Quarantine Reads: Patron Saints of Nothing

Jayson “Jay” Reguero has planned to spend the last semester of his senior year of high school playing video games with one of his closest friends, Seth, before heading to the University of Michigan.

All of that changed when he discovered that his cousin, Jun, was killed in the president’s war on drugs. When nobody wanted to talk about it, he decided to search for answers online. Although he wasn’t able to find anything about Jun, he found articles, videos, and social media posts that helped him understand a little bit about the war on drugs. The photos definitely hit him the hardest; there were pictures of the victim’s family members clutching their lifeless bodies. In every dead body, Jay noted that he saw Jun, and how he thought that his death, just like others, was tallied as an ‘improvement of society.’

Unable to shake off his desire to find out the real story, Jay traveled to the Philippines.

At the start, we see Grace, Jun’s sister, as the ‘obedient’ daughter. She was always used as an example for Angel, her younger sister because she was very hardworking with her academics and followed their father’s orders without question. Meanwhile, Tito Maning, Jun’s father, was seen as the ‘bad guy’ to Jay. He was very controlling, being a high-ranking police officer, he had the most information about Jun’s death. Jay thought that he ordered his men to find and shoot him. However, whenever he confronted Tito Maning, he would remind him that the Philippines is not his country. Because he cannot speak the language, he doesn’t know the culture and hasn’t lived there long enough to understand or have an opinion on the current drug war.

Jay initially saw this as a step back in his quest to uncover the truth, but he did not falter.

Jay found out through the help of his newfound friend, Mia, that Jun tried to help those who were suffering from drug addiction. He supported and lived with Reyna, a victim of human trafficking, and he tried to fight against the current administration in his way by creating an account that exposes the unjust actions of the administration and how they mistreated the Filipinos, especially the poor. From this, Jay thought that Jun was wrongly accused of taking drugs – that he was shot without sufficient evidence and didn’t do anything wrong.

As Jay continues to learn more about Jun’s death, we realize that people are not one-sided, and the plot is not as simple as we thought. Grace did not follow all of Tito Maning’s orders. Even though she was the daughter of a high-ranking police officer, she continued to run the account that Jun made to honor what he has been fighting for when he was still alive and to make a stand against the administration that her father is loyal to.

She met up with Jun from time to time, despite her father being against it. She even confronted her father along with Jay, and eventually, Tito Danillo about Jun’s death.

She finally had enough courage to stand her ground and do what she felt was right.

Tito Maning was not so bad after all. Despite what Jay and Grace thought, he tried to save Jun and take him off the list of suspected drug addicts. He even kept a close eye on him to check his whereabouts. In the end, he also participated in Jun’s memorial.

As for Jun, Grace and Jay found out that he was indeed taking drugs. He became dependent on it and has resorted to selling it to fuel his addiction. However, they did not let that change their view of Jun. They still saw him as someone brave, sincere, and intelligent. They understood that Jun had this darkness inside of him; he was misunderstood, and everything that happened in his life made him reach that point.

Finally, we see that Jay had the most significant character development of them all. Even though Jay cannot speak the language or know much about their history or culture – he felt like he truly belonged in the Philippines.

He saw it as his home, a place where he felt relaxed and comfortable. After his trip to the Philippines, he finally had an idea of what he wanted to do after high school – he wanted to live in the Philippines for a year to discover more about himself and the place that he calls home.

When you’re in the mood for something relevant to read with lessons to learn from, read Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay to follow an empowering coming of age story about grief, remorse, and the risks that Jay took to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder. No wonder it is one of the ten books shortlisted in the National Book Awards (NBA) 2019 for Young People’s Literature. Promise, you won’t regret it.