Santiago Villafania | Pangasinan Poet

IN ESCLUSIVA PER IL DINANIMISMO: VERSI DEL POETA FILIPPINO SANTIAGO VILLAFANIA

2012-02-11T14:42:00.000+08:00

E' con grande orgoglio che di seguito pubblichiamo le traduzioni italiane - alcune anche in esclusiva - delle poesie del poeta filippino Santiago Villafania. Per ragioni di spazio - vista la lunghezza delle silloge - abbiamo preferito presentare solo le traduzioni ma, è giusto sottolineare che, il poeta ha scritto i suoi versi originali in lingua Pangasinan, pertanto il lavoro di traduzione si è articolato in più fasi. Una prima traduzione è stata fatta dal Pangasinan all'Inglese e una seconda traduzione dall'Inglese all'Italiano.

I versi sono stati pubblicati con il diretto consenso dell'Autore e, a tal proposito, si ringrazia anche la poetessa americana Ute Margaret Saine che, oltre ad aver tradotto alcuni dei seguenti scritti, ha svolto anche il non facile compito d'intermediario tra Noi e il poeta Santiago Villafania.

Redazione del Dinanimismo

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PANGASINAN

Versi di Santiago Villafania in lingua originale.

dia ed nipangaw a dapag a bansa na pusok
anggapo’y maanlong a bosis ono Catullus
ono kumasamplon musian onkalab ed Parnasu

kanian inagbibit ko iya’y onoonan liknaan
pian nipintak na salita tan kolor so pamawi
ed ampasiseng a panaon na Caboloan -

saray awaran tan uliran iran inkorit
ed aninagan ya bolobolong na impakalingwan
angga’d itatken kon imbeneg la’d lingwan

say kanonotan dapul la’d panaanap
na bawig ed bukig a sinummingan
tan say dakep na ag ni-Babel kon dila

onsabi so panaon ompano nanonotan da ak
ed Parthenon iran ipaalagey ko para’d anlong

PANGASINANO

Traduzione Inglese-Italiano di Ute Margaret Saine

qui nel paese prigionero del mio cuore
non c’è voce da bardo neanche un Catullo
nè la decima musa per salire sul Parnasso

e così porto questa passione primitiva
dipingendo in parole e colori il richiamo
dei giorni di smeralda di Caboloan -

le sue storie e leggende scritte
sulle pagine trasparenti dell’oblio
finché per caso sarò dimenticato io

ho la memoria brizzolata dal rivelare
il fulcro degli inizi orientali e
la bellezza d’una lingua non da Babele

fra un tempo magari mi ricorderanno
nei Partenoni che costruirò per la poesia

Read more...

Worldwide poetry readings on March 21, 2012 : Homage To Rabindranath Tagore, Aimé Césaire and Pablo Neruda

2012-02-06T16:19:00.001+08:00

Rabindranath Tagore, Aimé Césaire and Pablo Neruda – poet activists and historic figures from different geo-cultural spheres (Asia, Africa/Caribbean, Europe and Latin America) who wore their affiliations on their sleeves, were able to respond to the burdens of history in their time, from the second half of the nineteenth century (Tagore was born in 1861) to the early twenty-first century (with the death of Césaire in 2008).

Their activism and literary work challenged the contradictions of an unequal and unfair world system and developed a new understanding of their society and the world in order to establish a concrete and universal humanism. The work and paths of these three major writers are a reflection at the highest level of the interrelationship between the universal and the particular in understanding the complex processes of modernity.

Tagore, Neruda and Césaire defined themselves first and foremost as poets. Yet, Art and Poetry remain the irreplaceable bearers of mediation between human beings and the world. Reinventing humanism might be signify reading poetry in a more profound manner, hearing it more carefully in all its forms, encountering the new varieties of orality that express the dreams and revolts of young people.

Moreover, through their humanistic literary commitment Tagore, Neruda and Césaire realized, long before the ecological and environmental question took on the gravity it presents today, the crucial need to bring the material and collective development of humanity into line with nature. Their pioneering visions remind us that human beings’ respect and love for nature have long united the wisdoms of western and non-western civilizations.

Despite their historical and geo-cultural contexts as different as those of Asia and the Indian sub-continent, Latin America or the West Indies at the crossroads between Europe and Africa, Tagore, Neruda and Césaire committed themselves as active visionaries and proposed a dialogue based on the integrity of the human person. Their project was not to summon a court of history but to contribute to the emancipation of peoples by freeing them from political oppression and also eradicating the moral or intellectual slavery that threatens us all.

Furthermore, Tagore, Neruda and Césaire hailed the formidable explosion of knowledge brought by the development of scientific thought and technology in the 19th and 20th centuries. The three poets thought that was an essential but non-exclusive part of the adventure of human knowledge that must also be- nourished by the imaginary, inseparable as it is from life.

By questioning the relationship between dominant and dominated, the legacies of Tagore, Neruda and Césaire help to define the mission that concerns education: ‘building in the mind of human beings’ an order of the world that could make compatible the urgent demands of the universal and those of the particular. They teach us that all knowledge and all cultures are victories of equal significance and organic symbols of the diversity of peoples and civilizations.

Source: http://www.wpm2011.org/node/146

PEN Holds Literature Teaching Workshop in Bohol

2012-01-25T13:26:00.000+08:00

The Philippine PEN will hold "For Love of the Word: Workshops on Teaching Philippine Literature in High School and College" on February 27 (Monday), from 8:30 to 4:30 pm, at the Holy Name University, Janssen Campus, Tagbilaran City, Bohol. Specific venue is Skills Lab, College of Nursing Building.

PEN writers and professors of literature Merlie Alunan and Steven Patrick Fernandez will serve as resource speakers/facilitators.

This event is part of the series of literature teaching workshops organized by PEN in selected regions of the country, it seeks to enhance the skills of literature teachers in both secondary and tertiary levels, especially on teaching regional writing by Filipino authors. Previous workshops were held at Far Eastern University-Manila, University of San Agustin-Iloilo, University of Cebu, University of the Philippines-Baguio, and Naga College Foundation.

This workshop is co-hosted by Holy Name University, and supported by PEN International in UK, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

For inquiries and pre-registration, please contact Philippine PEN. Email: philippinepen@yahoo.com; or mobile: +639175287491.

Website: http://philippinepen.ph/

K-12 int’l confab set in Pangasinan Jan. 19-21

2012-01-13T16:38:00.000+08:00

AN international conference-workshop on the K-12 program of the Department of Education will be held at the Sison Auditorium in Lingayen on January 19 to 21, to be hosted by the provincial government.

Dr. Marot Nelmida-Flores of the University of the Philippines, a native of San Carlos City, said the international conference-workshop, called “Addressing the K to 12 Curricular Enhancement in the Philippine Education 2012”, will be attended by the country’s educators and speakers from Australia, Japan, and the United States.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro will be in attendance as well as officials of the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Science and Technology, and congressmen who have been at the forefront of education concerns.

K-to-12 (Kindergarten to 12th grade) is a DepEd program, which seeks to expand the country's basic education to 12 years from the current 10 years to make Filipino high schools at par with the standards in other countries.

Source: http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/2012/01/07/k-12-intl-confab-set-in-pangasinan-jan-19-21/

PEN vows combat vs climate change

2011-12-12T09:18:00.003+08:00

Writers commit to use power of the pen to save the environment

By: Dexter R. Matilla

What do you get when you gather poets, playwrights, essayists and novelists in one room to tackle the issue of climate change?

You get words, lots of eloquent words.

Most of the words that overflowed during the 54th National Congress of the Philippine Center of the International PEN (Poets and Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) were expectedly foreboding, of course.

But the sense of portent was balanced by words of optimism, such as "survival." In fact, the conference tried to balance pessimism with optimism. It was not for nothing that the theme of the congress was "Archipelagic Feasts, Tropical Disasters: The Literature of Survival." Read more...

Philippine PEN Board 2012-2014

2011-12-07T16:20:00.000+08:00

The election of the new roster of PEN directors took place on December 2, 2011, 4:00-5:00pm, at CCP Silangan Hall.

Philippine PEN Board 2012-2014

Lito B. Zulueta, National Secretary
Herminio Beltran, Jr.
Karina Bolasco
Jose Wendell Capili
Kristian Sendon Cordero
Amadis Ma. Guerrero
Malou Jacob
Bienvenido Lumbera
Edgardo Maranan
Glenn Sevilla Mas
Charlson Ong
Victor Peñaranda
Nicolas Pichay
Jun Cruz Reyes
Santiago Villafania

Congratulations! Mabuhay ang Philippine PEN!

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Philippine PEN authors at NBS Bestsellers-Galleria

The Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets & Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) will hold the Meet the Philippine PEN Authors Forum on 13 December 2011, Tuesday, 6:00-7:30 p.m. at NBS Bestsellers, Robinson’s Galleria, Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City.

This forum features Palanca Hall of Fame awardee and writer of children’s stories Edgardo Maranan, poet Ana Maria “Mookie” Katigbak-Lacuesta, essayist and poet Elizabeth Lolarga, and fiction writer and playwright Dean Francis Alfar. The writers will read from their work and talk about their craft.

PEN National Secretary Lito B. Zulueta will deliver the opening remarks. Ida Anita del Mundo will serve as master of ceremonies.

This event is co-hosted by NBS Bestsellers and Anvil Publishing, and supported by PEN International in UK and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Book lovers are welcome to the event.

A Pangasinan Christmas Carol : Galikin odino Aligando (Gift)

2011-11-26T09:09:00.000+08:00

(say Galikin odino Aligando, kakansionen diad Agew ya Inkianak na Katawan)

Masantos tan mablin oras
So inter na Dyus laoas
Ombangon itin misalamat
Ombangon itin misalamat
Tan inanak la'y Dyus anak
Tan inanak la'y Dyus anak

Ombangon itin onliing
Agagi mi'ran ami-amin
Ta inanak la nen Marian Birhin
Ta inanak la nen Marian Birhin
So ari'd taoen tan dalin
So ari'd taoen tan dalin

(Ebat ed Galikin)

Galikin
Galikin Kapastorisan
Gali kayon
Gali kayon manangigalang
Ed ari ra'y
Ed ari ra'y kataoaenan
A dia'd Belen so nianakan
A dia'd Belen so nianakan

(Ebat ed Biteoen)

Biteoen Biteoen kan pinmanengneng
Diman ed
Diman ed letaka'y agew
Sikato 'ma'y
Sikato 'ma'y tumtumbuken
Na talo'ran ararin kuanen
Na talo'ran ararin kuanen

Ta nen baleg la’y lokun to
Nen Marian ma-Divino
Linma ya dinalaw to
Linma ya dinalaw to
Si Isabel a kapinsan to
Si Isabel a kapinsan to

Sakey ya anghil so dinmago
San Gabriel so ngaran to
Bang say kuan ton angibano
Bang say kuan ton angibano
Ave Marian ma-Divino
Ave Marian ma-Divino

Galikin (4x)

Nen usto lan siam bulan
So lokun nen Marian malalang
Pinakna na Kataoan
Pinakna na Kataoan
A say mundo’y nalioaoaoan
A say mundo’y nalioaoaoan

Bang balet so naisipan
Nen arin Herodes ya kuan
Nanpabando’d nanarian
Nanpabando’d nanarian
Ed sakop ton panuuleyan
Ed sakop ton panuuleyan

Et nadngel dayan intaoag
Di San Joseph tan Marian mapalar
Pinmaoil la’ran maganat
Pinmaoil la’ran maganat
Ed Nazareth baley dan gendat
Ed Nazareth baley dan gendat

Ta nila ran amin lanti
So kakanayon dan dili
Et andi lambengat la’y mangasi
Et andi lambengat la’y mangasi
Ya mamasegep no nayari
Ya mamasegep no nayari

Say oalna’y too nen saman
Laut la’d saray mamayaman
Kaingit o kagola da’ra’y
Kaingit o kagola da’ra’y
Kakanayon dan masegsegang
Kakanayon dan masegsegang

Dia’d labin alay betel
Panaon la’y malinaew
Si San Joseph oala’y anengneng
Si San Joseph oala’y anengneng
A kamalir a dirindingen
A kamalir a dirindingen

Esposa kuan ton sinmingger
Diman ita la ondaoes
Ed kamalir ta oala’y atep
Ed kamalir ta oala’y atep
Itepel la’y betel a baleg
Itepel la’y betel a baleg

Diman so pinonta ra
Si San Joseph tan si Maria
Oala’y atotong na baka
Oala’y atotong na baka
Ya amarokolan to la
Ya amarokolan to la

Dia’d pegley na labin mas
Ya mareen la’ra’y lapag
Kapagdaka ton inianak
Kapagdaka ton inianak
So masurin Dyus Anak
So masurin Dyus Anak

Osang, dika’y amarokolan
Ed Mesias ya malalang
Masiado’y betel ed saman
Masiado’y betel ed saman
Ya nilikna na Kataoan
Ya nilikna na Kataoan

Masiado’y karumsisan
Na kamalir a nananakan
Salambengat kaabigan
Salambengat kaabigan
Ta anghilis so amayamay
Ta anghilis so amayamay

Anghilis tan Serafinis
Ya pari saray pastoris
Oadman iran arasdasig
Oadman iran arasdasig
Ed marumsis a kamalir
Ed marumsis a kamalir

Bangnen oalo’ra’y agew to
Impangalsiman to’y anak to
Et bang say impangingaran to
Et bang say impangingaran to
Manuel Salvador del Mundo
Manuel Salvador del Mundo

Anem agew so binilang
Sikato la’y tinandaan
Et talo’ran ari’y dinmalaw
Et talo’ran ari’y dinmalaw
Ya rigalo so isaklang
Ya rigalo so isaklang

Sarama’y ararin talo
Nagsi-aoit ira’y rigalo
Mira, balitok tan balsamo
Mira, balitok tan balsamo
Ya pampuyok da’d Sali’y Niño
Ya pampuyok da’d Sali’y Niño

Bang say aoit nen San Melchor
Sama’y masurin balitok
Ya intalaga ton innonot
Ya intalaga ton innonot
Ed Marian masantos
Ed Marian masantos

Et bang sa aoit nen San Gaspar
Sama’y mira lambengat
Irigalo to’d Mesias
Irigalo to’d Mesias
Ya oadman a kapanianak
Ya oadman a kapanianak

Bang say aoit nen San Baltazar
Sama’y balsamo lambengat
Ninonot ton ibagat
Ninonot ton ibagat
Ed sankablian a Mesias
Ed sankablian a Mesias

Si Herodes anengneng to ‘ra
So sarama’y ararin talo’ra
Say kuan ton nansalita
Say kuan ton nansalita
Seseñoris onsamar ki pa
Seseñoris onsamar ki pa

Ta no kablian yon talo
Mapatnag ta arari kayo
Tabi pa ed kablian yo
Tabi pa ed kablian yo
No iner so laen yo
No iner so laen yo

Ebat da’y talo’ran arari
Si Jesus so dalaoen mi
Ta inanak la kono lanti
Ta inanak la kono lanti
So ari’y ganagana’y ari
So ari’y ganagana’y ari

Arin Herodes mannonot ka
Ta ondalaw itin magano
Ta nianak la kono lanti
Ta nianak la kono lanti
Onangob iti’d sali to
Onangob iti’d sali to

Inkua’y Herodes ed sikara
Natan ag ak makapila
Ta oala’y mapilit kon gaoa
Ta oala’y mapilit kon gaoa
Kanian natan onona kila
Kanian natan onona kila

No sata’y kuan yon ari
Ya anak a maung a bii
Inkapoli to met lagi
Inkapoli to met lagi
A taoir to’d laki to tan bai
A taoir to’d laki to tan bai

Ta bang pano ompaoil kayo la
Say kuan ko ta onsamar kayo dia
Ta siak balet so onla
Ta siak balet so onla
Ta inanak la kasin tua
Ta inanak la kasin tua

Dia’d satan iman mas la’ra’
So sarama’y ararin talo’ra
Et bang say tinumbok da
Et bang say tinumbok da
Sama’y sindag na lioaoa
Sama’y sindag na lioaoa

Ed bang nen onsabi ‘ra
Ed kaoalaa’y Birhin Maria
Tampol angigalang ira
Tampol angigalang ira
Sali’y Niño’y inangoban da
Sali’y Niño’y inangoban da

Say komaduan inggalang da
Si San Joseph tan si Maria
Agay kala Maria kuan da
Agay kala Maria kuan da
Ta inianak mo’y manamalsa
Ta inianak mo’y manamalsa

Nen ayari la’ran angigalang
So sarama’y ararin kinuan
Labay da mas la’y ompikal
Labay da mas la’y ompikal
Ya ompaoil la’ra’d nanlapuan
Ya ompaoil la’ra’d nanlapuan

Taynan mi kila Kataoan
Ag mo kami lilingoanan
Say dayew mo’d sankamundoan
Say dayew mo’d sankamundoan
Sikato’y itarok mi natan
Sikato’y itarok mi natan

Nen manaakar la’ra
So sarama’y ararin talo’ra
Getma ya samaren da
Getma ya samaren da
Si Herodes ya maruksa
Si Herodes ya maruksa

Sakey ya anghil a manuna
So pinmayaoar ed sikara
Say kuan to ompaoil kila
Say kuan to ompaoil kila
Ag yo sasamare’y Herodes a maruksa
Ag yo sasamare’y Herodes a maruksa

Say ayari laoari’d nonot da
Si Herodes so samaren da
Anghil balet so angibaga
Anghil balet so angibaga
Ya aleg ya onsamar ira
Ya aleg ya onsamar ira

Dia’d saman a pantatalaran
Nen arin Herodes a duksaan
Pasnuk to’y sankabalgan
Pasnuk to’y sankabalgan
Basallos to ‘ra’y ginanggan
Basallos to ‘ra’y ginanggan

This is the shorter version of the original Galikin / Aligando.

courtesy of Dame Perla Nelmida (Pangasinan folklorist)

Pilalek

2011-11-25T10:23:00.000+08:00

(para ed si E.M.)

1.

ompay ko’y ermen ed sayan bekta
say kanonotan wala ed sika

no lakseban man so kamarerua
say aysing ya nanengneng et sika

dia ed laem tonia’y inkapalsa
anggapo’y arum ya musia: sika

talintao ka man O danaya
say kasikasikaan et sika

limgas na dayat - limgas na uma
andi’y pinabli no ag ta sika

salamsam ko’y aron ag mangangga
laut no say katupag et sika

gala pinabli lakap mo ak pa
ompay ko’y ermen ed sayan bekta

2.

agew-labi’y agko pakaugip
bang komun naandi ka la’d isip

kasikasikaan mo’y tinmanep
tan ginmisla la’d laem na isip

say ngaran mo so mogmon laineng
no maingongot bilang so isip

bangta singa ak bagel pinabli
no say lupam la’y ompinta’d isip

musia kan pilalek kon nalakap
balet bengatlan naandi’d isip

et no ibeneg taka la’d lingwan
sutil kan onapireng ed isip

indengan labat ayat lan nagnap
agew-labi la’y ag pakaugip

3.

sanlegan ya wala ‘yan linawa
mangando’y panangaro ed sika

ag mansampot ed sayan ghazalia
panangaron inggetar ed sika

tooren so sipan kon insungpa
anlonge’y panangaro ed sika

ipintak so limgas mo’d salita
amin iraya para ed sika

sika so laineng tan tanila
gisla tonia’y anlong ko ed sika

angga’d amay la ‘yan bilay aya
anggapo’y arum no ag ta sika

kasikasikaan mo’y ingeswa
sanlegan ya wala ‘yan linawa

Woman

2011-11-23T13:41:00.001+08:00

(for E. M.)

1.

her smile
the morning breeze to blossom
a thousand tulips

say imis to
palpalis ed kabuasan ya manpabuneknek
na sanlibon tulips

2.

if i could paint you with words
too naked to be spoken
that’s your immaculatry!

3.

my empty room
my private space
so full of you

you’re not even here

4.

pilgrims - you and i
skylark and nightingale in
a stealing heaven

kiss the day O wanton lips
and i will embrace the night

5.

your smile
the warm touch of the sun
on my cheeks

the goodnight kiss
of the breeze
on my lips

6.

november heat –
the memory of rain
on my skin

morning breeze –
longing for your warm embrace
on a day like this

7.

tonight beloved

i will sleep alone
remembering the laughter
of your voice

so inveigling
that it betrays the geometry
of my heart

and the constellation
of my soul

Anlong : Lawas kan Pinabli

2011-11-22T10:55:00.001+08:00

(odino no panon kon pinatey si kupido)

no labik labat la natalusan
so rason no akin et wala'y bulan
ono labitewen ya inngaran ko'd sika
pinabli

baliwen ko'y amin a babaliwan
anggan say dayat na kanonotan
say laem na ilalam tan taew na liknaan
no sika so pansengegan

anggapo'y onterter ya lua
no say kolor tonia et ermen tan boblay
tan anggapo'y ingongot ya nalikna
ondalan ma'y salinap tan desiang

agewen ko'y labi tan labien ko'y agew
daput no narengel so tanila na bosis mo
daput no onaplos so yumis na imis mo
ed saray bibil ko tan gisla na kamareruak

alagaren ko'y andi anggaan
no bilang et sika'y makalingwan
lapu'd maralus ya ayat na maandon mundo
mansiansia ya sika so inaro

pitamitan ko'y isabi na agew
ya nalener ak ed aspito na matam
tan magmaliw ak ya anlong ed laman mo
no iner ak onsulming: sakey a balon adan

masurin sika so pinablin insipan --
say dalin kon sipur lan inggendan
impangaro na amalsan angoyos ed sika
dia ed dilik ya taglang

Upcoming Philippine PEN events (November – December 2011)

2011-11-16T08:38:00.000+08:00

General Assembly & Booklaunching
26 November 2011 (Saturday)
5:00-6:30 pm
Solidaridad Bookstore, 531 Padre Faura St., Ermita, Manila

Last general assembly for 2011. Renewal of PEN membership for 2012 begins on this day. Fee is P600 (Please approach Cesar Quinagan).

On this occasion, PEN will launch The Life and the Manila Times of David Bugoslav (Manila Times Publishing, 2011) by Marites Hackett Maneru and Luis Antonio Maneru.

2011 Philippine PEN Conference
Archipelagic Feasts, Tropical Disasters:
2011 Philippine PEN Congress on the Literature of Survival
1-2 December 2011 (Thursday-Friday)
8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Silangan Hall, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City

Former Manila Times publisher and noted fictionist Rony Diaz will deliver the keynote address.

Panelists/Speakers: Elmer Ordonez, Gilda Cordero Fernando, John Iremil Teodoro, Antonio Enriquez, Nicolas Pichay, Marne Kilates, Dinah Roma-Sianturi, Marra Lanot, Joel Toledo, Malou Jacob, Rosario Cruz Lucero, Victor Penaranda, Luna Sicat-Cleto, Juliet Mallari, Abdon Balde, Glenn Mas, Susan Evangelista, Frank Penones, Ramon Sunico, Charlie Veric, Rolando Tolentino, Gary Devilles, Leonard Ryan Cervantes, Carla Pacis, Merlie Alunan, Ricardo Soler, Yvette Tan, Alma Anonas-Carpio

Overall Convenors: Bienvenido Lumbera, Lito B. Zulueta

Election of the new Board of Directors 2012-2014 will take place on December 2 (Friday), 4:00-5:00 pm, at CCP Silangan Hall.

This event is co-sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, University of Santo Tomas-The Varsitarian, Far Eastern University, National Bookstore, among others.

Solidarity Dinner and Cultural Program
1 December 2011 (Thursday)
5:30 – 8:30 pm
Dencio’s-Harbor Square (across CCP)

The Solidarity Dinner is for PEN members and invited guests only. On this occasion, Antonio Enriquez’s latest novel The Survivors (UST Publishing House, 2011) will be launched.

Masters of Ceremonies: Jose Wendell Capili and Jun Cruz Reyes

The dinner is hosted by the University of Santo Tomas-The Varsitarian.

Meet the Philippine PEN Authors at NBS Bestsellers-Galleria
13 December 2011 (Tuesday)
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
NBS Bestsellers, Robinson’s Galleria

This event features Edgardo Maranan, Elizabeth Lolarga, Ana Maria “Mookie” Katigbak-Lacuesta, and Dean Francis Alfar. The writers will read from their work and talk about their craft. Ida Anita del Mundo will serve as master of ceremonies.

This event is co-sponsored by PEN International-London, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Anvil Publishing, and NBS Bestsellers.

Lawas kan Pinabli (Forever Loved)

2011-11-15T09:04:00.002+08:00

Anlong: No naandi ak la

2011-11-12T17:16:00.002+08:00

no naandi ak la
anggapo’y onterter a lua
anggapo’y manermen o mantagleey
anggapo’y ipotong yon rosas

agyo ak ipoponpon ed lobuk
ingen poolan yo so laman kon aya
tan isibwuag so dapul ko
ed ilog Ari ono Agno

agko pilalek so nanonotan
no tepetan da no panon ak nambilay
tan no panon ak atigway
tongtong yo no panon ak angaro

when i am gone / i want no tears / no mourning no wreaths / bury me not on a grave / but burn my empty shell of flesh / gather my ashes and throw them / in the river Ari or Agno // i do not want to be remembered / if they will ask how i lived / how i died / tell them how i loved

Archipelagic Feasts, Tropical Disasters: 2011 Philippine PEN Congress on the Literature of Survival

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000+08:00

Philippine PEN 2011 Conference
December 1-2, 2011 (Thursday-Friday)
Silangan Hall, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City, Metro Manila

Archipelagic Feasts, Tropical Disasters:
2011 Philippine PEN Congress on the Literature of Survival

Program

December 1: FIRST DAY OF CONFERENCE

7:45 – 8:30 am Registration

8:30 – 9:00 am Opening Ceremonies
Invocation
National Anthem
Reading of the PEN International Charter: Jose Victor Torres
Inspirational Remarks: Bienvenido Lumbera, PEN Chairman
Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Susan Lara
9:00-10:00 am Keynote Address: Rony Diaz

10:00-10:30 am Coffee Break

10:30 am – 12:00 nn First Literary Session
Panel on Apocalyptic Literature: Disaster and Imagination
Elmer Ordoñez (Chair), Antonio Enriquez, Gilda Cordero Fernando, John Iremil Teodoro

12:00 nn-1:30 pm Lunch

1:30- 3:00 pm Second Literary Session
Panel on Landscape and Personal Poetics
Nicolas Pichay (Chair), Marne Kilates, Dinah Roma-Sianturi, Marra Lanot, Joel Toledo

3:00-3:30 pm Coffee Break

3:30 – 5:00 pm Third Literary Session
Panel on Surviving Calamities: History and Preservation
Malou Jacob (Chair), Rosario Cruz-Lucero, Victor Peñaranda, Luna Sicat-Cleto

Emcees/Convenors of the First Day:
Ronald Baytan, Jose Victor Torres, Karina Bolasco

December 2: SECOND DAY OF CONFERENCE

8:30 – 10:00 am Fourth Literary Session
Panel on Ecology in the Writings from the Regions
Juliet Mallari (Chair), Abdon Balde Jr., Glenn Sevilla Mas, Susan Evangelista, Frank Peñones

10:00-10:30 am Coffee Break

10:30 am – 12 nn Fifth Literary Session
Panel on Literature in Distress and Popular Media
Ramón Sunico (Chair), Charlie Veric, Rolando Tolentino, Gary Devilles, Leonard Ryan Cervantes

12:00 nn – 2:00 pm Lunch

Introduction of Speaker: Charlson Ong
The Jose Rizal Lecture
Madam Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil

2:00 – 3:30 pm Sixth Literary Session
Panel on Feasts and Famine
Carla Pacis (Chair), Ricardo Soler, Merlie Alunan, Alma Anonas-Carpio, Yvette Tan

3:30-4:00 pm Coffee Break

4:00-5:00 pm Closing Session
Presiding: Lito B. Zulueta, PEN National Secretary
Resolutions
Election of New Board Members (2012-2014)

Emcees/Convenors of the Second Day:
Hermie Beltran, Susie Tan, Marjorie Evasco

Overall Convenors: Bienvenido Lumbera, Joselito B. Zulueta

Secretariat: Shirley O. Lua, Cesar Quinagan

Cinemanila 2011 Announces Finalists for Digital Lokal

2011-11-08T11:25:00.000+08:00

The 2011 Cinemanila International Film Festival recently announced the finalists for Digital Lokal, its competition for Filipino feature-length films in digital format:

1. Sakay sa Hangin by Regiben Romana
2. Señorita by Vincent Sandoval
3. Sa Kanto ng Ulap at Lupa by Mes de Guzman (Philippines)
4. Lawas Kan Pinabli by Christopher Gozum

Source: Cinemanila International Film Festival

november : fragments

2011-11-02T08:37:00.004+08:00

hourglass --
Egypt in the aspects of
Nefertiti's eyes

--

november rain --
learning how to dance
again

--

after the storm
no memory of you is
beyond forgetting

nothing
but the fragments of
myself

(with apologies to rolando carbonell)

--

first of november
memories of rain
still cold on my skin

--

finding my center
when I Am is on
its own aphelion

--

ed sayan labi
onsaew ya amin
so liknaan

anggano nagislaan
so kamareruak

Letters to Marilou

2011-10-31T08:29:00.001+08:00

1.

No bright stars not eyes becharm me but thine
sometimes at night my pillow thrice upturn
and spells lovespeak ere I to bed resign
content am i that while the candles burn

You’d dream of me or perchance remember
the one who penned your name upon a sky
I oft include a wish in my prayer
that you beloved marilou are nigh

and if heaven’s sorrow’s brought upon me
for loving the god’s minion rosabel
fain would i walk into my Calvary
but then beloved I shall love you still

alas! my love when the morrow is come
without you beside me I have no home

2.

O when I behold the westering sun
& feel over me the fall of the night
when bamboo leaves I hear
humming as one
sweet symphony ‘neath the gleaming moonlight

And summer’s breathing attemper & low
whispering uncouth sounds in my ears
perhaps untold secrets that i should know
or unheard love songs in the olden years

i think of thee beloved of our prime
still strong still in love

And still young at heart
dancing the tango moments of our time
before the winds of death keep us apart

but bear in mind my love
that I love thee

And this will always remind thee of me

Published in Manila Times / Sunday Magazine (10/30/2011)

Lawas kan Pinabli

2011-10-21T16:44:00.000+08:00

sonito 158

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

panon takan pablien Inaro?
yalay ko man ed sika ya’y egpang
tan sinonito iran pilalek
ag iraya onkana anganko
ed puson anggapo’y pililikna
tan sagiat ed sayan manangaro

balet ta lapu’d sika so musia
ligliwak lawas ya anlongen ka

sonito 282

say aro et aliwan masiblet
inkuan ed daan ya pangoliran
aliwan maamot a singa no
masamyong a rosas ya pinmelnak

say aro et anggapo’y gegemtan
no ag ta say getman panangaro
anggapo’y arum ya pitamitam
no ag ta say linak na liknaan

say aro et walnan mapalogar
amta to’y laknab na pililikna
iter to’y nepeg a kawayangan
anggano katekep tonia’y ermen

anggapo’y takut ya alageyan
so patey tan say andi anggaan

Psychedelia

2011-10-17T17:00:00.002+08:00

Experimental Film. Psychedelic journey into the inner self invokes the spirits and inspires music and poetry.

Today in 2001: Ngarem na Bilay

2011-10-17T11:22:00.000+08:00

ala sais
nilaknaban la’y bilunget
so dalan a pasempet

naksawan la’y salin
ngalngali agla naikurang
ed betel na dagem

ambelbelat la
ira’y lokablokab na mata
tan takeb

tantandagan so silew
ed dorongawan na abung
balet arawdawi ni

pirawat la’y makasabi
pian makapanpainawa
ed manaalagar lan dukulan

no makaugip ak
komun nabangon ak la
ya wala’d akualan mo Katawan

twilight of life / six o’clock / hidden by darkness / is the road home / tired are the feet / almost unable to stride / in the coldness of the wind / really heavy / are the lids of my eyes / and shoulders / watching for the light / from the window of the house / but it’s still far away / hoping to arrive / so as to rest / in the awaiting bed / if i fall asleep / i wish I’d wake up / on your lap o god (translated by Ayesah Tecson)

12,000-strong crowd to sing Pangasinan folk song

2011-10-14T15:10:00.001+08:00

Thursday, October 13, 2011

DAGUPAN CITY -- A historical event will take place in the city minutes after the St. John the Evangelist Metropolitan Cathedral bell is rung at 6 p.m., which signals the Angelus, on Friday.

Students from 15 private and public high schools will have their grand choral performance. With candles lit, they will simultaneously sing Malinac Lay Labi, Pangasinan’s very own native folk song.

They will be joined by their fellow students, schools officials, and teachers, city officials, and Dagupenos in a crowd that is expected to reach 12,000. The mass singing will be held at along Burgos Street (from the West Central Elementary School I up to the corner of Rivera Street-Burgos Street).

This is the culmination of Project Sanengseng, a one-of-a-king choral competition conceptualized by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas. It was carried-out in partnership with the Dagupan City Schools Division headed by City Schools Superintendent Alma Ruby Torio.

Father Villegas will also the announce the winners in the competition.

At 4:30 p.m., the students will converge/assemble at Jovellanos Street (beside the Cathedral) at part of Burgos Street for the final rehearsal.

At 5:30 p.m, the Project Sanengseng finale will formally start with an opening song and other songs (all Pangasinan songs) by the different participating schools.

Meawhile, a traffic re-routing scheme will be implemented starting at 1p.m. until the event is over said Public Order and Safety Office Chief Robert Erfe-Mejia.

“What we are asking our youth in Dagupan is to rediscover the power and the beauty of Pangasinan songs because we feel that is being lost and we do not want to lose by default. We the adults wanted to teach our children that there is beauty and dignity in Pangasinan culture. And as starters, we are asking [students] to learn Malinac Lay Labi,” Villegas said during the launching of the project several months ago.

Villegas said he discovered that a lot of Pangasinense youths today could not speak Pangasinan.

“Because we want them to learn, it will not be a choir competition, rather it will be a school competition so that everybody in that school is obliged to study the song and hopefully become their pride as a Dagupeno, as Pangasinenses,” he stated.

He asked schools officials to include students in the choral group, even those who could not carry a tune. “Songs unify, let them be part of the group,” he explained.

During the judging where the all the judges and Villegas himself went from campus to campus to listen the students’ rendition of the Malinac Lay Labi (contest piece), and and their choice Pangasinan song (warm-up song).

“Wherever you go, when you are asked to sing, sing Malinac Lay Labi because this is our identiy song,” he remarked.

Here is the lyrics of Malinac Lay Labi, with the English translation by Santiago Villafania, a Pangasinense poet, and had been published at dalityapi unpoemed. In a phone conversation on Thursday with Villafania, he said the English translation can also be sung to the tune of Malinac Lay Labi:

Malinac Lay Labi (A night piece)

Malinak lay labi, Oras lay mareen
The night is calm my love, And time is fleeting still

Mapalpalnay dagem, Katekep toy linaew
The wind is breathing low, Kissed by the evening dew

Samit day kugip ko, Binangonan kon tampol
How sweet it is to dream, That I have to wake for you

Lapu'd say linggas mo, Sikan-sikay amamayoen
Your fair attemper face, I shall always caress

Refrain:

Lalo la bilay no sika lay nanengneng
O when the night is come, And you my love I see

Napunas lan amin so ermin ya akbibiten
The sadness all is gone, Buried deeply in my soul

No nanonotan ko lay samit day ugalim
Whenever I recall, Loving ways you are wont to

Agtaka nalingwanan anggad kaoyos na bilay.
I shall not forget you, Till I am laid to rest

(Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre/Sunnex)

Source: 12,000-strong crowd to sing Pangasinan folk song (SunStar Pangasinan)

Calming my Inner Storm

2011-10-14T11:27:00.000+08:00

I have just deactivated my facebook account. So, for the meantime I will be using my old blogger account to post some news, announcement, and updates here.

--

I will be in San Carlos City, Pangasinan tomorrow (10/15/2011) to give a lecture on Pangasinan Orthography. I was invited by some teachers who are currently writing and compiling Pangasinan stories for Grade 1.

World Poetry Movement - Poetry for Peace, September 24, 2011

2011-09-26T09:31:00.002+08:00

World Poetry Movement-Manila: Poetry for Peace at DLSU

2011-09-19T14:08:00.002+08:00

The DLSU Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center (BNSCWC) will hold a Poetry Recital entitled “World Poetry Movement-Manila: Poetry for Peace” on the 24th of September 2011, 2:00-4:00 pm, at the DLSU Amphitheatre (alternate venue: Central Plaza).

This event is in response to the World Poetry Movement’s (WPM) call for a poetic global action by holding simultaneous readings across the earth. WPM was founded in the context of the World Gathering of Directors from 37 International Poetry Festivals, in Medellin, Colombia early this year. At present, the Movement has been joined by more than 80 international poetry festivals and over 400 poets from all over the world.

WPM supports “the thoughts, actions and measures that can contribute to world peace, the defense of all life on earth, the sustainable development of a new world, the restoration of beauty, dignity and truth, in the process of a persistent strengthening of poetry's presence in contemporary society worldwide.”

Participating poets and readers include Marjorie Evasco, Ana Maria Katigbak-Lacuesta, Ronald Baytan, Allan Popa, Carla Pacis, Genevieve Asenjo, Alfred Yuson, Marne Kilates, Abdon Balde Jr., Michael Coroza, José Ma. Fons, Santiago Villafania, Herminio Beltran, Danilo Francisco Reyes, Grace Monte de Ramos, Alice Sun-Cua, John Iremil Teodoro, John Enrico Torralba, Genaro Gojo-Cruz, Ernesto Carandang II, Noelle Leslie dela Cruz, Joseph De Luna Saguid, Ida Del Mundo, Jaime Oscar Salazar, Johann Vladimir Espiritu, Ronald Recto and Peter Pichler.

Lovers of poetry and peace are welcome to the event. For inquiries, please contact the Center at tel. (632) 5244611 local 233; or email bnscwc@yahoo.com; bnscwc@dlsu.edu.ph.

Related link: Directory of WPM participants (105 international poetry festivals, 76 poetry projects and 1016 poets from 124 countries)

Gov. Espino urges Pangasinenses to make Pangasinan lovable

2011-09-16T09:50:00.003+08:00

Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. urged all Pangasinense to do his or her own share in making the province livable and lovable.

This developed as the Governor led the province in the celebration of the opening program of the Tourism Month on September 12 at the Sison Auditorium here highlighted by various projects such as the official launching of the I Love Pangasinan campaign as the battlecry of his administration’s tourism development thrust, the formal public introduction of the “Luyag ko tan Yaman” as the official Pangasinan hymn, and the introduction of the Pangasinan Culture and Arts Festival as the official annual tourism festivity of the province.

Gov. Espino, in his message, has called on every Pangasinense to be the first to love and be proud of its history, culture, and heritage. “Tayo muna ang magmahal ng probinsya natin. Tayo muna ang humanga sa ating kultura bago tayo mag-imbita ng ibang tao,” the Governor said as he added that the provincial government has started doing its share by digging deeper to the province’s roots that led to the declaration of Pangasinan foundation day two years ago.

It will also be recalled that studies and researches with regards to the history of the province is currently being undertaken to dig deeper to Pangasinan’s roots and existence to further educate Pangasinenses on their rich history and cultural heritage.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of because we have rich heritage and culture,” Gov. Espino said even as he disclosed that what Pangasinenses must do is to embrace them and be obliged to give their own share to realize a common vision of making the province “the best place to work, live, invest and raise a family.”

Furthermore, the Governor urged all Pangasinense to start from the basic things such as speaking or understanding the language, and to practice cleanliness and sanitation as a way of life to further promote the tourism potentials of Pangasinan.

During the opening program, Gov. Espino signed Provincial Ordinance No. 154 which adopts the “Luyag ko tan Yaman” as the official provincial hymn. With an objective to instill love, loyalty and patriotism among Pangasinense, the provincial hymn will be sung during flag raising ceremonies in all public offices including schools throughout the province.

Other highlights of the program include an audio-visual presentation on “I Love Pangasinan” campaign that strucked the audience as Pangasinenses from various sector through random interview vividly professed the reason why they love the province while the dance presentation of national acclaimed Tribu Pandan served as the finale number of the celebration.

In relation, two separate meetings were conducted involving the local government unit heads and representatives and all tourism officers of the various towns and cities of Pangasinan regarding the launching of the Pangasinan Culture and Arts Festival dubbed as, “Balitok A Tawir,” and the conduct of evaluation on all LGUs which will serve as their scorecard on different service categories.

Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim, Jr. commended the leadeship of the Governor as he hailed the launching of the different tourism activities stating further that said projects will catapult Pangasinan as the “center of arts and culture of the North” in the coming years. (PIO/Ruby R. Bernardino)

Upcoming PEN events in Bicol

2011-09-15T10:02:00.002+08:00

For Love of the Word: Workshops on Teaching Philippine Literature in High School and College
10 October 2011 (Monday)
8:30am-5:00pm
Science and Technology Annex Auditorium, Naga College Foundation, Naga City

The fifth of the series, a lecture-workshop on teaching Bicol literature and Philippine fiction, will be conducted by Jaime An Lim (Metrobank Outstanding Teacher) and Paz Verdades Santos (2011 Gawad Paz Marquez Benitez for Outstanding Educator from UMPIL).

Pre-registration is ongoing. Please submit the name/s of participant/s and school to PEN via email (philippinepen@yahoo.com) or text +639175287491.

This project is supported by the City Government of Naga, the PEN International in UK, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Meet the PEN Authors and Bicol Writers
9 October 2011 (Sunday)
1:00-3:00 p.m.
Raul S. Roco Library (Naga City Public Library), Naga City Hall

This event features National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, Carlos Arejola, Kristian Sendon Cordero, Frank Peñones and Jose Barrameda. The writers will read from their work and talk about their craft.

Also featured is the performance of the Naga College Foundation Center for Arts, Culture, and Bicol Studies. The group will perform Arejola’s short story for children, “Si Miriam asin an Saiyang Samhod, Bunot, Pantrapo, asin Panhaklot nin Ati.”

“Sagurong: 100 na Kontemporanyong Rawitdawit sa Manlain-lain na Tataramon Bikol” (Vibal Publishing for De La Salle University 2011), edited by Paz Verdades Santos and Kristian Sendon Cordero, will be re-launched at the forum.

This project is co-sponsored by the City Government of Naga, the PEN International in UK, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

PEN Rizal Forum in Legazpi
12 October 2011 (Wednesday)
7:30 am-5:00 pm
Audio Visual Hall, Divine Word College of Legazpi, Legazpi City, Albay

This forum features Ambeth Ocampo and Jun Cruz Reyes. This event is in cooperation with the Divinian Association of Language Enthusiasts (DALE) and the English and Social Science Department of Divine Word College of Legazpi.

Repost: Lady of Manaoag

2011-09-08T08:57:00.002+08:00

“Ave Maria napno ka’y grasia
Say Katawan so wala’d sika...”

i too needed some miracles
& so i became one of the many
devotees who touched the hem of Her dress
offered prayers (un)broken novenas
to ease my corporeal afflictions

“Bendita ka’d biin amin
tan Bendito’y bonga’y eges mon si Jesus”

not without some modicum of pleasure
i too adored Her chiseled saintly face
Her Immaculatry!

if only the cherished Lady could speak
‘t would be a miracle granted

no i will not fall on my knees
rather kiss Her lips like a lover
& fill the empty aspects of Her eyes
with psalms
poetry & philosophistry

if only the cherished Lady could speak
truly the heart knows its own pain
for even such a wish is a sin
that saints & angels dare not commit
into mind
& i have sinned in silence

shall i pound my skull
& unpoemed my brain?

i will take my leave from this crowded space
with a wrathful Christ
raging in my breast
they’ve defiled Her most O most sacred shrine
with shops
& stores
& stalls

oh me for a rage about to burst...
they’re no different from the Sadducees
& Pharisees of yore

O hypocrites!

“Santa Marian Ina’y Dyus
pikasi no kamin managkasalanan natan
tan naani no oras la’y ipatey mi. Amen.”

Haiga for Marilou

2011-09-02T17:04:00.002+08:00

August 21, 2011

2011-08-21T22:51:00.002+08:00

(10:51am U.S., 10:51pm PHILS)

tonight
i rename a star
after you

the brightest
in the southeastern sky

ed sayan labi
inngaran ko’y bitewen
ed sika

say sankaliwawaan
ed abalaten-bukig

…

heart be still
distance is no hindrance
bear the pain

woman –
may she be the right one that
God pulled from my ribs

2 Haiga

2011-08-12T09:40:00.001+08:00

Philippine PEN Holds Teaching Literature Workshop in Baguio

2011-08-02T15:45:00.005+08:00

The Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) continues its series of workshops on teaching literature in selected regions of the Philippines this year.

Called “For Love of the Word: Workshops on Teaching Philippine Literature in High School and College,” the next workshop will be held on August 8 (Monday), from 8:30 to 4:30 pm, at Juan Luna Hall (UP Baguio Auditorium), University of Philippines-Baguio. Eminent writers/scholars and university professors Delfin Tolentino and Jun Cruz Reyes will serve as facilitators.

This workshop is co-hosted by UP-Baguio, and supported by PEN International in UK, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

This project is PEN’s modest way of assisting in the improvement of literature education in the country. In the 2010 Cebu Congress, PEN has resolved to work more closely with the education sector, as it “recognizes that literary taste is shaped in the schools, especially the public school system; it is where generations must be taught to appreciate the outstanding works of our very own writers, works that constitute the soul of our nation.”

The first three workshops were successfully held on March 25 at Far Eastern University-Manila, May 6 at the University of San Agustin-Iloilo, and June 9 at the University of Cebu.

Forthcoming are three more workshops—in Bicol, Pangasinan, and Cagayan de Oro. The Bicol workshop will be held on October 10, in cooperation with Naga College Foundation.

For inquiries, please contact Philippine PEN at Solidaridad Bookstore, 531 Padre Faura St., Ermita, Manila, Philippines. Tel. (632) 5230870; Telefax (632) 5255038; email: philippinepen@yahoo.com; mobile: +639175287491. Please visit the PEN website http://www.philippinepen.ph for updates.

Learning With The Mother Tongue (Part 2)

2011-07-30T15:41:00.005+08:00

By DR. FLORANGEL ROSARIO BRAID
July 29, 2011, 10:58pm

MANILA, Philippines — Let me now share some developments in reviving my mother tongue, Pangasinan, which is perceived as a “dying language.” “We are a dying tribe on the verge of extinction,” notes Santiago Villafania, the province’s leading poet.

This lament is shared by some local writers and researchers who explain it as a consequence of factors such as migration of skilled and unskilled workers to other parts of the country or abroad, inter-ethnic marriages, changing language use, and what is described as “relative cultural prestige” of the language.

Pangasinenses have the tendency to use Iloko or Pilipino during conversations, notes writer A.R. Ravanzo who thinks this could be due to “penchant or uncanny ability for assimilation – to absorb oneself into the cultural tradition of another place, and the proclivity to belong, to survive against all odds.”

Many Pangasinenses are multilingual and proficient in English, Tagalog, and Ilokano. The continuing influx of immigrants to central Pangasinan may have also contributed to its erosion as they speak a different dialect.

Melchor Orpilla, poet and broadcaster, further notes that many young people in the province think that speaking Pangasinan is “bakya” (pedestrian). He advocates the use of media to counteract this existing mindset. But we need a regular publication like those in the other languages, he says. There are about 1.8 to 2 million people who speak the language but they are scattered outside the province or abroad.

To date, Pangasinan has yet to be introduced in the school curriculum despite availability of literary materials. These include works by two eminent zarzuela writers – Catalino Palisoc and Pablo Mejia, renowned educator and suffragist Maria Magsano who published the Silew magazine, and fiction writer Juan Villamil, according to Erwin Fernandez.

Advocates in the use of the mother tongue like myself see the move to revive an endangered language as a much bigger cause than the loss of technical knowledge. Victoria and James Anderson aptly describe it as much more “threatening,” as “losing one’s first language means forfeiting much of one’s social and cultural identity.”

A challenge, therefore, for local literati and cultural organizations (among others, Pangasinan Writers Association, Pangasinan Council for Culture and the Arts), and lately, the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC), is that of mobilizing resources for publications, advocacy, and similar projects.

The online e-group of PHCC has generated considerable interest and serves as a discussion venue for its members. An idea that drew enthusiastic response is the conduct of an Urduja Festival next year.

The creation of a Pangasinan Wikipedia has been approved. A radio program, Pinablin Taoir (treasured heritage) geared saving the language is now broadcast in Dagupan City. After learning that most Pangasinenses do not speak the language anymore, Archbishop Socrates Villegas initiated a choral competition called Project Sanengseng which gets additional support from local schools and city government.

Villafania, author of a poetry collection called Diurnal, hosts a website devoted to Pangasinan poetry (http://dalityapi.com). As studies show, languages have a better chance of surviving if standard written forms exist and if the speakers are literate and if literature and the media continue to be produced in the local language.

But there are periods in our history (such as the Japanese occupation) which yielded almost nothing in terms of documentary heritage. In fact, a group in Dagupan had taken the initiative to produce an adaptation of the zarzuela as there was then no other source of entertainment.

There could have been at least a dozen of scripts written as the show went on for some two years. My sister was with the regular cast and I, a fifth grader, already enamored with theater, would often join the production crew during performances. I am not aware of whether we still have access to what I consider a valuable cultural heritage.

It is for reasons such as these that our local UNESCO Committee on the Memory of the World had been pushing for the preservation of the Jawi alphabet. Jawi is one of the languages of Indonesia and Malaysia and our Moslem brothers in Mindanao. And like Pangasinan, it is also facing the threat of extinction.

We need further research on the impact of the first language on learning as most of the local studies are anecdotal. Perhaps later, a more systematic and controlled field study can be undertaken together with project implementation.

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/328821/learning-with-the-mother-tongue-part-2

For us, who do not care (translated by Vijaya Kandpal into Hindi)

2011-07-27T08:27:00.002+08:00

बेपरवाह

मैं बदमाश हूँ
ढूंढो मुझे झुग्गियों में पयाटास की
या फिर लोकल ट्रेन के भीतर

दफना दो मुझे चीथड़ों में
या फिर कागज के कम्बलों में रात को
जब में स्वप्न देखता हूँ एक घर का
अपना कहने के लिए

तैरता हूँ मैं दूषित नदियों में
मनुष्यों के द्वारा गन्दी की गयी
जिनकी आत्माएं पासिंग नदी से भी काली हो गयी हैं
चलता हूँ मैं मनीला की गलियो की
सघन हवा में
धुआं डकारती गाड़ियों से

चट्टानों सी ऊंची
इकठ्ठा करता हूँ गन्दगी
शहर की

शहर जो औजीयां अस्तबलों से भी गन्दा है
बारिश के दिनों में

दिन की रौशनी में यूँ ही चलते हुए
मालों में
देखता हूँ गनिकाएं व्यापार करती देह का
चंद पैसों के लिए

आह!

यह क्या भविष्य देखता हूँ मैं

-संतिअगो विल्लाफनिया की कविता ' फॉर अस हु ड़ू नोट केयर' से अनुवादित

For us, who do not care
(after Maya Angelou)

be me urchin
seek me shanty in Payatas
or under the LRT

bury me in tattered rugs
and paper blankets at night
while i dream me home
a family to call my own

swim me river defiled by men
whose soul is darker
than the waters of Pasig river

cross me streets of Manila
and breathe me air thick
with smoke belched from buses
trucks and jeepneys

collect me garbage
high as a mountain
worst than Augean stables
on rainy days

walk me malls in broad daylight
where courtesans trade their bodies
for six-pence in a day

o give me what future?

“PINABLIN TAOIR” ON AKSYON RADYO TO KEEP PANGASINAN LANGUAGE ALIVE

2011-07-15T09:01:00.004+08:00

DAGUPAN CITY – For the love of the “dying” Pangasinan language, Mayor Benjamin S. Lim is personally sponsoring a 30- minute radio program dubbed as “Pinablin Taoir” to be aired over Aksyon Radyo Pangasinan (ARP) starting July 15 and every Friday thereafter from 8 to 9 a.m.

“I love the Pangasinan language and I speak the language pretty well because of my mother who is a pure Pangasinense. That is why, I am passionately interested in the rejuvenation of the language to be the common tongue once again among residents of Dagupan and the province as well,” said Lim.

He said the project aims to arrest the interest of every Pangasinan speaking people to make sure that usage of the language passes from generation to generation without threat of extinction.

It has been observed that Pangasinan’s vernacular language is in danger of being lost due to the entry of other languages in the province. The threat is said to have come from the Ilokanos and Tagalogs.

Contributing largely to the slow death of Pangasinan tongue is the practice of more parents in using Tagalog at home purportedly to familiarize their kids with Filipino, which is used as the official teaching medium along with English in schools.

This is so because of the imposition of the national language when former President Ferdinand E. Marcos imposed the bilingual policy in 1974, which required Filipino and English to be the mediums of instruction.

This practice downgrades the language and turns it into a minor tongue, instead of being one of the major languages in the country.

Erwin Fernandez, a former history professor at the University of the Philippines and author of the children’s story entitled “Si Liwawa, say pusan agto gabay so ondangol” (Liwawa, the cat who refused to bark) was quoted in Vera Files to have said “This educational system made it impossible for the Pangasinense children to think and speak in Pangasinan.”

“We have surrendered our right to our inherent language to other languages. This is the reason why there is a decline in our own culture,” Fernandez said.

In the same file, Pangasinan poet Santiago Villafania was also quoted to have expressed different opinion by not entirely putting the blame on the other languages being used in the province. He said it is the Pangasinenses who refuse to use their language and realize that its inherent beauty is something that is not to be ashamed of.

The program is anchored by ARP's veteran broadcaster Orly Navarro along with known Pangasinan historians and writers like Emilio Jovellanos, a lexicographer or specialist in the vernacular vocabulary, who authored a Pangasinan-English dictionary and others.(CIO-Joseph Bacani)

Repost: In Search of Urduja

2011-07-13T14:52:00.004+08:00

I found these scanned pages from the book Cathay and the Way Thither; being a collection of Medieval Notices of China while searching for some available articles online about Pangasinan's beleaguered Princess Urduja. Pages 233-237 are about the brief sojourn of Ibn Batuta in the country of Tawalisi and his meeting with Princess Urduja.

Some Pangasinan historians and literati claimed that Urduja's kingdom was in Pangasinan. Most of our historians nowadays, however, do not support such claim and that the Turkish-speaking princess was not from Pangasinan and that she is just a myth.

The line Dawat wa batak katur, roughly translated by Batuta as "bring or handover there is the inkbrush" sounds like Pangasinan, huh?. But I would literally translate this in modern Pangasinan as "Yawat/gawat (handover/reach) wa (there is) batak (ink) katur(o) (brush)"

The ancient word for paper in Pangasinan is lost but we still have the word batak (ink) or batakan (to sign/stamp). Batak is akin to Tagalog word patak (drop).

Dawat sounds like yawat (handover) or gawat (reach) in Pangasinan language. Interesting, huh?

Now tell me if "dawat wa batak katur" is in Turkish language :)

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Six Poems at TEXT - the Cultural Monthly Journal, Issue No: 13

2011-06-21T10:49:00.004+08:00

Six of my poems translated into Arabic by Prof. Abdul-Settar Abdul-Latif (English Dept., College of Education, University of Basrah, Iraq) and have been published in TEXT - the Cultural Monthly Journal, Issue No: 13.

Open publication - More Arabic Culture

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CHORAL TILT TO PROMOTE PANGASINAN LANGUAGE LAUNCHED

2011-06-16T17:02:00.002+08:00

Press Release
June 15, 2011

DAGUPAN CITY – A choral competition dubbed as Sanengseng to be participated in by high school students from public and private schools has been successfully launched last Monday at the Sala del Obispo Cesar Ma. Guerrero of the Archbishop’s residence here.

To revolve on the theme “Creating Awareness of Our Revered Pangasinan Culture,” the competition is one of the components of the 64th Agew na Dagupan celebration on June 20, which will raise the consciousness of young Pangasinenses to rediscover the power and the beauty of Pangasinan language through Pangasinan songs.

Participants will all sing to the tune of the classical ballad Malinac Lay Labi.

Present during the launching ceremony were Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, Councilor Jesus Canto and City Schools Division Superintendent Alma Ruby C. Torio.

Sanengseng is a Pangasinan word for “hissing sound,” a brainchild of Villegas, who together with the group of Pangasinan culture enthusiasts expressed interest in the efforts to promote Pangasinan arts and culture, particularly among young Pangasinenses who are not exposed to the finer aspects of their own arts and culture.

“The Philippines is a poor country, but in spite of poverty, we have two jewels. The first jewel is our Catholic faith. The second is our song. And it is our faith in God that carries us through in the midst of problems," the prelate said.

He also said that " it is also our song that helps us face life’s problems."

"When we are sad, we sing. When we are happy, we sing. When we feel romantic, we sing. When we are typing, we sing,” said Villegas.

“That is why we are asking our youth in Dagupan to rediscover the power and the beauty of pangasinan songs because we feel that is being lost and we do not want to lose by default," he added.

He said "we the adults wanted to teach our children that there is beauty; and dignity in Pangasinan culture and as a starter, we are asking them to learn “Malinac lay Labi,."

"Because we want them to learn, it will not be a choir competition, rather it will be a school competition so that everybody in that school is obliged to study the song and hopefully it will become their pride as a Dagupeño,” Villegas added.

Lim, on the other hand, said "ito ay paggising sa ating mga taga-Pangasinan na bigyan ng importansiya ang ating sariling salita dahil unti-unti ng nawawala ito sa mga kabataan natin ngayun."

He added that "if we are going to look at Pangasinan now, only about 30 percent of the whole population of the province speaks the language fluently.”

“In addition, magkakaroon tayo ng programa sa radio na kung saan weekly ay magkakaroon tayo ng bigkas at salita sa Pangasinan na parang dictionary type na maging gabay sa ating mga kabataan,” he disclosed.

Torio, on the other hand, said that the competition will give reverence to the Pangasinan culture.

“We will institutionalize this and we will implement a multi-base education na kung saan ang salitang Pangasinan ay gagamiting medium of instruction. Meantime, we will start with a singing competition na uumpisahan natin sa private at public secondary schools sa Dagupan,” she said.

Accordingly, by August, all participants will sing altogether in one voice the “Malinac Lay Labi” along the stretch of A.B. Fernandez Avenue at sundown while holding a lighted candle. (CIO – Joseph C. Bacani)

Magnapoets: July 2011 issue

2011-06-11T09:29:00.003+08:00

Cover photography © Dave Wilson Photography 2009, all rights reserved

Featuring our Proust Questionnaire results, and contributions by L. Ward Abel, Jeffrey Alfier, Ramesh Anand, Pamela A. Babusci, Janick Belleau, Tom Berman, Marshall Bood, Bob Brill, Dawn Bruce, Helen Buckingham, Lerys Byrnes, Laura Carter, Steven Carter, Sonam Chhoki, Tobi Cogswell, Susan Constable, Bill Cooper,William Cullen Jr, Magdalena Dale, Tatjana Debeljački, Curtis Dunlap, Denis Emorine, Robert Epstein, Claire Everett, Joanne Faries, Amelia Fielden, Tisa Garrison, Hugh Fox, Bill Frayer, Jay Friedenberg, Beverley George, Barbara Golding, Sanford Goldstein, Taylor Graham, Peter Grieco,Dan Hardison, David Herrle, Jeff Hoagland, Ruth Holzer, Alegria Imperial, SK Iyer, Sarah Katharina Kayß, Ray Keifetz, Mary Kipps, Bruce Lader, Catherine J. S. Lee, Dan Lewis, Chen-ou Liu, Bob Lucky, Rafael Miguel Montes, Martine MORILLON-CARREAU, Ben Nardolilli, ayaz daryl Nielsen, Scott Owens, Oprica Padineau, Carl Palmer, Stanely Pelter, Răzvan Pintea, David Pratt, Patricia Prime, Carol Raisfeld, Kala Ramesh, Alexis Rotella, Tracy Royce, Walter Ruhlmann, Miriam Sagan, Carol Schwalberg, David Serjeant, Adelaide B. Shaw, Radhey Shiam, Stanley Siceloff, Dr. Roger G. Singer, John Soules, Tim Staley, Craig W. Steele, Vivien Steels, André Surridge, Luminita Suse, Mark Teaford (M. Franklin Teaford), Yoav J. Tenembaum, David Terlinck, Shelly Reed Thieman, Caitlin Elizabeth Thomson, James Tipton, Davide Trame, Matthew Vasiliauskas, Margaret Van Every, Santiago B. Villafania, Anne Whitehouse, Neal Whiman, Steve Wilkinson, Richard K. Williams, Dave Wilson, and Nick Zegarac.

ISSN 1916-3010

Magnapoets Print, a bi-annual 8.5" x 11" print journal featuring poetry, short stories, interviews, and essays.

---

Some of my haiku are also published in the Taj Mahal Review (Volume 10 Number 1 June 2011) which is out now. Order your copy here or visit their website.

Pangasinan Ghazal 63

2011-06-06T10:06:00.002+08:00

singa aplos na dagem amian
so angob na bibil mon nilawan

bangta ag natempey no ombarung
laut no say wisit nalingwanan

ontan met la’y imon ed bibiin
ag ginagala ya namataan

say karut ed diking ko nasireg
no say inggeget mo et onlawan

wadtan ima’y singa mannginginew
no wala’y piaet ya nagamoran

tan itepel so pakakailiw
sanlabim balet ya pannangisan

bangbalet tampol ya naandi so karuk
ed lakap mon singa aplos na amian

DLSU CENTENNIAL BOOK LAUNCH SET FOR JUNE 17

2011-06-01T14:37:00.001+08:00

For its Centennial year, the De La Salle University is releasing the Centennial Set - a 17-book collection that captures the 100-year spirit of De La Salle University on Friday, June 17 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Manila.

The launch will start at 4 p.m.

The Centennial Set will be available for P15,000. Deliveries can be arranged after the launch. For more details and inquiries, please email acadpublications@gmail.com or call 524-4611 local 390 and ask for Cora or Joanne.

The following books will be launched:

1. The De La Salle University Story – Vol. 1
De La Salle University in the Republic of the Philippines Brothers’ District
By Br. Andrew B. Gonzalez FSC

2. The De La Salle University Story – Vol. 2
The Early Years
By Cirilo F. Bautista

3. The De La Salle University Story – Vol. 3
From the Blood of Martyrs: 25 Years of the Rebuilding and Development
of De La Salle College (1946-1971)
By Marjorie M. Evasco

4. The Fellowship Lectures
Edited by Susan M. Gallardo

5. Dadaanin
Edited by Alwin C. Aguirre and Ernesto V. Carandang II

6. 100 Haiku
By Tereso S. Tullao, Jr.

7. A Treat of 100 Short Stories
Edited by Gerardo Z. Torres

8. 100 Poems: Cirilo F. Bautista
Edited by Santiago B. Villafania

9. Sagurong
Edited by Paz Verdades M. Santos and Kristian Sendon Cordero

10. Selected Studies in Environment and Health
Edited by Exaltacion E. Lamberte

11. Rethinking Perspective and Practices: Thriving Moving Out of Poverty in Cities
By Exaltacion E. Lamberte

12. Filipino Colonial History and Legacy
Edited by Ferdinand D. Dagmang

13. Studies in Religion and Theology: Issues and Perspective
Edited by Rito V. Baring

14. Feminista Gender, Race and Class in the Philippine
Edited by Noelle Leslie G. de la Cruz and Jeane C. Peracullo

15. Issues and Trends in Applied Linguistics in the Philippines
Edited by Shirley N. Dita

16. Promoting Philippines Enterprise Development
Edited by Andrea L. Santiago

17. The De La Salle University Press
By Agnes P. Malcampo

» Related News: The DLSU Centennial Set - MINI CRITIQUE By Isagani Cruz

Call for applications for the National Book Development Trust Fund

2011-05-28T16:28:00.001+08:00

The National Book Development Board (NBDB) is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications for the National Book Development Trust Fund.

For 2011, the NBDB will be awarding three (3) grants for the following topics: a) Health and Wellness, b) Environment and Biodiversity, and c) the English translation of a novel originally written in a regional language (viz. Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Bikolano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Kapampangan, Pangasinense) or a novel in English by an author from the regions.

Applicants are required to submit, along with the duly accomplished Application Form and other requirements, a draft equivalent to twenty-fivepercent (25%) or more of the entire manuscript, research, or multimedia work.Chosen authors will be awarded a grant of around P200,000.00 each. Winning applicants will be announced during the Philippine Book Development Month in November.

Deadline for submission of applications is August 15, 2011. Read more...

Culture, language, and the arts

2011-05-24T08:53:00.000+08:00

By DR. FLORANGEL ROSARIO BRAID

MANILA, Philippines — Although we are a country known for the richness of its cultural heritage, there really has not been enough political will to tap this precious resource for governance.

Whatever lip service has been given on the role of artists and writers has yet to be translated into policy and resources support. As Malou Jacob, executive director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) noted, we “need the imagination of artists to move forward... and an economy of culture that can help transform the country’s image.”

In terms of leadership in the various cultural institutions, this administration has done its part with the appointment of credible heads – Emily Abrera as chair of the Cultural Center of the Philippines with Raul Sunico as president. Recently, Felipe de Leon Jr.was appointed chair of the NCCA. Likewise, there has been organization restructuring in the National Historical Commission, the National Museum and other related institutions. But still much more can be done to put culture and arts in the people’s consciousness and as an integrating force in governance. Read more...

Anlong: Panaanap ed lupam

2011-05-17T10:45:00.001+08:00

nen Jalalud'din Rumi

(impatalus ed Pangasinan nen Santiago Villafania para ed si Chris tan Jessan)

Nanlapu ed gapo na bilay ko
aanapen ko so lupam
balet natan anengneng ko la

Natan anengneng ko
so ayat so limgas
say agnatukor a karakpan
na lupa
ya aanapen ko

Natan nalmo taka
tan saraman so manelek
tan ag angitalek ed siak karuman
et masayem ed agda impananap
a singa ginawak

Aligaligen ak ed derleng
na limgas mo
tan pilalek kon nanengneng ka
na sanlasus a mata

Say pusok pinarlangan na panangaro
tan ag tinmundan nananap
ed sayan inkelaw kon limgas
ya amamayok natan

Ambaing ak
ya tawagen iyan panangaron too
tan antakot ak ed Dyus
ya tawagen iyan dibino

Say balingit na engas mo
singa palpalis na kabuasan
sinmabi ed kareenan na tanamanan
inlinawam so balon bilay ed siak
nagmaliw ak ya kaagewan
tan aninom

Say kamareruak agayla'y liket
kada gisla na inkapalsak
et pinabli ka

Say agaag mo
amarlang na apuy dia ed pusok
para ed siak
say dalin tan tawen

Say pana na arok
sinmabi la ed pegdat to
Wala ak ed abung na panangasi
tan say pusok
et pasen na pirawat

Looking for your face

By Jalalud'din RUMI

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your effulgence
has lit a fire in my heart
for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer

http://youtu.be/BJ1LrJI2U7w

Anlong a Ditso

2011-05-05T11:24:00.000+08:00

Say anlong a Tanaga (http://tanaga.blogspot.com/) na Tagalog et Ditso ed Pangasinan. Mabetbet say pakdaar tonian anlong et nipaakar ed erotica (besngaw a dawag).

Pitoran silabel ono kataga ed kada dasig tan wala'y mitatanol ya angga'd dinan ed saraya: AAAA, AABB, ABAB, ABBA, AAAB, AABA, ABAA.

ditso 1

nitan la'y Inggon anges
lapu ed inkabuanges
bangking la no manakar
dia'd polong mantubakyar

ditso 2

ag gogoe'y anggatel
ompano naguratel
no pisag so ginmatel
ay agmo itetepel!

ditso 3

wala'y manuk kon taras
mansaltin kumaripas
nen kuan kon kinarapas
ay agi! kabalbalbas!

ditso 4

akin maopapet ka?
agka pa kapakapa
ta ambalangan agew
amamayon ni'y pagew

Poem: Catwalk (with translations in Arabic & Italian)

2011-04-29T13:27:00.001+08:00

she catwalks searching
for a certain sky
living her ninthhood
on the streets
and alleyways
that never sleep
at night

the hours
only moments
& in her catness
she slips slyly
longing to be free
wordlessly...

leaving only the poems
she has written
on my body

softly
the sound of
a closing door

مشية القطة
للشاعر الفلبيني سانتياغو فيلافانيا
ترجمة نزار سرطاوي

تمشي مشية القطة بحثاً
عن سماءٍ ما
تعيش حياتها التاسعة
في الشوارع
والأزقة
التي أبداً لا تنام
ليلاً

الساعات
ليست أكثر من لحظات
ثُمَّ تنسَلُّ بمكر
بطبيعتها القططية
توّاقةً إلى الحرية
دون أن تنبس ببنت شفة...

تاركةً القصائدَ
التي سطّرَتها
على جسدي

صوتُ
بابٍ ينغلق
برفق

(Translated by Nizar Sartawi)

Passerella (Passo di gatta)
(Traduzione di Mario Rigli)

Lei è in cerca di passerelle
per un certo cielo
sprecando beltà e gioventù
...per le strade
e i vicoli
che mai dormono
la notte

le ore
solo momenti
e nel suo essere gatta
si infila subdolamente
nel desiderio di essere libera
senza parole...

lasciando solo le poesie
che lei ha scritto
sul mio corpo

dolcemente
il rumore
di una porta che si chiude

Vijaya Kandpal's Hindi version/translation of my poem 'A Country of My Own'

2011-04-26T17:03:00.001+08:00

स्वदेश

मैंने नापा है तुम्हारी सुडौलता को
कभी टकटकी बांधकर कभी एक दृष्टी से यूँ ही
हर उभार और आलेख को
चाहे वो पहाड़ हों या पठार
मैंने जीते हैं

तुम्हारे क्षितिज का परागमन किया है मैंने, एक झपक में
अधीन कर चलाता हुआ चारों दिशाओं को
चौकड़ियाँ भरता हुआ मैं तुम्हारे हरे अस्तबलों में

पार किया है मैंने तुम्हारी नदियों को
उस पुराने पशु की पीठ पर
और गाँव देवियों को तुम्हारे नाम की महत्ता और उदगम के रहस्य बताये हैं
स्मृति भरी है मेरी तुम्हारी लोक एवं पौराणिक कथाओं से
जिन्होंने मिथकीय बनाया है प्रेम प्रसंगों और जीवनियों को
तुम्हारी पीढ़ियों की, जैसे की वे हज़ारों वर्षों पहले लिखी गयी हों

स्वदेश, तुम्हारे पुनर्जागरण और स्वर्ण युग को रंगीन बनाने के लिए
और अदितीय करने के लिए ही
मैंने अब तक अपनी श्वाशों को चलायमान रखा है
ताकि, तुम्हारा इतिहास सुना जाये
मैंने मिथ्या पूर्ण व्यक्तव्य दियें हैं,
अपने ही लोगों के मध्य
जो खोते जा रहे हैं
अपनी जिव्हा का नमक
और अपनी विरासत

तुम मेरी पकड़ में हों कोबोलन (क्षेत्र पंगासिनान के रहिवासी)
मेरी कल्पना के भवन में
मेरे स्वदेश हों तुम
यहीं मेरे हृदय क्षेत्र में
जब स्वर धड़कते हैं जैसे की जंगली कबूतरों की श्वास रोक दी गयी हों
तब ये शब्द मद की भाँती बहते हैं
जैसे रक्त बहता है मेरी धमनियों में

पुनः मुझे सुनने दो बांसों से निकले वो गीत
किसी प्रेमी की श्रृंगार से भरी कवितायेँ
हाँ, पुनः सुनने हैं मुझे वे मंत्र और मंत्रध्वानियाँ
और पहाड़ों पर बैठी निस्तभता को भी
उस कालिमा में विलुप्त होंने से पहले
उस भयावह उड़ान को भरने से पहले

उठो कोबोलन और मेरे शब्दों में से बोलो
अपने शब्दों को अधरों से छु कर उन्हें पुनर्जीवित कर दो
तब तक, जब तक तुम्हारे वंशज उन्हें सुन न लें
सुनो उनके अंतर्मन की भाषा
और बोलो
मेरे विलुप्त होने से पहले

A Country of My Own (Manila Times / Sunday Magazine, 13 March 2011)

sonito: no anto’y ag dinondon nen Kristo

2011-04-22T03:00:00.000+08:00

ay sankablian so agew aya
no kapigan impatua’y amalsa

so panondon to ed kasalanan
tawid ni’d onan boleg nen Adan

insanla’y bilay lapu ed aro -
anggapo’y miparan panangaro

inurasan na mabli ton dala
so dutak ya amalkot ed talba

bangta wala’y atilak ya sugat
apatiran sugat ya binmakat

tan binmutaw ed salik tan limak
tinmalus angga ed kamareruak

ta nen impasak ed agew aman
agto dinondo’y dabuk kon laman

Dia del Libro 2011: Bersong EuroPinoy 3 at Instituto Cervantes de Manila

2011-04-18T13:02:00.000+08:00

Poem: To a Rebel Poet (with translation in Italian by Marika Famà & in Hindi by Vijaya Kandpal)

2011-04-14T10:59:00.005+08:00

To a Rebel Poet

you penned a bitter life
the paper bled and burned with your blood
i drained the tears

in your empty eyes
you dreamt of better days
while fighting underground

i heard the muses cried
when you died a hundred deaths
when bullets rained your body

the last drop
of your blood stained the ground
with your last poem

(Original version in Pangasinan language)

Dala na Umaanlong

insulat mo so ampait a bilay
asugat tan apoolan so papil ed dalam
pinaekatan mo’y lua so matam

pirawat mo’y mareen iran agew
nen akila kan akibakal
ed kapalandeyan

mannangis ira’y musia
nen inateyan mo’y sanlasos a patey
inuran na bala so malangwer a laman

say samput ya terter na dalam
mansa ed dalin no iner nisulat
so samput mo met ya anlong

Per un Poeta Ribelle
(Traduzione di Marika Famà)

Hai scritto una vita amara sulla carta
E poi l’hai bruciata col tuo sangue

Ho asciugato le lacrime
dei tuoi occhi vuoti
mentre sognavi di giorni migliori
durante il combattimento sotterraneo

Ho sentito le Muse piangere
quando sei morto un centinaio di morti
quando i proiettili son piovuti sul tuo corpo

e l'ultima goccia
ha macchiato di sangue il suolo
con la tua ultima poesia

एक विद्रोही कवि के लिए

तुमने स्याही से लिखा एक कटु जीवन
कागज़ लहुलुहान हुआ, जला तुम्हारे रक्त से
और समस्त आंसु बह गए|

अपनी रिक्त आँखों से तुमने अच्छे दिनों की कामना की होगी
लड़ते हुए अदृश्य हो|

सुना मैंने प्रेरक देवियों का रुदन
जब मृत्यु तुम्हें ले गयी सौ-सौ बार
गोलियों ने भेदा तुम्हारा मूंह
और रक्त की अंतिम बूँद रंग गयी ज़मीं
तुम्हारी आखरी कविता के साथ|

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Members of Pangasinan Historical, Cultural Commission sworn in

2011-04-11T11:25:00.002+08:00

The newly created Pangasinan Historical and Constitutional Commission (PHCC) has been finally constituted with the oath-taking of its members as part of the celebration of the 431st on Tuesday.

Governor Amado Espino Jr. officiated the oath-taking of Dr. Gonzalo T. Duque, president of the Lyceum-Northwestern University as chairman; with Dr. Perla Legaspi; Arabella Arcinue, Nida Vergara; Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Escano, Ms. Virgie Pasalo; and Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim as members.

Duque earlier headed a committee formed by Governor Espino that conducted a research and study which finally determined in 2010 the most proximate date of the founding of Pangasinan from available records in the National Historical Institute as well as documents found in the archives of the Spanish government.

The commission, headed by Duque, composed of civil society leaders, academicians and government officials, is mandated to continue to study and make an accurate account of Pangasinan and to promote the province’s art, culture and heritage.

Gov. Espino said that as part of this effort, the province through the PHCC, is the holding of a Pangasinan Writers’ Congress to promote the Pangasinan language as a medium of literary expression.

This idea was proposed by Santiago Villafania, an accomplished writer which was endorsed by National Artist for Literature Francisco Sionil Jose of Rosales. Both were last year’s Pangasinan ASNA awardees with Sionil receiving the highest ASNA Balitok (Golden) award.

Governor Espino earlier noted that unless something is done, Pangasinan will soon be a dying dialect due to what may be called “ilocanization” of the eastern and western parts of the province.

ASNA is the primitive term of “asin”, from which Pangasinan derived its name, the place being the land where salt is produced in abundant quantity.

As a corollary project, Espino said that the province may launch the Pangasinan equivalent of the Palanca award to give due recognition to outstanding work in literature of Pangasinenses who are writing in the Pangasinan language.

The award was suggested by journalist Al Mendoza, himself a Palanca awardee from Mangatarem town for his literary works.

Source: http://www.usnewslasvegas.com/provincial/members-of-pangasinan-historical-cultural-commission-sworn-in/

Bersong EuroPinoy slated April 16 at Instituto Cervantes

2011-04-08T12:03:00.001+08:00

INSTITUTO CERVANTES de Manila brings back the “Bersong EuroPinoy,” a unique poetry chain of Filipino and European poems, April 16, 2 p.m., at Instituto Cervantes’ Salon de Actos.

An interesting poetry recital started in 2009, Bersong EuroPinoy was initiated by Instituto Cervantes as part of the celebration of its Día del Libro (International Book Day). It is often regarded as a “depiction of the brotherhood of languages” as it brings together renowned Filipino poets as well as different participants from various embassies of the European Union. For that reason, Bersong Europinoy has just been awarded the “Gawad Jaime C. de Veyra” by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino.

Members of the EU diplomatic corps recite poems in their own language, choosing both their own works and those of the other poets. They will then intersperse the readings with English translations of the poems.

Celebrated Filipino poets, on the other hand, participate in the event by reading their own works written either in English or Filipino.

“Following the tradition of our Berso sa Metro reading campaign in the Light Rail Transit Authority where Filipino commuters

have been receiving their daily dose of Spanish- Filipino poetry, we are now expanding our campaign with the Bersong EuroPinoy, which aims to share the poetry from renowned artists all over Europe to Filipinos,” says Instituto Cervantes director José Rodríguez.

Last year’s celebration of the Bersong EuroPinoy saw the participation of 10 European countries and 10 Filipino poets. Three Filipino poets then performed a friendly debate via poetry in the tradition of the Balagtasan to cap off the event.

This year’s celebration will feature the works of Philippine national hero José Rizal in commemoration of his 150th birth anniversary. Filipino poets participating in this event include Siege Malvar, GP Abrajano, Alice Sun-Cua, Santiago Villafania, Rebecca Añonuevo, Shirley Lua, Jun Balde, Cles Rambaud, and John Torralba.

EU countries featured in the poetry recital include Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.

Bersong EuroPinoy is organized by Instituto Cervantes de Manila, in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines, Spanish Agency International Cooperation for Development, Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, British Council, Goethe Institut, and the embassies of Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. » Read more...

Related news: Poetry of Tongues: Bersong EuroPinoy

ASNA Monument

2011-04-07T14:57:00.003+08:00

paimano ed saray ASNA awardees (past, present & future)

anenen so baton monuminto
no say getman balangon na ngaran
kabaliktaran na inkatoo

pisirayew so arapat ya kuan
tan say pilatek say kagalangan

The dude standing is my avatar ;-p

Related news: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/provincial/2480-7-pangasinenses-cited

Pangasinan to observe non-working holiday on April 5

2011-03-30T13:03:00.001+08:00

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, March 27 — It will be a special non-working holiday in Pangasinan on April 5 when the province will observe its 431st Foundation Day, dubbed as "Agew na Pangasinan".

This is provided for under Proclamation No. 103 issued by the Office of the President, signed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochua Jr., in behalf of President Benigno Aquino III.

This is only the second year that the province is celebrating "Agew na Pangasinan" since after a research and study committee formed by Governor Amado Espino Jr. determined the official founding day of the province.

The finding of the committee headed by Atty. Gonzalo T. Duque, president of Lyceum-Northwestern University, that Pangasinan was constituted as a province or "alcaldea" under the Spanish crown on April 5, 1580 was adopted in a provincial ordinance enacted last year by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

With the declaration of the official founding day of Pangasinan, the province went on to celebrate its maiden "Agew na Pangasinan" on April 5 last year, in the province's 430th year.

A report of the Provincial Information Office said that this year's "Agew na Pangasinan" will again feature spectacular and historical events to celebrate what is called Pangasinan's "Golden Age".

The celebration reels off on April 4 with an array of activities like the "Parada na Dayew" featuring a floats depicting the different historical eras of Pangasinan, a commemorative program in front of the provincial capitol, the inauguration of the Asna Mini-Park and the unveiling of the Asna Monument, the holding of Asna Awards and Grand Ball.

Asna is the old name of the Pangasinan word "asin" (salt), from which the name "Pangasinan" (salt pan) was derived.

Other activities include the blessing of the Pangasinan Training Center, unveiling of a photo exhibit featuring the various heritage and tourism sites in the province, Oratorical Contest for high school students and the Countdown To Midnight and Fireworks Display. (PNA)

Source: Pangasinan to observe non-working holiday on April 5

Related news:

» P-Noy Declares April 5 non-working holiday in Pangasinan

» April 5 holiday for Pangasinan

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2 Pangasinan Poems: Gurgurlis ed Banua / Ghazal 57 in "A Kabaleyan's Thoughts" (Sunday Punch)

2011-03-29T14:40:00.001+08:00

Landscape with Figures (1942) nen Carlos Bulosan,
impatalus ed salitan Pangasinan nen Santiago B. Villafania

PASEMPET lamet tatandaga’y bitewen ed biek-taew,
say awaran et niduman siplog na dagem ed kanonotan
ya sinmabin yalalig ira’y babuak-pataboy na taon iran aman:

sempetan ya pakalmoan na pasen ya abalang ed saray
signos na sansinakuban. Saray pugaro naandi la.
Saray nankarayan alingwanan... Sasalien ya nonoten so kanaway
tan sarama’y atiguay ed nababalang ya dalin
(pokepokel ed talba no iner inatey ira’y atateng tayon duka),
say panwawaywaya et asagmak ed ambelat ya alaal
na pabaing ed panaon diman.

Say banua et maruksa ed sinulmingan:
awaran: ngara’y totoo: palar na bilay:
amin ya arawin salinap a nginmeswa tan kinmiwas,
bebetagen to ‘ra’y kabkabat ya ngarangaran ya pinepe’y
maando ‘ran sangi pian say puso yakis to, “Say sempetan sananey ya ayaman,
kada kupbang paarap et kupbang paarap ed talon lasus ya taon
na impangekal ed katuaan…”

Aliwan dapit-sempetan
ed onan taniag a dalin, ono intaynan
ed amputin beyebey na dayat ya ombubuneknek ed baybay,
odino aron onlulukso ed saray ketegan na lakseb dia’d kamarerua,
bangta maawang ya tawir na bakal tan kaderal onteterak
ya bengatla para ed saray manbibilay tan labay da’y ompatey.

Say bilay et bayes ya salita. Kada too alingon imbalikas to’ya…

Inusar ed antikey a pilikula nen Christopher Gozum ya Surreal Random MMS Texts para ed Ina, Agui, tan kaamong ya makaiiliw ed sika : gurgurlis ed banua. Ginamoran na Ishmael Bernal Award para ed Young Cinema nen 2008 Cinemanila International Film Festival.

Pangasinan Ghazal 57

say amtak no awawas ak la’d sika
talampong ka ed sayan pililikna

agni naomas ed isip ko’y lupan
nipaet lan andi’y talang ed walna

ag nilikod so maabig mon waleng
amalayon ed siak ya aroen ka

anggano nilegias so palar tan dua
inmonung ak lapu’d pinabli taka

nipanon konon saksakey so oked
anta palawpaw iyan singa apa

agko naoynot ed nonot no anto
so masalamsam a yanlong ed sika

ghazal man iyan maralus ya ayat
manempey na panpilalek ko’d sika

Published in A Kabaleyan's Thoughts (Sunday Punch, 27 March 2011)

Aristos with Ilokano translation by Ariel S. Tabag

2011-03-28T14:31:00.000+08:00

For those who missed the Bannawag, 7 March 2011 issue.

Mexican poet and novelist at the Philippine PEN

2011-03-25T13:14:00.001+08:00

Philippine PEN will host a reception for Mexican writer Javier Sicilia during the General Assembly on March 26, Saturday, 5:00-6:30 pm at the Solidaridad Bookstore, Ermita, Manila.

Poet, essayist, screenwriter, and novelist Javier Sicilia was born in Mexico City in 1956. His poetry collections include Permanencia en los puertos (1982), La presencia desierta (1986), Oro (1990), Trinidad (1992), Vigilias (1994, 2000), among others. His poems are reflections of his Catholic faith and his understanding of Christian mysticism.

He is editor-in-chief of the magazine Poesía and director of the magazine Ixtus. He is currently a professor of literature, aesthetics and scriptwriting at the Universidad de La Salle de Cuernavaca.

In 1990 he won the Premio Ariel for best original story written for film. In 2009, he received the Premio Nacional de Poesía de Aguascalientes for Tríptico del desierto.

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Translations of 'Swansong of the sea' into Italian by Mario Rigli and into Arabic by Nizar Sartawi

2011-03-23T16:02:00.003+08:00

Il canto di cigno del mare
di Santiago Villafania
(Traduzione di Mario Rigli)

Quella notte ho sentito il canto di cigno del mare
le erolalia (*) di amanti senza nome
che rubano paradiso ed eternità

è stato il grido di un uccello pellegrino
che ha punteggiato il silenzio della notte
ma i venti e le onde hanno sussurrato quiete

Ho aspettato il risveglio del giorno
ho sentito al di sotto il respiro della terra,
le palpitazioni della Via Lattea

poi Atlante ha mosso un dito
e rotazioni sono scaturite
e improvviso tremore
E il mare aveva le ali di uno tsunami!

La morte è giunta senza preavviso e ragione
a coloro che ascoltavano i salmi dell'oblio

e poi ho sentito il canto di cigno del mare
. . . e le grida di chi se ne è andato via.

(*) Erolalia è un termine coniato dal Dr. Robert Chartham nel suo libro la “La coppia sensuale” per definire l'insieme di gemiti, grida, suoni e sospiri che escono alla coppia durante il rapporto sessuale.

Swansong of the sea
By Santiago Villafania
(Published in the Manila Times / Sunday Magazine, 20 March 2011)

That night I heard the swansong of the sea
the erolalias of nameless lovers
stealing a heaven and eternity
there was a crysong of a pilgrim bird
that punctuated the silence of the night
but the winds and the waves whispered a hush
I waited for the waking of the day
feeling the breathing of the earth beneath
the palpitations of the Milky Way
then Atlas moved a finger and it came
the gyrations and the
sudden trembling
O the sea had wings of a tsunami!
death came without warning or a reason
to those who heard the psalms of oblivion
and then I heard the swansong of the sea
. . .and the crysongs of those who went away

أغنية البحر الوداعية
شعر سانتياغو فيلافانيا
ترجمة نزار سرطاوي

في تلك الليلة سمعت أغنيةَ البحر الوداعية
...أنّاتِ وغنجاتِ وصرخاتِ عشّاقٍ بلا أسماء
تسرق الفردوس والخلود

وشقّت سكون الليل
أغنية طائرٍ في طريقه إلى الحجّ لكن الرياح والأمواج همست بالسكون

انتظرتُ صحوة النهار
شعرتُ بأنفاس الأرض من تحتي
وخفقات درب اللبانة

ثم حرك أطلس أحد أصابعه وحيندئذٍ جاءت
حركات الدوران
وفجأةً رجفت الراجفة

آه، كانت للبحر أجنحةٌ تسونامية!
حضر الموت بلا نذير وبلا سبب
إلى أولئك الذين سمعوا مزامير النسيان

ثم سمعت أغنية البحر الوداعية
. . . والصرخات الأخيرة لأولئك الذين مضوا بعيداً

Translated by Nizar Sartawi

This poem rests uneasily between memorial and epic (I exhort you to go to Villafania's piece, from which this is an excerpt.) As a poem standing at the beginning of a longer piece, it exudes history and tradition, and, in particular, the invocation of the muse which is, for Villafania, going to be one of both destruction and transcendence: a kind of Christian paradox of life through death, or perhaps one of those Virgilian prefigurations.

What really stuns about Villafania's piece, however, is just the lyricism, completely unashamed good-sounding words strung together on a line, the exacting choices he makes so that the hard p and growling g come after the vowely "crysong" to rescue it from sentimentality. This is a piece whose excellence comes from making the difficult look simple.

There is more to be said about Villafania's epic reach, the way in which his narrative can effortlessly encompass both Atlas and the "palpitations of the Milky Way" (look at how that palpitation reduces down our galaxy to a little throbbing thing, a kind of toy for the poem to play with, a counter, almost on a checkerboard.) The way, in particular, a kind of circumlocution, a kind of epithet, merges seamlessly into the language: "stealing a heaven and eternity."

The theme of death as listening, death as coming to those who have paid attention, is just one aspect of the paradoxes that simmer just under the melifluous prosody here; one of the sharper points to notice is the way in which only the speaker himself emerges unscathed, Ishmael-like to tell the story having heard the "psalms of oblivion."

(from the Rhubard is Susan Review, April 25, 2005)

World Poetry Day 21 March

2011-03-21T08:04:00.000+08:00

Poets convey a timeless message. They are often key witness to history’s great political and social changes. Their writings inspire us to build lasting peace in our minds, to rethink relations between man and nature and to establish humanism founded on the uniqueness and diversity of peoples. This is a difficult task, requiring the participation of all, whether in schools, libraries or cultural institutions. To quote the poet Tagore, the 150th anniversary of whose birth will be celebrated this year, "I have spent my days in stringing and unstringing my instrument."

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
Message for World Poetry Day
21 March 2011

Two Poems: A COUNTRY OF MY OWN & REKINDLED

2011-03-19T10:21:00.003+08:00

A COUNTRY OF MY OWN

And I measured your symmetry
with a gaze or a look
every curve and every contour
or slope or a mountain that
I have conquered

I traversed your horizon
with just a blink of an eye
tamed and rode the four winds
galloping in your green stables

I crossed your rivers on carabao’s back
and lined the muses to know the secrets of your
first name and orient beginning

I learned your folktales and legends by heart
mythologized the loves and lives
of your sons and daughters in my verses
as if they were written a thousand years ago

I have lived to add colours, and lease of life
to your golden age and renaissance

I have lied a thousand times even more
for your histories to be heard
amongst your own people who are losing
their legacy and the salt of their tongue

you are within my grip Caboloan
Camelot of my imagination
you are the country of my own
right here in the province of my heart
when syllables palpitate like the breathlessness of turtledoves
where words are red wine flowing
like the blood in my myocardial arteries

let me hear once more the bamboo songs
the lover’s sonnets and serenades
the manag-anito and orisons o let me hear
even the silence of the hillocks
before I fall into my darkest night
before I soar into my dreadful flight

rise up Cabaloan and speak through my words
speak in your language dying for your rebirth
until your children learn to lend their ears

listen to the voice of their inmost selves
hasten to the quickening of their disquieted souls
speak before I give away my existence
and/or turn into a reed or a blade of grass

REKINDLED

There’s a rice-pounding song tonight playing
somewhere not to distant the hunter’s moon
bathe in all her glory unconcealing
the primeval dance of the gathering
where the reapers offer what they have sown
to the goddess of the earth and planting

I hear their silent chanting and singing
the last of the Tumatagaumen
with his uncouth and commencing
the rhythmic gyrations—the quickening
I see them all glistening flesh and worn
ere the embers consumed its own breathing

they touched me not softly with rememb’ring
this pagan ritual this primal passion
but the bardic voice within my being

there’s a rice-pounding song tonight playing
somewhere not too distant the reapers’ moon
will embrace my adamhood arising
they will hear me scream my
poems of hunting

Published in the Manila Times / Sunday Magazine, 13 March 2011

CCP launches Ani 36, Disaster and Survival Issue

2011-03-15T10:30:00.000+08:00

The Ani 36 cover depicts the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. The eruption, which caused massive damage to Central Luzon and outlying regions, inspired creativity among the citizenry in harnessing resources that the disaster brought in its wake. The Mount Pinatubo havoc posed challenges that served as impetus for strategies of recovery and growth.

Pasay City – The Literary Arts Division of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) will launch Ani 36 on April 1, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the CCP promenade. Ani is a publication that showcases the varied literary traditions in the country and the vibrant creative writing by Filipinos in other parts of the world. Ani 36, themed Disaster and Survival, has sections on prose, poems, children's literature, an essay on a CCP activity in response to a disaster in the regions, and art reviews.

The art reviews section is composed of three winning essays in a competition spearheaded by the Liongoren Gallery at the CCP dubbed Walong Filipina 2010: Sa Ngalan ng Kalikasan III from October 14, 2010 to November 28, 2010. Works outside the issue's theme are in the section titled “Malayang Haraya”.

“Ani 36 mirrors the writers' reflections on and responses to experiences in confronting disasters,” says Herminio S. Beltran, Jr., Literary Arts Division Director. “Although the works express untold suffering, destruction to life and property, nightmares and folklore, they also speak of courage and heroism, which inspire imagination, literature and art,” adds Beltran, the Ani 36 editor.

Ani 36 features the works of 43 authors namely, Angelo B. Ancheta, Rebecca T. Anonuevo, Mark Joseph Z. Arisgado, Edgar Bacong, Miguel Balboa D'Mendoza, Abdon M. Balde, Jr., Gil S. Beltran, Herminio S. Beltran, Jr., Catherine Candano, Ayn Frances dela Cruz, Jun dela Rosa, China Pearl Patria M. de Vera, Raul Esquillo Asis, Luis P. Gatmaitan, Genaro R. Gojo Cruz, Joscephine Gomez, Melanie Joy Gunio, Nestor Librano Lucena, Elyrah Loyola Salanga, Scott Magkachi Saboy, Perry C. Mangilaya, Shur C. Mangilaya, Francisco Arias Montesena, Wilhelmina S. Orozco, Will P. Ortiz, Melba Padilla Maggay, Loreli Pama, Ma. Christina Pangan, Jasmine Nikki C. Paredes, Chuckberry J. Pascual, Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin, Ian Rosales Casocot, E. San Juan, Jr., Priscilla Supnet Macansantos, Ariel S. Tabag, Christian Tablazon, Vincent Lester G. Tan, Ludwig Jan Tauro Batuigas, J.I.E. Teodoro, Enrico C. Torralba, Santiago B. Villafania, Nonon Villaluz Carandang and Bernadette Villanueva Neri.

Betty Uy-Regala is the managing editor of Ani 36 while Rommel Manto did the graphic design and layout.

For more details, please contact Betty Uy-Regala at 0906-2604175.

The MAKATA, an online journal of Philippine and international contemporary poetry since 2001

2011-03-14T10:24:00.005+08:00

from Pangasinan ‘Anlong’: Oral tradition into the 21st century published in Manila Times (Sunday Times Magazine), March 13, 2011

The Makata was intended as a multi-lingual poetry blog but would eventually become an online journal of Philippine and international contemporary poetry in 2000 when some of my online friends submitted their works for publication. Since 2001, half of the contributors of the Makata were foreigners.

Filipino poets/writers included: Leo Fernandez Almero, Estelito Jacob, Alexander Agena, Melchor Cichon, Maria Luisa Jalandoni, Rowan Canlas Velonta, Rolando Carbonell, Rodrigo de la Peña, Jaime Jesus Borlagdan, Lynette Carpio, Zig Carlo M. Dulay, Dennis Espada, Anthony Pabon, Joseph Reylan Viray, Ella Wagemakers, Niña Catherine Calleja, Phillip Kimpo Jr., Rey Tamayo Jr., Rachel Chan Suet Kay, Noel Malicdem, Kristina Cajipe, Jake Ilac, Camilo Villanueva Jr., Frances Angela Torrelavega, Roselier Levi Azarcon, Junelyn Delarosa, Raul Funilas, Lolito Go, Silvana Zapanta, Manuel Lino Faelnar, Kris Alingod, Ravelth Castro-Belicena, Noahlyn Maranan, Erwin Fernandez, Hazel Calventas, Mary Ann Cariquez, Florentino Lorenzana, Maria Carmina A. Reynaldo, Mark Angeles, Willie Bongcaron, Sergio Bumadilla, Jesamyne Diokno, Napoleon Resultay, Nelson Singson Dino, Alegria Imperial, Aliazer Abdurajim, Frederick Lim, Jen Macapagal, Wilfredo Villanueva, Angelo Ancheta, Michael Obenieta, Noel Sales Barcelona, Marie Bismonte, Jose Jason Chancoco (Bicol and Filipino editor) and more . . .

Foreign contributors included: Duane Locke, Christopher Mulrooney, Averil Bones, Monique Nicole Fox, Kevin Eather, David Sutherland, Erin Elizabeth, Judith Gorgone, Linda Dominique Grosvenor, Janet Buck, John Bryan, Eoin Dunford, Ashok Bhargava, Aurora Antonovic, Nick Zegarac, Keli Stafford, Srinjay Chakravarti, Bill Mitsuru Shimizu, David Zorc, Tyler Joseph Cusick, Ron Nhim, Pat Paulk, John G. Hall, John Faucett, C. W. Hawes, Christopher Major, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, G. David Schwartz, Robert Wilson, Janet Lynn Davis, Iliana Ilieva, Rositza Pironska, Tammy Ho Lai-ming, Luis Benitez, Stella Jones, Janaj Yanay, Silvia Favaretto, Bishnupada Ray, Christopher Barnes, Guillaume Berne, Eduardo Cong, Dawn Bruce, Afrah Al-Kubaisi, Cyril Dabydeen, Walter Ruhlmann, Arti Honrao, Arthur Leung, Yassen Vassilev, Mario Rigli, Munir Mezyed, Vijaya Kandpal, Marius Chelaru, Ryan Chakravarty, Daniel de Cullá, Ute Margaret Saine and etc. Read more...

Last of two parts: Pangasinan ‘Anlong’: Oral tradition into the 21st century

Pangasinan Anlong: Oral Tradition into the 21st Century

2011-03-13T09:11:00.003+08:00

Santiago B. Villafania

SONITO PARA’D MANANGALIN KAMARERUA

No nagnap la’y liwawa’d letakan
Marleng a sinmener so bilunget
Dengel mo so laineng na dagem
Ta agmo la naerel so bekta

Kabuskag na payak na kabuasan
Tan mapalna so asul ya tawen
Nengneng mo ira so ganaganan
Matalag a nanengneng ed kugip

Tan agmo panermenan pinabli
No melagmelagen ka’y karaklan
Wala’y ibilunget na mata ra
Dalanen da so kipapasen ta

No magmaliw lan dabuk so laman
No mangangga la’y agew ed banua

SONNET TO A PILGRIM SOUL

When the sun gilds the sky in the morning
And deep darkness makes a noble retreat
O hear the music in the air fleeting
For you can never recapture the beat

When the morning spreads her warm golden wings
And the sapphire sky is wordlessly deep
Look yonder and feast with your eyes the things
Which you seldom see in your dreamful sleep

Don’t you feel forlorn beloved pilgrim
If the world will mind your lowly a state
A time will come when their eyes will grow dim
And they too will fall on our self-same fate

An empty shell to decay into dust
When our days in the sun come into the past

The first half of the twentieth century is said to have been the Golden Age of Pangasinan Literature, but indubitably without succeeding in establishing Pangasinan as a popular literature. The emergence of umaanlong (poet) in the said period produced excellent poems written in the vernacular but only few were published. There was not even an anthology of poetry published in that period. Anlong was not the principal expression of our writers in that era.

The Pangasinan anlong or poetry was once predominantly oral: tumatagaumen and umaanlong performed poems. Often, it was accompanied by kutibeng (ancient guitar) and/or tulali (a kind of string instrument similar to kudyapi or lyre.) One good example of Pangasinan oral poetry was the Petek, a kind of poetic joust similar to the Tulang Patnigan of the Tagalogs. When the written form of poetry became dominant, oral poetry became unpopular.

I. Literary Influences & the Pillars of Pangasinan Literature

One of the questions writers get asked often is who their literary influences are. I will only talk about three major writers from Pangasinan who contributed into the development of our literature, but not necessarily the writers who influenced my writings.

Pablo de Guzman Mejia (1872-1934)
Mejia was a playwright, poet, painter and composer; the Father of Pangasinan Language, Prince of Pangasinan Poets and Balagtas of the North. Aside from his zarzuelas, Mejia was known for his Bilay tan Kalkalar nen Rizal (Life & Teachings of Rizal) written in verse form. He also translated Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios (Kaonoran kon Patanir) into Pangasinan. He founded the Awiran na Pangasinan (Pangasinan Academy of Letters) and became the editor of the publication Tonung (Uprightness) which lasted for a decade (1924-1934).

Another notable writer was Pedro U. Sison. He was a revolutionist, playwright and a poet known for his long picaresque poem entitled Bilay day Sisira ed Dalem na Danum (Lives of the Fishes Under the Water, 1939), a satire against or about the dirty politics of the political elite during his time.

Maria Prado Magsano (1893-1968) was a writer/novelist, editor of Silew (1936-1948) and Founder of the Pangasinan Courier. Magsano studied at the University of the Philippines as a “special student’. She was the first female teacher from Pangasinan who passed the civil service and taught at the Philippine Normal College (now PNU) for 20 years. In the 1930’s, she was active in the promotion of women’s rights when she became the president of a large women’s federation known as The Women Suffragists. She was a President Awardee for Women’s Rights in 1966. Most of Magsano’s short stories and novels were published in Silew and later in Sandi’y Silew, the vernacular section of the Pangasinan Courier. Her writings are said to have set the direction for old and new writers in Pangasinan. (Balon Silew 2004).

II. Literary Silence (1960s-1990s)

After Magsano, there was a paucity of published works and abrupt change in the literary environment of the province. Pangasinan was dying as a literary language. Though Pangasinenses speak their language with gusto, it did not help in giving it a greater literary standing. While it is true that English and Filipino put a check on the spread of Iluko it did not really help the Pangasinan position.

Dr. Ma. Crisanta Nelmida-Flores in her introduction to my book Balikas na Caboloan (NCCA, 2005) noted that, “In recent times, vernacular writers dwindled in number as more and more Pangasinan writers educated and exposed to foreign literatures and periodicals shifted to English.”

Thirty-five years before, Fr. Fidel of Amurrio wrote that, “Starting since the uprising of Serrat in 1816, Iloko settlers were coming to Pangasinan, especially to the barrios of the boundary towns. This gave origin to the strange phenomenon: many Pangasinanes gave up their language for the language of those who came to make a living among them.” (Pangasinan History and Literature, 258).

The literary silence was only broken after 30 years or so with the publication of the special issue of ANI (a literary publication of the Cultural Center of the Philippines) in 1992.

The dame of Pangasinan love stories and novelletes, Leonarda C. Carrera (Amor Cico) published her Matuan Panangaro as early as 1983 followed by Tongtong 1 & 2; and Short story writer Dr. Linda Andara (now Grubb) published her Gamal: tan arum ni ran antikey ya istorya in 2004. Both Carrera and Andaya also wrote poetry in Pangasinan language.

Eight years later, the Ulupan na Pansiansia’y Salitan Pangasinan (Association for the Preservation of the Pangasinan Language) was founded in Lingayen. The group adapted Magsano’s Silew as the official publication of the Ulupan and named it Balon Silew (New Light). Ulupan just celebrated its 10th year anniversary with the publication of an anthology of Pangasinan poetry and essays, and a children’s book.

III. The Poet Regionnaire

In his Nobel Lecture, Czesław Miłosz pointed out that “Every poet depends upon generations who wrote in his native tongue; he inherits styles and forms elaborated by those who lived before him.” But that is not the case for me who gave myself to this kind of avocation—that is, to writing poems in Pangasinan.

I started writing poetry in my native tongue in 2001, and relied solely on my mastery of the spoken language and instinctive phonetics to come out with my first poetic attempts. It was still patterned, however, after the manner of my contemporaries who wrote in English and Filipino. Although I tried to maintain a certain image of a poet who wants to revive the petrified state of the Pangasinan anlong.

Asphyxiated by the scarcity of outlets to publish my works, I resorted to seeking publications in the web and even created my own personal website Dalityapi to showcase poems in Pangasinan language. Part of Dalityapi is the Makata, intended as a multi-lingual poetry blog but would eventually become an international poetry journal in 2000 when some of my online friends submitted their works for publication.

Since 2001, half of the contributors of the Makata were foreigners. Filipino poets/writers included: Leo Fernandez Almero, Estelito B. Jacob, Alexander Agena, Melchor F. Cichon, Maria Luisa Jalandoni, Rowan Canlas Velonta, Rolando A. Carbonell, Rodrigo V. Dela Peña, Jaime Jesus Borlagdan, Lynette B. Carpio, Zig Carlo M. Dulay, Dennis Espada, Anthony Pabon, Joseph Reylan B. Viray, Ella Wagemakers, Niña Catherine Calleja, Phillip Kimpo Jr., Rey Tamayo Jr., Rachel Chan Suet Kay, Noel Malicdem, Kristina V. Cajipe, Jake F. Ilac, Camilo Villanueva Jr., Frances Angela C. Torrelavega, Roselier Levi G. Azarcon, Junelyn Delarosa, Raul Funilas, Lolito Go, Silvana Zapanta, Manuel Lino G. Faelnar, Kris Alingod, Ravelth Castro-Belicena, Noahlyn Maranan, Erwin S. Fernandez, Hazel Calventas, Mary Ann Cariquez, Florentino B. Lorenzana, Maria Carmina A. Reynaldo, Mark Angeles, Willie R. Bongcaron, Sergio Bumadilla, Jesamyne Diokno, Napoleon Resultay, Nelson Singson Dino, Alegria Imperial, Aliazer S. Abdurajim, Frederick Lim, Jen Macapagal, Wilfredo G. Villanueva, Angelo B. Ancheta, Michael U. Obenieta, Noel Sales Barcelona, Marie Bismonte, Jose Jason Chancoco (Bicol & Filipino editor) and more...

Foreign contributors included: Duane Locke, Christopher Mulrooney, Averil Bones, Monique Nicole Fox, Kevin Eather, David Sutherland, Erin Elizabeth, Judith Gorgone, Linda Dominique Grosvenor, Janet I. Buck, John Bryan, Eoin Dunford, Ashok Bhargava, Aurora Antonovic, Nick Zegarac, Keli Stafford, Srinjay Chakravarti, Bill Mitsuru T. Shimizu, David Zorc, Tyler Joseph Cusick, Ron P. Nhim, Pat Paulk, John G. Hall, John Faucett, C. W. Hawes, Christopher Major, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, G. David Schwartz, Robert Wilson, Janet Lynn Davis, Iliana Ilieva, Rositza Pironska, Tammy Ho Lai-ming, Luis Benitez, Stella Jones, Janaj Yanay, Silvia Favaretto, Bishnupada Ray, Christopher Barnes, Guillaume Berne, Eduardo A. Cong, Dawn Bruce, Afrah Al-Kubaisi, Cyril Dabydeen, Walter Ruhlmann, Arti Honrao, Arthur Leung, Yassen Vassilev, Mario Rigli, Munir Mezyed, Vijaya Kandpal, Marius Chelaru, Ryan Chakravarty, Daniel de Cullá, Ute Margaret Saine and more...

I joined the Ulupan in 2002 primarily because I wanted to know more about the older generation who wrote in my native tongue. I was the youngest member then and have already written most of the works that would eventually be ritualized in the pages of the Balon Silew. But I wanted more for Pangasinan poetry. I wanted to bring it out from its provincial root, beyond its borders.

I self-published my first book entitled Pinabli tan arum ni’ran Anlong (Beloved and Other Poems) in 2003 with just 1000 copies and also upon the encouragement of Jaime P. Lucas, the founding father of the Ulupan. Some of the poems included in Pinabli were sent to the NCCA for its UBOD New Authors Series which came out in 2005. I continued to write in both English and Pangasinan, joined poetry groups like Km64, Pinoypoets and online literary groups. It was during these times that some of my poems have appeared in local and international print and web publications: Philippines Free Press, Philippine Graphic, ANI, Philippine Panorama, Sunday Times Magazine (Manila Times), Magnapoets, The Heron’s Nest, HaikuHut’s Short Stuff, Ygdrasil (Canada), Crimson Feet (India), In Our Own Words 1 & 2 (US), Picolata Review, MindFire, Crowns and Oranges: Works by Young Philippine Poets, Literary Apprentice, Ipu-ipo sa Piging, etc.

In 2007, with the help of the maverick Chief Commissioner of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), Dr. Ricardo Ma. Duran Nolasco and the president of Emilio Aguinaldo College, Dr. Jose Paulo E. Campos, I was able to secure a publishing grant for my second book Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villenelles. It is quite ironic that a work in Pangasinan was funded by non-Pangasinenses.

Malagilion was hailed by Cirilo F. Bautista as “a boost to Pangasinan literature”. He even encouraged me to send copies of the book to the National Book Development Board and Manila Critics Circle. That same year, it was selected as finalist for Best Book of Poetry in the 27th National Book Awards. My first and first so far for Pangasinan as there has never been a literary work submitted or nominated in the said award body.

In his Breaking Signs column in the Panorama, Bautista wrote, “This second book by Pangasinan’s leading poet today is impressive in both form and substance. 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.” And from that day on, I have always considered Cirilo F. Bautista as my surrogate father.

In 2009, a fellow Pangasinense and an indie filmmaker, Christopher Gozum produced and directed the first full-length film in Pangasinan entitled Anacbanua (or Child of the Sun). Gozum used selected poems from my two books as voice over narration providing concrete ideas and emotions to the cinematic images presented. Again, I wanted more for Pangasinan poetry. I wanted to bring it out from its provincial root, beyond its borders but Christopher Gozum has elevated the Pangasinan anlong into visual poetry so to speak. Anacbanua had its World Premiere in the 11th Cinemanila International Film Festival and won the Lino Grand Prize and Best Director Award for the Digital Lokal category.

Pangasinan poets in the 21st century will not emerge from the fossilized remains of their literary past, because they or we do not have one to look back into. Rather, the Pangasinan poets are a paradox, distinct and unique like the rare kind of epiphytic plants that have been pushed on the verge of evolution and virtually disappeared. Like these epiphytic plants, they will thrive in a different time and place bound by a collective instinct and determination to survive until they will evolve to produce a seedpod for poets who will write Pangasinan poetry as easily as speaking the language.

And to end my short talk, let me share to you F. Sionil Jose’s email to me, “I am sure that in the future, Pangasinan, Zambal, Pampango will die and will be taken over by Tagalog and Ilokano which, in a sense, are stonger because they have more people speaking them. This is a fate that is inevitable and this makes you more important, with a challenge which you must face. There must be a record of Pangasinan literature; if it can be avoided, it must not die or that if it should--the dying should be long, arduous, and not until a body of literature is left behind to be perpetuated in translation. There is something very sad about a language dying because it means a soul, a culture is being snuffed out, and with it--all that is good and memorable. Latin is dead, and so is Sanskrit--but the literature in these languages survive because there were believers in these languages who left behind indelible markers that time cannot erase. This is where people like you come in. Carry this difficult burden because you are an artist, because you are Pangasinan and because you are Filipino.”

And a quotation from The Aristos by John Fowles, “If we think poetry of least concern among our arts, we are like generals who disband their best fighting troops. Cherish the poet; there seemed many great auks till the last one died.”

Salaya and Masantos ya kabuasan ed sikayon amin. That to say, “A Blessed Morning to All of You.”

From the author’s paper read at the Philippine PEN conference in Cebu last December 2010. Published in Manila Times / Sunday Magazine, March 13/20, 2011

Far Eastern University English & Literature Journal
http://ejournals.ph/index.php?journal=ELJ

Magnapoets ISSN1916-3010
Issue 8, July 2011 (Canada)

Sapphics (with a translation in Italian by Ute Margaret Saine and Antonio Blunda)

2011-03-09T08:59:00.001+08:00

Sapphics I

1.

O my heart whose fire
is cocooned in my darkness
open so beautifully
for a love divine!

O my soul whose brilliance
is hidden in a rose
burnen O burnen
for a beauty divine!

2.

the heart is a face
whose eyes are brighter than God’s
first bright scallywag

the heart is a who
whose inmost is the cause of
man’s immortal woes

3.

the sun went down
and as i stroll along
the silent ground
i heard the song
of the low rushing wind

the twilight hour
filled with balsam air
eased the burden
of my searching soul

beloved
tonight i will sleep alone
remembering
the sins of your lips
burning on my skin

(Philippine Graphic Magazine, June 5, 2006)

SAFFICHE I

1.

O cuore mio cui fuoco è avvolto
nel bozzolo della mia oscurità
apriti così bello
per un amore divino!

O anima mia la cui brillantezza
è nascosta in una rosa
brucia O brucia
per la divina bellezza!

2.

il cuore è un volto
dagli occhi più luminosi di quel primo
furfante luminoso di Dio

il cuore è un essere
cui essenza è la causa
d’immortali guai umani

3.

il sole è tramontato
ed io passeggio
per la terra silenziosa
ascoltavo la canzone
del basso vento affrettato

l’ora crepuscolare
riempita d’aria balsamica
sollevava il peso
della mia anima indagante

amata mia
stasera dormirò da solo
ricordando
i peccati delle tue labbra
bruciandomi sulla pelle

(Traduzione di Ute Margaret Saine e Antonio Blunda)

11th Philippine Linguistics Congress, Dec. 7-9, 2011

2011-03-07T15:58:00.000+08:00

Taboan 2011 : Photos

2011-03-05T15:07:00.002+08:00

Haiku (traduzione di Antonio Blunda)

2011-02-26T08:23:00.004+08:00

by the ruins
the long silence of
a broken bell

dai ruderi
il lungo silenzio di
una campana rotta

...

morning mist
a string of diamonds
on a spider's web

nebbia del mattino
una stringa di diamanti
su una tela di ragno

...

window with a view
the misty glass door
hides her nakedness

finestra con vista
la porta a vetri appannati
nasconde la sua nudità

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A Tribute Poem to Jaime P. Lucas

2011-02-24T15:37:00.000+08:00

Ed Tawir tan Karma

(para ed si Jaime P. Lucas)

sinmabi iran singa onos
akaamut ed andeket a kawes
tan anino da’ra’y santo
ya maermen so lupa
imbeneg ko ‘ra’y anito
dia’d pananisian napaabig
na Dyus da so irap tan sakit
ya atawir ni ed kinen Adan

dia’d inlirep ko et aliknak
so eras na kanonotan
aliing ak ya agko la amta
no siopa ak tan no iner
so nanlapuan kon boleg
balikas ko la’y salita ra
unaagos la’d olat ko so dala
ya nampalabnaw na dala’n timawa

sinmabi iran singa onos
akaamut ed andeket a kawes
tan anino da’ra’y santo
ya maermen so lupa
lawas na apatiran siglo
gimmalet la’d baog ko
so ampusisaw ya kolor da
agko la amta so ontalimokor

panlingawan ko so manpapalikas
iran aniani ed pasen
no iner nagmaliw a dabuk
ira’y atateng na atateng ko
tan say kasuldungan na poseg ko

sinmabi iran singa onos
akaamut ed andeket a kawes
tan anino da’ra’y santo
ya maermen so lupa
tinmalin iran anggapo’y wala
atilak so ag nasakbat ya krus
tan agla unabig ya sugat
ed dalin ya asalug na lua tan dala

linawa na Dyus da ya dia’d krus inatey
ono pasnuk na manamalsan si Ama-Gaolay?

LEOPOLDO DELACRUZ, SR., WRITES 30

2011-02-23T09:42:00.000+08:00

Retired college professor Leopoldo Aguirre Delacruz, Sr., of Kalibo, Aklan, peacefully passed away at his home in San Juan City, Metro Manila, last February 21, 2011. He was 95. His wife was the late Elisa Meñez Mijares-Delacruz, also of Kalibo, Aklan and Manila.

Leopoldo, Sr., is survived by his brother, Atty. Manuel A. Delacruz, of Kalibo, Aklan. His other brothers were the late Dr. Beato A. dela Cruz, Roman A. dela Cruz, Atty. Salvador A. Delacruz, Jose A. Delacruz, and Lucrecia, all heirs of Roman Aguirre, one of the 19 Martyrs of Aklan; and the former’s children Rai Philomathes, formerly philosophy U.P. professor (and wife Elfleda), Lif Dovelion (and Josephine), Marc Evangel (and Sylvia H. Griarte, DMD), Dr. Leopoldo, Jr., St. Jude College, New Era University and Cavite State University-Silang Campus (and Dr. Maria Luisa A. Dongallo-Delacruz, formerly with UERMMMC College of Medicine and currently with De La Salle-HIS University Medical Center ); Dr. Leo Deux Fils M. Delacruz, former UST professor & currently with Philippine Normal University – Graduate School (and Dr. Doris Delacruz, Centro Escolar University); Lizette Irma, registered nutritionist-dietician and formerly faculty, De La Salle Greenhills and Dr. El Mithra M. Delacruz, St. Scholastica’s College.

Leopoldo Delacruz, Sr., author of nearly sixty published and unpublished books of poems, short stories, plays, essays, fables, novels and other literary vignettes, taught English and philosophy subjects at Jose Rizal University (1968-1982) and FEATI University (1958-1967).

In the fifties, he served as adviser of the Torres Torch, student publication of Torres High School, and V. Mapa High School, Manila. Some of his works are listed in the Asian Reading Room of the U.S. Library of Congress. His two novels in English are The Lone Warrior (1977) and Consummatum Est (1985).

A major in the Philippine Army (inac.), Leopoldo, Sr., a product of National University (BSE, 1942), University of Manila (BSFS, 1953) and Far Eastern University (MA-English & Philosophy, 1951). In the seventies, he founded the Society for the Intellectual Development of Philippines Ideas. He was also a founding member of the Philosophy Association of the Philippines (PAP).

His body lies at Sto. Cristo Parish Church, F. Blumentritt Street, San Juan City. Interment will be on February 27, 2011 at the Manila Memorial Park, Paranaque City.

Nomination for Outstanding Pangasinenses opens

2011-02-22T12:00:00.002+08:00

Pangasinan Tourism on Monday, February 21, 2011 at 11:06pm
The Agew na Pangasinan Executive Committee has launched the search for 2011 Outstanding Pangasinenses or the 2011 Asna Awards.

Deadline for submission of nominations by any individual or organization is March 15. The award ceremonies will be held during the Agew na Pangasinan celebration commemorating the 431st Foundation Anniversary of the province on April 5.

The ASNA Awards seeks to give recognition and focus public attention to outstanding Pangasinenses whose selfless dedication to their profession or vocation has resulted in outstanding contributions to the welfare of the people in Pangasinan and to our country at large.

For inquiries and submission of nominations, contact the 2011 ASNA Awards Secretariat or the Provincial Tourism Office at (075) 542-8007 or tourismpangasinan@yahoo.com

"ASNA" an old form of the Pangasinan word "asin", also used to describe the good quality of a man's character or his demeanor; Asin a mabli na Pangasinan, Silew ed bilonget, Nabang ed kaluyagan, Antabay na kalangweran.

Related article: Search is on for the 2011 ASNA Awards

» Search on for 2011 Pangasinan ASNA Awards

Haiku at NaHaiWriMo

2011-02-21T08:37:00.000+08:00

snapshots
children flying kites
and paper planes

...

old tarsier
slow now with his leaves
and tango years

...

sunset
Buddha's third eye
before he sleeps

...

after the rumba
and the chachacha
mardi gras!

...

evening sky
no asterisks or smiley
on my window

...

Italian translation of my poem Adamhood. Grazie Ute Margaret Saine and Antonio Blunda ;-p

2011-02-18T08:59:00.000+08:00

L’ESSERE ADAMO

i.

all’inizio
IO SONO tutto
parola e yoni
è un canto
uni-versale-
una voce
un nome
IO SONO uno
con me (stesso)
la genesi
(è) una notte
un vuoto e
il niente

ii.

Ho pronunciato
il mio prenome
e sono
divenuto ciò che
IO SONO
un mondo
di me stesso
il mio nome
senza parole
(atomi
della mia esistenza)

IO SONO divenuto
luce – il primo
Cristo

iii.

luminosità
coronandome la testa
divinità dentro
divinità fuori
primigenito della
mente
partenogenita
IO SONO vita
–forza incarnata
fattore
fachiro
e soprattutto
(uomo) poeta

iv.

la mia voce
ha sposato l’oscurità (l’essere oscuro)
& l’abisso
la frutta
di questo incesto
è il caos
fuori dal quale
la luce primordiale
è nata
dalla mia fronte (testa)
ho respirato formando
el firmamento
in rotazione cosmica
sono nati i cieli
scatenate le poesie

v.

rimasi
completamente
incompleto
sulla terra
dove IO SONO
è IO SONO
Dio adirato
rompe
l’inferno
fuori da me
pigliando
un osso
o due

la mia costola
è rotta
rotta &
Eva della costola rotta
è apparsa più colomba
di Lilith
il mio essere Adamo
è completo

vi.

trino
con il monello di Dio
vide Gesù
l’angelo ancorato
mentre mangiavo
l’Ultima Cena
il mio peccato originale
la Parola
sulla lingua
sulle labbra
il suo sangue
il migliore pasto
che ho mai mangiato
fin ad ora
non è da meravigliare
che l’Altruista
abbia proibito
il frutto della
conoscenza

vii.

il serpente
trionfante
a est
dell’orto
lì è una porta
con il segno
USCITA
Eva
e me
siamo andati via
coprendo la nostra
femminilità/virilità & umanità
dai colori
della rovina

(Traduzione Ute Margaret Saine)

UBBOG Journal to be Launched in Baguio City

2011-02-17T15:24:00.000+08:00

The Ubbog Cordillera Young Writers, Inc. will launch its first Ubbog Journal on February 19, Saturday, at 6 p.m. at Mt. Cloud Bookshop in Casa Vallejo, Baguio City. Ubbog Journal is a collection of a short story and poems in Kankanaey, Ibaloi, Ilocano, Ifugao, Filipino and English, by twenty authors from Ubbog. Dubbed by members of the group as an anthology that springs from moments of deluge and drought, the book is hand-made in traditional book-binding and with a cloth cover.

Ubbog was founded in April 2007 by the fellows in the 2007 Cordillera Creative Writing Workshop (joint-project of the University of the Philippines Baguio and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts). The book launch is part of the activities of the Axis Art Project to celebrate the Philippine Arts Fest in Baguio.

ANI 36: Disaster and Survival

2011-02-16T09:59:00.003+08:00

ANI, the annual literary journal of the Literary Arts Division of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, releases its 36th edition with the theme "Disaster and Survival". The journal features poems, short stories and essays in English, Filipino and other Philippine languages.

Calamities and disasters that recently plagued the country recently tested the Filipino's faith, resilient character and "bayanihan" spirit. In this issue ANI 36 focuses on this positivism, as a way of keeping up, and in celebration and promotion of these values.

Contributors to this year's issue are: Angelo B. Ancheta, Rebecca T. Añonuevo, Mark Joseph Z. Arisgado, Edgar Bacong, Miguel Balboa D’Mendoza, Abdon M. Balde, Jr., Gil S. Beltran, Herminio S. Beltran, Jr., Catherine Candano, Ainn Frances dela Cruz, Jun dela Rosa, China Pearl Patria M. de Vera, Raul Esquillo Asis, Luis P. Gatmaitan, Genaro R. Gojo Cruz, Joscephine Gomez, Nestor Librano Lucena, Elyrah Loyola Salanga, Scott Mágkachi Sabóy, Perry C. Mangilaya, Shur C. Mangilaya, Francisco Arias Monteseña, Wilhelmina S. Orozco, Will P. Ortiz, Melba Padilla Maggay, Jasmine Nikki C. Paredes, Chuckberry J. Pascual, Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin, Ian Rosales Casocot, E. San Juan, Jr., Priscilla Supnet Macansantos, Ariel S. Tabag, Christian Tablazon, Vincent Lester G. Tan, Ludwig Jan Tauro Batuigas, John Iremil E. Teodoro, Enrico C. Torralba, Santiago Villafania, Ernesto V. Carandang II, and Bernadette Villanueva Neri.

The Church of the Latter-Day Dude ;-p

2011-02-15T16:02:00.000+08:00

ASNA and Balitok Awardee, intalunggaring

2011-02-10T16:48:00.000+08:00

DAGUPAN CITY - Intalunggaring nen Pangasinan Gov. Amado T. Espino Jr. iray naitdan na parangal ya ASNA and Balitok Award, ya angiter na kaaruman ya kontribusyon ompian masnakabatan so kultura na luyag na Pangasinan tan nandaulod halos amin ya larangan.

Diad State of the Province Address (SOPA) to, unaan ya benetla nen datin Presidente Fidel V. Ramos, tan sikara di Santiago Villafania parad Arts and Culture, Wesly Rosario ed Aquaculture tan Dr. Francisco Doque III parad abiglaman tan medisina, Pol. Supt. Eric Noble para ed Community Service, Rodolfo Tantay ed pakasilan, tan dwaran arum ni.

Say onsukblay ya Batch ya parangalan na ASNA et no ontumbok ya April 5, 2011 diad selebrasyon lamet na Pangasinan Foundation Day.

Dia et imbaga to lamet ya dinenman ya syudad o baley ya anggapoy kutltura to et anggapo emt so kamarerwa to.

Kalegenan tonya, imbaga nen Gov. Espino ya intalaga to bilang Chairman na Pangasinan Historilcal and Cultural Commission si Dr. Gonzalo T. Doque, Presidente na Lyceum Northwestern University.

Maniilalo ya balet ya itulak na sayan komisyon ed edukasyon na aray ogugaw tan aray estudyante so kasaysayan na Pangasinan tan nasarag ton kumponien so Casa Rial, say ipapasen ya National Historial Land Mark tan natan et say kabat ya Provicial Capitol.

Source: Bombo Radyo Philippines (Pangasinan News, 07 February 2011)

Rekindled: Riacceso - Traduzione di Renzo Piovesan e Ute Margaret Saine

2011-02-07T09:30:00.000+08:00

Riacceso

la canzone del riso-saltellante suona stasera

da qualche parte non troppo lontano la luna del cacciatore
...bagna in tutta la sua gloria incancellabile
la primordiale danza del raduno
dove i mietitori offrono ciò che seminarono
alla dea della terra e del raccolto

io sento il loro silenzioso recitare e cantare
l'ultimo dei Tumatagaumen
con la sua preghiera rozza dischiudere
le ritmiche gilavolte - l'accelerazione
li vedo tutta carne scintillante e indossata
prima che la brace consumi il suo respiro

mi hanno toccato non lievemente col ricordo
questo rito pagano questa passione primordiale
ma la voce del bardo dentro del mio esistere

la canzone del riso-saltellante suona stasera

da qualche parte non troppo lontano la luna mietitrice
abbraccerà il mio essere Adamo sorgente
sentiranno urlare le mie poesie di caccia

(Traduzione di Renzo Piovesan e Ute Margaret Saine)

Rekindled

there’s a rice-pounding song tonight playing

somewhere not too distant the hunter’s moon
bathe in all her glory unconcealing
the primeval dance of the gathering
where the reapers offer what they have sown
to the goddess of the earth and planting

i hear their silent chanting and singing
the last of the Tumatagaumen
with his uncouth orison commencing
the rhythmic gyrations - the quickening
i see them all glistening flesh and worn
ere the embers consumed its own breathing

they touched me not softly with rememb’ring
this pagan ritual this primal passion
but the bardic voice within my being

there’s a rice-pounding song tonight playing

somewhere not too distant the reaper’s moon
will embrace my adamhood arising
they will hear me scream my poems of hunting

Sonnet to a Pilgrim Soul : ДУША ПАЛОМНИКА

2011-02-02T14:50:00.000+08:00

ДУША ПАЛОМНИКА
Сантьяго Б. Вильяфаниа

Когда утром появится золото солнца
И глубокая темнота благородно отступает,
Воздух наполнится музыкой света
Тебе никогда не почувствовать ее ритма.

Когда утро расправит свои теплые в золоте крылья
А алмазное небо безмолвно в глубине
Смотрит вот там и наслаждается с твоими глазами предметами,
Которые ты просто видишь в своем дремотном сне.

Что-то не сочувствую тебе несчастный влюбленный паломник
Если мир в душе в смиренном состоянии.
Время придет, когда их глаза затуманятся
И они тоже разделят ту же самую участь.

Пустая раковина рассыпится в пыль
Когда наши солнечные дни уйдут в прошлое.

Translated by Gennady Novoselcev, Russia

Facebook Status : Bonsaic Verses

2011-02-01T17:03:00.001+08:00

morning star
a peeping tom
on my window

---

friends and lovers
all poetry and wine
my life at forty

Black Nazarene
a tug-of-war between
sinners and saints

---

barefoot on foot
in the slow procession of
the Black Nazarene

---

scent of apples
no not the trees
but the story

---

child of the quick hands
a fruit stand
an apple less

---

thunderstorm...
an empty school bus
on the roadside

---

evening rain...
a homeless angel cradled
on a wooden cart

2011 INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

2011-01-26T11:54:00.000+08:00

My Kurta Day ;-p

2011-01-25T15:44:00.000+08:00

Money, vanity, necessity: Self-publishing in Philippine literature

2011-01-21T15:54:00.000+08:00

By Patricia May B. Jurilla, Ph.D.
from The Forum - July-August 2010 - (Vol 11 Issue 4)

There is a certain stigma that comes with self-publishing. By personally taking on the task and expense of printing, distributing, and promoting his/her own work, the author invites suspicion—be it of mediocrity (the work must have been rejected by professional publishers); hubris (how proud is the author of the work to go so far as spending for its printing and distribution); vanity (how conceited is he/she to think that anyone else would be interested not only in reading but even buying his/her work); unexplained, possibly ill-gotten, wealth (particularly for literary authors who are generally known or expected to have limited financial resources, where did he/she get the money?); or all of the above. There is the tendency then to regard self-publishing, which is also commonly referred to or scoffed at as ‘vanity publishing,’ as less credible or legitimate than the activity of professional, commercial, and institutional producers of books or the real publishers. In the particular case of literary authors, the stigma of self-publishing is perhaps more marked due to idealised notions on the incompatibility of art (as noble or nearly sublime) and commerce (as materialistic or much too worldly). The self-publishing literary author boldly crosses the boundary between art and commerce by not only expressing him/herself but also selling him/herself thereafter. » Read more...

Thanks to Angelo Ancheta for the link ;-p

Haiku

2011-01-20T12:37:00.000+08:00

after the wind
a bird's nest
on my porch

---

empty house...
the rustle of children
playing hide and seek

Sonnet to a Pilgrim Soul

2011-01-18T14:26:00.001+08:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More villafania

TOWARD A BORDERLESS LITERATURE

2011-01-14T11:08:00.003+08:00

by SHERMA E. BENOSA
published in The Manila Times Friday, January 14, 2011

WHEN writers reflected on the theme of the 2010 Philippine PEN Conference in Cebu City from December 4 to 5, two strong images emerged. The first image, crafted by the conference keynote speaker, Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr., was of birds.

“When I reflect on our convention theme, ‘Solidarity in Literature without Borders,’ especially on the phrase ‘without borders,’ I think of birds. For me, they exemplify what it means to live without borders,” he said.

“Of course, that solidarity and that borderlessness now take on more sophisticated forms, consistent with advances in technology. But the basic things remain—our commitment as writers to justice and compassion, and the rest of the virtues that advance the causes that dignify and fulfill the human race . . .

“Writers and birds should not be put inside cages, whether territorial or political,” he added.

The second image, which came about on the second day of the conference, was of seas embracing islands.

Writer Ruth Elynia Mabanglo, who sat in the panel of writers in the Americas, shared during the open forum that to achieve borderlessness we have to focus on the seas that separate the country’s more than 7,000 islands.

They separate us, and yet they also unite us, Mabanglo told her fellow delegates.

Defining, crossing borders

To speak of literary borderlessness is to also speak of borders. For, in order to achieve the former, one must first identify and cross or defy the latter.

So what seem to be the borders in literature, especially in the Philippine setting?

As they shared their writing praxis, their works, and the literary situations and experiences in their respective regions/countries and languages, the panelists shared the literary borders they crossed, or are presently facing, in their literary journey.

Definitely, these borders are not just geographic, although the country’s geography contributes to the creation of these borders. As realized by writer Jaime An Lim when he tried to identify Mindanao writers for an anthology, writers are mobile and hence, identities based on localities are arbitrary.

In his opening remarks where he explained the conference theme, National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera spoke of and called for “writing that opens up cultures and demolishes borders set up by racism, elitism, gender discrimination and ideological stereotyping.”

Cebu writer Erma Cuison who talked about women writing about war seemed to have identified gender as a border.

But for many of the writers, especially those who are writing in their vernaculars, the one border to cross in this multilingual society that favors English first and Tagalog (or F/Pilipino) second while relegating all the other Philippine languages to lower standing is language use.

Many of the panelists, especially those in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao panels, shared how, in writing in their vernacular, they had to go through rough terrains and how they were able to cross the borders set by the country’s linguistic situation.

Lumad writer Telesforo Sungkit Jr. shared how minority languages (minority in terms of number of speakers) are left out in the national literary scene, and how difficult it is for writers in these languages to gain the recognition they deserve.

“Lumad languages are yet to be recognized in the literary sphere of this country. So for now, a lumad writer could just content himself in tongue-bending. He will be using the same languages employed by the colonizers past and present to subjugate his race,” he lamented.

“In a nation where the history being taught excludes the lumads in its ‘national’ narratives, it is indeed an epic task for a Higaonon/lumad writer to craft his own narratives,” he added.

Poet Santiago Villafania shared that Pangasinan literature became silent from the 1960s to 1990s and that Pangasinan almost died as a literary language. And it would have, had it not been for the efforts of some writers including Villafania to write and publish in the language. Villafania shared that he self-published his books, and even utilized the Internet to promote and keep Pangasinan literature alive. To date, a work by Villafania has been translated to various foreign languages.

Bikol writer Carlos Arejola, on the other hand, shared some of the initiatives in Bicol, which includes literary workshops and competitions, most of which, he himself conceptualized and spearheaded. “Things look rosy in the Bicol literary scene today. It is a good time to be a Bicolano writer,” he shared.

Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Baguio Priscilla Macansantos shared that Baguio is still without a distinct literature. In her speech, she shared that Sinai Hamada could have been the “flag bearer of modern literature” in this part of the country. But Hamada has long since died, and no one has followed his example, or crafted a new, distinct face for Baguio literature.

This writer shared that although Ilocano has a much longer literary tradition than many of the non-Tagalog languages in the country, Ilocano writers have also gone through (and still go through) the same hardships that other vernacular writers face.

And although international delegates Alvin Pang of Singapore, Robin Lim of Indonesia and Joseph Akawa Ushie of Nigeria chose to read some of their works, like most of the foreign delegates, they also shared the language situations in their respective countries during the open forum following their presentation.

Pang said that other Singapore languages have also been relegated to the periphery and that perhaps there may be very little literature written in these languages. “We don’t talk about our ties with Britain, we don’t talk about Malay and Malay literature and yet these are important part of what Singapore is,” he shared. He added that although they may not actively try to reclaim these languages through literature, Singapore writers are strongly against government move to wipe out Singapore English in favor of “proper English.”

Asked about the language situation in Indonesia, Lim commented that writers there are also baffled by the question of “keeping one’s culture and at the same time joining the international dialogue.”

Mother-tongue education and literature

As noted by Elmer Ordoñez right after the presentation of the Luzon panel, the issue of vernacular writing and the struggles vernacular writers go through are long-standing issues and have in fact arisen in a previous literary conference.

But the fact that these still surface a decade or so after that conference just shows that writing in the vernacular still faces similar challenges. The good thing is that, as Ordoñez himself remarked, the antagonism that used to accompany such discussions are no longer present.

Regionalistic tendencies seem to be slowly being crossed.

Or perhaps because change is slowly creeping in, not only in the literary scene, but also in the country’s educational system. More writers are now reclaiming their mother tongue, and the bilingual education that bedeviled mother tongues and vernacular literatures is soon to be replaced by a mother-tongue based multilingual education which is seen not only as the solution to the problem on the quality of education in the country, but also as a way to promote (finally) the country’s various languages.

Many of the writers did call for the promotion and support of mother tongue literatures. In ending her speech, Macansantos said, “Languages die everyday from disuse, and consequently, cultures are also threatened. The younger, possibly more educated members of indigenous groups must be encouraged [and supported] to write, to keep language and culture alive.”

This writer also ended her speech by calling on her fellow writers to help regional languages and literatures flourish side-by-side Philippine English and the Tagalog (P/Filipino) literatures. “We do this, not because we promote regionalism, but because we recognize that we are composed of various regions; that we have hundreds of languages whose literature must flourish in order for us to know more about our nationhood, and to understand better what makes the Filipino,” she said, emphasizing that recognizing and promoting mother-tongue literatures in the national sphere completes the landscape of Philippine literature.

Or, in the words Mindanao writer Steven Patrick Fernandez, regional literatures are “the streams that feed the mainstream of national literature.”

Indeed, in order for literature to become borderless, it needs not only to cross borders, both external and internal, but also to learn to be inclusive and appreciative of the literatures that make up the national stream. As Vicente Garcia Groyon put it, “it is recognizing difference without making difference as a reason for exclusion.”

Related News: Resil Mojares: ‘We have not unsettled Philippine literature enough’ (PDI, 12/20/2010)

SP OKs Creation of Historical Commission

2011-01-13T08:48:00.000+08:00

"History unites a nation" - These were the words of 4th district Board Member Mojamito Libunao as the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) passed the provincial ordinance no. 9-2010 creating the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC) during their regular session.

The ordinance was authored by Board Members Mojamito Libunao, Alfonso Bince, Jr. and Ranjit Shahani. It can be recalled that one of the main thrusts of Governor Amado T. Espino Jr.’s administration is to promote, enhance and preserve Pangasinan’s historical and cultural resources and values to further complement the gains of the tourism industry of the province as well as to protect its environs.

According to Libunao, "PHCC will make the people of Pangasinan aware of their common heritage and history", even as he added that "it will create historical and cultural enlightenment and social consciousness among Pangasinenses."

PHCC will undertake research efforts and conduct evaluations to determine and verify genuine and authentic historical and cultural records of Pangasinan and its municipalities.

Further, PHCC shall also coordinate with the National Historical Institute all matters affecting any of its decision on Pangasinan’s history and culture and act as an advisory body of the Office of the Governor and the SP related to history and culture of Pangasinan.

Lawyer Gonzalo Duque, chairman of the Pangasinan Historical Committee, Inc. lauded the Provincial Board for enacting the ordinance and “this will prepare Pangasinan to greater heights” because according to him people that do not know its history will never move forward.

The commission shall be composed of 10 members representing agencies of government and private sectors imbued with expertise and interest in the areas of history, culture and other allied studies to be appointed by the Provincial Governor with a term of five years. (PIO/Darwin Magalong)

Source: pangalaTalk.com

University of Pangasinan Poets Society

2011-01-12T10:28:00.000+08:00

Found this certification while sorting through my old files. I co-founded the University of Pangasinan Poets Society (UPPS) in 1990 with my college friend Faustino Chiong. It was a defunct organization already after we left the university.

Taboan 2011

2011-01-08T11:59:00.004+08:00

With the third Taboan, the International Writers Festival will complete its first circuit of the major island groups of the Philippines: Taboan 2011 will be held in Mindanao, the Land of Promise, in the premier city of Davao.

The festival will run from February 10 to February 12, 2011. It will be held at the Royal Mandaya Hotel. More than 80 delegates from all over the Philippines are expected to attend, along with five international representatives.

In recognition of the indigenous peoples of Mindanao, Taboan 2011 will highlight native literature in its conference sessions, programs, and cultural activities.

» Conference schedule | delegates

2nd UPSP Creative Writing and Seminar Workshop Call for Submission and Participation

2011-01-03T13:03:00.001+08:00

The Ulupan na Pansiansia'y Salitan Pangasinan (UPSP) will hold the 2nd UPSP Creative Writing and Seminar Workshop on July 27-29, 2011 in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

It has two components: creative writing to hone the literary skills of Pangasinan writers by becoming one of the thirteen UPSP fellows to be selected and seminar workshop for teachers in elementary, secondary and tertiary levels to acquaint them with Pangasinan literature, literary craft and criticism, orthography, culture and history.

To qualify as a UPSP Fellow, writers are invited to submit ANY of the following in Pangasinan, Ibaloi, Kankanaey, Kalanguya, Ilongot, Iloko, Bolinao, Tagalog (with Pangasinan or English translation), English (with Pangasinan translation): three (3) poems, one (1) short story, one (1) essay, one (1) zarzuela in hard copy. An application form with 2x2 picture and either notarized OR attested to by a witness as to the originality of the work must be included. Five fellows will be allotted for Pangasinan, one each for Ibaloi, Kankanaey, Kalanguya, Ilongot, Iloko, Bolinao, Tagalog and English.

The fellows will be provided with transportation allowance and accommodation.

Entries become the property of the UPSP. Applicants should keep a copy of their entries. Deadline of submission is on June 30, 2011.

Send applications to: Erwin S. Fernandez, 04 Mitura St. San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, to Dr. Catalina L. Felicitas or Prof. Elnora B. Dudang, c/o Department of Natural Science, CAST, PSU Lingayen. Entries sent through email at balonsilew@yahoo.com

For inquiries, please call 09152881008 or email the same address above.

Participating in the seminar workshop would mean registering on the first day by paying a fee for the kit, snacks and meals, attending all the lectures and participating in the discussions as warranted with a certificate to be given on the last day. Pre-registration form should be sent to the same email address on or before July 26.

You may download the application and pre-registration form here.

Year-end Post

2010-12-31T13:48:00.003+08:00

pangasinan ghazals. pen membership. ani 36. kumbirahan 2010. cirilo f. bautista: 100 poems. 1st asna award (arts & culture). resolution no.201-479 commendation by the sangguniang bayan, municipality of santa barbara. submitted two manuscripts (pinabli and ghazalia) for dlsu publications. poems: erolalia and sonnet to a pilgrim soul translated into several languages. ipu-ipo sa piging anthology. lol: lit out loud - 1st manila international literary festival. philippine pen annual conference, cebu. people: vikas swarup, alvin pang, robin lim, nguyen bao chan, joseph akawu shie, ignacio martinez pison. books & more books.

Poème d'amour Pangasinan

2010-12-13T17:47:00.004+08:00

My translation of a very short poem already translated in 280 languages, even in some rare dead languages (maya, copte, hieroglyphs, arapaho, mahican, etc.) made by researchers.

Say talintaom ed salming,
So sankarakepan kon anlong,
Bangta, samboten ta naandi,
Aya so samput kon "Sika so Pinabli"!

http://pouemes.free.fr/poesie/la_glace/poemeamour-pangasinan.htm

Your image in the mirror,
Is my most beautiful poem,
But, be quick it disappears,
It's my last "I love you"!

© Bellon Poète

1st Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education International Conference

2010-12-09T09:03:00.004+08:00

1st Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education International Conference in the Philippines January 18 - 20, 2011, Urdaneta City University, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

Theme: Benchmarking Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Development Practices & Challenges in the 21st Century in Asia Pacific.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Shigekazu Takemura, Professor Emeritus, Hiroshima University, Japan

REGISTRATION FEES
(includes conference kit, 3 lunches, 8 snacks, certificate of attendance)

On-site Rate

Foreign ($200)
Foreign Students ($200)
Local (Php 5500)

Day 1 (Tuesday January 18, 2011)

For inquiries/Assistance visit www.ucu.edu.ph (link to UCU.IEDICM logo)

Registration
Opening Activities
Plenary Session Topics

* Indigenization of Curriculum and Instruction
* Development and Production of Materials
* Institutional and Community Support
* Pre and In-service Teacher Training Program
* Learning Assessment Development

Cultural Presentation and Solidarity Night

Day 2 (Wednesday January 19, 2011)

Registration
Parallel Sessions Theme and/or
Poster Exhibits:

* Teachers’ Teaching Experiences
* Learning Activities
* Learning Assessments
* Stakeholders’ Input Practices
* Teacher-made Learning Materials
* Contribution of Local Artists
* Scheme/Initiative of the community, NGOs, POs and LGUs
* Success Stories of MT-MLE Learners

Day 3 (Thursday January 20, 2011)

* Continuation of Parallel Sessions and Poster Exhibits.
* Workshop on Goal Setting, Research Agenda, Networking and Strategy in Teacher Education program and services.
* Call for Pledge of Commitment.
* Closing Program/Adjournment/Farewell.

Day 4 (Friday January 21, 2011)

Optional
---

DepEd Memo No. 474 s.2010
"INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOTHER TONGUE-BASED MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION (MLE) ENDEAVOR"

DepEd Order No. 74
"INSTITUTIONALIZING MOTHER TONGUE-BASED MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION (MLE)"

CHED Memo for the First MT-MLE International Conference
Subject: Participation at the International Conference on Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Endeavor to be held on January 18-20, 2011 at the Urdaneta City University, Pangasinan, Philippines

Download the registration form here.

2010 Philippine PEN Congress, Dec. 4-5 in Cebu City

2010-11-26T11:50:00.003+08:00

Download the pdf version of the program - here.
International writers to grace Philippine PEN confab in Cebu by Dexter R. Matilla (Inquirer Lifestyle, 11/29/2010).

Lit Out Loud (LOL): 1st Manila International Literary Festival

2010-11-22T12:45:00.004+08:00

With Vikas Swarup (author of the best-selling novel “Q & A,” on which the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” was based) and Vim Nadera. (11/19/2010, Interncontinental Hotel Manila, Makati)

Meet the Philippine PEN Authors

2010-11-19T11:27:00.000+08:00

The Philippine Center of International PEN
(Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists)

presents

Meet the Philippine PEN Authors

December 3, 2010 (Friday)
5:00-7:00 pm
Powerbooks-Cebu
2/F The Northwing, SM City North Reclamation Area, Cebu City

Witness the authors read their works. Experience the joy of the written—and the spoken—word. Meet the Philippine PEN Authors features National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera, poet Marjorie Evasco, novelist Jun Cruz Reyes, poet Herminio Beltran, Jr., and fiction writer Charlson Ong.

Admission is free. We welcome all lovers of literature.

Appreciation to our sponsors: Powerbooks-Cebu, Anvil Publishing, International PEN, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)

For further inquiries, please contact:

Philippine PEN
Solidaridad Bookstore, 531 Padre Faura St., Ermita, Manila, Philippines
Tel. (632) 5230870; Telefax (632) 5255038
Email: philippinepen@yahoo.com
Meet the Philippine PEN Authors

Bienvenido Lumbera
National Artist for Literature. Bienvenido Lumbera is well-known for his seminal works in criticism, which include Tagalog Poetry 1570-1898: Tradition and Influences in Its Development; Abot-Tanaw: Sulyap at Suri sa Nagbabagong Kultura at Lipunan; and Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa. His poetry collections include Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa and Balaybay: Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang. He has produced a number of significant librettos which have been produced on stage, such as Tales of the Manuvu; Rama Hari; Nasa Puso ang Amerika; Noli Me Tangere: The Musical; Hibik at Himagsik Nina Victoria Laktaw; and Banaag at Sikat. Lumbera is a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts. He holds the title of Professor Emeritus at the University of the Philippines. He is the current Chairman of Philippine PEN.

Marjorie Evasco
Marjorie Evasco writes in two languages: Cebuano-Visayan and English. She received the Manila Critics Circle’s National Book Awards for all her five books: Dreamweavers (poetry); Ochre Tones: Poems in English and Cebuano; Six Women Poets: Inter/Views; A Life Shaped by Music (creative nonfiction); and Ani: The Life and Art of Hermogena Borja Lungay. She has participated in various literary festivals including the XVIII International Festival of Poetry in Medellin, Colombia, and the VI International Poetry Festival in Granada, Nicaragua. She is the recipient of the 2010 SEA Write Award. She is Professor of literature and creative writing at De La Salle University in Manila.

Jun Cruz Reyes
Writer, painter, sculptor, film documentarist. Jun Cruz Reyes is best known for his fearless novels, such as Utos ng Hari (King’s Decree) and Tutubi, Tutubi ‘Wag Kang Magpahuli sa Mamang Salbahe (Dragonfly, Dragonfly, Don’t Allow Yourself to Get Caught by a Bad Guy). He received the Gawad Alagad ni Balagtas given by the Unyon ng Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) in 2002. If one writes to “to irritate power,” Reyes is said to be one writer who consistently writes to upset the State and society. He is an Assistant Professor of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of the Philippines.

Herminio Beltran, Jr.
Herminio Beltran, Jr. is the author of Lemlunay and Bayambang, collections of poetry in Filipino, Iloko and English. He is the editor-in-chief of ANI, the literary journal published by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). He is currently the Head of the CCP Literary Arts Division. In 2002, he received the Gawad Alab ng Haraya given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for outstanding articles on culture and the arts.

Charlson Ong
Fictionist, scriptwriter, singer extraordinaire. Charlson Ong’s first novel Embarrassment of Riches won a Centennial Literary Prize given by the Philippine Government. His short stories are included in the collections Men of the East and Other Stories; Woman of Am-Kaw and Other Stories; and Conversion and Other Fictions. Banyaga: Song of War is his second novel. He teaches literature and creative writing with the University of the Philippines’ Department of English and Comparative Literature.

Pangasinan Ghazal 62

2010-11-17T11:40:00.003+08:00

(para ed si Vijaya Kandpal)

singa ka talampong ya milulureyan
maagap onapireng ed kanonotan

lautla no malinak so labin aya
tan naalong na bitewe'y katawenan

yumis na imis mo'y onggulis ed lupa'y
managaag... nialonggawit ya bulan

ed sayak labat nipinta so limgas mo
O Vijaya na niarawin doongan

naayos ed ibetag na balatabat
no ombalitok la'y bukig o letakan

ta say inlirak ya luna et ilalam
say inusar kon kolor anlong tan dangoan

nia'y impangaron ghazal pinabli anggan
singa ka talampong ya milulureyan

Umaanlong

2010-11-03T17:01:00.000+08:00

2010 SEA WRITE AWARDS CEREMONY : The outstanding eight

2010-10-30T08:32:00.000+08:00

The SEA Write 2010 award will take place at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok on November 5, with HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn presiding at the awards dinner and presentation ceremony.

As usual, a prominent writer has been invited as the keynote speaker. Taking his place at the podium this year will be Scottish writer Willam Dalrymple, a multiple-award winning historian and travel writer, as well as a distinguished broadcaster, critic, art historian, foreign correspondent and co-director of Asia's largest literary festival.

A Cambridge history graduate, Dalrymple has lived in Delhi on and off for the last 25 years. His interests include India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Mughal rule, the Muslim world, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Jains and early Eastern Christianity. All of his six books have won major literary prizes, as have his radio and television documentaries. His first three were travel books based on his journeys in the Middle East, India and Central Asia. » Read more...

Erolalia : German Translation by Ute Margaret Saine

2010-10-18T09:03:00.002+08:00

I

heute Nacht
bin ich Abelard
du meine Heloise

und ich singe von
deinen lyrischen Lippen
den Formen deiner Brust
deiner Schenkel
du süße Überraschung!

II

wenn in deiner
Nacktheit Fest
O mein Herz
alle Versprechen bricht!

ich werde auch
auf Gottes Schädel und Brust
einschlagen
ich werde weder Tod
noch die Zeiten bedenken

III

Weib ich will am liebsten
die Hügel deiner Brüste küssen
& an die Himalayas denken

es wär als hätt ich den höchsten
Boden des Everest erreicht
mit den stolzen Zwillingsbergen
gefangen zwischen meinen Lippen

IV

bring mich sanft um meine Geliebte
in tiefster Nacht
mit deinem seidigen Kleid das dir
um die rosa Knöchel gefallen ist

begrab mich sanft mein Liebstes
begrab mich o begrab mich
mit Evas ganzem Zauber
auf deinem asiatischen Leib

V

ich sage kein Wort mehr meine Geliebte
wenn ich die Rosen seh
auf deinen Wangen
& den Geschmack von rotem Wein
auf deinen Lippen schmecke

deine Wangen
deine Lippen
deine Brüste

stille kleine Gedichte
die diese Lieder machten
ich will sie besingen O
ich will sie süß besingen
als wären sie die letzten Früchte
Blumen vom verschwundenen
Obstgarten Eden

VI.

ich komme zu dir meine Geliebte
ich komme zu dir über dich
ja weiß wie das Mondlicht
scharf wie ein Stern

ich will dich besitzen mein Geliebte
sacht O so sacht
du wirst nichts merken
nichts O du Blüte unter mir
nur meine Helle über dir
meine glitzernde Helle
besiegt deine Rosenweichheit
mit weiß leuchtenden Liedern

VII

deine Brüste sind Vögel
unter meinen Händen
die sich nach Freiheit sehnen
von ihrer Atemlosigkeit
deine Lippen sind namenlose Blumen

sie suchen und strecken sich
nach der Erde wo
sie ihren eigenen
Ursprung finden

deine Augen sind entfernte Sterne
verloren in ihrem eigenen Sternbild
& obwohl ich sie an mich drücke
sind sie zu weit
& dein Körper
ein Himmel aus Fleisch
mit seiner eigenen Dunkelheit

& Harmonien der Sphären
er armet Feuer & Leben
mit rhythmischen Bewegungen
dringe ich in ihn ein
oder falle in regelmäßigen Takt

Manngott & Donner
in deinem rätselhaften
Universum

VIII

O der dunkle Urwald
liegt nun unter mir unter mir

ich bin aus Rubin
ich bin purpurn
ich bin gestählt

umhüll mich nun O göttlichste der Geliebten
umhüll mich nun mit deiner Weichheit
wie ein Vogel gefangen gefangen
in deinen seidigen Fingern

ich will dich mit Liedern durchbohren O
ich will dich mit Silbertau benetzen
du wirst lernen unter mir zu tanzen

& ich will in todesfreier Tiefe ertrinken
in deinem eigenen Universum wo ich
zuerst entstand

IX

heute Nacht hast du mich zum Gott gemacht
hast mich hell unter dir
in deine Ganzheit eingeschlossen
hast meine Adamgleichheit eine Zeitlang
nah ins Paradies gebracht

so stark
so behend mein Körper
dass ich das Lied des Ersterbens
nicht in deinen Augen hörte

X

& wir liebten uns & liebten uns
& liebten wieder & wieder O
es war eine wundersame Nacht
von scharlachfarbenem Regen
& Liebesliedern

Santiago Villafania ist ein Dichter und Schriftsteller aus den Philippinen. Er schreibt in seiner Originalsprache, dem Pangasinisch (Englisch ‚Pangasinan“), einer von 10 Sprachen seines Landes. Zur Rettung und Verbreitung des Pangasinischen hat er die Zeitschrift „Makata“ gegründet, die auch Beiträge auf Englisch aus aller Welt veröffentlicht. „Erolalia“ hat Santiago Villafania auf Englisch geschrieben. Es wurde bereits von Marco Rigli ins Italienische übersetzt.

Translated by Ute Margaret Saine

Ute Margaret Saine is a poet who grew up in postwar Germany. After a Yale PhD in French and Spanish, she moved to California, where she has been writing poetry, criticism and translating other poets. She is the past president of PEN Orange County and has written many letters for writers harassed or jailed worldwide. She is an editor of the “California Poetry Quarterly.” Her books are “Bodyscapes” (1995); “Words of Art” (2005); “Ungeschicktes Kind” (Awkward Child, to be published in Germany), and “The Five Senses: 100 Love Poems in Alphabetical Order” (tbp). She has published four haiku chapbooks in five languages and daily continues to write haiku. She is also working on short stories and a novel, and is always writing and translating poetry.

Other translations:

» In Arabic by Munir Mezyed
» In Italian by Mario Rigli
» In Spanish by Jayzl Villafania
» In Bulgarian by Rositza Yordanova Pironska

Reading Ipuipo sa Piging

2010-10-08T10:46:00.003+08:00

Pinarlasan kon binasa so antolohiyan Ipuipo sa Piging no iner nipalapag so anlong kon Dalityapi sa Huling Paglalabay, Soneto tan Huni sa Caboloan.

FOUNDATION FOR PINOY COPS AND SOLDIERS LAUNCHED IN WASHINGTON DC

2010-10-07T09:57:00.002+08:00

Washington DC, USA - Filipino cops and soldiers and on training in the United States can now connect to and ask help from a Fil-Am Foundation dedicated solely to assist them.

Mistah Foundation http://www.mistahfoundation.org/ was formally launched at the Philippine Embassy here on Friday (October 1, 2010). Present during the launching were officials from the embassy led by Ambassador Willy C. Gaa (in gray suit with red tie) and Office of Police Attache head, Chief Superintendent Armando Ramolete.

Richard T. Gubatan, a Fil-Am who is a native of Dagupan City led the group from the Foundation side. Together with Foundation's officers and directors they met and confer with Embassy officials on how to be more responsive to the needs of their beneficiaries of the foundation.

“We offer the foundation as a vehicle to groups and individuals who share the burden of building the capacity of our police and military,” explains Gubatan.

The Foundation is based at 3215 HANOVER RD, JOHNSON CITY, TN 37604, USA. It is a not-for-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code.

Please visit: http://www.mistahfoundation.org/

Mr. Richard T Gubatan (center wit h brown suit), Founding President of Mistah Foundation poses for a souvenir picture with Philippine Ambassador to the United States of America, Honorable Willy C. Gaa (in gray suit and right side of Mr. Gubatan) and the Police Attache, Police Chief Superintendent Armando E. Ramolete (in black suit and left side of Mr. Gubatan) who is also Mistah Foundation's Adviser.

Joining in this picture is the wife of Mr. Richard T. Gubatan, Dra. Veronica (in white). Ambassador Willy C. Gaa (in gray) and Police Chief Superintendent Armando E. Ramolete (in black).

Ambassador Willy C. Gaa (center front row), in his right side is Police Chief Superintendent Armando E. Ramolete and Diallo Stroughter (Ambassador Gaa's right side). Mr. Strougther is Mistah Foundation's Director of Finance. In the second row from left is Mr. David Charles and Mr. Richard Gubatan. Mr. Charles is the Foundation's Director of Strategic Partnerships.

Joining the group is Dra. Veronica Gubatan, MD (in white and wife of Mr. Gubatan) and to her left is Minister/Consul Ariel Rodelas Penaranda.

Picture with Embassy officials and Mistah Foundation's officers. Sitting in front is Political Affairs Minister Maria Andrelita S. Austria and to her left is Mr. Richard T. Gubatan. Standing are Embassy officials and Mistah Foundation's officers.

Source: Eric Escosio Noble