The Many Faces of Hope, part 1

Nonfiction by | May 20, 2018

(Keynote Speech delivered at the 44th Congress of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) and the 31st Gawad Alagad ni Balagtas held in Roxas City on 28 April 2018 with the theme: “Kadulom kag Kasanag: Panitikan ng Pag-asa.”)

To all UMPIL officers and members, our Balagtas awardees, National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario, fellow writers, guests, and friends, maayong buntag.

I find our theme very interesting: “Kadulom kag Kasanag: Panitikan ng Pag-asa” (Darkness and Light: The Literature of Hope).

We are all familiar with the Greek myth of Pandora, the beautiful girl who received all the gifts from the gods and goddesses. She was a very curious girl. She was told not to open a jar, but open she did, and all kinds of evil came out, darkening the world — calamities, hunger, diseases, plagues, giyera, ungo, kapre, aswang. Na-shock si Pandora, but she had the presence of mind to close the jar. Ang naiwan sa loob, HOPE. Pag-asa, Paglaom.

I’d like to interpret this myth as the origin of how humankind acquired hope, rather than as how evil got into the world. Hope was Pandora’s gift to us. Her brother-in-law, Prometheus, gifted us with fire. Si Pandora, hope. Yong evil of the world na lumabas sa jar, gawa ni Zeus. Maldito man na si Zeus.

Across the millennia, Hope took different faces, shapes, and sizes, depending on the type of evil that prevailed during a particular era. Whatever shape it took, it always meant something good or better than the situation people found themselves in.

Hope is what keeps the fire of Prometheus in us burning, it keeps us going despite all the challenges, hardships, calamities – personal man o communal.

Continue reading The Many Faces of Hope, part 1

Dogs Without Names

Nonfiction by | May 13, 2018

‘Man and animals are partly the same. Both deserve love, loyalty and law.’

I have two dogs. They don’t have names. They are Brown and Dalmatian. The latter is a combination of spotted black and white colors. One morning, when I woke up, I heard somewhere in the house faint crying voices. I was not sure what it was. And so I went outside from the main room. I found out that pups have just been delivered by the mother dog. They just went inside my house, and sought comfort at my terrace. I pitied them very much. I bought powdered milk, mixed it with water and served it to the little dogs and the mother dog.

I roamed around my neighborhood telling them that a dog has just delivered her puppies in my house, and they replied that the pups already belonged to me since they were born inside my house. The five little puppies grew very fast. My budget for food increased because I have six more mouths to feed.

When the dogs were still young, they were led by the mother dog to my immediate neighbor. After a few days, they returned back to my house where they were born.

One day, my neighbor asked to have one of the pups so that he could keep it as his pet. I didn’t hesitate to give it for as long as they are not going to be slaughtered and be served as food during celebrations or party.

It was very difficult to catch these dogs. With my neighbors’ persistence to catch one of the pups; they succeeded and finally, they placed it inside an empty sack.

Continue reading Dogs Without Names

Usa Ka Gabiing Nakighilawas ang Manananggal

Poetry by | May 13, 2018

iyang gitusok
sa tunga
sa akong gabilangkad
ug mga
bus-ok nga hita
ang iyang talinis
nga bitin.

dayon,

giduso.

gibira.

giduso.

gibira.

Gidusogibiragidusogibira—

ang akong kalag
nga murag molupad.
samtang hapit na nako
makab-ot ang langit
kalit lang niya
gihulbot
sa iyang taas nga kamot
ang lagaraw sa daplin,
sa akong kalagot
sa kalami
sa kasakit
sa kakatol
sa kangilngig
nga akong nabati
ako miikyas
ug nisinggit,

“Piste! Nabilin akong hawak!”

Lyda May Sual-Lozaldo is a graduate of Creative Writing.

Samtang Gahulat

Poetry by | May 13, 2018

(a translation of Jerry B. Ignacio’s Pagpapalipas Oras by Adrian Sefuentes)

Unsa ba ka taas ang mga higayon?
Sa uma, nangabuhi na ang mga tinanom,
ang mga abugon nga yuta sauna,
gigakos na sa kabagnotan.
Kadtong hingtabok ka sa pilapil
aron lang maghulat ug masakyan
lapok ang nakabukhad sa imong giagian.
Karon, paspas na ug padagan ang mga dyip
sa espalto nga dalan.
Wala nay mga abog nga musoksok sa imong ilong,
mupuling sa mata, ug maoy hinungdan sa ubo ug hubak.
Di na ka karon atakehon kung ting-init
bisan pa og mamaklay ta ilalom sa silaw sa adlaw;
di parehas sauna pirme kang maugtas
matag abot nato sa baybayon
ug dili nalang ka maligo
kay di ka ganahan matilawan ang kaparat.
Paminaw nako, nakuhaan na ang asin sa dagat,
pati ang balud hinay na sad mubaklay
paduol ug palayo ngadto sa aplaya;
apan hantod karon, wala pa gihapon ka.
Gaihap na siguro ka og paldo-paldong kwarta
dira sa yuta sa gatas ug dugos;
samtang ako, gisum-olan na ug tan-aw
sa mga kamot sa relo, sa pagpupo
sa mga dahon sa kalendaryo, sa sigeg suwat
sa akong mga kasakit sa tala-adlawan.
Suwat nalang nimo nga way tingog-pagpanambit
ang maoy akoang konswelo,
alang-alang kay niana ka: Dili bukid ang oras
na masukod kung pipila ka ektarya,
o dagat na masukod kung pipila ka milya.
Ang paghulat sa hinigugma susama lamang sa kadugay
sa maantos sa kasing-kasing nga mupadayon sa
pagpanawag.

Adrian Sefuentes is a third year Creative Writing student of UP Mindanao.

You’re not as you looked like

Poetry by | May 13, 2018

You’re not as you looked like
You’re a gentle mountain
who turns out to be a sleeping volcano
A wolf with a sheep coat
A tip of an iceberg.

You can slaughter with your silence
And feign comfort when you speak
Your smile is daunting
Your frown as haunting

Tell me then
“Why can’t you be as you be?”
Your friendship, sure, is a stranger
Your anonymity is a friend.

Rhealyn Callao Pojas is a professional Filipino journalist who started her career in 2015 right after completing her degree in AB Communication Studies major in Journalism at the Mindanao State University – Main Campus. She worked as a reporter, and eventually an editor at a community newspaper in Davao City, Philippines for two years and has then decided to experience journalism in the island country of Palau.

Katingon


Poetry by | May 6, 2018

as the afternoon breeze

gently brushes the reflection

of the early moon on

the surface of this puddle

as it distorts the image

which is the face you make

as you held your breath

when you came

as we made love

in the yellows and oranges

golds and silver linings

painted the treads

as you slowly crawl

out of bed with the sun

you finish this affair

almost eagerly by yourself

Be still, katingon.

Rory Ian Bualan is a physics teacher at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. He is from Mati, Davao Oriental.

Short-lived

Poetry by | May 6, 2018

in the dryness of the morning,

you hurled the blanket

from the clothesline

onto my shuddering

body—your kind of bromance

like the gábi leaves

watered by the

rain: fleeting

and has not drenched

the plant

Jan Vernix M Atis is from the Island Garden City of Samal, Province of Davao del Norte. He was a fellow to the 2015 Ateneo de Davao Summer Writers Workshop and 2017 Davao Writers Workshop. His works have been published and are forthcoming in Dagmay, the Online Literary Journal of the Davao Writers Guild, Sunstar Davao, Bukambibig Poetry Folio of Spoken Word Philippines, Sakayang Papel: Anthology of Binisaya Poetry, and in the Woman, Create 2018 Planner.

Si Fren

Fiction by | May 6, 2018

Usa ka mekaniko si Fren. Hingataw-un. Buntag hangtud gabii, siya gapang-ayo ug mga guba nga sakyanan. Siya kugihan. Adunay siya’y upat ka anak, si Budoy, si Paula, si Jose ug si Utitud ug asawa nga si Lalay. Simple lamang ang kinabuhi ni Fren ug sa iyahang pamilya. Makakaon lamang sila ug katulo sa usa ka adlaw, malipayun na sila.


Daghan mga tawo gikan sa nagkalain-laing parte sa susyudidad ang nagapaayo sa iyahang gamay nga syap kay tungod lagi maayo ug paspas iyang serbisyo. Adunay DJ sa radyo, propesor sa MSU, mga politiko, apo sa mga tag-iya sa mga dagkong kompanya o mga negosyante. Ug silang tanan adunay maayo nga relasyon kaniya. Usahay kung ako mulabay sa iyahang gamay nga syap, makita nako nga ginapalitan pa gani siya ug softdrinks sa iyahang mga suki. Ug kini nagadugang ug “tip” tungod sa iyahang kakugihan ug kamaayo. 


Sa sobra kakugihan ni Fren, pag-uli nako gikan sa trabaho matag gabii, makita gihapon nako siya nga adunay kaestorya nga kostumer sa gawas sa iyahang panimalay. Usahay daghan gapangita kay Fren sayo pa sa buntag,maong makamata ako sa kabanha sa mga iro nga ana sa lataran, kay silingan ra man kami.

Usa ka adlaw niana, paadto ko sa akoang trabahuan ug nakita ko si Fren nga bag-o pa lamang abot sa ilahang balay.

“Naay nangita sa imuha tong niaging adlaw, Bay.”

“Aw diay. Salamat, Bay.”

“Sige, diri sa’ko.”

Gitagbo si Fren sa iyahang mga anak. Mipadayun ako sa paglakaw.

Nilabay ang mga adlaw, matag gabii, sige ug paghot ang iro, ug dili ako makatulog, wala nay kostumer si Fren apan misilip ako sa gamay nga buslot sa bintana arun makita ko kung aduna bay tawo apan wala akoy nakita. Nibalik ako ug higda apan sa dili pa ako mahinanok sa pagtulog, nakadungog ako ug tulo ka pagpangnuktok sa purtahan nila.

Wala na gayud akoy kusog para usisaun kung kinsa katong mga tawhana, sa tumang kahadlok, nagbukot na lamang ako ug habol.


Tulo ka buto. Kusog nga hilak ug kalisang.

Apan wala ako’y nadungog, wala.


“Pasayloa ko, Fren.”


Ug gikuha ko ang pakete sa shabu nga aana sa ilalom sa akoang unlan.


“Hapit na ko matunton. Kinahanglan na nako muhawa niining dapita.”

Hannah Lecena is a graduate of BSED Filipino at MSU-GSC, a member of SOX Writers Group, former spoken word performer of TINTAsyon, an existing organization that supervises various events in Restobars and Cafe in GenSan, Polomolok, Tupi and Surallah South Cotabato. Her first Zine entitled “Ala-ala ng Paglimot” in collaboration with Alvin Pomperada was published last Zines Festival held in GenSan. She is from Sarangani Province. Her flashfiction “Ig-agaw” was published at Cotabato Literary Journal, as well as her poem “Kung Ako ang Pasultihun,” in the same year. Her winning piece during GenSan Summer Youth Fest 2017 in which she was the champion, “Pangatlong Mata” was also published by the said Literary Folio. She is now busy organizing and promoting spoken word poetry events around General Santos City.