LETTER TO THE CABA, LA UNION WRITER

Books and magazine at the blogger's cubicle at the third floor of the Julian ancestral home in Laoag City

"... no more ruins to tread this mid-noon of our separate lives."- from "Today Arrives the News About the Fall of Doloroso Dans," prize-winning poem by the blogger


You must have reached a point where nothing matters anymore. Not even the blogger's pleas for you to stay with the group until the issues are resolved and we are one and indivisible again.

The enormity of oppression by a member whose moral-intellectual orientation has been the subject of unsavory conversations must have been too much to bear. The blogger understands. You can't take it anymore.

Speaking of "you can't take it anymore," does it also apply to the blogger? He was coming out a noisy computer shop yesterday when something overwhelmed him--was it inertia or ennui?

Not even the comforts of home could banish the strange emotion and the mind-set. And then the blogger remembered the "encounter" where another member heaped expletives against him. You knew that we did not hit back but dismissed the incident as the activity of a mad man in hell.

But there was a postscript of what happened in Laoag, my hometown, my pride. (Apo Ariel Solver Agcaoili's hometown, too; his pride.) It was during that Ilokano literary event at the Mariano Marcos State University. The Lady met the tormentor in private and gave him P1,000 or was it P1,500?

There are moral interpretations of acts: was the adversary rewarded for insulting the blogger? That it was not wrong to verbally abuse the blogger, who is the adviser of the Iluko writers' association, without any cause? That it is alright, as the foul-mouthed writer did, for a writer to go outside the boundary of decency and fair play?

The best thing that could have been done under the circumstances was for the parties to talk things among themselves and solved the problem right there and then.

Your oppressor called the blogger names in the internet. A tyro, new in the organization, called me names? It bewilders the blogger that such audacity, not to say licentiousness, has found sanctuary in timpuyog. What and who emboldened her to trash me in, of all places, the cyber world?

Was this in connection with the baseless accusation that the blogger used the account name of DVP to hit Ariel Tabag? 

I was cut deep inside but I told the Lady I was heeding her call for Christian forgiveness  for those who wronged us. That's what I did it because I thought I would feel better.

Reminder: forgiving is the Biblical "putting coals" on the head of the adversary, a kind of power that dominates any enemy and make him ashamed of what he did. But you can argue the premises. Who should be forgiven?

"You can't take it anymore." A virtual rule for the leftist but not communist?

A virtual rule for the blogger who has been ill-treated by no less than the members, at least some of them?

How does one go beyond the sacrifices--time, efforts, money--that we made for the organization and the magazine ?

A, the sacrifices of the most prolific writer in the language, whose articles are not being paid by TMI while the oppressor receives P2,500 as lay-out artist for every issue of the magazine. Did you ask why she is being paid for that amount while TJ writers don't enjoy the privilege? (Hey, the 5-year old toddler, the baby, has become a young maiden, walking tall. She will go places. Ilokano writers, especially the young ones, will be proud of her. )

What's "beyond sacrifices"? Are we martyrs to this cause that we should be victims of this kind of oppression?

And what is the article of faith of those who dance with the enemy? Who are the enemies within? The card-carrying members of kindred minds and membership in the wrecking crew? Did they defend timpuyog when they excoriated us, and they are still excoriating us, with all the venom at their command?

We are not politicians. We are not Janus-faced. We are truth-seeking writers. We play by the rules. We play with honest cards. 

July 2, 2013 

 
Nota Bene: The blogger has removed the posting, "Ripping Apart the Organization," and closed the issue of the the feature writing contest brouhaha.He said he owned responsibility for the feature writing fiasco and the publication of one entry in the writers' magazine.



    




 


 

Applying the tools of investigative reporting

Are the allegations against the member have basis in fact? Can we establish her various relationships with other people? Who are these people? Are they card-carrying functionaries of the organization. If the strange arrangements were true, when did these start?  Why? What's wrong with them? The blogger may use the tools of the journalist if the problems persist and those involved did not stop doing things inimical to the unity in the organization.

The blogger has to do certain things or become a literary barbarian.

Will hell broke loose?

FILIPINO political SCIONS ON SINGAPORE TV

well-fed filipinos
smile for the camera
then argue whose parent
stole the bigger pie
while pinoy zombies
filch throwaways and siblings
choke in poisoned bread.

pass this bitter cup
unto the mouths of plunderers
like glory and herap.

and hear ye hear ye
the jehovah christ sayeth
doomed are black names
bearing black lies
doomed are kleptomaniacs
dancing in sulfur fire, oh,
how they burn wealth
while the poor cry
and die.

WRITING FINISH TO THE CYBER "ENCOUNTER"

     The blogger writes finish to the cyber "encounter" between kindred souls (maybe "kindred" but it appears the other group is a corrupt wrecking crew, who call themselves writers) with a quotation from Pablo Neruda, thus:

     "To feel the intimacy of brothers is a marvelous thing in life. To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those whom we do not know, from those unknown to us-- that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens out the boundaries of our being, and unites all living things."

ILOKANO CYBER CRIMINALS?

They say that the first commandment of modern life--cyber citizens or those who use computers and the internet live this kind of life-- is to keep tab on the "state of one's head." What does this mean? Exactly the way the sentence is stated and mean what it says: Monitoring your mind while you do things on a daily basis.

What were these writers thinking when they posted comments in an FB account supposedly made by a certain DVP criticizing a certain person belonging to an Ilokano writers' group? They made it appear that these comments were made inside Abel blog. Even the dates were given when the girl allegedly posted the comments. Unfortunately, no such comments were posted in Abel blog. (Note that the format for comments in Abel blog is not the same as the format designed for the comments.)

How did these people conceptualize the scheme and successfully posted it in the internet? What were their motives? What's going on in their minds at that time?

The poor girl who did not know anything about the issues confronting the writers resigned membership in  and Ilokano writers' organization after receiving poisonous messages from the supposed "enlightened " and established writers . She cried a river and believed that the blogger did it at her expense. But that's the story and that's the reason the blogger took pains in writing this.

 

REMINDER TO THE ILOKANO WRITER ERROL ABREW

The Magat River in Ramon, Isabela, Philippines

     What is important is that you write the fiction, the poems, the novels and the features. They are historical documents of the kind of life you lead and the people that roam and live and love and hate, perhaps, as you see them grapple with their own problems and celebrate their victories in the land that nurtured you. There is much to see and record in the landscape of the mind. Gather the facts that will translate into beautiful fiction, tales or myths and poetry of memory.

  Let the blogger digress and go back to the weekly magazine headed by the person whose father-in-law appeared to have mismanaged the funds for the construction of the writers' house in Suso. (Santa Maria nga ina ti Dios! Makatitileng ti ulimek dagiti bangolan iti daytoy nga isyu.  Ket napanan daydi $600 a nai-care off--iti 2005 GF financial report ti GF. Kinuna ni Dr. Pete Alupay, a successful physician in the US West Coast, a nasurok a $1,000 daydi impaimana. )

     The manugang must have hardened the practice of editorial prerogative which is actually the editor's selective policy--only the favored few can publish in the magazine. We can do nothing about it but accept it as the work of minds that hate and regard their act as punishment for the imagined wrongdoings of their fellow writers.
 

COMPUTER 'KID'

     The computer "kid" has succeeded in misleading cyber citizens by posting supposedly comments from Abel blog and passing them off as  a girl's tirades against AT.  She was supposed to have posted the comments in the morning of last May 27. This blogger made the comments under his true name after May 29 following receipt of a message regarding the group taking potshots at the national association of Iluko writers in their website. 

     You can access Abel blog through wwwblogger.com and create your account.  There is no entry last May 27 or the following days. Compare the format for comments in Abel blog with the format of the comments.

     And the writers who sent unkind messages to the girl should realize that they have inflicted a great damage to a young lady who is still trying to  learn how to write in the language. Suppose they were in her shoes?

EXPOSING A WRITERS' GROUP TO RIDICULE

     The lay-out artist has accused the blogger of making comments in a website in the name of another member of the organization. She has no facts to support her claim.
      If you are an adviser of a group, you represent the whole structure, you are the face of the organization. You can't his ypour own organization.
      The blogger has sacrificed his time and efforts for the sake of the organization and its magazine.
      On the other hand,  the girl has been receiving honorariums for her services as lay-out artist.
      As adviser, I had asked for the resignation of the girl .She may be an asset, but by her abominable act and other misdeeds she was destroying the writer's group. The leaders should have acted with speed and dispatch on this matter, but he allegedly said, " Awan ti maikkat."

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS OF EDSA GONE?

All rights Reserved

Officers and gentlemen, honorable, too,
like the assassins who coveted the throne
of Rome.

The truth-bearer in white uniform: They would not admit
they dipped their fingers in the cookie jar.

Shall we accept these lies?
 Bear the tyrannies of plea bargains?

Shall we raise our voices
and like the people of Jericho
bring down
this wall 
this prison of a nightmare
that shut us
in this morass of despair and hopelessness? 

Shall we continue to lie in ashes as in the time 
of the fallen dictator? Shall we in eternal curse
accept the crumbs of their perfidy?

(Memory, bury our sons who die of garbage bread.
And what of the thieving heroes, the thieving lawmakers?)

Where, O, where have all the flowers of Edsa gone?

"SIKA A NAUMBI A KANTA" AND THE USE OF FALSE NAMES

     This is the blogger's first posting after several days of internet problems; the last being, "Sika a Naumbi a Kanta," made in June 7. So how come we were accused of posting "inanities" in some FB accounts using another person's name? That's unfair--they have made a moral judgement against the blogger. We are not that stupid to malign people using false identity. Even in the time of the late Ilokano writer Rey Duque (God bless his soul) who wrote a derogatory article against us in the so-called Biblia ti Amianan, we used our true name to defend our reputation. We did not hide under false names like Siwawer--was it you Ric Agnes or some cowards in Bannawag who used that false identity?

    And the Abel blog that those people were citing was not Peter's blog. It was another blog. There was no mention of DVP  in my blog. It was very sad that she resigned from the group, according to Errol, for the unauthorized use of her name. The blogger is a journalist and a professional--just give him justice.

    The blogger, according to the blogger himself, only participates in intellectual and moral discourses. Haha.

     (I probably did not get things right here. This girl is insisting that I have been using the name of a certain DVP because the latter used my laptop in Laoag and left her account in my laptop. And I used the account name to post in that website? What a conclusion! And those enemies believed her? And even the Smiling Lady From Down Under?  Unbelievable!  That the blogger is kabaw? That girl is sick, and her "followers" on the other side are jumping like chimpanzees? Unbelievable!)

SIKA A NAUMBI A KANTA*

Puli nga adipen dagiti siglo:
     iti puraw a nagkuentas iti krus
     iti singkit uray idi panawen ti maro
     iti sakang a mannakigubat
     iti mannursuro iti rang-ay ken damsak.

Apay a nagkayangka lattan?
Tunggal guyodendaka iti kasipngetan?
Mano met ti imbayadda?
Apay a dika nakitinnawar?

Laglagipenka a naumbi a kanta
Iti paludip ti init
Iti panagsangpet dagiti kayumanggi
A mangngalap a napan nakiginnasanggasat
Iti adalem a rabii iti taaw
A pasaray yegna ti adu a lunod
A tabbaaw ken am-amangaw.

(Kasano, aya, ti agsaludsod
A dika agsayukmo a kasla ketdin
Awan mamaay dagiti datonmo?)
Naragsakka kadi kadagiti nakaisadsadam
     Iti makapuor a kapanagan
     Iti tumulang a kaniebean
     uray iti agnanayon a rabii
     iti umsi ken leddaang?

Ay, nagbati dagiti malalaki
Iti pandiling dagiti kunggangi a babbai
A mangsissisip iti bugi dagiti bannog.
Apay a dadaelenda ti panawenda
Iti sanger ken sugal ken diskutir
Dagiti bagtit iti sardam?
Nalabit a nagammiriska met
Anansata limned dagiti aligagaw
Iti ginget dagiti ibit dagiti ubbing
Iti saraaw ti bigbigat, isuda nga agrukit
Iti basura iti taraon a sabidong
Dagiti maipasngay nga arapaapda.

Ket dagiti mangikarkari iti narabuy
Nga agsapa mabalbalatongda latta
Iti basingkawel idinto a lumuklukmeg
Dagiti agin-indayon a kamalalada
Iti ikub dagiti palasioda.

Ania ngarud itan iti umuk-ukuok a bisin
Ken rumiet a kinapanglaw iti labes

Dagiti katkatawa dagiti aglablabonan?
Pugsaten manglenglengnges a a tanikala
Wenno agtalinaedka a naumbi a kanta? 


*Nairaman iti expanded edition ti "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger"

"RESPECTED" ILOKANO WRITERS AS JUDASES

     They came, they saw, they ate at our table. That was during the 5th Timpuyog dagiti Mannurat iti Iluko iti Filipinas International Literary Conference at the Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City, last May 24-26. We welcomed them with open arms. After all, they were our brothers in the so-called vineyard of Iluko creative writing. 
     They were supposed to be ilustrados, rare enlightened mannurat. Alas, they played Judases with gusto/ true to the form of their elders in the gunglo,/ who stabbed fellow writers inside the patta in Suso.

 

2012 BEST ILUKO POEM

     Senior citizen Marlene C. Tolentino of Batac city, Ilocos Norte won the biggest money of her Ilokano writing life when she bagged the first prize in the first edition of the  Severino and Eufemia Lacar Commemorative Award in Iluko Poetry. The cash money of P10,000 was presented to her by Mr. Francisco Lacar, one of the siblings of the Lacars, sponsors of the annual writing contest, during the Cultural Night in the 5th TMIF International Iluko Literary Conference held at the Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag Campus, last May 24-26. All the siblings except Fr. Sylvio and Juanita, who now live in Australia and Canada, were there at the College of Teacher Excellence where the event was held. The other winners were Hawaii-based Amado Yoro and Jorge Placido. Judges were Dr. Vicente Bonoan, a poet in his own right and vice-president of Data Center College and former university dean  Dr. Greg Amano.
     Francisco told the blogger that the contest would go on and on for as long as the Lacars were in the world, the purpose of which was to keep alive the Ilokano legacy of their parents.
     Big names of Iluko poetry ignored the contest despite the fact that almost all of them were sent the rules of the pasalip that gives the biggest prizes in regional poetry competitions.