no panon kon pinatey so anlong
galikayo wala ‘yan tungtung ko

bangta dia ed maganon istoria
binasigan ko’y pekpek a yakal
impagayogoy ko ed damulag
inyaliwedwer ed kaboloan
ya angga’d adanel na salita

bekas ira’y tinmerter ya dala

nen naandian la na liknaan
inoyos ko ed laem na altey
so kuandan gisla na kamarerua

inakan ko ‘yan singa no ostia

no panon kon pinatey so anlong
inakan ko ‘yan singa no ostia

onia so inkasikasikaan
tan say aristos na inka-Adan

Labels: anlong, pangasinan poetry

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By Danny C. Sillada

Poetry, according to a German philosopher Martin Heidegger, is the foundation of truth. As a foundation of truth, it employs aesthetic symbols to reveal realities that concern the historical, cultural and socio-political conditions of man in his society.

The use of metaphor or allegory, for instance, is a symbolic device to magnify the objective reality and establish a rational basis in understanding the truth.

As a foundation of truth, poetry reveals what is hidden in such a way that the general readers or public will know it, and the most effective tool to reveal such symbolic reality is the use of language and linguistic expression common to a particular culture and society.

One of the greatest poets who had achieved such magnificent feat is a British-Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, whose poetry transformed, not only the lives of Bengali people, but also the Bengali literature and culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Tagore's poetry like the famous collection of Gitanjali (Song Offerings), which was translated into several languages, has been sang and spoken by the common Indian people such as farmers, fishermen, the monks, the townsfolk and the intellectuals.

The Poetic Revelation of Sonny Villafania

In the local Philippine literature, there is one poet who is about to achieve such vision and poetic revelation to the common people in his region: a multi-awarded Pangasinan-born poet named Santiago "Sonny" Villafania.

His remarkable achievement, in the standard of anlong tradition (Pangasinense Poetry), defies the conventional use of Filipino literary languages, which are English and Filipino, by creating a suite of highly structured sonnets and villanelles in his native lingua franca.

In his book 364-page "MALAGILION: Sonnets tan Villanelles", one of poems titled "Rekindled", which is included among the collections of poems written in Pangasinan, Villafania takes the reader into a sensual journey of bucolic life that reflects his origin and culture.

"There is a rice-pounding song tonight playing..." he wrote in a simple introductory line, yet the imagery is filled with sensual meaning that is only decipherable among the ordinary people in his region.

The "rice-pounding song" evokes the rhythmic sound of pounded rice on lusong or wooden hollow echoing amid the rising moon and the silences of the night. One could imagine the smell, the sound, and the taste of unripe rice being fried on a cauldron and then pounded to make them crunchy.

As the poem continues, Villafania introduces and defines the rice-pounding not only as an ordinary activity, but also as a ritualistic gathering of young men and women to celebrate the offering to the goddess of earth and harvest.

The poet reveals the symbolic meaning of rice-pounding as offering and ritualistic celebration. In like manner, he uses a subtle allegory to signify the fruition and harvest of poetry in his own native language. "They will hear me scream my poems of hunting...", thus, says Villafania with creative force and passion in his native language.

The Elegance of Language and its Accessibility to the People

There is something mysterious and magical in the language, or any language for that matter, that only a poet could fashion, magnify and unveil its hidden message through a unique linguistic expression of poetic symbols and meanings.

A poet is like a messenger and, at the same time, a shaman, who conjures up the spirits to magically transform the language with unassuming meaning and become the common source of understanding among those who write and speak about it.

A good poet lifts up the soul of his or her reader to the symbolic and metaphysical meaning of reality so that his message can be understood and applied by the common people in their daily lives.

In the first paragraph of Sonnet 158, for instance, Villafania mesmerizes his readers with the use of sound and fluidity of language that even a non-Pangasinan could feel the sensual rhythm and the elegance of written words:

Panon takan aroen Pinabli?
Ipetek ko man ira’y sonata
Anlongen ko man ira’y sonito
Ag iraya onkana anganko
Ed puson agto amta’y ondengel
Ed saray Dangoan na panangaro

("How can I love you, dear?/ Even if I sing these sonatas/ Even if I write these sonnets/ These are nothing it seems/ To a heart who knows not how to listen/ To the Songs of Love.")

Villafania addresses that concern with urgency in such a way that his particular readers do not only feel and understand his sentiments, but also live and speak about it. He is like a chameleon immersing and identifying himself with the anguish of his people by gathering them toward a common perception and understanding of reality.

In a sense, Villafania is not only a visionary poet, he is a linguistic philosopher who codifies the origin of language and culture, dissects the myths and the common beliefs of the people against the urban legends, juxtaposes the literary tradition against the modern influences by dialectically infusing them in his poetic revelation of truth.

The Book in the Context of Philippine Literature

To understand and appreciate the literary content of Villafania's 364-page "MALAGILION: Sonnets tan Villanelles" as an important contribution to Philippine literature, it is noteworthy to discuss the derivation of title, the literary content, style, and structure.

The book’s title "MALAGILION" is derived from "malapati" (dove), "agila" (eagle), and "lion," an allusion to the alter ego of a Filipino-American poet Jose Garcia Villa, who called himself Doveglion (Dove Eagle Lion), the title of the poem which famous 20th century American poet E.E. Cummings wrote as a tribute to his Filipino friend, Jose Garcia Villa (Adventures IV 5; CP 904).

In essence, "Sonnet" is derived from "sonetto", an Italian word for little song from which, in the 13th century, became a poem of fourteen lines following strict rhymes and specific procedures. It is fundamentally a dialectical structure with contrasting ideas, emotions, beliefs, images, etc. allowing the poet to resolve the tensions at the end of the poem.

The "villanelle", on the other hand, is a poetic form originating from French literature and was employed in the English-language poetry in the 1800s. It is composed of two rhyming lines. The first and third lines of the first stanza are rhyming refrains that alternate as the third line in each successive stanza and form a couplet at the close. Composed of 19 lines, 5 tercets and 1 concluding quatrain, the villanelle is a complicated poetic form compared to sonnet.

One could imagine the regimen and artistry that Villafania underwent in conceiving and delivering his aesthetic creation, integrating these poetic forms in his own native language. The result of his painstaking labor is, impeccably, a magnificent work of art comparable to one of the Shakespearian opus in the 16th century.

Funded and published by the Philippine governments Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino and Emilio Aguinaldo College, the book, among the very few written in native languages, is an ambitious attempt to bring literature to the masses, albeit, a minute victory over the 170 Filipino languages spoken by the 80 million Filipino people inhabiting the 7,107 Philippine islands.

The Poet's Advocacy

As a visionary Filipino poet, Villafania advocates the use of native language. He also encourages other writers to weave their craft in their native tongues so that literature will become accessible to the ordinary people – the same poetic vision which the famous poet Tagore envisioned for his people. Villafania's online publication Dalityapi, for example, is a venue for all international and regional writers who write in their respective languages.

To sum, in his regular column “The Breaking Signs” in the Panorama Sunday magazine, multi-awarded Filipino poet, writer, and columnist Cirilo Bautista hailed Villafania's book as "a source of rejoicing for readers of regional literatures… Villafania has created 300 sonnets and 50 villanelles in his own language that attempt to reflect the primacy of native culture and return the poet to the central stage of social life."

Source: Manila Bulletin (Lifestyle section, pp. F1-F2, May 12, 2008)

Labels: book review, Danny C. Sillada

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Akaunla ak ed miting na Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, Dr. Jose De Guzman Tamayo Foundation, Inc. tan Ulupan na Pansiansia'y Salitan Pangasinan nen Simba, a-11 na Mayo dia ed Biñan Farm da nen Dr. Antonio L. Tamayo, say makankien na University of Perpetual Help System.

Apantungtungan diman so nagawa iran paliagan, palian tan tulagan ed saraya'y arapen iran bulan. Tan apili ak ya kabiangan ed pigaran komiti: dia ed paliagan na Gawad Komisyon 2008 (Gantimpalang Tamayo sa Tulang Pangasinan) bilang sakey ed saray okom, Pangasinan Orthography Seminar, 1st Pangasinan Writers Workshop bilang sakey ed saray panelists, tan Komaduan Tulagan ed Lingguahi tan Kulturan Pangasinan.

Pantotoonan kon maung ya imano so nagawan sankaunaan ya palian na sumusulat ed (salitan) Pangasinan dia ed Patar, Bolinao no Agosto 4-8, 2008. Mangipaway kami na PR ed saya'y kataposan na Mayo.

Say samput ya pangawat mi na isumiti iran anlong, antikey ya tuntung ono istoria tan salaysay et no a-15 na Hulio, 2008.

Labinlima so pilien ya aplikanti ono "fellows" para ed abitlan palian.

Saray katigoria:

- anlong ono poetry (5 poems)
- antikey ya tungtung ono istoria (12 egpang/bolong, asanderwan ispasio)
- salaysay ono essay (6-8 egpang/bolong, lukas ed amin ya pakdaar ono topic: siensia, matimatika, lokal ya awaran, kulturan komunidad tan arum ni'ra)

Para ed arum nin impormasion ya nakaukulan, tawagan ono man-text labat ed 09283521542.

Labels: meeting, poetry contest, workshop

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TWO interesting things occurred to the judges of this year’s Gawad Surian sa Tula-Gantimpalang Colantes. In their deliberation to determine which among the fifty-one or so entries would be included in the roster of winners (see Breaking Signs, April 20), Jesus Santiago and Cirilo F. Bautista found, first, a number of authors attempting to infuse new energy into Filipino poetry’s form and substance. This is most desirable, as Filipino poets seem to be frozen in the timeframe of traditional expressionism or discourse. The infusion comes from the influences of urbanism on the development of the Filipino language. Mass media, cultural politics, and population mobility have fueled the spread of Tagalog across regional boundaries, giving it an access into other languages. This results in its filtration into those languages and vice-versa. The new dynamism defines its present contour. The migration history from "Tagalog" to "Pilipino" to "Filipino" can be read, for instance, in vocabulary borrowings or in thematic viewpoints. These three variations of the same language continue to exist, but Filipino, according to the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), is the language spoken in Metro Manila and other multi-ethnic cities.

Without going into further linguistic distinctions, we can say that because Filipino — which is now called our national language — has a democratic character, it offers contemporary poets new inroads and challenges. Indeed, some of them have shown that words, phraseology, and imagery from one region can be positioned within the structure of Tagalog. John Iremil Teodoro and Genevieve Asenjo of Antique, Jose Jason Chancoco of Bicol, and Santiago Villafania of Pangasinan have done exactly that and, consequently, contribute to the enrichment of the poetic medium. Also, because it accommodates other languages within its semantic system, Filipino appears to be most appropriate for poets to delineate the complex urban world with its ethnical and international character. Eros Atalia’s winning poem, "Remedyo," is a successful capturing of the way common urbanites of the working class speak and think. The repairman in the poem has a native voice, that is, he appears to be a flesh-and-blood embodiment of a character in a critical situation wanting to improve his fractured relationship with his girl, just as he wants to repair the broken appliances his customers leave to his care. Reuel Aguila employs a Japanese form of prose-poem to articulate the thoughts of a man returning to his native soil in "Haibun sa Pagbabalik." If this freshness blowing into the space of Filipino letters will be sustained on a large scale, a really new linguistic dimension will evolve in our poetic heritage.

Second, the contest judges found plagiarism rearing its vexed head among the entries. Plagiarism is defined as "the appropriation or imitation of the language, ideas, and thoughts of another author, and representation of them as one’s original work." Plagiary, a synonym for both plagiarist and plagiarism, has for its rootword the Latin plagiarius, meaning "kidnapper." Plagiarism, thus, indicates an infringement on the intellectual property of the true originator because the plagiarist steals or kidnaps it. As a literary crime, plagiarism will never be eradicated — it can only be minimized — but editors and contest organizers are helpless in this regard. The discovery of plagiarism is burdensome, and frustrating matter. The many poems literary editors receive, for instance, cannot be all investigated to establish their authorial authenticity. Because they just do not have the time and money for that, they take every poem at its face value and rely on the author’s integrity. In the case of this year’s Surian entries, one was an outright copying of the idea and structure of "Ulat Buhat Sa Bulkan," Cirilo F. Bautista’s prizewinning poem in the same contest sometime in the 1990s. The copyist simply reset the theme — the supremacy of art over mundane events — in another location, but the narrative lines of the two poems were similar. When Jesus Santiago was notified of this plagiarism, he smiled and said that his own winning poem in the same contest was also plagiarized some years back. We brought this matter to the attention of Dr. Ricardo D. Nolasco, commissioner of the KWF, with no hope that he would initiate steps to discourage plagiarists from tainting the fine reputation of the Surian contest.

Source: Breaking Signs, Philippine Panorama (May 4, 2008).
Visit Dr. Ciirilo Bautista's website at www.cirilofbautista.tk

Labels: Breaking Signs, Cirilo Bautista

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amagaan la’ra’y lua ed matak
ya tinmerter singa no tagitak

naandi so tanila’y salitak
tan saray talina ‘ran tagitak

say kaderleng tan pakdal a musiak
aliing ed tambayo’y tagitak

anggano say pinablin busilak
lenes o lened lapu’d tagitak

onia so panangaro ya amtak
nen naames na mogmon tagitak

inyamut ko’d sapli’y uran so luak
pian agmo narengel so tagitak

natan et anlemew la’y linawak
amagaan la’ra’y lua ed matak

Labels: ghazal

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The deadline of the 58th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is extended to 12:00 midnight of May 5, 2008 (Monday). This was announced by the contest sponsor, Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc.

Entries with complete requirements should be submitted to the Carlos Palanca Foundation’s new office at 6th Floor, One World Square Building, #10 Upper McKinley Road, Mickinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, 1634 Taguig City.

Works may also be entered online through the Palanca Awards website at www.palancaawards.com.ph or sent through e-mail at palancaawards@yahoo.com, except novel and screenplay.

For further information, please call telephone number 856-0808.

Labels: Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards

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Makata Issue No.5, May 2008 is now available online featuring the works of our home-grown and international poets: Aliazer S. Abdurajim, Aurora Antonovic, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Faith Erasmo, Manuel Lino G. Faelnar, C W Hawes, Frederick Lim, Jen Macapagal and Will P. Ortiz.

Included in this issue are the finalists in the KABUWANAN POETRY COMPETITION: Raul "Tata" Funilas, Jason Tabinas, Deborah Rosalind D. Nieto, Noel Sales Barcelona, Juan Emmanuel C. Fernandez, Soliman Agulto Santos, Marc Laurenze C. Celis, Glenn Ford B. Tolentino, Brian B. Acabado, Francisco Arias Monteseña and Ada Dizon Angeles.

Send all submissions / contributions for Volume 9, June 2008 issue to svillafania at yahoo [dot] com and to Jason Chancoco at tarusan22 at yahoo [dot] com (for Tagalog/Filipino & Bikol poetry). Also accepting poems written in other Philippine languages: Cebuano, Iluko, Hiligaynon, Waray, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Meranao, Tausug etc.

Labels: makata

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DLSU Dasmarinas, Cavite invites everyone to PASSION IS PURPOSE 2, an exhibit of outstanding abstract paintings by Bryan Ramos, a Tagaytay-based architecture student of DLSU Dasmariñas.

Most of Ramos’ artworks explore the fusion of shapes, structure of nature and dark, often, mysterious hues. He had his first exhibit of the same title at the Penguin Bar, Malate, Manila.

Opening of the exhibit will be held at the AEA Library Gallery, DLSU Dasmariñas, Cavite City on 2 May 2008 at 3 p.m. Poetry and music will be provided by Cavite Young Writers Association, Lirio Salvador of Elemento and the artist himself, Bryan Ramos.

Admission is free and open to the public. The exhibit will run until 4 June 2008. For details, please text 0906-2000781.

Labels: art exhibit, poetry reading

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By Marifi Jara

AT a time when we are bombarded everyday by news of rising prices, rice shortage, political bickering arising from deep-seated corruption, and crimes both petty and grave, it is difficult to think about the arts.

The arts, after all, is traditionally associated with the elite and customarily thought of as a luxury — something that can be indulged in only if you have plenty of time and money to burn.

But the postmodernism school of thought has hammered down all that conventional way of thinking. The arts — including literature, music, visuals or fine arts, and stage — is something that must be promoted for and among everyone because it is that facet of our lives that captures our soul as a people.

Arts is both a manifestation and reflection of our humanity; it is a testament to our ability to see beyond survival. And it is refreshing that the arts here in Pangasinan are alive. Read more »

Labels: arts scene, Marifi Jara, Roots, Sunday Punch

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Writers planning to join the 58th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the country’s most prestigious and longest-running literary contest, will have until 12:00 midnight of April 30, 2008 to submit their entries.

The Palanca Awards is currently accepting entries under the following categories: Short Story, Short Story for Children, Essay, Poetry, One-act Play, Full-length Play, Screenplay, Novel, and Kabataan Essay. The Kabataan Essay is Palanca Awards’ special category for young writers below 18 years old. This year’s theme for the Kabataan Essay is “A foreign visitor has only one day to spend here in the Philippines. Where should this visitor go that day and why?” for the English division and “May isang dayuhan na isang araw lamang ang ipananatili sa Pilipinas. Saang lugar siya sa araw na iyon dapat pumunta at bakit?” for the Filipino division.

The competition is open to all Filipino (or former Filipino) citizens, except current officers and employees of the Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc.

Complete submissions must include the following documents: duly accomplished Official Entry Form; Authorization Form; Consent Form (if applicable); an original and three (3) copies of the entry; a soft copy (diskette copy or e-mail) of the entry; and the author’s full resume. All necessary documents must be complete at the time of submission. Entries sent by mail or courier should be postmarked not later than April 30, 2008.

Works may also be entered online through the Palanca Awards website and must include scanned copies of the following requirements: Official Entry Form; Authorization Form; Consent Form (if applicable); and the author’s full resume. Online transmission time should not be later than 12:00 midnight of April 30, 2008 and must have official confirmation of receipt through the website. A complete submission through mail or courier, however, must also follow, and should also be postmarked not later than April 30, 2008.

Entries must be addressed to the Board of Judges, Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, and should be submitted to the Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc. office at the 6th Floor, One World Square Building, #10 Upper McKinley Road, Mickinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, 1634 Taguig City.

Contest Rules and Official Entry Forms are available online at http://www.palancaawards.com.ph. Winners will be announced on September 01, 2008.

For more information, you may email palancaawards@yahoo.com or call telephone number 856-0808.

Labels: Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards

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