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The world illustrated by this poem, much like ours, is one where the truth is hidden from the masses, while those who try to unveil it suffer at the hands of those with power.

Having a background in journalism myself, this poem resonated with me through its portrayal of the struggles of journalists and those with related professions. During elementary school, I wrote editorials for our school paper, while I wrote probe articles for my current school just last year. Because of my experience, I have a notion of how more influential journalists feel, and it bears many similarities to what the author of the poem portrayed. I feel frustrated whenever I see people falling victim to lies and disinformation. However, I also feel fear for the repercussions if I do decide to speak out. I am sure that they also feel this kind of fear, but, unlike me, they overcome this fear and strengthen their resolve to act on what they think is right.

Since misinformation and disinformation continue to be rampant to this day, I believe that this poem is still relevant. Even though the person leading the country has changed, people who speak against the government are still immediately met by curses and red-tagging, media workers still die from mysterious circumstances, and those who are powerless continue to be at the mercy of those who do have power.

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Knowledge is power, especially in a democratic country like the Philippines where the masses have the ability to select their own leader. Considering this, those who are or want to be in power will often do whatever it takes to manipulate what the common people have knowledge of, even going as far as taking other human beings' lives.

To say that the Duterte administration is not known for treating its critics very well is an understatement. If not subjected to personal attacks from the president himself, voices of dissent are met with red-tagging and immediately labeled as enemies of the State.

Despite this, however, there are still people who work in mass communication who are willing to preserve and fight for the truth knowing full well that doing so entails endangering their lives.

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1. "You turn on the TV and find nothing"

Since the majority of people consume news and other similar media through their televisions, seeing nothing even when the appliances are switched on can be interpreted as a symbol for silenced or censored media. Essentially, the masses will naturally remain unaware of the truth if they do not have the means of accessing it in the first place.

2.  "Like the static of a broken TV channel bubbling cold... Where all the hurt in the world are distilled into a hum"

Media workers have the duty to report truthful news, regardless of its nature being controversial or incriminating. However, those in power often have the choice to silence these workers and bend the truth to their own liking. As a result, the "hurt in the world", which refers to negative and arguable news, are "distilled into a hum", which means that it is portrayed with lesser importance and attention than it truly warrants.

3. "And when they try to devour us with a hunger so infinite, we will surrender to them only nothing."

Since the persona is a member of one of the persecuted groups of media workers and considering the context of the poem, it can be inferred that "they" refers to the Philippine government, particularly the one led by Duterte. Furthermore, the persona wanted to establish the point that their resolve is not so fickle that they will blindly follow the government, even when the latter is willing to go to great lengths in pursuit of absolute power.

4. "You recount the dead until you fumble over the math" & "The sorry state in which we bleed becomes nothing more than a punctuation, gunpowder and lush red," & "And so you look, if only briefly, at all this expiration, how lucky you are to still be warm and breathing"

However, when media workers do decide to oppose the government, they risk their lives in the process. There have already been countless cases of red-tagging and media censorship in the country. According to the Human Rights Watch, more than 200 journalists and in related professions have been killed since Ferdinand Marcos Sr's reign.

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“Where all the hurt in the world are distilled into a hum”

“You turn on the TV and find nothing, and in the streets, [m]ore nothing.”

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“Staggering from their appointed places in the paper”

“If written words could stutter, is this how they sound?”

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“Headlines looking more and more like obituaries”

“Vibrating like a pulse engine right before it conks out”

“Like the static of a broken TV channel bubbling cold”

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Predominantly visual

“The pitch black swallow of a TV screen flickering off”

“Straight to the front page, bold font, as if to say look!”

“More than a punctuation, gunpowder and lush red,”

“Vibrating like a pulse engine right before it conks out”

“You turn on the TV and find nothing, and in the streets, More nothing.”

Auditory

“Like the static of a broken TV channel bubbling cold”

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The words used were intense and descriptive. Since these characteristics help the poem achieve its goal of conveying strong emotions about a sensitive topic, the audience become more immersed and grounded in the setting of the poem. Additionally, since the author utilized both the 1st and 2nd person point-of-view, the audience will have an easier time internalizing and understanding the persona's perspective.

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The poem evokes a sense of terror and unease due to the gravity of the poem's topic in conjunction with the method by which the author decided to present it.

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Throughout the entirety of the poem, the author maintained a grim and dreadful tone. They repeatedly mentioned motifs of death, nihility, and ignorance. Because the issue is a national concern and has caused the deaths of numerous people, the author decided that it is only appropriate to use a tone that is equally ghastly.

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The poem is narrated from the perspective of a poet who writes "silly little poems about human grief". It can also be inferred that the persona is affiliated with media workers from their use of first person plural pronouns like "we" and "us" while describing the woes of media workers. Additionally, the persona also possesses a strong resolve to defend what they perceive as right, which can be inferred from the last two lines of the poem.

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The poem narrates the experience of the persona while reflecting on the death of countless other people, presumably those whose profession is somewhat aligned to the persona's.

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The poem “Country of Nothings” was written by Alfonso Manalastas in July 2020. It appears in The Kill List Chronicles, which describes itself as “the new protest literature in the time of Duterte.” Through the author’s use of vivid imagery and symbolism, the poem illustrates the deadly state of media censorship in the Philippines under the Duterte administration.