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"ANG LAGUSAN" (The Tunnel) by Gina Marissa Tagasa

This is the story of a young man, who mysteriously wakes up in a deck of a cargo ship and does not remember a thing about his past. He finds inside his pocket a piece of paper with an address,a 50-peso bill,a faded photo of an 8-yr-old girl and a short note that says: "Dito mo kunin..( Get it here)".

A ship crew cheerfully greets him ,calls him "JOEL" and hands him a bag of some clothes,tells him.. "O,hihintayin ka namin dito,ha.Dala ka ng maraming pasalubong,pare."( We'll wait for you here. Bring us some stuff,buddy,ok?).
The young man is perplexed.What was he doing in a cargo ship before he fell into a deep slumber? And how,in his dear life,did he wake up not recalling anything about who he is and what he is?

"Joel" had no choice but gather in his thoughts what seem to be remnants of his forgotten past. He goes to the place indicated in the note and is surprised to see a poverty-stricken community. He finds an old blind man,Lazaro,who is apparently mentally unstable. Lazaro does not know who "Joel" is but welcomes the young man anyway. Joel begins to search for the girl in the photo who could eventually lead him to his lost identity. And what is the meaning of the message in the note-"Kunin mo dito?"What was he supposed to claim?

While rebuilding his life,Joel encounters several characters he would never have imagined getting involved with him-a suicidal prostitute,a gay drug pusher,a conman ,a rich boy inflicted with cancer and a teenage girl who is being forced to commit abortion by her own mother. Through these encounters,Joel experiences flashes of images of explosion and fire.

His obsession to find the girl in the picture starts to diminish until he sees a letter tucked in his bag's secret pocket. The letter is from a girl to her father.The girl is begging his father to come back to her and her mother. Joel is lost in a web of confusion. This is when he realizes that there's a God to turn to. His only hope is to pray for whatever that would lead him to his 'interrupted' destiny.

In his way to a funeral wake,he meets the girl named ANGELINE-exactly the same girl in the photo. Angeline leads Joel to a nearby wake where her mother lies in a coffin. Angeline tells Joel that her father left them when she was still a baby and her mother never ceased praying that one day he would 

come back. She says she even wrote her father a letter and tucked it in a worn-out doll she threw into the sea on their way to Manila from their hometown in Davao. Her only wish then was to see her father and that she prayed so hard that God would grant that wish on her 8th birthday. The day she meets Joel is her 8th birthday. Joel shows her the mysterious letter and Angeline is surprised to see the same letter that she wrote!

Baffled by the events that have been coming his way,Joel goes back to the harbor where he left the cargo ship. He would later learn that the same cargo ship exploded and sank six years go. In the ship's old records,Joel discovers that a crew named Joselito Arguiao a.k.a. Joel did exist. A mysterious man at the pier relates to him who Joel was-that he was believed to be the cause of the ship's mishap,that in his drunken stupor ,he sets the fire on the ship;that he was such a notorious young man,impregnated several women and had his offsprings aborted,a drug pusher and other facts that shocked Joel!

He is astounded when he sees his own picture from among the missing crew! Bewildered,Joel tries to reconcile the past and the present. The mysterious man tells him " Kunin mo ang huling ibinigay na pagkakataon sa iyo,Joel.."(Get the last chance given to you,Joel).The man leaves Joel dumbfounded. It is only then that he realizes God has given him another chance to rebuild his life,make the most out of his remaining time here on earth.

Joel goes back to Angeline and vows to God that he will be a changed man and that he will try to make something out of the life he almost wasted!
He goes back to the community where he used to live as a stranger and finds a church where he sees the people he had encountered before (the suicidal prostitute,the gay drug pusher,the conman,the rich kid,etc) in a praise and worship session including Lazaro,who is the pastor of the same church-neat, congenial and not blind! Joel is euphoric as Lazaro welcomes him and Angeline. Pastor Lazaro and the people he encountered do not seem to recognize Joel.

God allowed Joel to enter a tunnel…a TUNNEL OF TRANSFORMATION!