Fil-Am author tackles mail-order brides in first novel 'The Mango Bride'

Judging by the hearty laughter that filled a Malate cafe on Thursday as US-based Filipino author Marivi Soliven read excerpts from her first novel, one would think that "The Mango Bride" is a humorous tale about two Filipina migrants.

Beyond the campy dialog between mail-order Pinays, Soliven's Palanca Award-winning work tackles serious issues confronting Filipino migrants in the US, such as domestic violence, discrimination, and the mail-order bride phenomenon. The book was published by Penguin in the US this year.

In an interview with GMA News Online, Soliven shared that even she continues to be haunted by some of the violent scenes she wrote about marital abuse.

"I actually had a hard time writing [some of the violent] scenes. They were so graphic that I find it really hard to read them until now," she said after the reading at Sev's Cafe.

Although Soliven earlier said she never set out to discuss migration issues when she started writing the novel, she admitted that her own experiences as a Filipino migrant and the stories she heard while working as an interpreter helped shape the narrative she wove about Beverly Obejas and Amparo Guerrero, the tale's two main protagonists.

Soliven said she found it important to include the voices of abused migrant women in her book after hearing countless stories of domestic violence that followed a template: the wife is left helpless after being abused by the husband, who does not give her access to money and threatens her with deportation or further abuse.

"The stories they (abused women) tell are really heartbreaking. Nakakaawa. Hindi nila inakala na magiging miserable yung buhay nila kapag nakapangasawa sila ng foreigner at nakapag-abroad," she said.

As in the case of the novel's Beverly, many Filipina immigrants find their way to the United States as mail-order brides.

US Immigration data shows that the number of marriages between Filipinas and US citizens have doubled to 6,000 annually in the last decade.

Although no data exists on how many of these Filipinas were mail-order brides, there are over 50,000 to 100,000 Filipinas who have signed up as prospective mail order brides on Internet sites that promote such an arrangement, according to a UN report.

As part of her research for the book, Soliven visited sites advertising mail order brides and was shocked at how women were treated as commodities to be picked by foreign men.

"Foreigners usually browse through pictures of the women advertised on mail order bride sites before choosing whom they want to date. There's an icon on the site that says 'add to cart,' and foreigners can 'drop' their prospective brides in that. Pag mas marami silang pinakyaw, mas mura ang babayaran nila," she said.

Although Filipina mail order brides are most often portrayed as desperate gold-diggers in search of a rich husband, Soliven said that some of them marry foreign men because they are in love with them.

"Some of the brides fall in love with the men because the guys put their best foot forward when they come to the Philippines to meet the women. Yung mga dates nila sa mamahaling restaurants at pupunta sila sa mga sosyal na lugar. It's usually only after marriage-- when the couple's already abroad-- that the woman realizes na hindi pala mayaman yung asawa niya at iba pala ang ugali niya," she said.

The novel portrays in both humorous and tragic ways the inequitable class relations that make the Philippines a resiliently feudal society, which is part of the reason many migrate as mail-order brides.

Onion-skinned Pinoys habitually denounce negative portrayals of the country, even if these ring true. Soliven says she considers it more important to tell a good story than making any country – in this case the Philippines – look good.

"As a novelist, my priority is telling a good story. Choosing not to write about [the issue] does not mean the problem is not there," she says. "Novelists are not PR people. It's more important for me to let people know about the issue of human trafficking because although it's already being discussed by women, it's an even more concern for women of color." – VVP/HS, GMA News