SA TAHAW KAN GABOS

POETICS AS CULTURE AND CULTURE AS LAW

Local languages in the regions are also official languages as per the 1987 Constitution. For the purposes of instruction and communication, the official languages of the country are Filipino, and until otherwise provided by law, English. And for the same purposes, local languages shall serve as auxiliary medium (Art. 14 Sec. 6-7 of the 1987 Constitution).

Yes, auxiliary medium, but only for the purposes of instruction and communication, particularly in the academe and government subdivisions. However, as literary medium our local languages may also be construed as occupying the privileged space of being official. Likewise, literary culture is part of custom which is deemed to be not contrary to morals, law and public policy, hence countenanced by the Courts when proven as fact (Arts. 11-12 RA 386). Our country also has a prevailing policy in support of ethnicity for the framework of national unity (Art. 2 Sec. 21 of the 1987 Constitution).

Perhaps the above provisions are only in recognition of the country’s being multi-cultural and multi-lingual. Literary pursuits in the regions involving ethnicity as in the search for local aesthetics is very much lawful. In fact, when in contact with foreign states our policy shall always be for the right to self-determination (Art. 2 Sec. 7 of the 1987 Constitution). What more when we deal with fellow Filipinos under the context of nationhood?

Tomorrow, we shall be awarding prizes to some Bikolnon writers during the Bikolinismo and Premio Tomas Arejola. The more exciting part of the event is not really the awards night itself, but the opportunity of Bikol writers to gather right after the awards rites and exchange thoughts about the state of Bikol literature and its direction. And this writer is lucky enough to be part of the awards night as the book “Pagsasatubuanan: Poetikang Bikolnon” will be conferred this year’s Premio Bibiano Sabino para sa Librong Bikolnon.

The people must know that our pursuits are official in nature, and not mere auxiliary or hobby. Publishing our works and giving them prizes are just some of the ways to assert this fact. This is a happy realization for this blogger as I dig out the writer’s place under the province of our fundamental law and statutes. Literary culture is a sound custom and countenanced by law. Culture is law, as the latter is supposed to be shaped, if not influenced by the former.

Our poets are legislators too. Younger poets invoke the elder ones. Poetics is law, and if in the proper context, poems can articulate culture and native wisdom which in turn are very much suited to be a rich source of legislation and law.

PAGSASATUBUANAN: POETIKANG BIKOLNON (NCCA, 2008) NOW AVAILABLE

I have launched my first book on Bikol poetics published through a grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts-National Committee on Literary Arts (NCCA-NCLA). I think this book is important because it is the first ouvre on Bikol poetic aesthetics written in the Bikol language. So that non-Bikols could understand its gist and purpose, I saw it fit to write the foreword in English.

As they say:

“Chancoco’s book enlightens us on important aspects of Bikol poetics. It is a great contribution to Philippine literary scholarship.”
–Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista, Philippine Panorama

“We could not fault Chancoco’s craftmanship”
–Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada, Homelife Magazine

“Jose Jason L. Chancoco’s pioneering and scholarly work, Pagsasatubuanan: Poetikang Bikolnon, is a koh-i-noor in the canon of Bikol poetics and literary criticism. A rare achievement!
–Santiago Villafania, Dalityapi Unpoemed

“An “Pagsasatubuanan” ni Chancoco sarong pagtukar kan Bikolnon na poetika sa paaging strukturalista-pormalista, sa paaging ini, an libro minakapot kan tropeo bilang enot na pagrurip sa pagrarawitdawit sa Bikol.”
–Victor Dennis Nierva, Vox Bikol

“Creating his own devices to articulate terminologies in Bicol translation, Chancoco uses Bicol in its formal form, proving that studies and researches can be articulated in the native language.”
–Juan Escandor, Jr., Philippine Daily Inquirer

Copies of the book are available (PhP250 only) at Museo de Caceres (inside the Holy Rosary Minor seminary), Kulturang Bikolnon (first level of the CBD Hotel Building) and Basilica Souvenir Shop (Basilica Compound) in Naga City. Orders may also be placed by sending an E-mail to tarusan22(at)yahoo(dot)com or via SMS to 09199470406 and copies will be sent by courier.

NASAGANG NA SUMAGANG

August 15 at the Avenue Square was my first ever book launch but I was not nervous at all. I had company, a woman of course (can’t live without them), and the other seven writers and two visual artists who participated. Surely, it was a feast of the written word.

Actually, the “Pagbungsod” was just a part of “Gira nin Panahon”, an arts and culture project of Development Institute of Bicolano Artists Foundation, Inc. (DIBA). It features not only literary arts, but also the visual arts. In fact during the launch, there was an art exhibit at the second level of the venue.

The “Pagbungsod” will also be brought to other areas in the region. In fact, an Iriga leg is already being cooked up by poet Frank Penones, who by the way, announced during the launch that this writer will be conferred the Sumagang Award (for literary arts). The said distinction is the highest that the City of Iriga could ever give to Iriguenos who made a great mark in their chosen field of endeavor.  With due respect to Manoy Frank, my nominator, I really had the gut feel as early as early, from the time he texted me a congratulatory message, that the award will not really be given to me. Of course the mere fact that he announced it at the Avenue Square before Naga City public officials, educators, media, writers and artists; he must have been assured by the Sumagang committee of my winning. Being a writer of great repute, he must have had verifiable basis.

Alas! My ‘literary clairvoyance’ did not fail me. It was just a foul-up after all, in other words ‘kuryente’. Manoy Frank sent me an email saying he was not sure if the Sumagang committee was not able to defend their recommendation of me or if it was the committee itself that changed its mind and scrapped my name off the list before sending it to Mayor Madel for approval. According to the rules set by the Sumagang Awards, only nominees screened by the committee will be sent to the Mayor for approval. This way, we could prevent the Caparas-Alvarez Case of inserting a “nominee” at the approval level of the contest while the same “nominee” did not undergo the screening process set by the committee. In essence, a shortcut.

The Sumagang committee has the discretion as to who it will recommend for the award. Heck, it even has the power to change its mind to the detriment of those who construed its decision as final. The Mayor also has the power to reject a recommended nominee. The trick is the formal letter because it contains the official information (but lest we forget that Manoy Frank is the PIO of Iriga City Hall). Also, I think, nominees and nominators have no cause of action against the committee and the Mayor, hence they cannot complain, protest or even file suit in a quo warranto proceeding since they are just that, nominees and nominators (Cuyegkeng vs. Cruz, July 26, 1960) and I think, the same rule applies even to the National Artist Awards.

I am not bent on discussing this issue here by virtue of delicadeza. I am the nominee after-all. But surely, I did not nominate myself, this I can say. Manoy Frank, in his own volition took up the initiative and asked for my writer’s archive. But since the “Pagbungsod” crowd of civil and intelligent citizens were duly informed of my supposed conferment of the Sumagang, I see it fit that things be clarified here. But surely, I hold that Manoy Frank was in good faith on account of his eagerness to congratulate a bard-brother.

It is painful for us Iriguenos of course. This could be construed as something similar to the dagdag-bawas National Artist. Frank Penones will not make those pronouncements in public if he were not sure of it. Anyway, I am not so keen on awards. Specially those tainted with irregularities. As writers, we all work hard to build a good by-line. I for one, will not allow mine  to be besmirched just because of the Sumagang. Also, I maintain that poets are immortal, superior to politicians and more sublime than human accolade. In such that awards don’t honor us, we are the ones who give prestige to the awards.

Bikol literature is arguably populated by Irigueno writers and poets. This is something that Iriga-LGU must learn to recognize and accept, lest they only expose their ignorance.

“An Pagbungsod,” grand launch of Bikol literary titles slated August 15

Naga City—August 15, 2009 will be a date to remember in Bicol’s literary history as Bikol writers release five books and a literary magazine. Dubbed as “An Pagbungsod” it will be held 6PM at the alfresco area of the Avenue Square in Magsaysay Avenue, Naga City.

The grand launch will feature “Yudi Man: Mga Osipon para ki Nunuy asin ki Nini,” a collection of short-stories for children by Premio Tomas Arejola para sa Literaturang Bikolnon winners as edited by Carlos A. Arejola and Lorna A. Billanes, and illustrated by Boyet Abrenica; “Pagsasatubuanan: Poetikang Bikolnon,” a book of literary criticism on Bikol poetics by Jose Jason L. Chancoco; “Tigsik,” a compilation of tigsik(s), a Bikol ethnic poetic form by Aida B. Cirujales; “Sayod Kong Tataramon/Tuwiran Kong Sasabihin,” a collection of stage and screenplays by Carlos A. Arejola; “Bagyo sa Oktubre,” a collection poems in Filipino by Honesto M. Pesimo, Jr.; and “Bangraw kan Arte, Literatura asin Kultura,” a Bikol literary magazine edited by Estelito Jacob, Jun Pesimo and Marissa R. Casillan with Manny Salak as lay-out artist.  All of the titles are published by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and printed by the Goldprint Publishing House.

Carlos A. Arejola has been called the poster boy of Bikol Lit. in lecture circuits. He convenes an annual Bikol writers’ workshop, chairs a region-wide literary competition, and has, along with other stout-hearted Bikol artists, initiated other projects to win wider adherence for Bikol writings. His drama and poetry have won the Palanca Awards and other national literary prizes. He works for the Camarines Sur Provincial Capitol.

Lorna A. Billanes edits, translates, and teaches language and literature at Miriam College in Quezon City. Her fiction has won prizes from the Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio Literary Awards and the PBBY Salanga Wrters’ Prize. She holds an M.A. degree in Creative Writing from UP Diliman where she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in English Studies. She co-edits Yudi Man Mga Osipon para ki Nunuy asin ki Nini with Carlos Arejola.

Jose Jason L. Chancoco has won national awards and fellowships for his poetry, essay and fiction in English, Filipino, Bikol Naga and Iriganon. He won two gold medallions in a single year (2005,for stories for children and 1-act play for children categories) in the Tomas Arejola para sa Literaturang Bikolnon, a feat so far unduplicated. He is currently pursuing a law degree.

Tigsik Queen Aida B. Cirujales teaches at the Gainza Central School and was a finalist in the rawitdawit (poetry) category of the Premio Arejola in 2007.

Honesto M. Pesimo, Jr. has won national awards for his poetry and was cited in the rawitdawit category of the Premio Arejola in 2004 and 2007. He teaches at the Concepcion Pequeña High School and Mariners’ Polytechnic College.

Estelito Jacob, Jun Pesimo and Marissa Reorizo-Casillan co-edits Bangraw kan Arte, Literatura asin Kultura. Issa Casillan was the gold medallion winner of the osipon (fiction) category of the Premio Arejola in 2007. Esting Jacob is an award-winning poet and fictionist and is an avid painter.  Apart from his poetry prizes, Jun Pesimo is an award-winning photographer.

Boyet Abrenica is one of the region’s most notable young visual artists today. He has designed literary titles and books of history and is the art director of Biggs Food Corporation.

Manny Salak is a senior graphic designer of Goldprint Publishing House. He was a finalist in the 25^th National Shell Painting Competition.

The grand launch is in coordination with the Development Institute of Bicolano Artists Foundation, Inc., Premio Tomas para sa Literaturang Bikolnon, Kabulig-Bikol and the Avenue Plaza Hotel. The Naga College Foundation Cultural Arts Center will render performances during the launch. Noted Bikol writer and scholar H. Francisco V. Penones will be the keynote speaker.

TAGBOAN SA TABOAN

I was invited as delegate during the NCCA sponsored Taboan: Philippine International Literary Arts Festival held at UP-Diliman, Ateneo de Manila and Cubao Expo on February 11-13. Some writers from Thailand and Vietnam were also in attendance to converge with our own writers coming from all over the country. Far from being just a social event, the congress had plenary and panel sessions delving on various issues surrounding the writer’s life.

I was also on official business representing not just the Bicol region but also SM City Naga (to open early May this year). Surely, the opening of the mall will clear new grounds in Bicol’s literary and cultural landscape.

During the festival I was given the inter-related topics “Writing Off-Center” and “Lingo ng Wika”. For me, language is culture and same with language art, is also defined by geography. And the center, if it exists at all could very well be just a parameter for literary practice. For instance, an academized, workshoped, publication and award centered literary practice may just be a culture of urban origin in contrast with the oral tradition still extant in some areas in the countryside. But then we cannot say that this urban literary culture has not permeated to some extent the literary practitioners in the provinces. In Bicol, we also have the academe, and the workshop, publication and award system. It is just that Bicol-based writing ought to reflect if not approximate the Bicol life and whatever universal value that could be derived from it. I would dare say that it is much easier for Bicol-based writers to achieve a higher degree of authenticity and that with this, the concept of being “tukal sa daga” or dislocation is far-fetched. Truly, a new center has emerged and more will follow. Centers defined by culture-base, that is.

But then again, there is language. How does it define authenticity? During the conference, I asserted that the language issue is a product of historical anomaly and multilingualism should not be seen as a problem but rather as a solution—as power and advantage. The Bikol writer is typically multilingual and this is good. Anyway, literary material would tend to ensconce itself in a language that suits it—as defined to some extent by the writer’s language proficiency.

In the main, the Taboan was still a success and must be replicated. The government must finance another gathering of the same magnitude and provide airplane tickets, food and drinks, and hotel accommodations for our writers. It is one way for this government to make atonement for its misgivings. Also, since most of the writerly issues have already been discussed, the next Taboan must focus on the business of partying, drinking and sharing of talents. Writers have enough solitude to last a lifetime.

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF LANGUAGES (2008)

As per Resolution No. 52/23 (November 27, 1997) of the United Nations General Assembly, there is a prevailing policy on Multilingualism recalling the earlier Resolution No. 50/11 (November 2, 1995). It requests the Secretary General to submit during the 54^th session a comprehensive report on the implementation of Resolution No 50/11. And likewise, it also includes Multilingualism as part of the General Assembly’s agenda for the session.

The implementation of UN’s Multilingualism policy is still binding up to now. This can be observed during its Plenary Sessions and General Assemblies wherein delegates are encouraged to express themselves using their native tongue. Clearly, this policy shows that the UN sees cultural and linguistic diversity not as a threat to diplomacy and understanding, but rather as human rights that must be respected in order for nations to bridge themselves towards spiritual unity as members of the human race. This also avoids the prevalence of a dominant language or culture base which more often than not, leads to hegemony and cultural oppression which in turn leads to misunderstanding. Besides, a good number of languages die everyday in the name of linguistic uniformity. There is then a need to reverse this phenomenon.

Even if language is said to be arbitrary, the legislature is still a powerful state apparatus that could greatly influence and spell either the death or survival of the various languages. The UN seems to be on the right track in this regard just by crafting Multilingualism as a policy. In fact, UNESCO declared this year to be the International Year of Languages with the slogan: “Languages Matter!”

Although UNESCO cannot fund all of the pro-linguistic diversity projects being implemented around the globe, it encourages local initiatives. It also has a listing of some of the most important cultural and linguistic enterprises. The list includes Dalityapi Unpoemed’s Makata, a multilingual poetry site; and this blogger’s ‘Pagsasatubuanan Modernistang Poetikang Bikolnon’, a work on Bikolnon poetics written in the Bikol-Naga language.

It is a ray of hope to see Philippine based projects making it in UNESCO’s IYL list. It is a known fact that the country’s Constitution deems the other Philippine languages as mere auxiliaries to English and Tagalog/Filipino. And the prevailing policy on language in the academe is that of “Bilingualism” and not “Multilingualism”. Even with the CHED Memorandum Order No. 44 there is yet a dearth of regional literature in classroom and campus discourses. The way to go it seems is by local and individual/group initiatives from the private sector.

The Dalityapi Unpoemed has sponsored poetry readings in Manila campuses and continues to accept poetry contributions written in the various Philippine languages. While this blogger’s work on Bikolnon poetics, as it is written in a regional language, hopes to fill the scarcity of materials written in the Bikol-Naga language. Not to mention the need for more works under the genre of literary criticism to provide critical perspectives with regard Bikolnon literary aesthetics.

PAGTUKDO, PAGSURAT BIKOLNON 2008

I have been attending national writers’ workshops and really enjoy them. Trying to be a writer in a republic of non-readers can get quite alienating sometimes. These workshops (more of writers’ retreats really) help alleviate the loneliness of writerly existence.

Tomorrow, along with other writers based in Bicol (Kabulig-Bikol), I will be attending a conference for teaching and writing Bikol literature. This will surely be another avenue for Bikol writers to convene and share ideas—together with teachers of literature. It is hoped that the existing Bikol literature agenda will be updated and be given extensive attention by the government, the academe and society in general.

I will be sharing some insights about Bikol Drama and our regional dramatic tradition. I will focus more on how we could utilize the art form as pedagogy of literature. Its very nature would reveal its potent power as a servant art, one that could wrap-up all the other Bikol literary art forms into one package that could fit well within literature modules.

The conference, dubbed as Pagtukdo, Pagsurat Bikolnon 2008 is sponsored by the Kabulig-Bikol, Naga College Foundation, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Naga City LGU.

IT’S ALMOST MIDNIGHT

I just saw The 11th Hour today as produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. It is a must-see for those who got the first jolt from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. The film is more detailed than Al Gore’s award-winning rendition in the sense that this has more climate change experts thinking out loud. This also delves into the forces behind the current culture of apathy with regard environmental preservation–the corporate and government policy makers who are doing much delay in the implementation of pro-ecology laws, and the miseducated consumers of the present plastic era.

In the end, the film prescribes that all we need is a deep and profound love for our own place. Somehow this rings a bell for writers from the provinces who for the most part, are closer to nature than their Manila counterparts. I think it is easier for them to hear the language of nature and pick up images for their poetic strategy. This is because the prevailing design for poetic expression has always been that of a poet-milieu-audience dialectics. It is then the moral obligation of writers to champion the cause of preserving the environment. Lest we all become plastic poets in a plastic planet.

That is why it is but timely that the Camarines Sur Climate Change Summit will talk about Global Warming on July 29, at the St. Peter Baptist Hall of the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary. It will be a whole-day event with speakers coming from Manila and Bicol such as Energy Secretary Angelo Tomas Reyes and weather scientist Michael Padua of Naga College Foundation. Everybody in invited.

DISSOLVING WHAT IS MARGINAL AND CENTRAL

‘Dissolving what is marginal and central.’ This is the end-tail of the blurb I gave for Pangasinan poet-laureate Santiago B. Villafania for his KWF funded second book ‘Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villanelles’. And this is exactly what you will experience if you happen to understand Pangasinense and read the works therein, considering that there are also English poems in the collection. So place your orders now while supplies last.

Meanwhile, this summer Malagilion experience of mine seemed to have extended itself toward one melting-pot of heat, traffic and culture, and that is Sampaloc, Manila. I was invited to sit as panel during the 9^th UST National Writers Workshop held right inside the Pontifical University’s campus in España. It was in 2002 when I won a slot as fellow for poetry in the same workshop along with the likes of Ma. Francezka Kwe, Mikael Co, Alex Agena and Maryanne Moll. The end result was a drained supply of Red Horse beer in the creepy but classy Hotel Veneracion in Baguio City.

This year’s fellows were mostly young (like me, haha). And I did my best to be fair and objective as possible. I pointed out parts that needed improvement, offered correctives so as to leave a sense of direction. The country’s workshop set-up is primarily inductive. It is easy to get lost in faultfinding without offering remedies.

In a way, this is the advantage of LIRA’s palihan system—there’s the theory or lecture, and there’s the application or writing part. And the workshop would last for months or even a year so the panel can follow-up on the progress of the writing fellows.

For a change, I added (together with Santiago Villafania) some tinge of regional paradigm in my critiques. I wanted the fellows to see that panelists come from diverse backgrounds and they ought to identify who could help them best. In my view, I saw it fit not only to share what I know about Tagalog/Filipino poetics but also Bikol poetics more importantly that some writing fellows were from the provinces.

I believe that writers from the regions have a lot to share. In the KWF’s Talaang Ginto, I am beginning to see this trend. Writers from the region would win because they infuse something from their culture in their Tagalog/Filipino poems, thus enriching the National Language. Cirilo F. Bautista, himself a Gawad Collantes honoree and judge has this to say: ‘…because Filipino—which is now called our national language—has a democratic character, it offers contemporary poets new inroads and challenges. Indeed, some of them have shown that words and phraseology, and imagery from one region can be positioned within the structure of Tagalog. John Iremil Teodoro and Genevieve Asenjo of Antique, Jose Jason Chancoco of Bicol, and Santiago Villafania of Pangasinan have done exactly that and, consequently contribute to the enrichment of the poetic medium. (Breaking Signs, Philippine Panorama May 4, 2008).