Santelmo 2: Deceit, Disinformation, and the Big Lie

On Translation, Power, and the Big Lie

As inflation rises and the peso weakens, SANTELMO 2 meets the moment with clarity and defiance. This second issue opens with a hard-hitting Publisher’s Note confronting the widening gap between official economic indicators and lived hardship, exposing the Big Lie that power often disguises as truth.

At its heart is a Special Focus on Literary Translation, with essays and reflections by Virgilio S. Almario, Merlie Alunan, Alice Sun-Cua, Marne Kilates, and Gene Alcantara. These pieces explore translation not merely as linguistic transposition but as a political, cultural, and even moral act—what some have called a “traitorous” crossing of borders between Filipino, English, Waray, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Spanish, and Russian.

SANTELMO 2 features:

• Essays by Butch Dalisay, Mike Alcazaren, Cecile Baltasar, and others that probe literature, language, and disinformation.
• Poetry by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta, Joel Toledo, Raymond Falgui, Danton Remoto, and more.
• Fiction and Drama, including a short story by Noelle Q. de Jesus, a one-act play excerpt by Luis H. Francia, and a translated piece by Cesar Ruiz Aquino.
• Creative nonfiction on literary myth and memory, and a notable interview with cultural figures Emman Velasco and Noel del Prado.
• Two book launch chronicles and a book review by Joel Pablo Salud.
• Rich pen-and-ink illustrations by architect-poet Cesar Aljama and DengCoy Miel.

With its emphasis on translation and truth-telling amid social and political distortion, SANTELMO 2 is a bold statement against silence and surrender. It is a literary journal that listens to the depths—and dares to speak.