By: Cirilo F.

Bautista
Cirilo F. Bautista
(July 9, 1941 – May 6,
2018) was a Filipino
poet, critic and writer of
nonfiction. He was
conferred with the
National Artist of the
Philippines award in
2014.
 Early life and education
Bautista was born in Manila on July 9, 1941 and spent his
childhood in Balic-Balic, Sampaloc.
He received his basic education from Legarda Elementary
School (1st Honorable Mention, 1954) and Mapa High
School (Valedictorian, 1959). He received his degrees in AB
Literature from the University of Santo Tomas (magna cum
laude, 1963), MA Literature from St. Louis University,
Baguio (magna cum laude, 1968), and Doctor of Arts in
Language and Literature from De La Salle University-
Manila (1990). He received a fellowship to attend the
International Writing Program at the University of Iowa
(1968–1969).
 Early life and education
Bautista was born in Manila on July 9, 1941 and spent his
childhood in Balic-Balic, Sampaloc.
He received his basic education from Legarda Elementary
School (1st Honorable Mention, 1954) and Mapa High
School (Valedictorian, 1959). He received his degrees in AB
Literature from the University of Santo Tomas (magna cum
laude, 1963), MA Literature from St. Louis University,
Baguio (magna cum laude, 1968), and Doctor of Arts in
Language and Literature from De La Salle University-
Manila (1990). He received a fellowship to attend the
International Writing Program at the University of Iowa
(1968–1969).
 Third World Geography
A country without miracles
Sits heavy on the map,
Thinking of banana trees rotting
In the sunlight.
The man who watches over it
Has commandeered all hopes,
Placed them in a sack,
And tied its loose end.
He goes around carrying it
On his back.
When asked what is inside,
He say, “Just a handful of feathers,
Just a handful of feathers.”
That’s how light the burden
Of government is in peace time –
Any tyrant can turn it into a
metaphor.
You kneel on the parched earth
And pray for rice.
Only the wind
Hears your useless words.
The country without miracles
Tries to get up from the page,
But the bold ink and sharp colors
Hold it down.
 Third World
A “Third World” country is not a country
that simply is primitive, underdeveloped,
or poor, as most people think. In fact, a
third world country is actually just a
country that is not considered a capitalist
country (first world) and not considered a
communist country (second world).
 Capitalism
Class division
Capitalism is the social system which now exists in
all countries of the world. Under this system, the
means for producing and distributing goods (the
land, factories, technology, transport system etc)
are owned by a small minority of people. We refer
to this group of people as the capitalist class. The
majority of people must sell their ability to work in
return for a wage or salary (who we refer to as the
working class.)
 Capitalism
Class division
The working class are paid to produce goods and
services which are then sold for a profit. The profit
is gained by the capitalist class because they can
make more money selling what we have produced
than we cost to buy on the labour market. In this
sense, the working class are exploited by the
capitalist class. The capitalists live off the profits
they obtain from exploiting the working class
whilst reinvesting some of their profits for the
further accumulation of wealth.
 Communism
A Communist country is one that meets two criteria:
First, it is a political dictatorship dominated by a party that
identifies itself as the vanguard party of the proletariat,
states that its policies are based on Marxist-Leninist
principles, and proclaims that its ultimate goal is to guide
the country toward communism -- that is, a condition in
which the State has withered away and all private property
has been abolished, because (supposedly) the economy has
become so productive that material scarcity has become a
thing of the past. But until that day arrives, the Party is
determined to remain in charge.
 Communism
Second, its economy is more or less
fully socialist-in the sense that all but
the smallest firms are owned and
controlled by the government, while
private enterprise is largely
suppressed.
 Third World
This terminology was originally coined just after
WWII with the “first world” countries being
roughly all the countries that were aligned with the
United States after WWII with more or less
common political and economic structure
(capitalists); the “second world” countries were all
those that roughly aligned with the Soviet Union in
terms of their political and economic structure
(communists and socialists); the “third world”
countries were just everybody else.
 Third World
This “everybody else” meaning included an
awful lot of countries that were
underdeveloped or poor. Through time, this
has given rise to the misconception that “third
world” means only countries that are
underdeveloped and poor, even though there
were, and still are, many countries in this
group that are very well developed and a few
of them are among the wealthiest nations in
the world.
 Third World Geography
A country without miracles
Sits heavy on the map,
Thinking of banana trees rotting
In the sunlight.
The man who watches over it
Has commandeered all hopes,
Placed them in a sack,
And tied its loose end.
He goes around carrying it
On his back.
When asked what is inside,
He say, “Just a handful of feathers,
Just a handful of feathers.”
That’s how light the burden
Of government is in peace time –
Any tyrant can turn it into a
metaphor.
You kneel on the parched earth
And pray for rice.
Only the wind
Hears your useless words.
The country without miracles
Tries to get up from the page,
But the bold ink and sharp colors
Hold it down.
The poem Third world Geography by Cirilo
Bautista describes third world countries in
different areas:
Poverty - People who live in
poverty are usually envisioned
working under the scorching sun.
It symbolizes hardship and the
cruel conditions of the work
environment.
The poem Third world Geography by Cirilo
Bautista describes third world countries in
different areas:
Hope - This is something that everyone
living has every mentioned except that the
degree upon which it is needed differs.
Governments of third world countries
create false hopes by convincing
themselves that hardship is "just a handful
of feathers" that can be easily carried.
The poem Third world Geography by Cirilo
Bautista describes third world countries in
different areas:
Hunger - This is the most common
causes of death among young children
in these poverty-stricken countries. No
food and water. No one can overcome
hunger and plant rice on "parched
earth."
The poem Third world Geography by Cirilo
Bautista describes third world countries in
different areas:
Government - "Only the wind hears
your useless words." Corruption and
bad politics. They know the needs, they
know the numbers and yet most keep a
deaf ears on poverty and hunger. The
rich get only richer and the corrupt
becomes the devil's advocate.
The hope, the miracle that one
day everything will change is
something far-fetched. Only
God knows when the history of
these third world countries can
be changed and written in a
better color.