Ateneo de Zamboanga University

The Jesuit University in Western Mindanao

Since 1912
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL UNIT
English Department

Performance Task 1 in HUM111:

Analysis Paper

Presented by

Anilo James Ledesma

Sarah Montecino
Saah Montecino
Grade 12 STEM Blessed John Beyzym, SJ

Presented to

Ms. Angel Ridette Cenas

HUM111 Instructor

September 9, 2022
“Similarly to the prohibition of alcohol, fighting drugs only serves to enrich and empower
criminals.” This short fictional story titled “Collateral Damage” was authored by DLS Pineda,
and it talks about a man who is sharing his story about his life and experience in Binangonan,
Rizal, where he was born and raised. He was born from a poor family and grew up in an area
where drug use and crime were commonplace. He felt relieved when he left that location to
pursue his studies in college, and he was even happier when he finished his studies and finally
became an engineer. As to what was observed on this fiction piece, it has been concluded that
“Social Evils” serves as the overall theme of the story, for the story talks about mainly on the
war on drugs and other social wrongdoings that unfortunately occur in the real world on a daily.

The short fictional elements of the story and the overall theme are strongly tied to one another.
The occurrences in the story actually take place in real life. War on drugs is a process where the
authorities are trying to prevent drug trafficking, injustice killing, trading, and also uses of drugs.
But that’s only in a surface level, because some cases are found that police or authorities have
tried planting evidences to innocent people causing them to fight back which leads to causing of
innocent lives.

The main character is the man who was narrating the story. He showed what the impact of
poverty had on a wide range of people. Many people, including the companions of the man in the
story, are compelled to sell and consume drugs because of poverty. The main character also
demonstrated a lack of ego. He altered the rule that once you become trapped, there is no way
out.

As to the exposition and rising action, both helped in the development of the theme. The
exposition demonstrated how difficult it is to live in poverty and how those who reside there
must undertake any task in order to survive. While the rising action demonstrated how
unjustified killings, drug usage, drug trafficking, and poverty may actually result in a person's
life.

The conflict of the story revolves around the cruelty of both the drug dealers and the policemen
themselves, leading to the conclusion that the story represented the social evils theme because
the poor and powerless suspects were either subjected to harsh deaths or framed up for a crime
they were not convicted of. Those helpless suspects are actually pitiful as they were preyed on by
two ferocious predators who were both seeking power and so incurring injustice.
Poverty, unsatisfactory leadership, healthcare access, and civil rights are among the prominent
social issues addressed in the work. While the passage's only notable social value found is
education. There were many social issues rather than social values because this passage is a
perfect example of what has been occurring in this country; wherein poverty is prevalent, poor
leadership is evident because we can yet hardly observe positive developments around us, health
care access is not available to every single Filipino, and civil rights are being trampled on every
opportunity those cruel individuals in society have.

It has been claimed that " Similarly to the prohibition of alcohol, fighting drugs only serves to
enrich and empower criminals." The existing war on drugs exclusively targets the poor and,
unfortunately, appears to give the big criminals behind it more power. Even what we have
known for years as public service workers can now be relied on anymore since they are now the
ones dragging
innocent civilians into something they were not guilty of in the first place. The injustices
depicted in the piece can only be attributed to the evilness of poor leadership, in which those who
appear to lead people may have a corrupted mentality or are just incompetent. Despite the
unfortunate occurrences in the narrator's life, he nevertheless managed to finish his studies, and
despite having just a little conviction in himself, he still continues to think that he can survive the
hell pit, even if there is a likelihood that he may be dragged back again.