T. GABRIEL TUGADE

The first research-based Ilokano novel

Terry Gabriel Tugade, originally from Marcos, Ilocos Norte, was one of the Coromina boys, a group of young Ilokano writers who rented the upper room of a rundown house along Coromina street in Quiapo, and made writing for the Bannawag a sort of livelihood to keep "body and soul" together in Manila. The group included Lorenzo G. Tabin and his brother Herman, Prescy N. Bermudez, Genaro Sumaoang, Jaime Luzano, now the famous broadcaster Lolo Doro of Bombo Radyo Baguio) ;Benjamin Chua, Constante Domingo, and Peter La. Julian. They were the most productive mannurat in their time, churning out novels, short stories, poems, features in that room with a view of other rooms in the neighborhood, as they pecked away the night in their typewriters. Terry, now US-based like Tante, Loring, Herman and Ben, authored "Puraw a Balitok", a story of an Ilokano adventurer in the wilds of Alaska, the first research-based Ilokano novel. Terry is the founding father of TMI-Globl of which Timpuyog dagiti Mannurat iti Iluko iti Filipinas is a member.

AWISENMI DAGITI PAST WINNERS TI TUGADE LITERARY AWARDS

     Kadagiti past winners ti Tugade Iluko Literary Awards:

     Awisendakayo a dumar-ay iti pasken a pakapadayawan dagiti nangabak iti 4th Tugade Iluko Literary Awards a maangay iti Ashley Function Hall idiay Marcos, Ilocos Norte inton Septiembre 29, 2012. 

     Mairaman ditoyen dagiti naghurhurado iti TILA ken dagiti kameng ti Bannawag a nakaipabpablaakan dagiti nangabak a sarita.
     Nangruna nga awisenmi ti imatang ni Fe Malucay iti Mankayan, Benguet ken dagiti kakabagian daydi Dios-ti-aluadna a Claire Sumahit ti Baguio. Umaykayto koma iti awarding program.
     Ken amin a mannurat nga Ilokano.
     Kontakenyo koma ti andrewlab2011@hotmail.com wenno frapmac_era@yahoo.com

Was it $600 or $1000? Whatever the amount, it was the gunglo's money. And what happened to the P40,000?

Photo 3: Books authored respectively by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Herdy La. Yumul of the Mariano Marcos State University at Batac. Herdy's book,  The He(a)rd Mentality, now on its second printing, can be purchased at N. Corpuz in Laoag City and Robinson's San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte. For Apo Ariel's English-Ilokano Dictionary, please contact Junley Lazaga at the University of the Philippines Baguio.

Was it $600 that the California donor gave to the organization? Or was it $1000 as alleged by a former staffer of the Bannawag? Julio Belmes, architect of the patta, said, "Birds of the same feather flock together."

LA SALETTE HIGH SCHOOL BATCH 62 GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

It was the first Golden Anniversary that was marked in the 72 year existence of the high school run by the La Salette Fathers in Santiago, Isabela. The small acacia tree in the parade grounds has grown tall, their branches now provide a wide shade, according to one of them who also recalled that Santiago City was then a sleepy town.  They came from Palawan, Ilocos Norte, (my townmate Marshall Cruz who owns Namnama Trading housed in a 3-story building along Bacarra Road)  Guimba, Nueva Ecija, The US Mainland, Canada. There were 120 graduates then, 20 have died, 60 have come for their golden anniversary. That shows how close and connected you are to each other, said Fr. Frank Picio, president of La Salette University,  who celebrated the morning mass at the high school chapel.One of the advisers, Sister Esrtrella Ner, was also there, still sprightly at 76.

"WE KEEP MEMORIES" (2)

 LETTER FROM THE GARBAGE OF MEMORY

Date:  Mon, 23 May 20 2005  16:44:02-0700 (PDT)
From: "Ariel Tabag"
Subject: Re: Kuarta a tinagamtam ni DSB
To:          "Peter La Julian"

nagpatpatangkami ken ni mang angel manong ket kinunana

a saan a naiggaman ni mang daniel ti 600 dollars.
indiretso ti donor ken ni apo dsb. inturturedna
(daniel) nga insurat iti financial statement, kas
pammagbaga dagiti kakadua ditoy. uray ti philip morris
ni teddy, saan nga ammo dayta ti kaaduan.
ngem siempre agparang nga agparang ti total a
simrek iti gf ta adda ken ni daniel ti libreto. ngem
innala ni teddy ti 40,000. ti allowed nga agpirma iti
bankbook ket da manang eden ken manong rey duque.
kunkuna ngarud ni mang angel nga imbag ta
nakita/nasiim ni mang daniel ket naibagana kenkuana
(angel). naminsan a miting ti gf, immatendar ni mang
angel ket kinuestionna daytoy, imbaga ni teddy a
mangaramid iti reportna iti philip morris project nga
awan met a nakitatayo iti convention.

regarding npc matter, bay-am ta agpalutpotak pay. 

Questions:

1.Was the $600 returned to the organization?
2. What is "tinagamtam?" Did dsb use it? 
3. RC texted me then that the $600 was actually $1000? 

"WE KEEP MEMORIES

Add caption

Relatives of my daughter-in-law and best man Emmanuel Cudia (in front, right holding a child) pose for a picture in a post celebration of Christoffer's marriage to Christine June Baui in Tuguegarao last December. Photo below shows an Ilokano boy as he paddles his banca across the Magat River, the main artery of the Magat River Irrigation System in Aguinaldo, Ramon, Isabela. In the background is the spillway of MARIS, the country's biggest irrigation system and hydro-electric plant.

THE VILLAGE GIRL WHO KILLED HERSELF: QUESTIONS ABOUT FAITH AND GOD AS CREATOR AND TAKER OF LIFE

A GIRL'S WATERY DEATH. THE main canal of the Magat River Irrigation System that originates in Aguinaldo, Ramon, Isabela. It is further down the canal that a 21-year old girl , jilted by her Laguna  lover for her best friend,  jumped to her death on  Sunday night  From her village of Ambatali, her body was carried away by the cold waters  to several irrigation drops, crossed several bridges, passed below a highway in Santiago City then to a siphon structure in a river below a bridge in Cabulay village, passed another village until  Malapat in Cordon town, 18 kilometers away, where farmers found it floating on the irrigation waters. Text and photo by Peter La. Julian

Who gave her authority to kill herself? Isn't God in her who would have told her that what she was planning to do to herself  was wrong, and that He alone is the taker of life?/ A member of an Ilokano writing group ponders questions on faith and the mystery of the human condition in an article in a forthcoming issue of Timpuyog Journal.

WAR IS NOT KIND, ARCHIBALD

We heard the chug-chug-chug of the big bird up in the air.  As it circled the military camp for a landing at a grassy clearing near the tennis court,  young girls and young boys and some male grown-ups materialized from the nearby houses and raced forward looking up. In this capital town, a helicopter arriving from its base somewhere in the regional capital signifies an encounter between soldiers and insurgents (the military tags them as communist terrorists) and that there are casualties on the government side. As it landed, dust, fanned by the machine's blades, whirled like a baby tornado slowly settled down as the young pilots in blue uniform emerged from the helicopter.  After a few minutes, it took off again with eight soldiers in full battle gear and some provisions. The scene recreated for us the sorrows and pain of the Vietnam War almost half a century ago. But instead of Americans pursuing and hunting and killing little Oriental men with slit eyes, it is Filipinos stalking their own kind with the same relentlessness and barbarism of men of war. And the protagonists are young people, the other side pursuing an ideology they may not understand or comprehend. Thousands have died in the struggle that knows no end. Such war has stymied development in the countryside, especially. What a waste in resources and manpower, not to say time. Suddenly, as soon as the chopper disappeared in the sky, the heavens darkened and the rains came and fell in torrents. But it soon stopped. The downpour drenched the ground and filled the potholes in the clearing where the chopper had landed. In less than an hour, the chopper was back with its human cargo--the dead and the wounded of an 8-men patrol team that had been ambushed by the adversary in the far mountains to the north. The soldiers in full battle gear were left behind to track down the enemy.Soldiers and civilians alike milled around the big black chopper as the dead and wounded were unloaded in silence. The critically wounded were transferred to waiting funeral cars and whisked away to the local hospital. They would be flown the next day to a military hospital in Manila. The dead touched us as much as the survivors who would not know what await them when doctors try to remove the bullets imbedded in their bodies. For them who did not see the sun the following day, their problems had ended but for their respective families, their ordeal has just begun. The two fatalities were comparatively young. One was a new recruit. He had just completed his military training in Nueva Ecija and was deployed to the province a couple of days earlier when death came like a thief in the night. The other soldier, an Igorot, the lead scout of the ill-fated patrol group was equally young but probably a little bit older and more experienced in combat than his comrade. One of his eyes was covered with gauze and we learned later that the enemy had gouged it out. Life was still in him then but he had other wounds and the coup de grace could have been less painful. When he was carried away on a stretcher, we saw the watery blood on the buri mat on which his body has been wrapped. So this is the face of war: two young men sleeping peacefully forever, their bodies punctured by armalite bullets; two beautiful and robust specimens of manhood meeting their bloody end in a strange terrain far from their home. Their loved ones will shed tears when they receive the bad news and their agony shall be deep and terrible. War is not kind, Archibald MacLeish.

"WE KEEP MEMORIES (3)"

Yes, we keep memories. On the gunglo's president keeping the $600 given to the organization by a California donor, you confirmed it in an email message in 2005. So that "thing" was a well-known secret among you, "ket inturtured laeng ni Daniel nga insurat iti GF financial report?" It's all water under the bridge now, but I hope the money was returned to the organization.That's the writers' money.

Hey, that's more than P31,000 at the current dollar rate. More than enough to pay for the printing of three (3) issues, colored cover,

of Timpuyog Journal. Ditto for your newsletter Balikas, if you have resumed printing it. Can you say something about the moral orientation of the dollar-keeper? In the first place, he did not inform anybody of the organization that Dr. Pete Alupay has given dollars to the organization? 

Photo captions: Hawaii TMI member Naty Cacho before a framed photo of ace TMIF photographer Dr. Edwin Antonio and the banga monument at the rotunda of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, where the 3rd TMI-Global International Iluko Literary Conference was held.The vanishing kayanga of childhood. (Middle Photo)

"WE KEEP MEMORIES" (2)

     It was their way of saying the Iluko literary world should be without fence. It was a friendship gesture. They even distributed copies of the journal. It has nothing to do with "honesty and integrity".

     Did you ban us from writing in the Iluko weekly ? The first to be banned was Julio Belmes, the architect of the writers' house when he wrote something about the patta, now the symbol of the failed dreams of Ilokano writers. Belmes, now an OFW in Papua, New Guinea, is a no-nonsense writer from Abra.  
     What happened to your letter, Prescy, to Judge Vivencio Baclig, GF president, regarding the "dugol" of the Ilokano writing group?
     There was this donation of a then successful medical practitioner in the US West Coast, from Bangui, Ilocos Norte. Some $600 was in the hands of the president of the gunglo. Eliseo Contilio sent a message informing the blogger that Dr. Pete Alupay sent $1000. Elinor, the wife of Pete, said it was more than that amount. We were in their sprawling house in West Riverside, California at that time as Pete sent tickets for us to spend part of the Christmas season there. We were then in Amarilio, Texas, staying with the family of our son Anib-Israel. Vhen Bautista, the Ilokano singer, who was working at Pete's clinic, met us in his car at the Orlando airport.

     Pete was a medical surgeon of the NPA, yes, the New People's Army operating in Northern Luzon. Eleanor his wife--she is an Arda, a relative of the golfer Ben Arda- and Pete himself, confirmed the exact amount of dollars he gave to the gunglo. 

"WE KEEP MEMORIES'

We keep memories especially of those we hold in high esteem. Like Ariel S. Tabag, staffer of a weekly Iluko magazine, who wrote a poem for or was it dedicated to Peter La. Julian? He is on the other side of the Iluko Literary world, which is, I believe, should be without fence. In his letter of memory, Ariel identifies PLJ thus: *Maysa iti pito a nangipatarus iti Nasantuan a Biblia iti Iluko, bangolan a mannaniw, nobelista, mannarita, mannalaysay, ;periodista iti Iluko ken Ingles..

THREE POEMS NEEDED IN LACAR POETRY CONTEST

This is to remind those participating in the Severino and Eufemia Lacar Commemorative Iluko Poetry Award : three poems of at least 21 lines each are needed in the Iluko daniw competition. You can submit three poems at one time or you can send in a poem followed by another until the set is completed. The Timpuyog Journal will publish the poems as they are submitted. If we receive a poem, say on July 15 or 17, we shall publish it in the next issue. Entries not published within the period will be qualified for the award. There is no need for pen names. Write your true name in the manuscript. Last month for the submission of entries will be in February 2013. Awarding of the winning poems will be in May 2013. Please read the rules in the June 15, 2012 issue of Timpuyog Journal.

WHY THE BLOGGER PRINTED ARIEL'S POEM

"Dios-ti-agngina, Apo Mannaniw" is not the title of the poem authored by Ariel S. Tabag. It was the blogger's expression of gratitude for Ariel for his sort of documentary poesy during the time when the writers were all members of Gumil Filipinas, the national association of Ilokano writers. Many things have happened since he wrote the poem that could have been his kind of blog. The association has long been divided but deep in my heart, I know that Ariel and I are still on the side of truth. Incidentally, he mentioned the blogger's name thrice in the poem, which could indicate a kind of admiration to the blogger--this the blogger would like to believe. But, of course, poetry has many levels of interpretation.

LETTER FROM THE GARBAGE OF MEMORY(4)

DIOS- TI-AGNGINA, APO MANNANIW No basaek ni Peter La. Julian: sipatek/ti muging a makalagip a nagkulagsit/ti dilak iti pait ti ostia iti panangmulmulagatko/iti siding iti timid ti padi (kaing-ingasna/ti galante a sangkaestoria ni JP, gayyemko/nga aldaw no maturog); iwekwekko ti lapis/iti sinipet a 'CCC'* a makapanunot no ania/ti nakem ti Dios tunggal agbayakabak/sa layusenna ti Metro Manila bayat ti panagtikag/ ti Negros ken Samar: agallangogang ti diskurso/ ti babai a nagindidi sa nagbabawi; kunesek ti papel no mabuybuyak pay laeng/ ti panangrasaw ti pastor iti pastor met laeng/a nangitalaw ti arapaap ti adalanna/sa agtilmonak iti sukog ti starlet/a nangipukkaw: 'Stop the war, not peace!/ Ay.../ No kuan ngaretngetek ti nagdawadaw/ kuko ti pattugangan: mailiwak sa/nga agsikkawil ken agsagawisiw iti bukot/ni Sawak sa, no kua, abogek dagiti billit-tuleng/a mangtaktak iti panagkanabsuorko/a lamolamo iti alikuno ti alinuno./No basaek manen ni Peter La. Julian:/itangguapko ti ingel ti tasa sa agrupangetak/(aggarikgik ti saltek a nakaipadigo/manen ti rugit) a makaammiris/a natalingengen ti nakem a kadinnanggil/ni Michelle a mangperreng iti maris ti malem/iti aplaya ti Tallag wenno kabisilan ti pateng/ngem ti agdaniw a kas Peter La. Julian.../Ariel S. Tabag

The Comedy King Is Dead But He Lives Forever

I first saw him as a young man in brown polo during my freshmen year at the State University. He was called Rodolfo Quizon without the moniker Dolphy. Regularly built, he then sported that thin mustache that undoubtedly attracted the ladies. The place was on the grounds in front of the UP administration building near the Oblation. They were shooting a movie, and he was laughing, his Chinese eyes closing. Little did I know that he would become the country's number one comedian. A funny, ladies' man, indeed. His spirit was willing, but the flesh is always weak. They say that the spirit is energy, deathless, and indestructible. If that spirit did not immediately leave the body yet (July 12), a close friend at home can feel his presence, hear his voice calling to him, announcing his departure from the world of the living. There are other worlds near us or about us. Eventually, that spirit will lodge in a man or woman--Dolphy did not die.

Photos: Image on the ceiling of a Tuguegarao Catholic church, where my son Christoffer married her Canada-based Ibanag maiden last December .

LAOAG CITY VICE-MAYOR EDWARD DOMINGO NEWEST SUBSCRIBER OF TIMPUYOG JOURNAL

Laoag City Vice-Mayor Edward Domingo is the newest subscriber of Timpuyog Journal, the official publication of Timpuyog dagiti Mannurat iti Iluko iti Filipinas. He was a gangling fellow in our high school days and we called him Ichabod Crane, one of the characters of Silas Marner that we discussed in literature class. Eddie has bulked--he goes to his private gym twice a week lifting weights. It was our second meeting yesterday at the City Hall, a Spanish building at the foot of the northern portion of Gilbert bridge crossing the River Padsan. "We are some of the "survivors" of that class," he said in Ilokano as he enumerated those who have crossed the Great Divide: Judith Pascual, Juan Rebolledo, Jr., Artemio Agustin, who was an engineer; Alberto Maneja, a lawyer who became a judge; Francisco Arriola--"he could have been the NPA cadre who rose from the ranks and got killed in an encounter with the military in Isabela, where there is a Francisco Arriola Command"--; Allan Estabillo, Eddie Arzadon, father of Cristina, a correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Simplicio "Impling" de la Cruz, the class' basketball player and others I could not recall at the moment. Eddie will seek the same position, his last term, next year. He said that the wife of City Mayor Michael V. Farinas will replace her husband as the city executive in 2013. "Pagsusublatan laeng ti familia ti takem," he said. "Dinastia ngarud," I said. We had a good laugh. Eddie, a sports buff, has practically lost all his upper teeth. He was not wearing dentures. When we parted, he gave me a keepsake, a powerful rechargeable China-made flashlight. Dios-ti-agngina, Apo Eddie, the best mayor Laoag City never had.

Photos of a stretch of Rizal street in Laoag and the unsinkable calesa

THE ROOTS OF THE CONFLICT AMONG ILOKANO WRITERS

What is the nature of the conflict? Can you define it? All we know is that the roots go deep into the moral souls of the Saluyot writers. Nothing more, nothing less. Nobody is bragging that by separating from the mainstream, we are developing our own kind of Literatura Ilokana. You should know what is Litsaluyot. It's all there. You mine it. It's rich. Look for the veins. It has nothing to do with developing it from the perspective of the native practitioners. You dig the roots of the conflict in Suso. Go to Suso. Go to your abandoned patta. The late Apo Godo rued about it. The late Arturo Padua, he who led us to the Ceremonial Hall of Malacanang, where we took our oath of office before President Marcos, was very, very sad about about it--he wanted changes. Our efforts in helping Ilokano writers may be miniscule. But we are sponsoring literary contests--we will have two (2) this year-- all for the sake of the language and young writers who may or may not know the perfidies committed against them by their fellow writers. Yes, we are old fogies. Ngem bumaket/lumakay met amin a tattao. Lumakay met ti lubong nga agrakrakayan gapu iti kinaagum ti tao.

P10,000 NOT P5,000 FOR FE'S SHORT STORY "KANIAW"

Apolohia for Fe Malucay, the store owner and former teacher from Cada, Mankayan, Benguet who won third prize in the 4th Tugade Literary Awards. Instead of P5,000 as previously announced here, she actually bagged P10,000 for her story "Kaniaw". There was a misreading of the press release prepared by Roy Aragon, coordinator of the LTA. We had made a pitch that we would be giving some privilege to Fe, but the amount is more than enough for her transportation fares from her village to Marcos, an inland town of Ilocos Norte. Sorry, Terry. All we wanted is for Fe to get intact that P5,000. Ta mano koma met laeng ti yawidno no isu pay ti aggasto iti pamasahena--no daydiay a gatad ti pudno a premiona? Incidentally, all Ilokano writers should be grateful for Terry for sponsoring for what could have been an annual Iluko literary contest. But we are working on him to continue the Ilokano literary project-- for the sake of the emerging Iluko writers.

FE IS JUST A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT AWAY

We were determined to play the detective looking for FE MALUCAY, that is, through her name and her exciting literary adventure, "Kaniaw," and through our Baguio contacts like former Bannawag nobelista ("Balay ti Katawa") Jaime Luzano, the Bombo Radyo broadcaster who goes by the moniker "Lolo Doro". (Of course, we could simply ask Roy Aragon, chair of the board of judges, or staffers of the Iluko weekly, where her winning short story was published, for her address.) But here comes the emerging Iluko writer Herdy La Yumul, one of the country's top bloggers, galloping like a Shining Knight with the Shining Armor astride his beloved horse and dropping the baby Fe Malucay at our feet. Muchas gracias, Dios-ti-agngina, agyamankami, Herdy, for the information. Fe graduated from the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic College and was a substitute teacher in Cada Primary School in Mankayan, Benguet. She was still a kid when we, as a government media person, paid a visit to the former mining town. It appears she is now a store owner in the village. Fe, please come to the awarding program on September 29 in Marcos, Ilocos Norte and receive your cash prize of P10,000 and certificate of writing excellence. Bendisionannaka koma ti Apo a Mannakabalin-Amin.

FE, WHERE ARE YOU?

I never read in Bannawag your 'KANIAW' that won P5,000 (third prize) in the 4th Tugade Literary Awards, but I know that term, having been assigned in the mountain provinces as a government functionary in the 1980s. I was information manager based in Baguio, and Michael Bengwayan, Reader's Digest's Environmentalist of the Year, was one of my staffers. When did I attend the ceremony (Canao) hosted by a kadangyan

in Samoki? Or was it in Karao or Ampusongan? The late Representative Luis Hora (slow-by-slow fame) hosted one in Guisad (Baguio) in his sprawling house across the street from the house of a Villanueva (my landlady then was an Ibanag from Tuguegarao City) where I was boarding at that time. The ritual

must have lasted for three days. I know some native surnames in the Cordillera, but sad to say, Malucay is not one of them.

ALL PHOTOS RECORDED FROM THE ANNUAL PANAGBENGA FESTIVAL IN BAGUIO

Veteran Ilokano Writer To Participate in Iluko Poetry Contest

Veteran Ilokano writer Hermenegildo Viloria has expressed his desire to participate in the Severino and Eufemia Lacar Commemorative Iluko Poetry Contest, which was launched last May at the Convention Hall of the Philippine Ports Authority in San Fernando City. Hermie, a native of Vigan City, is not computer-savvy and will submit his entries typed from his old reliable Remington. We encourage submission of entries in hard copies--send them to Peter La. Julian, 23 National Highway, Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela. Hermie and Manuel S. Diaz are the only Ilokano writers I know who have not yet succumbed to modern gadgets and wonders of the Internet. Diaz, a retired government information man, has written an article about Carlos Bulosan, an Ilokano who made a name for himself in American letter. The story is published in the Hunio 30, 2012 issue of Timpuyog Journal. Diaz, who resides in Nagsaag, San Manuel, Pangasinan, submitted his article in hard copy and we had to encode it.

FE MALUCAY, WHERE ARE YOU?

Ms. Fe Malucay whose short story, "Kaniaw," won third prize in the 4th Tugade Literary Awards, has yet to surface and contact us (frapmac_era@yahoo. com and andrewlab2011@hotmail.com.) Her fiction about a mountain ritual could give a clue to her identity and native origin. Is she from Baguio or from any of those mountain towns in the Cordillera? At any rate, please give us some information about her.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. Venue of the awarding program honoring Ilokano writers who won in the 4th Tugade Literary Awards is the Ashley Function Hall in Barangay Daquioag in Marcos, Ilocos Norte. The date is September 29,and is expected to be a big day for the writers. T.Gabriel Tugade has agreed to increase the honorarium of the board of judges with Roy Aragon, chair, to receive P4,000 and Dr. Jaime Raras and Dr. Ariel Solver Agcaoili, P3,000 each. All the winners and judges are invited to the affair. The winners are, Joel Manuel, principal of Banna National High School; Ms. Clarita Sumahit or her representative as the writer has already crossed the Great Divide; Fe Malucay (you are enjoined to contact us at: frapmac_era@yahoo.com, and andrewlab2011@hotmail.com); Errol L. Abrew; and Danilo Antalan; and winners of the poetry category, Benjamin Pacris, Daniel Nesperos and Reynaldo Duque. Joel Manuel also topped the poetry contest so he will be receiving a total of P18,000. All the winning stories and poems were published in the Iluko weekly, Bannawag.

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LA CASA PARA LOS OJOS EN SUSO

Literature's artifacts of the Ilokano gunglo/ Rest in peace in a seaside village called Suso,/ Where lives Dr. Cion and memories of Apo Godofredo./ The fragments include the sick joke of a braggadocio:/ Kalienyo ti pamuon, kakabsat, dig the foundation/ That's where the money was buried, you know!

4th TUGADE LITERARY AWARDS WINNERS AND JUDGES

The following won in the short story category of the 4th Tugade Literary Awards, according to Roy Aragon, chair of the board of judges, in a delayed press release: First Prize, Joel Manuel, principal of the Banna National High School; 2nd Prize, Clarita Sumahit, Baguio City; 3rd Prize, Fe Malucay (addressed unknown); 4th Prize, Errol Abrew, Caba, La Union; and 5th prize, Danilo Antalan, Candon City, Ilocos Sur. In the poetry category, First Prize, Joel Manuel; 2nd prize, Peter La. Julian, Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela; 3rd prize, Benjamin Pacris, Vigan, Ilocos Sur 4th prize, Daniel Nesperos, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte; and 5th prize, Reynaldo Duque, Bagani Ubbog, Candon City. The awarding program will be held on September 29, 2012 in Marcos, Ilocos Norte. We are asking the winners, especially Fe Malucay, to contact frapmac_era@ yahoo.com and this blogger at andrewlab2011@hotmail.com. We prefer the winners to come in person to receive their cash prizes and certificates. There should be no problems in transportation expenses.

Ditto for the members of the board of judges : Roy Aragon, Dr. Jaime Raras, and Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, for their honorariums and certificates of appreciation.