"THE WRITERS' HOUSE THAT NEVER WAS"

Quote of the Day

"A man's experience with the war, never ends with the war. A man's work, like his life, is never completed."--Jakob Been, poet and translator, quoted by Anne Michaels in her novel, "Fugitive Pieces."

How do you prevent people--those who had knowledge about "the house that never was"--from speaking about the structure and what appears to be now as a sad and ugly narrative in the history of Ilokano writers? The structure, in all its rotting beauty, is still standing there in Suso, Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur in Northern Philippines. Earlier, in an FB account, the blogger reacted to comments of Ilokano mannurat Julio Belmes. He had said he regretted he designed what would be a two-story house but never completed, saying it was an "instrument of corruption and cheating" among some writers. Various Ilokano writing groups, and even individuals, from the Philippines, Hawaii and the US mainland contributed money for its construction that started in 2002, according to records.

Yes, how do you stop Dr. Maria Teresa Benas, Infocenter Manager of the Philippine Information Center in Bangued, Abra, from saying that she and her group also gave money to the failed project? It was her who said, "the house that never was"-- a very painful commentary.

How do they "put closure" to that particular narrative? Rebbaen ti pasdek tapno awanen mangipalagip iti daydiay a panawen?

A, the warrior-novelist from the province of Abra, now earning his keep as an architect somewhere in a country near Vladimir Putin's Russia! Long live, comrade of the pen!