society that one would not consider her seemingly restrained character to be an asset in prophesizing what is to happen in the novel. Widowed by a political activist whom she married for protection from the life-threatening norms of the sgovernment, she looked just like any other person in the Festival, desperate to forget what had become of the Philippines’ terrifying political arena.

But beneath the image established at the start of the story was her vital role as the prophecy behind the series of events, which occurred in the course of the novel. Prophecy, as characterized, should appeal to one’s faith. Take note here that faith is defined to be a set of beliefs, which weren’t based on logical proof or material evidence.

In Anna’s case, she was one of the essential characters in the development of the plot of the novel in such a way that she prophesied what was to be expected of the uprising at the near end of the novel: that it was a repetition of history itself. Through a scene in the Book of Revelations wherein she became lost in her thoughts amidst the drunkards and party animals beside her, Anna was able to show to the readers of the novel, in a historical perspective, that the rebellion brought about by the political and social upheavals of the Philippines during that time were, in many ways, similar to those brought about by the Spanish colonies to the Filipinos, wherein Lapu-lapu resolved such injustice by piercing through “that poacher-vagabond Magallenes” with his ancient weaponry. Because of this deep thinking, she was able to challenge the readers with her indirect attack on the success that could be brought about by this uprising. If Lapu-lapu and his G-stringed men were able to triumph over the Spaniards with their primitive weapons,