The story analyzed, was basically about the drug war here in the Philippines. As we know, ever since Rodrigo Duterte was elected President of the Philippines, he immediately established that his reign will be all about destroying drug addicts. This lead to different murder cases that deals with killings of innocent people. The Fifth Man by Patricia Evangelista was about the police shooting 5 people in the Payatas Village during a Tokhang operation. The story goes how the Police just drove to the 5 people and shot all of them, but the fifth man, Efren Morillo, was able to escape despite the gunshot to his lower chest. He was able to crawl away while the policemen were busy with other things. After a year of recovery, Efren filed a case against the Policemen, who committed direct assault to him and his peers.
The meaning of this story really is about the serious abuse of power by the government on killing people that uses drugs. Ever since the war on drugs started, murder cases of innocent victims rose from the ground. An example besides this story would be the murder Kian Delos Santos. Since The Fifth Man tackles the modern problem of the Philippines today, it makes it 21st Century Literature. The significance of this story to 21st Century Literature is that stories, articles and write-ups are mostly about the state of the country. 21st century Literature is the news in a country. TV shows like “Bente quatro oras” and the TV show of Jessica Soho, these are what 21st Literature is all about. The life stories, experiences and drama of everyone, make up the stories of today, and after, these stories will become stories in movies and TV shows.
