Member of the group;

Baronia John Carlo

Lera Rolando
Pengson Arnie
Quisquino John Axlee Prof. Yolanda L. Patio

Ma’Rosa

LITERARY ANALYSIS

Setting
Mandaluyong Manila

Characters
Aling Rosa
Mang Nestor
Erwin
Jackson
Raquel
Jilian
Jomar
Police officers
Sumpay
Olivarez
Castor
Sanchez

Plot
Ma' Rosa has four children. She owns a small convenience store in a poor neighborhood of Manila
where everybody likes her. To make ends meet, Rosa and her husband, Nestor, resell small amounts of
narcotics on the side
Conflict
Apparently, one of their young customers reported to the police that Rosa and Nestor sells illegal
substances and resulted to a raid in their home. The couple was held captive in the police station where
policemen were on the process of interrogation.

Suspense
a bail was offered for an amount of P200,000.00, but Rosa and Nestor decided to give out their supplier
instead. Although, the supplier was caught, it was not enough to free the married couple. They still lack
P50,000.0 as the supplier only provided P150,000.00.

Climax
This is where Rosa and Nestor’s children comes in to help their poor parents. The eldest son sold some
of their belongings, the youngest brother participated in an affair with another man to gain money,
while the oldest sister seek out help from their relatives.

Conclusion
Ma’ Rosa relates its story to the Philippine society, especially the impoverish sector. it Had successfully
captured the essence of a real-life situation for people who are marginalized. We can look at the story
through the perspective of karma. Karma is understood as the effect of an individual’s actions to be in
relation to the individual’s future, or next life. Which means, if a person does a bad thing, then
something bad will happen to him or her as well; vice versa. In Ma’ Rosa’s case, since they were involved
in the illegal transactions, they were then caught and suffered the consequences from their actions. The
thing that is quite unbearable is that fact that their children are the ones answering their mistakes.
Although, it is a cultural aspect in the Philippines to be family-centered. Nobody gets left behind, helping
each other hand in hand no matter how big or small a problem is.

A good lesson from the story for the audience is that people should be careful to their activities because
a bad action would spring a bad karma, and a good doing would result to a good karma.

The story goes around Rosa Reyes, a well-known person in his place. She lives in a rural street where
most people are poor and the living there with jobs like selling streetfoods, sari-sari stores, and wet and
dry foods. People in their town call her “Aling Rosa” because she has a mini sari-sari store and most
people buy there often. Aside from being the sari-sari store owner of the street, Aling Rosa was also
well-known by their place in selling narcotics or illegal drugs secretly. She was also a gambler and his
husband, Nestor Reyes, was a drug addict. Nestor Reyes or known as Mang Nestor, secretly uses drugs
upstairs of their house and is often very high. Aling Rosa and Mang Nestor have four children – Jackson,
Raquel, Erwin and a 7-year old girl. Jackson was the eldest brother, unemployed and a tambay to his
place. He sometimes does a mini business in their place such as karaoke to earn a mini profit. Raquel
was a nursing student pursuing her education to help his parents for the future. Erwin was always the
one who helps Rosa in buying groceries outside of their place. A 7-year old girl was the youngest of the
four who stays home and helps his mother in selling items in sari-sari store. A night before Nestor’s
birthday, a group of policemen raided Aling Rosa’s sari-sari store for an accusation of possession of
prohibited drugs. While the policemen checked the place, Aling Rosa suddenly grabbed his old shoebox
where the illegal drugs were placed and tried to escape. One of the policemen grabbed her back and got
her old shoebox. They found out a bunch of narcotics packed in mini plastic sachets. The policemen
arrested Rosa and Nestor and left Aling Rosa’s children behind. A group of policemen brought Rosa
Reyes and Nestor Reyes to their headquarters for interrogation. Rosa and Nestor denied the evidence
and told the policemen that they were not the one who sells the narcotics. They told them that they
were just ordered and they do not know what’s inside. One of the police officers talked them politely
and asked them if they were the ones who sell it. The evidence was very clear. After a long time of
denial, the couple told the police officials the truth. Rosa added that they should talk about this and give
them the chance to not go in jail. Even though the case was not bailable, the corrupt policemen told
Rosa and Nestor that they can free from jail if they can give them two hundred thousand pesos in
exchange. Rosa and Nestor were shocked and asked the policemen if they can lessen the amount
because they were just poor. The policemen didn’t accept it. The police officers asked them who is their
source and they answered it was “Jason”. The police officials told them that they should call “Jason” and
tell him that they should meet up. Aling Rosa immediately called Jason after her phone was loaded and
asked him if they could meet up in the corner of the street within minutes. The policemen and Rosa
went on the place and waited Jason to arrive. When Jason arrived in the designated place, Sanchez, one
of the policemen raided and chased Jason to arrest him. Sanchez caught Jason and brought him in the
headquarters. Sanchez checked Jason’s bag and found out a bunch of narcotics inside. Sanchez said
Jason was a big time drug pusher and he was no joke. Sanchez also found a hundred thousand pesos
inside and got it. He said that a hundred thousand pesos would be helpful so they still have a hundred
thousand to pay in exchange of their freedom. Sanchez told Jason to call his wife or any relatives to pay
for him so that he can go home. Jason secretly texted his boss who gave him the drugs and unluckily
Sanchez found out. Sanchez smashed Jason’s head and Jason suddenly knocked down. Sanchez called
the wife of Jason through Jason’s phone and asked her to meet him and her husband in the
headquarters. The wife of Jason immediately went to headquarters and met Sanchez. Sanchez told the
wife of Jason to pay him one hundred thousand pesos so that Jason can go home. The wife of Jason told
the police officer that she can only pay the half of it and she shall find the way to pay the remaining half.
The police officer accepted the fifty thousand pesos. The policemen told Rosa and Nestor that Jason and
his wife paid one hundred fifty thousand pesos and they should find a way to pay the remaining balance.
The children of Aling Rosa visited to headquarters and brought a food to their parents. Aling Rosa told
her children that they should pay fifty thousand pesos so that Aling Rosa and Nestor can go home. The
children told Aling Rosa that they should borrow money from her relatives but Aling Rosa was
halfhearted. Aling Rosa was no choice but agreed on borrowing money from her relatives. Jackson,
Raquel and Erwin went to one of their known mother’s friends and the owner of the restaurant to ask
for money. When asked to the place, the employee of the restaurant told them that the owner was not
there. The three gals decided to go out and asked different people. Tomorrow morning, the three
siblings separated to collect money. Jackson decided to sell their TV to acquaintances of Aling Rosa. He
brought the heavy TV all the way and went to Aling Rosa’s known friends’ house. Most of them don’t
agree to Jackson’s price of five hundred pesos because they thought it was very expensive. When
Jackson went to one of the police stations, a police officer asked him if how much is the TV so he can
buy it. Jackson told him that the price of the TV was three thousand and five hundred pesos. The police
officer told him he will just pay two thousand and five hundred pesos in exchange of the TV. Jackson
accepted it. On the other hand, Raquel went to the houses of the relatives of Aling Rosa to asked for
money. She even went to one of the siblings of Rosa who had a fight before. Raquel collected a lot of
money. Erwin was desperate and went out to sell his body to a gay. The gay booked a hotel for two.
Afternoon, they made love and Erwin was very desperate and didn’t like the experience. When the three
siblings went to the headquarters, they collected forty-six thousand pesos. The police officer told them
that they lack four thousand pesos more and they should find a way to pay for it. The police officer told
Aling Rosa that she can go out and find money to pay the remaining balance. Aling Rosa went out and
went to one of the persons he can ask for money. The guy was bumbay. Aling Rosa exchanged Raquel’s
phone for five thousand pesos but the bumbay didn’t accept it. The bumbay told Aling Rosa that he can
only pay three thousand and five hundred pesos. Aling Rosa insisted four thousand pesos in exchange of
the phone. She added that she needed the money. Bumbay was forced and paid four thousand pesos.
Aling Rosa finally got four thousand pesos and walked along the way into the headquarters. In the
middle of the way, Aling Rosa took a break and bought squid balls to eat it. She thought everything and
realized that her life was messed up. Aling Rosa’s tears fell off unto his face.