ILOKANO WRITING

  
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original; whereas if you simply tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."--C.S. Lewis


"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then there will be true peace."--Sri Chin Moi Gosh

Notes from an interview with a Filipino pukan cane worker called sakada, who worked in the plantations of Hawaii after World War II. He, still in his teens then, was one of several Ilokanos recruited for work in the islands. They left aboard the SS Maunawili at the Salomague Port in Cabugao, Ilocos Sut. He is Hermenegildo Barroga from Bantay, Ilocos Sur, The interview took place at their home in a classy neighborhood near the Waikiki Heights sometime in 2003. Manang Pacita Saludes, then president of Gumil Hawaii, the Ilokano writers' organization in the Aloha State, accompanied me and my wife Estelita to their place.

"iti aldaw, trabaho; iti rabii, bandido
Kinuna daydi nanangko, Anakko, no matiliwdaka dagiti Hapon, nasaysayaat no igasanggasatmo ti bagiyo, ngem ti maparparigat; nasaysayaat no agtaraykayo, no paltogandakayo.

"Iti maysa a bigat, nasagangmi kadagiti kapatadak dagiti soldado a Hapon. Nagtataraykami ngem sisiak ti natiliwda.Kinulatadak. Dinanogda ti rupak. Ngem nakalibasak kadakuada. Taray dayta nga uray la nga. Apo, isurom man ti nasayaat nga aramidek, kinunak bayat ti panagtarayko. Dimmanonak iti maysa a lugar nga asideg ti maysa a kaunasan.  Maysa a balay ti naiparna a nasungadko--adda dagiti babbaket sadiay nga aglutluto. Sibsibet dagiti Hapon a napan nagpatrulya sadiay a lugar. Adu kano ti pinatayda. Nana, pangngaasim ta pastrekennan. Umayko dengngepen ti matak, ta limtegen
Kuna ti maysa a baket, Ay, anakko, 'gurka ta innak mangala iti kutsay tapno itapalmo. Napan nangkettel iti kutsay sana indengngep iti limteg a matak. Kalpasanna, inikkandak iti kallugong, Impatuldoda ti pagnaak. Amangan no agsubli dagiti Hapon.

"Napanak naglemmeng manen iti maysa a kaunasan, Kada adda agkarasakas, uray bao, ipagarupko a dagiti Hapones, Napalalo ti kebbakebbak.

"Sangapulokami nga agkakabsat. Maysa kadakuada ni Rene Ragunton a nagbati idiay Filipinas. Violeta ti nagan ni baketko a taga-Abra."