TEN MOST OUTSTANDING ILOKANOS IN 2013

     The Laoag City-based The Ilocos Times, the oldest and most read weekly tabloid in Northern Philippines, has selected its Ten Most Outstanding Ilokanos for 2013.
     Herdy La Yumul, chair of the paper's Editorial Board Screening Committee, identified the recipients of the award as: Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Pamela Aragoza, owner of a restaurant specializing in Ilokano food owner and civil leader; Jesson Ramil Cid, gold medalist in decathlon at the recently-concluded Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar; Joven Cuanang, patron of contemporary art and former chief medical officer of St. Luke's Medical Center; Christian Espiritu, dance instructor; Michael Farinas, former Laoag City mayor; Aldrin Garvida, advocate of native culture, particularly of the Tinguians; Jorge "Jopo" Guerrero, local television broadcaster and anchor; Tina Tan, Ilokano culture blogger; Ricardo Tolentino, agriculturist, who parlayed his P50,000 into a multi-million mango business;  and Zacarias Sarian, development journalism practitioner, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
    The award was inaugurated last year, the recipients of which were mostly politicians, in contrast to this year's awardees who came from different fields of endeavors

UMAYKA MANEN, GANGGANNAET/COME AGAIN, STRANGER

     "If a man purposely does me wrong," a Buddhist says, "I shall return him my ungrudging love; the more evil comes from him, the more good shall go to him from me."

     The she-devil with the neck brace has yielded, but wait--she has fled to the sanctum of the plunderers in the inner chamber where dwells the country's biggest criminal syndicate.
   

The Museum of Traditional Arts, the former Tabacalera building, in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines

     Some of the poems to be included in the expanded version of "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger," an anthology of Iluko and English poems are the following: Taltalem Ti Itlogda, Sika a Naumbi a Kanta, Dagidi, Denggemto Sadi Langit ti Pannakarasawda, The Facebook Lover, The Slaughter of Journalists and Other Political Perfidies, Where Have all the Flowers of Edsa Gone? Wanderlust, At the Time of the Holocaust. 

The Introduction is by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

     The first edition of the anthology came off the press in 1998.

PANAGUUMMONG 

 Saantayo a pimmanaw: Agsublitayo iti daan nga ili/Iti daan nga urnos/Kadagiti naangep a lagip---/Maysa a bato sadiay, ti akasia /Iti pagserkan, ti karuotan/A nagkikinnamatantayo./Dagiti babassit a panagbettak/Ti rikna kadagiti aringgawis/Dagiti balikas, ti nadayag/Nga arapaap---/Dagidi aldaw, anian!/Naganustayo ken siwawaya/A kas tumatayab iti tay-ak.?SImrektayo iti maysa a panawen/Idi lamolamo dagiti maris/Naayamuom dagiti rosal/Idiay Torres Bugallon.?Ita a rabii, maitanem dagitoy a samiweng, katkatawa/Tapno unorentayo manen ti agsapa/Nga agturong kadagiti kalsada/Iti ikub dagiti tarimbangon/Ti naputolan a lubong.
   
     ITI DAYTOY A PAGILIAM

Ayanmo idi intag-ay ni Kabunian

     ti kanigid nga imana
     ket impaulogna dagiti bendision
     ti daga?

     Adu ti imparaburna
     Adu ti pagarian nga imparangkapna:
     Acupan, John Hay, Dole,
     Del Monte, Procter and Gamble,
     Isetann, Robinson, Hilton
     William Lines, Stanfilco,
     Forbes, Jardin and Davis.

     Paspasdek a nangalikubkob kenka
     Iti mismo a pagilian.

     Ket ti patneng a Judas nagkamang
     Kadagiti adayo a siudad, intarayna
     Dagiti tallopulo a pirak
     Dagiti pannakikamalalana, intarayna
     Dagiti dagiti minas dagiti pultak
     A bantay a ti pagbanaganda
     Kasto ti Ipil-Cunig--
     Rinamesda, binaybay-anda--
     Iti gayadan ti Cordillera.

     Naingel ti arak nga impainomda
     Naingel ti apro nga inlaokda
     Dagiti ganggannaet a didiosen
     Agkatkatawada iti imeng ti kuarto
     Dagiti pagturayanda.

NELSON MANDELA'S QUOTATION FOR WRITERS

     Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader, is a towering figure who can not be compared to any world leader worth his salt. There is an attempt in the Philippines to compare him with the "hero" Benigno Aquino and even the convicted economic plunderer Joseph Estrada Those who advocated this idea are hallucinating, for the great Madiba was unique and the situation for which he struggled came once in a lifetime.
     His article of faith, no doubt his guiding principle
in his crusade, is probably summed up in the following quotation attributed to him. This one is also for writers who should look for and write and speak the truth:
     "Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others--qualities which are within easy reach of every soul--are the foundations of one's spiritual life."     

DAGITI MABATI KALPASAN TI PANAGALLAALLA*

Daytoy panagbirbirok iti sangamalabi a balitok
Daytoy panagbirbirok iti  madaydayaw nga aglablabonan
Daytoy panagbirbirok kadagiti tawen idiay Darayday
Daytoy panagbirbirok iti sabali a sangladan
Panagbirbirok kadi iti awan kaes-eskan?

Idiay Honolulu, binirokmo kadi ti init iti laud?
Ania't binirbirokmo kadagiti basura iti nailet a kalsada
Ti Waimanalo? 

Nadlawmo kadi ti lalaki a nangitanggaya
Ti imana iri ruangan ti Dimsum kalpasan ti pannangan?
Inwagaywaymo kadi ti imam a kasla addaka idiay
Quiapo tunggal asitgandaka dagiti lingka ti daga?

Ania ti pampanunotem idi ballasiwem ti kalsada tapno
Agluganka iti Honda Civic iti asideg ti poste idiay Keolu?

Ania ti insaom iti babai a kimmablaaw kenka idi agbirbirokka
Iti tarong ken paria iti gumpong ti nateng idiay Dong Phung?
Impagarupna kadi a sika ti kasinsinna a gapgapuna idiay Laos
Wenno Vietnam? Napartak dagiti balikasna a kas iti kapartak

     dagiti agpagunggan a kabalio nga agtartaray iti akaba
a kalsada ti Amarillo
           a dumanon idiay San Francisco.

Hey! Ririawannaka kadi ti babai a nakapantalon iti nakipet
Itay impaturongmo ti kamera iti ngatuen ti kayo a malabsanna?
Wenno nangngegmo ti bukodmo nga ikkis iti baet dagiti taul ti aso
Iti darepdepmo no sumken ti bangungotmo iti parbangon?

Awanen niebe a nayaplag a kas puraw nga ules iti karuotan ti parke
Awanen dagiti nakalamlamiis a bigat ken malem, dagiti makabibineg
Nga angin iti dan-aw a naed ti ginasut a pito ken agtaytayab a ganso:
Anian a kiakkiakda iti maregmeg nga ipurpuruak ti Puraw a baket.

Sumipngeten, napudno a gayyem, tumakderkan ketdin ket magnaka
Iti sikko-sikko a dalan nga agturong iti awang a balay a pagur-urayan
Libro a ginatangmo idiay Wal-Mart: basaem manen ita a rabii bayat
Nga agagawa dagiti kayumanggi, ti kudilda ngumisngisit iti gayebgeb
Ti init iti pagilian a napnuan namnama, arapaap,  adu a pannakapaay.

*Included in the expanded version of the Ilokano-English anthology, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger"

"PH SUFFERING FROM SPIRITUAL POVERTY"--F. Sionil Jose

“PH SUFFERING FROM SPIRITUAL POVERTY”

     Poverty which concerns the stomach stalks the land where food crops could grow abundantly. On the other hand, graft and corruption in which millions, nay billions, of pesos go into greedy pockets of public men is draining the economy. The country is bleeding.

     What exactly is ailing the country?

     It was a Saturday during the reign of the convicted plunderer Joseph Estrada that a P.E.N (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) International Conference was held at the Oasis Country Resort in San Fernando City in La Union. We were one of the panelists that included F. Sionil Jose, Charlson Ong, Star columnist Isagani Cruz,  Alejandro Roces, Juan S.P Hidalgo, Jr. In attendance, too, were University of the Philippines English professor Nieves Espitola; Elmer Odonez, more than 300 Ilocano writers and English and literature teachers in Region 1.

     Hidalgo gave the keynote address of the conference while Jose, the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and the Communication Arts, delivered acidic comments on the country’s political and economic state during the open forum. 

     What he said then is still true today.

     The country is not only suffering from poverty where people get hungry, said Jose, the Ilocano literary icon. It is suffering from spiritual poverty which is worst than poverty of the stomach.

     He said that in the village (Tomana, Rosales, Pangasinan) where he grew up, “the parents are very proud that their daughters are going to Japan when they know fully- well that many of these young women would become prostitutes in that country.”

     He claimed that in Pagsanjan, Laguna, parents pimp for their young boys who sell their young bodies to pedophiles.

     “The degeneracy of our people illustrates too well the failure of the established churches,” he said. “If it is true that we are the only Christian country in Asia, then such Christian values of honesty and integrity and belief in God should be imprinted in us.”

     Nothing of the sort happened, he said. He deplored that the country’s priests live like princes. And poor men’s churches like the Iglesia ni Cristo and El Shaddai do not have lower class ideology, according to Jose.

     “What do they really believe in?” Jose said. At that time, the Iglesia ni Cristo and El Shaddai were supporting Estrada whose ouster from the presidency was being demanded by the Roman Catholic Church, business groups, the academe and various sectors across the nation in the aftermath of the juetengate which triggered the impeachment trial against Erap.

     Jose said he envied the Iranians who ousted the Shah of Iran in the 1970’s. “They, the Iranians, are not Catholics but Muslims. Their God is a fighting God.”

     “If we are interested in building the country, it is very important to look at ethics as solution to our problems, “Jose said in Ilocano.

     “We got the worst from our former colonial masters—the Spaniards, Americans and the Japanese.”

      Jose said that what we inherited was racism, the attitude of superiority and the attitude of people in the Iberian peninsula: that it is not honorable to work with one’s hands.

    From the Japanese, we did not get their high point that enabled them to become the great nation that they are. What we got from them was the sense of brutality and hierarchy, Jose said.

     It was a verdict that should assail as all—the failure to imbibe the work ethics and democratic ethos of the Americans that made their country also great.

     Jose, the most translated Filipino author, then hit the great disparity between the wealthy Filipinos and the poor. "It is obscene for one family to own a whole district of Manila wherein are built mansions and skyscrapers.''

 

 

 

 

A PERSON'S WORST ENEMY

     "A person is his own worst enemy...Ten enemies can't do what a person does to himself."--Isaac Bashevis Singer     

    The old man tried to talk to this person on a Friday afternoon in his house.

     Their driver parked the car in front of the man's bungalow. The wife got off the car, carrying a paper bag containing the dress their patroness gave last May. She was returning the dress and a $20 bill to the expatriate writer through the wife of this man.

     In front of the house were sacks of rice/palay piled on top of one another. The door was closed, so the wife walked farther to the back of the house, where a dirty kitchen is located. When she reached the placed, she disappeared for a while, then she came back still carrying the bag.

     On the way home, the wife told the husband that the man's wife was out on a camping event in a nearby village, according to the two female helpers of the family she talked to at the back of the house. She said she asked if the man was in the house. They said he was inside the house and was sleeping. Did she ask the helpers if it was possible to wake him up? She did not dare, she said.
     The blogger knew in his heart that the man was awake and he was watching the wife walking away from the house, away from their life. It was fifteen minutes to one o'clock on the blogger's Fossil watch. It is a 10-minute ride to the municipal hall where the man works. Maybe the man is tired and decided to call it a day.