Among all the genres and subgenres of speculative fiction, Science Fiction is supposedly the most Western in thought and story. Any Filipino tale about the future, technology, and science might be a slavish copy of the form rather than a vehicle for thought on what makes us Filipinos. But I disagree: among the three genres, Science Fiction is actually the best genre to appropriate in order to talk about our own history. If a type of writing like Science Fiction could be used to deliver the Western World’s message and culture, why not subvert the trend and adopt Science Fiction for our own purpose? It’s similar to how our own people have managed to make themselves an integral part of the world’s informal service industry. Yes, we are domestic workers, nannies, drivers of the world. But we are also the people the world misses when we are gone. For example, we are the ones who teach the world’s children, from our homegrown values to our ubiquitous swear words.
