“My wife and I often visit Rosales and the Ilokos as a matter of habit or whim induced by nostalgia, homesickness - whatever draws pilgrims to worshipped sanctuaries. Or, perhaps, what compels moths to seek the votive flame.”

Filipino writer

Francisco Sionil José was a Filipino writer, born in 1924 and died in 2022. He was widely read in English and was named a National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 2001. His novels and short stories examine the social roots of class conflict and colonialism in Filipino society. Written in English, his work was translated into 28 languages, and he was often spoken of as a leading Filipino contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.