FOR THE SAKE OF ILOKANO WRITING

 
   The blogger has accepted the invitation to reconnect with former colleagues. But not after urging Freddie Padua Masuli, dean of a Cagayan State University and president of the province's Ilokano writers' organization,  to think over the proposal because of a misunderstanding in former times. 
     Dekano Freddie, the great peacemaker, countered there was never a "misunderstanding" between him and the blogger; therefore,  we had nothing to settle. Which was true. 
     True indeed, confirmed Arthur Urata, the national president of the Ilokano writers association, who called us up in Oscariz.   
     And so we look forward to sharing thoughts and whatever we learned as mannaniw (poet) in the language in the Ilokano writers's April 18-20, 2014 affair at Cabicungan Inn in the seaside town of Claveria, Cagayan. Agbiagkayo!

MODERN BIBLICAL STORY OF THE WOMAN WHO SINNED

   

     She has been doing her thing--shacking up with other men--since time immemorial, said a member of her organization of Ilokano writers. Does her husband know about this perfidy? 
     He probably does, the informant said. But there is nothing he could do for his salary as a garbage truck driver  may not be enough to support a family of four.
     She could find a more decent job,  the blogger said.
     Prostitution is the easiest way to earn money, the man said.
     And we remembered the Bible story about a sinner, a prostitute, who was about to be stoned to death by a mob. JC said to the people," Let the man who has no sin cast the first stone."  
     The woman was saved and the Savior said to the woman, "Go, and sin no more."
     The latest news is that the woman has gone back to her hometown, leaving behind her husband. It was not known if she took along with her their children. 
     The cause of their separation? The informant himself who, according to him, also sired another child from a fellow writer. What?

THE CASE OF THE CADET WHO WAS OUSTED FROM THE PMA BECAUSE HE LIED

Nothing is absolute in the world.
And there is a thin line between the truth and the lie.  

Did members of the honor committee lie or did they conspire to oust their fellow cadet because they had an axe to grind? He was late for two minutes in his class and he gave the reason: their instructor had still some unfinished business with them. This was corroborated by the instructor. But Cudia's executioners said he lied.

All they had to do was get the testimony of the female instructor.

And then there was the testimony given by the head of the academy's naval warfare (?) department who executed an affidavit that Cadet John Laguarta was pressured to change his vote not to expel Cudia from the academy. So instead of an 8-1 verdict, that would have acquitted Cudia, the vote became 9-0. 

Some Philippine Military Academy graduates speak of Christ as model for honesty and integrity.He should be followed, they said. To strengthen the case against the cadet who allegedly lied? He was to graduate as salutatorian this March. The government spent P2-million per year for his education to become "an officer and gentlemen?"   

But when we speak of Christ, we speak of forgiveness and giving a person another chance. Remember the woman that the people wanted to kill because he was a sinner? What did Christ say to the mob? He said, "Let him who has no sin cast the first stone." 

Did First Class Cadet Jeff Aldrin Cudia's executioners, his fellow cadets, behave like the Biblical mob? How righteous and honest are they? And how righteous and honest are the people who call the shots at the academy?

Cudia's case comes at a time when Philippine lawmakers have been accused of taking millions of pesos in kickbacks for the use of their pork barrel. That money they were in control of should have been used for the development of the country's economically- depressed areas.

POEM IN REVISED VERSION OF "UMAYKA MANEN, GANGGANNAET/COME AGAIN, STRANGER"

     The revised edition of "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger, " an anthology of Ilokano and English poems authored by the writer, is coming off the press this year. The introduction was made by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii in Manoa. A native of Laoag City,Dr. Agcaoili is also a writer in four languages: his native Ilokano, Tagalog, English and Spanish.

     Here's one of the poems included in said anthology:

     The Massacre of Journalists and Other Political Perfidies


     The inner power could not err
     Quote deny not the little woman unquote.
     The newspaper version was a pain  
     Thing from Lethe

          like the eternal scourge
          like the paradoxes of thieves
          in the apex of their content
          like the dream echo of a surreal world.

"TRUE LOVE AS TOTAL SURRENDER"

     What more can we say about this quote of Paolo Coelho, our most-admired author? Can we add something to the statement that would give it more brilliance, more luster? No way. Swallow, hook, line and sinker. Just give yourself even if it hurts so much you have to sacrifice your life--in the altar of love.

     Happy Valentine's Day, my beloved Estelita. Happy Valentine's Day, Christine, our- daughter- in- law, wife of Christoffer! Happy Valentine's Day to the other seven daughters-in-law and their husbands!

FROM FB POSTS

PAGWANAWANAN/ PETER LA. JULIAN

     Poetry emerging from words, words, words in the right places, order. But tonight the blank page at the laptop remains unfilled. Not even a line. Perhaps the light from the lamp stand is too bright for poetry? Should I kill the light? The room is empty and it is a night of silence at the 14th floor of Pearl Manila.

.
                                                                          ***
     The blogger reads the Sabbatical Notes of the most active Ilokano mind, Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The notes appear to have been created at the spur of the moment. Pure literary pieces. A lot of them waiting to be written in his Lahug "monastery" in Cebu.

     Is the Filipino/Ilokano Jack Kerouac moving among us? The expatriate is not, however, driven the way his American counterpart was motivated by drugs as he hit the road in that vast land of milk and honey.The UH professor driven by coffee, cup after cup, at Starbucks?

                                                  ***
    The wife passed the medical tests, Georginia, and the hospital will schedule her vaccination and the interview at the embassy. I did not see Celia Borja, my former colleague in the City of San Fernando, La Union at the site where they collected sputum. She was one of at least 20 senior citizens scheduled for such tests.

"No victory or defeat, there is only movement"

  "In the cycle of nature there is no such thing as victory or defeat; there is only movement."--Paolo Coelho, the Brazilian author in his "MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA"

     Errol, who was Judas? Who was Jesus?
     I can only speak of Judas in the organization. A lot of his ilk.
     The Judases have girlfriends not their wives. The female Judas has boyfriend(s) not her husband.
     One of the suspected Judases and the female Judas arrived together in a van in the wee hours. Days later, the female Judas told a member that the suspected Judas invited her to sleep with him in the city since it was still early for the board meeting. She refused because she has "to lie low".
     The wife of one of the Judases asked from a member the cellphone number of the female Judas because apparently the latter smelled something.
     And then there is Judas of corruption who cheated his own son of his earning as lay-out artist of the printing press. 
    What is the connection of Coelho's quotation with the above?