Hatol ng Panahon (The Judgment of Time‪)‬

Following the fate of Limbas the head bandit's child from Miminsan Akong Umibig, Valeriano Hernandez-Peña offers another portrait of poverty, wealth, innocence and love in the novel Hatol ng Panahon. As a tabakera who works in a tobacco factory, Ana earns barely enough to keep her sick father alive. One day, the bachelor Doctor Manikis, prescribes a medicine that she can no longer afford. Ana approaches her employer Doña Mantang for help, but the factory owner refuses to lend the girl more money as she had done before. Ana then goes to Dr. Manikis' house to borrow the money she needs, offering the doctor—who, unbeknownst to her, is in love with her—to be his servant in return. While waiting for Manikis, Tintoy, the doctor's neighbor, sees Ana and also falls in love with her. But will she find love in him? As the title suggests, only time will tell whose heart—and which fate—is meant for whom.