2011 PANAGBENGA FIESTA DAGITI SABSABONG

Teksto ni Isabel Miguel Pasion

Retrato ni Jonathan Vincent Co

SIUDAD TI BAGUIO--Awan duadua a daytoy ti kadakkelan a rambak a naidaton kadagiti sabsabong. Inaganam dagiti pusaksak ken sampaga, okey, sabsabong, a nausar kadagiti 24 a karosa: marapait, rosa, chrysanthemum, statis, baby's breath, anthurium, uong a kasla kadakkel dagiti ansisit. Pattapattaem no mano ti bilang dagiti nausar, saan laeng a kadagiti karosa no di pay dagiti dekorasion ti siudad dekorasion iti panagpaut ti pasken.

Petsa 26 ti Febrero 2011 idi maangay ti parade of floots a nangrugi iti ngatuen ti Session Road. Awan ti itiitan iti agsumbangir a paset ti kalsada.

Iti Kankana-ey a pagsasao dagiti tattao ti Mountain Province ken akin-amianan a paset ti Benguet, panagsantak, panagsampa, panagrusing wenno panagbusel ti kayat a sawen ti panagbenga. Idi 1995 a nainaw ti konsepto ti Panagbenga. Kasano nga agtalinaed pay laeng dagiti turista a kaaduanna nga agdadarisonda iti Kapaskuaan? Ket naipasngay daytoy a konsepto a nagbalin a natibker nga adigi ti industria ti turismo iti Filipinas. Iti daytoy naudi a panagrambak, aganay a 500, 000 ti dimmar-ay a tattao, lokal ken ganggannaet a turista.

Of Pseudo Journalists

Strutting like a wild peacock, a media
Acolyte and a bodyguard at his side
This fakir fakery walks the corridor
Thinking he was entering triumphantly
After his garbage paper made an " expose"
Of imagined venalities of the agency.
(What a pre-homo erectus specie
Irresponsible, no talent entity, parading
His low IQ and his idiocy!)

Suddenly, this slimy creature, masquerading
As a brave member of the Fourth Estate,
Ran down the stairs like a monkey terrified,

The tail between the legs, and sought refuge

In the arms of authority he has despised.

Cried he to the female cop, "They pointed

A gun at me there, they wanted me dead!"

The chief, descending from his sanctum,

Saw him from a distance and said, "It's him,

The quarry in Agoo. Agooyong."*

Indeed, this liar king met his adversary

In that cloudy afternoon in January.

But a convict always bears false testimony

He will remain the unreconstructed impostor

Whose mind is in his anus

Or to be fair and generous

Some brains are scattered in his pig eyes,

Some in his foul mouth forever swilling

His own urine laced with vomit green.

*Iloko pun on Agoo, a La Union town,

which means, "crazy or madman."

THE MILITARY HORSEMEN OF OUR APOCALYPSE

     "Those pointless equations, to which no solutions exists, are called absurdities." (Anagram in The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson). 
     In the country's military aristocracy, the equation involves billions of pesos, generals and their subordinates and their political protectors and loot sharers. Given our collective amnesia, there is no solution to the recovery of the money and the identities of the perpetrators may be classified as absurdities.

LIKE THE ROSE

All rights reserved

the anti-thesis of impermanence:

only the sea? the sky?

the name shall fade away

the facebook lover, too,

the name

a love-song on the lips

of a zsa-zsa padilla look-alike

wasting her last singing breath in a man's bar

in binondo

even the notes--our sorrows,

our pains, our anger--

in the blog

no argument, shue lien, no argument

but where they torch the truth-bearer

it is dangerous to be alive
and be true

to oneself.

The Journalist as Poet Reporting the Violence of our Times

Gamu is a town in the Mallig region in Isabela. It was, at one time, a killing field of criminal gangs and the kakadua, an Iloko euphemism for members of the New People's Army or dissident terrorists, a tag concocted by the military. The violence has ceased somewhat but it's ugly head is alive, ready to ride again as elsewhere in the country, particularly Mindanao. (Muslim Mindanao is a misnomer and should be removed from the books because it would seem that the area is populated exclusively by Muslims. In fact, Mindanao excluding Basilan and Sulu and the other islands is dominated by Christians who comprise 80 percent of the population.)

Are we a violent people? If what we do as reported in the print and broadcast media is a gauge, then we are. A misplaced stare or a song like Frank Sinatra's "My Way" sung off-key by a videoke enthusiast could trigger a killing. An argument between friends could also lead to a fatal duel. Nalakatayo nga agpungtot. Is it in the genes? What went wrong with the structures of the child's socialization process? Has the school failed in its moral goal? Did the church lose its credibility as moral agent because of the sexual misconduct of some of its priests? Has the family abdicated its role in child- rearing?

Or has the economic malaise affected the brains?

Going back to Muslims in Mindanao, who kidnap and behead Christians in Mindanao. Is Islam a violent religion? Why does it promote suicide bombing, as in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas in the Middleast and even London and Madrid? Because, the Koran says so, according to a British imam, who said that every verse in their version of the Bible can be used to justify killings, especially against the infidels or those who are outside their religion. But Jehovah is also a violent deity, always angry, always ordering the execution of sinners, at least in the Old Testament. And why are Buddhists, whose religion (?) is without a God but promulgating moral maxims like those written in tablets and received by Moses at Mount Sinai, generally peaceful persons?

In the following poem, Gamu is not merely a symbol for rural violence but also for urban hate and mayhem. (Warning: Rabii stands for something other than a time of day.) Taken from my anthology, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger " ,it was written ten years or so ago. But because of it's theme, it was as if it was composed yesterday, based on an event (elsewhere) the journalist reported in one of the local papers or radio stations.

Rabii Idiay Gamu

Nairteng man ti lidem-bengbeng
Umang-anges daytoy nga ulimek
Ket iti adayo a pulikkaaw-riaw
Yegna dagiti aligagaw.
Adu, kunada, dagiti ubbong
Ti dara dagiti karayan ti lua
A di ammo ti pagpatinggaanna.
Sipsiputan dagiti anniniwan
Dagiti aggargaraw iti kasipngetan
Ket dagiti darikmat ti kamalala
Dagiti agpagunggan.

Mamedmedan dagiti katawa
Umel-tuleng dagiti sarsarita
Uray ti angin a di makatalna
Agur-uray met iti agsapa.
Ti buteng linengngesna ida
Sinno ti agtured a mangsaranget
Iti bala ti kinadangkokda?
Sinno ti agtured a makikadua
Iti natugkelan iti padeppa?

(Kanayon nga agsawar ti patay
Uray iti aldaw, sumrek lattan
Iti ruangan, saan nga agdayaw.
Pumanaw nga awan aniamanna
Inton maibanagna ti panggepna.)

Ket napuskol daytoy a manto
A maakas laeng no agparintumengda
Inton ikkatenda ti sullat
Dagiti lapayagda inton ray-benda
Ti abbong dagiti matada
inton lapgisenda
Ti punit dagiti ngiwatda
Ket usarenda ti naglati a ngiwatda.




Translating a written work, especially a poem, that, is from language A (Iluko) ti language B (English) is always difficult. Something is always lost since no two languages coincide because of the cultural divide and other nuances. Even if we use, as we did with the above poem, the so-called dynamic process, where the message, not the form/structure of the language, is emphasized, there is always a "failure" in getting the exact message across.

Anyway, can the native get the true meaning of the poem? What is the solution to the mindless violence as suggested by the author ? Can the reader interpret the lines in plain language? Write us and we will gift you with the anthology, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger" from which the poem was lifted.

SAMTOY ELEHIA/ELEGY FOR SAMTOY*

Matimudko koma manen
Ti naumbi a timek daydi apom-tuod iti arasaas
Lamiis dagiti tambak ken dissuor iti bannawag
Idiay Maan-anteng a nagpainganmi idi bimmasak

Ti gubat. Inim-imdenganka ngem diak maripirip
Ti kararua a patneng iti garakgak ken samiweng,
Iti nagayad a buok wenno ti batekan a takiag.

Agnaedka ditoy a taeng, ket malanglang-abdaka
Ngem ganggannaetka, umilika iti sabali a daga.

A, dagiti balikasmo awan ti pakayaspinganda

Kadagiti areng-eng a nangsallukob kenka iti ayat
Idi tagibika ken idi agallilintokka; awan ti dumada
Kadagiti kurarapnit kadagiti gukayab idiay Callao

Iti panagruruarda apaman nga agtinnag ti sipnget--
Riniwriw a kasla alimbasag dagiti arapaap agingga
Nga agpukawda iti law-ang a kas iti panagpukaw
Ti sanger ti basi iti darison dagiti surngi nga ugali

Ken kannawidan iti Lioac; didan aturen ti simbalud
Ta naligsayen dagiti mangipalagip: ti barabad ti ulo,
Ti dung-aw, ti umras, ti kalapaw iti nagkurosan, ay!

Agsaoka, wenno agsaoak iti agpakpakada a kannag.

*Iluko now starting to be marginalized even in the heart of Ilocandia

Bannawag, Enero 28, 2008

NAGSAOAK, NGEM DIKA DIMNGEG/I SPOKE BUT YOU DID'NT LISTEN*

para ken ni virginia

Kastoy ti pakasaritaan: agsaksika
Iti pannakabugaw dagiti pagaw, ikur-itmo
No kasano a nalusak dagiti rosal
Iti kalgaw, ti allilaw-sugat a dida nakita.
Natingra ti dara iti kadaratan, ti angin
Nagsayukmo idi intalawda ti dayawna.
Pito a tawen kalpasan ti panagbasakda
Saan a natay,
Ket dinto mapunas iti Libro,
daydi immay nga elehia, dagidi nagputar
nagrairada iti nasantuan a daga, isuda ti bannuar
ta ti kararua
angrag a let-ang a kas iti Susuan, nakitam,
nasay-upmo ti bang-i. (Nasapaka ngamin
A pimmanaw, dimo naawatan
Ket ti lagip maysa a naulimek a karayan.)
Kasta ti biag a kas iti krokis
Ti daniw iti basikaw a bulan.
Adda dagiti saan nga iyabel,
adda dagiti lipaten--petsa, dung-aw, pungtot,
panaginkukuna, panangliput, panangrames
iti agmatuon--
ta nasken ti iyuuli
iti padeppa
Iti nangatngato a tukad dagiti arapaaptayo
Iti Imnas a kasapulan latta nga imdengan
Uray iti panawen ti panagpagunggan.


*memoria iti basingkawel dagiti mannurat idiay suso idi abril 2005
uray no narugit daydi nga eleksion, ibagbaga ti mannurat a lipaten
dagiti saan a napintas a pampanunot ken rikna a pinarnuayna gapu ta kasapulan
latta a denggen ti Mutia (Imnas) "uray iti panawen ti panagpagunggan."
nairaman iti antolohia dagiti dandaniw nga Ilokano ken Ingles, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger."

Bannawag, Disiembre 12, 2005

Ti Babai Iti Minuyongan/The Woman In The Garden

Ay, ti natinnag nga anghel/Ay, the fallen angel
Lucifer!Lucifer!/Lucifer! Lucifer!

Saan a nabigbig ti minuyongan ti uleg/The garden failed to see the snake
Ken ti naganna--nagawit iti silaw--/And the name--bearer of light--
A bimmalitok-sawiri ti dilana/With the forked golden tongue.

Isut' gapuna a kas iti rabii/That's why like the night
A nagpauyo ti bulan ken dagiti bituen/When the moon and the stars sulked
Wenno ti aldaw a nagtalaw ti init/Or the day the sun went away
Nabengbeng daydi sipnget/ Thick is the darkness
Nga inyegna./ It ushered.

(Ket iballatek ti mannaniw:/And the poet re-echoes:
Ania ngamin ti puso ti minuyongan?/What then is the heart of the garden?
Malasin kadi ti Kayo ti kinapudno/Can the Tree recognize the truth
Tapno makasursuro ti tao?)/ That man might comprehend?

Wen, iti pakasaritaan ti paraiso /Yes, in the paradise story
Ti babai ti simmuko iti derraas/The woman surrendered to the abyss
Idinto a ti lalaki laeng ti nakikamalala /While the man merely kept her
A kas met la idi a kankanayon /Like in the ways of old
Kalpasan ti pannakaikarungugong ti kararuana./After his soul's maelstrom.

Ay, ti natnag ng anghel!/Ay, the fallen angel !
Ay, ti natnag a birhen! /Ay, the fallen virgin!



Bannawag, Nobiembre 12, 2007

DANIW (POEM) FOR THE LITTLE GIRL WHO KILLED HERSELF BECAUSE OF POVERTY

We are recalling to mind a column we wrote in 2007 in a local paper about the little girl who killed herself because of poverty. That incident which caught national attention. happened during the time of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose regime has been described as the most corrupt in the country's history. There was widespread poverty then, as now, while the politicians and their ilk raked in their illegal money. Now, poverty is at an all-time low and a recent research showed that one in four Filipinos, repeat, one in four Filipinos, is living on a dollar a day--that's P45.00 plus or minus two depending on the exchange rate. That was in 2010 fast backward, still during the time of the Little Woman under whose watch his sons Mikey and Dato became rich. Also, in a research conducted by the Social Weather Station, Mike, Gloria's husband, was declared the most untrusted Filipino.

We are writing this in the context of the on-going Senate investigations on military corruption, specifically on Angelo Reyes, who killed himself yesterday because he could not take it anymore. Was it an act of sacrifice to save the Armed Forces of the Philippines or was it to spite a powerful patron who gave him all the privileges and pomp after his retirement?

This was the tragedy of Marianne Amper, then 12, a grade school pupil in Davao City, who killed herself because of poverty. A diary found in her belongings detailed her sad story--she skipped classes, along with her brother, because she had no money for fare and "baon" (the term similar to the case of the P50-million the general received, according to George Robusa, when he retired from the service.)She also had an unsent letter to the host of "Wish Ko Lang", a popular television program. All she wanted in her wish list was a bicycle, a school bag and jobs for her parents

We cried when we read Marianne's story in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, where we used to be a correspondent for the Northern Luzon Bureau.

DENGGEMTO SADI LANGIT TI PANNAKARASAW DAGITI PADAM NGA UBBING

Denggem ti pannakarasaw
dagiti padam nga ubbing iti dayag ti bigat:
Awan arimekmekda,
babassit dagiti angesda
nga agsingsinglot iti pamedpedda nga aglayag
sadi langit idinto a marangawda
iti kagangganusanda.


Makita kadi ida dagiti agpipiapi iti imeng
dagiti marmol a taeng iti laksid dagiti alingasaw,
atibuor ken langsi dagiti kaeskuaterarn,
agraman ti angdod dagiti nagsasaip a karton
naagsaw a kayo ken periodiko
a kobrekama dagiti pagtaktakawanda?

Siasino ngamin ti makaammo kadakuada
Kalpasan ti basingkawel a nagiwarasanda
Iti kaibatogan ti maysa wenno dua nga aldaw
Ti taraon ken lang-ay iti sukmonan
A mangirarem kadakuada iti gayong-gayong
Dagiti ubbaw a namnama ken ararawda?

Ket dagiti nagtawataw iti sidong dagiti dadakkelda?

Awanto, ay, awanto ti makalagip kadakuada
No saan laeng a dagiti inna a mangunorto
Kadagiti basura a namurumoran iti igges,
Kadagiti kalsada a rugarrugak a nakapasaganda
A nakidangadang piman a situtured
Kadagiti saem ken damsak ti biag
Iti ina a daga.

Denggem ti pannakarasaw daiti padam nga ubbing
Awan arimekmekda nga agsagsagana iti ipupusayda.

Marianne's death came at a time of unabated killings in the country including the Batasan blast that killed four people including Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar, the founder of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf that sowed, and still sowing terror, in violent Mindanao.


naipablaak iti bannawag ken dadduma pay nga aglinawas a pagiwarnak iti amianan idi noviembre 2007

to be completed

DAGIDI II

Sabali daydi nga urnos:
Ti bullalayao maibaskag iti agmatuon,
Agtubo ti rosal kalpasan
Ti arbis iti kapanagan, dagiti kali
Agtaytayabda kadagiti sanga
Iti igid ti karayan, al-allilangagenda
Dagiti pisaw-pisaw, dagiti kawwetda
Daradara iti nalabon nga apitda.

(Lamolamo pay la ti danum, timbeng
Ti makapuor a kapanagan.)

Adda dagidi nagdakiwas a nangsindi
Iti apuy kadagiti naangrag a ruruot
Iti rimmuong dagiti nalayog a sagat
Kadagiti patad ti Sierra. Naginnunakami
A nangbugaw kadagiti pagaw tapno mariing
Dagiti matmaturog iti kalapaw, nagtabbaawkami
Ngem nagtalinaed dagiti timekmi iti angin.
Asino ti makalagip kadagiti rupada
A kalanglangami uray sabali ti sao ken tebbagda?
Nagpukawkami met a kas kadakuada iti kabakiran
Dagiti arapaapmi a maisupadi iti sinurotda a dana.

Nagpaingan dagiti pagaw wenno napasagda met
Kadagiti ranget idiay San Mariano?
Wenno naungawda idiay Balbalasang ken Santa Marcela
Nga adu ti padeppa nga awan naganna?

Nabuddak man dagiti paddak
Nga agturong iti naraber a bakras
Ket addaka sadiay, Kabsat,
Nga agnanayon nga agur-uray iti ubing a bulan.

Apay a saan a nagsubli dagiti kali idiay Padsan?
Wenno idiay Santa Maria ken Darayday?
Adda laeng dagiti makatitileng nga ulimek.

Ket naliday latta dagiti timekmi iti angin.

Nagturongan ngamin dagiti baresbes?
Ayan dagiti dissuor ken perroka?

Imbes ng agkaemka, Sugat, agpadaraka, ket itag-aymo
Manen ti gemgemmo kadagiti nangiliktad iti agdan.
Dagidi rinaraemtayo iti adu a basingkawel
Naikkat dagiti abbongda: agnunnunog dagiti mortal
a sakada kadagiti inigges a tarigagayda.

Wen, agpadaraka, Sugat, ket lagipem ti dayag
Ti agsapa idiay Maan-anteng, uray idiay Pinsal.
Kurengrengem ti kutibeng ket sangitam dagiti dallang
Iti kannag.

Ay, dagiti dallang, awandan!
Ay, dagiti daan a samiweng nagrupsadan
Iti tirtiris dagiti didiosen a kinideman
Ti langit.

NO APAY A DIKA SINUNGBATAN

para ken ni V


Kimmalay-atak iti bantay
Tapno lagipek dagiti bambanti iti sardam
Kimmalay-atak iti sagumaymay
Dagiti tarumpingay
Tapno lagipek dagiti adu a pannakapaay
Ken dagiti litania dagiti balikasmo
A pimmusay apaman nga inda naipasngay!

Dagiti balikas, ay, dagiti balikas!
Natademda ngem anian ta nagrupsada
A nangtirtiris iti naamo a rupa.
Ket naminribu a napasagak iti ammiris
Ken alimbasag iti parbangon--

Diakton sarungkaran dagiti kayanga
Wenno kitaen dagiti maris ti malem.

Diakton ukagen dagiti balemben
Wenno pasgedan ti dapo ti temtem
Ket sapulek manen ti pagaw
a pimmanaw sadiay Darayday.

(Anansata, uray isuda nga agkari iti bulan
Masimbalud met dagiti dilada iti basingkawel
Ket ang-angaw dagiti arapaapda kadagiti lingka
ti daga.)

Kimmalay-atak iti bantay
Tapno lagipek dagiti bambanti iti sardam.
Kimmalay-atak iti sagumaymayko
Tapno maagasanak iti pungtot
ken adu a sugatko.

naipablaak iti bannawag, maysa kadagiti daniw a nairaman iti "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger," an English-Ilokano poetry anthology by Peter La. Julian, launched in May 2016 in Currimao, Ilocos Norte during an Ilokano international conference.

THE NAME

has descended into the canyons
of memories?
will the void be filled?
it left without bidding adieu,
"it" that inspired a poem
praised by the literary icon?








a name like a rose is a name
it is a rose with sweet fragrance
stalking the creative room