— were holding a "storytelling session". The exchange of stories is the bridge that fills the gap between the two people's past and present. Characters The Filipinos Among the principal characters of the novel is Meynard Aguinaldo, a Filipino graduate student who became a scholar and historian. The other Filipino characters in Voyeurs & Savages were given "bloodlines" or ties to important Filipino heroes. Apart from Meynard Aguinaldo, the other Filipino characters Armando Aguinaldo (also known as Lolo Mando, meaning "Grandfather Mando"), Lakay Tomlo (also known by his Christian name Antonio), Wilson Cangbay, and Carlos. Meynard is the grandnephew of General Emilio Aguinaldo, the first and only president of the First Republic of the Philippines. Lakay Tomlo is the chieftain of the Kankanai people. Wilson Cangbay is a Mountain Province tour guide. Carlos, although a "hulking" or big and well-muscled homosexual, is the bodyguard to Armando Aguinaldo, a businessman, con artist, beach resort owner, pimp, and voyeur (at his beach resort known as New Wave, Armando actually peeps through two-way mirrors while guests are at their most private and intimate moments, such as the act of making love to each other, thus violating the privacy of his clients and visitors). The Americans The American characters include Cornelius James and Rowena. Cornelius James is a researcher and member of the team from the United States who selected the "Filipino specimens" from the Mountain Province for the St. Louis exhibit. Rowena is Cornelius James' granddaughter. Literary technique In the novel, Yuzon used the technique of placing the past and the present alongside each other as a form of recollection, a commentary of both the past and the present that overlaps and intersects as the narrative progresses. Through Voyeurs & Savages, Yuzon was able to reveal that people — whether dominator or subordinator — likes to watch, and both live to watch other people. Yuzon succeeded in utilizing the "voyeuristic impulse" of human beings to "sustain interest and develop the narrative" for his novel. Yuzon's "random recall" or "haphazard recollection and narration" of the "revolutionary dreams" and hopes of the Filipinos during the latter part of the 19th century, and the Philippines' "leap of faith" to the present was able to produce an absorbing and non-linear way of narration that creates the repeating question of "who are savaging whom?" among the characters — whether Filipino or American — in Voyeurs & Savages. See