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.