inter-text-ures - Poetry

Nagtataka si Nina, Nagtatanong si Nina

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:36:46 -0800

Marcy Dans Lee, my colleague at school, came up with a children's book on Filipino values. She was commissioned by Unionbank to do the book for its CSR project. The children's book came out several years ago, and has been reprinted several times.

Unionbank also came out with a Student's Workbook, distributed to schoolchildren in several schools around the country. In its third edition, the workbook includes a poem entitled "Nina Wonders, Nina Asks," written by Marcy Dans Lee. My translation of the poem, "Nagtataka si Nina, Nagtatanong si Nina," appears in this edition:

NAGTATAKA SI NINA, NAGTATANONG SI NINA
Salin ni Nino Soria de Veyra

Ngayong papasok na sa paaralan
At karunungan ay madaragdagan,
Niyapos ni Nina, hinagkan ni Nina
Ang pinakamamahal niyang ina at ama
Dahil siya ay mangungulila
Sa kanilang tunay na pagkalinga.

Pero si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong
Ang pagmamahal ba ay gagawing walang hanggan ng Poon?

Naglalakad si Nina sa may bangketa
Ang bawat hakbang sinasalubong ng basura –
Papel, babol gam, pambalot ng kendi –
Kung saan-saan tinapon sa pag-aapura
Ngayon ay nagkalat na sa kalsada
Kahit may mga basurahan para sa tira-tira.

Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong
'Di ba madaling gawin ang basura ay tamang itapon?

Sa himpilan ng jeepney si Nina dumating,
Sa kapal ng usok siya ay napabahin. (Hatsing!)
Nagsisiksikan na mga pasahero, walang puwestong makita,
Hindi ba nila nababasa nakapaskil na mga paunawa?
Pakiwari niya ay nakakatakot at nakakalungkot
Makita ang mga taong sumusungit at sumisimangot.

Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong
Kailangan ba palaging magmadali sa habang panahon?

Pagdating niya sa paaralan, ang bagong kamag-aral nakita,
Tinutukso at sinisindak ng mga manlolokong kaiskuwela.
Nalulumbay ang bata, nawalan ng pag-asa.
Sa wari ni Nina, hindi makatarungan kanyang pagdurusa.
Agad-agad inakay ni Nina ang bata papalayo
Sa kapahamakan at siguradong gulo.

Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong
Sinong walang sala sa ibang tao ay humukom?

Sa pagsusulit sa Matematika sa araw na iyon,
Nagdamdam si Nina sa kanyang paglingon,
Kaliwa't kanan nagkokopyahan,
Mga kaiskuwela ay sinusuway ang kautusan,
Pinagpatuloy ang masamang gawain
Nang ibaling ng guro ang kanyang pansin.

Kaya si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong
Itong pandaraya ba ay palalampasin ng Panginoon?

At sa oras ng rises, sa kalembang ng kampana,
Mga bata ay humiyaw, ang galak ipinagkakanta.
Si Nina ay natuwa sa masayang nakita,
Hanay ng mga batang tapat na pumipila,
Ang pinakahuli sa dulo pumupunta,
Matiyagang naghihintay makabili ng miryenda.

Si Nina ay nagtataka, si Nina ay nagtatanong
'Di ba ganitong mga tagpo ang hanap sa bawat panahon?

Tapos na ang laro at wala ng klase,
Kaya si Nina sa bahay tuwirang umuwi,
At ang pinakamamahal niyang ina at ama
Agad niyapos ni Nina, agad hinagkan ni Nina
Dahil buong araw siya ay nangulila
Sa kanilang tunay na pagkalinga.

Kaya si Nina ay umaasa, si Nina ay nagdarasal
Na mapabubuti ang bawat araw sa ating tamang asal.

In memory of Vicente Ignacio de Veyra y Loanco

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 08:43:38 -0800

I'm reposting here a biography of my grandfather, in time for his natal day tomorrow. Though he is long gone, his memory lives on in the family and perhaps in others who find some worth in the study of the Leyte-Samar language. This post is from Waray Museum, where you'll read other related texts.

Vicente I. de Veyra, Biography
by Victoria S. Salazar

Towards the end of 1903, an envelope postmarked Washington, D. C., made its slow way across the seas to the modest home of Pedro de Veyra and Ines Loanco of Palo, Leyte. The letter came from their eldest son, Martin, a government pensionado(1) in Columbia University. A photograph accompanied the letter.

Fifteen-year-old Vicentico, studying his brother's photograph, idly turned it over. Some words were written at the back of the picture. He proceeded to read the lines aloud: Bisan magpakainkaen an sakayan, mabalek gihapon ha duruungan. "No matter where a ship may make its way, back to port it will return one day."

What a world of meaning lay in that simple sanglitanan (saying) of his people, mused Vicentico. To his mother, anxious for her firstborn so far from home, the aphorism said in effect: "Don't worry, Mother. I shall come back."

As he read the lines a second and yet a third time, a feeling of excitement slowly possessed him. He would collect this and other wise sayings of his people and write them down so they would never be forgotten. And he would begin right now with Agurang(2) Martin's inscription. Off he rushed to get paper and pen.

That was the start of a search for native proverbs, riddles, superstitions, folk songs and poems that would engross Vicente I. de Veyra for years to come. He would earn a name as the first important anthologist of Leyte-Samar folklore. His published collections would include: Mga Sanglitanan (Sayings), 1911; Hinugpung (Collected Poems), 1914; Mga Ambahan (Folk Songs), 1922; An Pagpanarit (The Christmas Story), 1956; Mga Lagda Ha Pagsurat Han Aton Pinulungan (Rules for Writing Our Language); Mga Dayhuan Han Bisaya (Proverbs), and Mga Titiguhon (Riddles), 1957; Katapusan Nga Panamilet (Last Farewell), 1958; Abakadahan (A Primer), 1960.

The search for folklore would develop in De Veyra such a passionate love for his mother tongue that he would spend his lifetime in a constant effort to awaken a similar love among his fellow Leytenos. He would be at the vanguard of every movement designed to preserve and enrich the Leyte-Samar language(3) and would eventually become president of the Sanghiran San Binisaya or Academy of the Bisayan Language (of Leyte and Samar). He would carry on his crusade for the Leyte-Samar tongue as editor of various vernacular newspapers.

Education

At the time De Veyra picked up his brother Martin's picture and unknowingly got started on what would be his life work, he had had very little formal schooling. He was eight years old when the revolution against Spain had broken out in 1896. The Philippine-American War had come after that to further delay his schooling. But he knew how to read and write the vernacular, thanks to lessons given him by his school-teacher father and by the parish priest of Palo, Father Agustin Medalle. He had studied briefly at Norberto Romualdez' famed Colegio de San Jose in Tanauan, Leyte. Just the year before, Martin, teaching in a public school in Manila (he was one of the first teachers of English in the country), had called him there and enrolled him at the Instituto Filipino. After a few months, however, the results of the examination for government pensionados had been released, and Martin, a successful examinee, left for the United States. De Veyra was forced to quit school and return home, for his father could ill afford to finance his studies in Manila.

De Veyra went home to Palo to find that a public school was to be opened. A grade-placement test administered by the principal, Mr. W. W. Marquardt, qualified him for grade three. There he was at the age of 15 still in the lower primary grades.

The years went swiftly by. Before De Veyra knew it, he had finished his elementary schooling. The Palo High School (it taught Grade V through Second Year High) had been moved to Tacloban in 1906 and there he finished the seventh grade. His proudest school memories consisted of having been appointed corporal of his class in military training (the intermediate and high school boys took their military training together), and of being placed in charge of the school garden in front of the Casalla Building(4) in competition with Juan R. Perez, later Representative of the fourt district of Leyte, who had charge of the garden behind the building.

Public School Teacher

In the early years of the American occupation, an elementary graduate was considered sufficiently prepared to teach primary school. The year 1908 thus found De Veyra teching grades one and two in Patuk, a barrio of Dagami, twenty kilometers southwest of Palo. He had himself opened the school. He felt on top of the world. His salary of seventeen pesos bought many things dead to a young man's heart. It was a proud feeling to go cantering to town on his mare every Saturday to attend teachers' classes. The company of Pablo Ybanez, the teacher of Barrio Tagkip, made the ride more enjoyable. Of course, he and Pablo would never ride abreast or very close to each oher. Not only was the path narrow, but Pablo's mount was a stallion and if it once had De Veyra's mare beside it or anywhere near it, it was almost certain that the riders would never reach Dagami in time for Saturday classes.

De Veyra spent the rest of his weekends visiting old people in the towns and in remote farms in the barrios, slowly adding to his growing store of folklore. A jug of tuba and a generous dish of sumsuman(5) that he furnished at these collecting sessions loosened tongues and sharpened memories.

Mga Sanglitanan (1911)

In June, 1909, or shortly before his twenty-first birthday, De Veyra sent 120 sayings that he had collected in Palo, Pastrana and Dagami to the Tacloban weekly, El Heraldo de Leyte y Samar. The response of the newspaper was encouraging. It not only published the whole collection in its issue of June 11, but it also ran an editorial praising his work and that of others engaged in philologic and folkloristic research. The editorial, entitled "Labor Meritoria," said in part:

"All work that tends to clarify doubtful points of our history with the aid of philologic and folkloristic studies is surely meritorious...

"As may have been observed, in the vernacular articles written by our own editorial staff and published in this weekly, we have exercised every care in the use of our dialect, desiring in this manner to contribute to the perfection of our Leyte-Samar tongue. We have been publishing articles of Mr. Romualdez [Norberto, Sr.] concerning Bisayan orthography and cognizant of its usefulness for our folklore, we have published a collection of Bisayan sayings made by the young enthusiast Vicente I. de Veyra."(6)

De Veyra's uncle Julian, who owned the La Pacita Publishing Press in Tacloban, published the sayings in a little volume in 1911.

Telegraph Operator-Postmaster

De Veyra taught only for a year, however. Martin had returned from the States and had called him back to Manila to continue his studies. De Veyra enrolled in the Philippine School of Arts and Trades in ceramics, a course for which he laer found he had no talent or inclination. He quit in the middle of the year. Hearing that the Bureau of Posts was looking for young men to train as telegraph operators, and that the trainees would be earling a salary as they learned the art of running a post office--in those days, the telegraph operator was the postmaster also--he approached his old teacher, Mr. Marquardt, now principal of the Manila Trade School, for a recommendation. Mr. Marquardt sat down himself at his typewriter to write a letter of introduction for his erstwhile blackboard artist.

Armed with the letter, De Veyra walked the short distance to the Bureau of Posts. Now he did something that would ever after give him a twinge of conscience but would at the same time make him remember his old principal with a surge of affection and gratitude. He opened the envelope and took a peek at the letter. It was only then he realized that he had fallen short of the qualification desired by the Bureau of Posts. Mr. Marquardt had put him down as having finished second year high. The Director of Posts was an American, too, and a friend of Mr. Marquardt's besides; De Veyra was accepted at once.

In each of the four corners of a very large room, a miniature post office had been set up complete with telegraph office, mail section, money order section, and postal savings bank. Each "post office" had its code number, exactly as in real life. The embryo postmasters learned to receive and transmit messages, handle mail, write out money orders, accept savings deposit--in short, went through all the motions of their real counterparts. Upon finishing his training, De Veyra was assigned to the post office at Tacloban as clerk. He was soon transferred to Jaro as postmaster. After three years he resigned and with his savings returned to Manila. It was April, 1914.

On the Army Transport Dix

A relative by marriage arrived from the States just as De Veyra was looking around for something to do while he waited for classes to open in June. He informed De Veyra that he could have a job as mess boy on the army transport Dix which would be leaving as soon as it had unloaded its cargo of horses and mules for the American cavalry in the islands.

Holy Week found De Veyra aboard the Dix and bound for Honolulu, Seattle, Brementon, and Tacoma. He would never forget the Good Friday he spent on the transport. There was no fish to be had. It was eat meat or go hungry. His feeling of guilt was so great as he ate that he ever after remembered those meals as the most uncomfortable to which he ever sat down.

There was a brief stopover at Mike in Japan to load coal. It came as something of a shock to the Filipinos on board the transport to find out that the "laborers" loading the coal were women. A long row of them lined a ramp that led from the wharf to the hold of the ship. A basket of coal was passed from hand to hand and emptied into the hold. In a surprisingly short time, the Dix had all the coal it needed.

Early in the trip, De Veyra had had a brush with the chief steward. As mess boy he had to serve the meals at a table assigned to him, and wash and put away the dishes afterwards. This involved many trips to and from the kitchen and pantry. Unused to such labor and the strain of trying to keep his feet on the heaving deck, he had lain down to rest after lunch one day, not knowing that he was also expected to change the bed linens. The steward harshly called him to task for his seeming laziness. De Veyra's temper flared and he answered back. After the incident, the steward found out that this was no mere laborer he had under him but an ex-postmaster. He treated him thereafter with more respect.

The Filipino mess boys were a source of admiration among the crew. They provided the music for the ship in the evenings when work was done. De Veyra played the banduria(7), and two or three of the others, the guitar.

Having arrived in the States, the Dix went on dry dock at Puget Sound. Here most of the crew were laid off; De Veyra was among those kept on. By mid-September, he was back in the Philippines, richer by a second-hand Smith Premier No. 10 typewriter which he bought for ten dollars, and by his savings and tip of five months. The typewriter was to prove invaluable to him in preparing his manuscripts for the printers.

Hinugpung (1914)

Shortly after his arrival, he went to the "Tipografia de Filipinas," a printing shop in Binondo, Manila, and arranged for the printing of Hinugpung, a collection of poems by noted Leyte-Samar poets, among them: Norberto Romualdez, Sr., Iluminado Lucente, Cecilio Apostol, Juan Ricacho, Francisco V. Alvarado, C. L. Trinchera, F. J. Enfectana, and Luciano Ortiz. The volume also contains some poems by De Veyra himself under various pen names.(8) Each copy sold for sixty centavos. The work elicited another laudatory newspaper editorial, this time from La Democracia. Entitled "Hinugpung!... Un libro de Vicente de Veyra," the editorial of February 20, 1916, had this to say:

"Still another book, one of the most precious and original, has just appeared in the field of native literature to underscore the high index of the intellectual capacity of the Filipino...

"This book is destined to occupy a preferential place in Philippine bibliography. Our congratulations to the author of the book and the authors of the poems contained in it."(9)

Norberto Romualdez, Sr., then judge of the Court of First Instance of Bacolod, Negros Occidental, to whom Vicentico had dedicated the book, wrote to express his delight at the book and to encourage the collector:

"...My friend, continue with what you are doing and dedicate to it your customary zeal so that the thinking, new and old, of our people, may see the light. You are the first to undertake the clearing of the forest. Here's hoping you collect many of the flowers that lie hidden in that jungle--that you uncover the age-old folkways of our ancestors, for they are worth bringing out: they help to project to the world the real image of this land we love."(10)

Arriving in Manila in September when classes were already in full swing, De Veyra was desirous of attending high school, found enrolment closed to him. He ocne more had recourse to Mr. Marquardt. As Director of Education, Mr. Marquardt had no trouble getting De Veyra accepted in the Manila High School.

Back to the Bureau of Posts

In 1916, his money exhausted, De Veyra went back to work in the Bureau of Posts. He was assigned as clerk in the post office at Calbayog, Samar. Whenever a postmaster went on vacation leave (21 days), De Veyra filled in as interim postmaster. In this way he got to Allen, San Antonio, and other towns of Samar, all the while enriching his collection of Samar folklore. He found the people of Allen especially hospitable. It was the custom of the people there, upon seeing a vessel approaching their town, to wade out to meet it and help tow it over the long stretch of shallow water to the beach.

In 1918, De Veyra was appointed postmaster of Abuyog, Leyte. The following year he was back in the central office in Manila. Then he was assigned as postmaster of Post Office No. 1 which was housed in the Manila Hotel. Here he enjoyed free room and board and a salary of sixty pesos besides. Adding to his contentment was an unexpected fringe benefit. American tourists lodging at the hotel who wished to mail a package home often left money on the counter and walked off without waiting for their change.

With his steady job in the Bureau of Posts to permit him to support a family, De Veyra's thoughts turned to marriage. It was 1919 and he was 31. A pretty Manila girl, Antonia Lozano, caught his eye at a social held by the An Kapawa, a society of Leytenos from the town of Dagami. Their marriage took place the same year. Six children were born to them: Milagros, Salvador, Socorro, Vicente, Jr., Victor, and Pascual.

De Veyra was president in 1922 of the Philippine Sparks Association, the organization of postmasters and telegraph operators in the whole country.

Mga Ambahan (1922)

Mga Ambahan, a collection of folk songs sung at such folk dances as the Tinikleng, Balitaw, Kuratsa, Miligoy, Ingkoy-Ingkoy, Salampate, Lulay, Ginabato, Putrilyo, Paspe, Biya-e, Alkampor, Pandanggiyado, Maramyn, and others, was published in 1922. The publication of the book drew a column in the Philippines Herald issue of April 25 entitled "Veyra Writes a Book on Folksongs, Native Poetry and Ballads," quoted in part as follows:

"In an effort to preserve vernacular literature, Vicente I. de Veyra, a Leyte dialect writer of note, has published a book recently which is a compilation of folksongs, native poetry, vernacular ballads and other dialect romances taken from the Leyte tongue.

"The book which is a handy volume explains the nature of the "balitaw," a well-known folkdance. A full two-page music for the dance is inserted in the volume and a dissertation on how it is danced is given by the author. The book contains some 300 collections of native folksongs collected from various sources some of which have hitherto never seen print..."

Mr. Agustin S. Alonzo, then an instructor in the College of Education of the University of the Philippines, to whom De Veyra had shown the manuscript of the book, wrote him thus on January 10, 1922:

"...As one reads them he at once notices the manner our people express their thoughts in language sweet and enchanting. You have not labored in vain compiling them. I am a believer of preserving them. They are the living witness of the intellectuality of our people. In these days when things foreign are strongly and aggressively invading the Philippines in almost every aspect of our life, when the power of imitation is very strong, it is high time that things purely Philippine should be preserved not only in the archives of our hearts and minds but also preserved in print that they may readily be referred to at any time."

Doctor of Dental Surgery

In 1929, De Veyra enrolled in the Educational Institute of the Philippines to take up Dentistry. He graduated in 1932. That same year he took the government examination for the practice of his profession and passed it. He went into active practice in Manila. He also took postgraduate studies at the College of Oral and Dental Surgery in 1937.

His father had died in 1936 leaving his aging mother alone in the old home in Palo. De Veyra, accompanied by Vicente Jr., went home in 1938 to be with her. Antonia stayed in Manila with the other children.

Just as any self-respecting dentist of that time would be expected to do, De Veyra's first act upon arrival was to distribute a 4 by 6 card on which was printed his announcement:

DR. VICENTE I. DE VEYRA
Doctor of Dental Surgery
College of Dentistry
Educational Institute of the P. I.
Graduate, College of Oral and Dental Surgery,
Post-Graduate Dental School

Wishes to Announce that Beginning June 1, 1938
he will Establish Office for the General Practice
of Dentistry at Palo, Leyte

By Appointment Only

De Veyra was first president of the Leyte Dental Society, the province-wide organization of dentists.

War and Peace

De Veyra was hardly established in his practice when the Pacific War broke out. Compounding the misery of war was the separation from his family, for Antonia had been unable to join him in Palo.

The Japanese soon overran the province. In an effort to return things to normal, the Japanese opened a retailers' cooperative in every town. Each retailer put in one hundred pesos. In exchange he received dry goods such as rice, salt, cigarettes, undershirts, etc., to sell to a group of about fifty families listed down under him. De Veyra was president of the Palo Retailers Cooperative Association and vice-president of the Leyte Federation of Retailers' Associations in 1944.

The joy that came with Liberation was marred by Antonia's death in Manila in August, 1945. On May 17, 1947, De Veyra joined the Medical and Dental Service of the Bureau of Education. On a visit to the schools of Naval in line with his work as school dentist, he met Miss Higinia Abanilla of Carigara who was teaching in the high school there. They were married on May 29, 1948. They have no children. De Veyra resigned from the Bureau of Education in 1953.

The Sanghiran San Binisaya

In 1909, there was no standard Binisaya orthography. With the introduction of some Spanish letters into the native alphabet, there arose some confusion in the writing of the vernacular. Each writer simply adopted the spelling most convenient to him.

Distressed by the lack of uniformity in the writing of their language and the introduction of many Spanish words into it, and jealous of preserving its identity, a group of "dedicated men of letters"(11) of Leyte and Smar met in Tacloban that year to organize an association patterned after the Real Academia of Spain and the French Academy. It would dedicate itself to the task of "cultivating, refining and enriching the dialect as spoken in Samar and in Oriental Leyte."(12) They called their association the Sanghiran San Binisaya.

By 1914 most of the members found themselves in Manila. The Sanghiran continued to function there; De Veyra had become Maghirilom (secretary). It was then that the Sanghiran undertook to standardize the alphabet and to set down rules for Bisayan orthography. Norberto Romualdex, Sr., founder and first president, was given "full authority to study and recommend not only the alphabet but also the orthography for use in Leyte and Samar."(13) Romualdez submitted his recommendations in July, 1918. The same were approved with some modifications by all the members on December 13, 1923. In De Veyra's own words, "This is the first and only Orthography of its kind drawn up for use by those who speak Lineyte-Samarnon."(14)

In 1923, the association drew up its Constitution, and on December 19, 1927 , it was formally incorporated into an Academy. The list of active and correspondent members read like a veritable Who's Who of Leyte and Samar: Norberto Romualdez, Sr., Jaime C. de Veyra, Francisco Enage, Msgr. Lino Gonzaga, Pio Pedrosa, Juan R. Perez, Iluminado Lucente, Juan Ricacho, Eduardo Makabenta, Francisco Alvarado, Ceferino D. Montejo of Leyte, and Pedro Arteche, Serafin Marabut, Constantino J. Cuna, Juan C, Quimbo, Ciriaco Cinco, Luciano Ortiz, Tomas Gomez, Jr., Vicente Jazmines, Sr. of Samar, among others. Women, most of them wives of the members, also held membership in the Sanghiran.

De Veyra was Maghirilom (secretary) from 1914 to 1955; Sugbong-Mangulo (vice-president) from 1956 to 1959, and finally Mangulo (president) since 1960.

Serving the Sanghiran as a vehicle for its crusade on behalf of the vernacular is the Leyte Courier, a bilingual newspaper, owned and published by Ramon Esperas, another Bisayista, that is, lover of the vernacular. De Veyra has been editor of the Bisayan section since 1959. He has, in fact, always been associated with vernacular newspapers both in Manila and in Tacloban: The Leader (1924); El Obrero (1925); Amandiwing (1928); The Vanguard (1955).

Anthologies Published From 1956 to 1960

In An Pagpanarit Nira Jose Ug Maria Ngan An Pagkatawo Han Aton Ginoo (Joseph and Mary's Search for Lodging and the Birth of Our Lord), published in 1956, De Veyra has preserved in print a Christmas caroldating back to Spanish times. The carol recounts in narrative and dramatic verse the search for lodging and the birth of Jesus. Such verses are sung at Christmas by groups of carolers called pastores (shepherds) who go from house to house. The pastores keep time to the music of a band with castanets and tambourines. They are usually invited into the houses, offered food, and given money for their pains. The pastores are becoming things of the past, however. Each year sees less and less of them.(15)

Three books came out in 1957: Mga Lagda Ha Pagsurat Han Aton Pinulongan (Rules for Writing Our Language); Mga Dayhuan (Proverbs); and Mga Titiguhon (Riddles).

Katapusan Nga Panamilet (The Last Farewell) followed in 1958. This anthology contains eight different versions of Rizal's "Ultimo Adios" by well-known poets of Leyte and Samar: Eduardo Makabenta, Juan Ricacho, Antonio M. Apostol, Luciano Ortiz, Vicente A. Dira, Tomas Gomez, Jr., Luciano A. Ty, and an unknown poet. Translations of "Canto de Maria Clara," "Me Piden Versos" and "El Canto del Viajero" also appear.

Didto Ha Pag-ultan (At the Boundary of Pawing and Guindapunan), a collection of light-hearted lyrics at which De Veyra excels, also came out in 1958. It was published by an informal club of convivial residents of Palo who call themselves in fun and self-depreciation An Mga Linta, that is "The Leeches," perhaps because of the quantities of tuba and sumsuman they consume at their gatherings. The title of the volume is also that of the first lyric in the collection. (The lyrics are sung to the tune of popular songs.) De Veyra's verses are both humorous and satirical and reveal the lighter side of his personality.

In 1960 came the Abakadahan, a primer described on its cover as a quick and easy method of teaching and of learning to read Binisaya. It is fast becoming a standard reference book for teachers teaching the vernacular in grades one and two.

De Veyra still has four books awaiting publication: Kaage Han Sanghiran San Binisaya (History of the Bisayan Academy of Leyte and Samar); Mga Pasumbingay (Figures of Speech); An Sungka; and Mga Diwata (Superstitions). An Sungka describes a native game played with shells.

Conclusion

De Veyra's labors "to preserve for future generations that which is most noble, most beautiful, and most treasurable"(16) in the culture of Leyte and Samar, have long been unknown orignored even by his fellow Leytenos. But they are finally gaining the recognition they deserve. On October 17, 1960, Dr. Miguel B. Gaffud, then chief of the Division of Adult and Community Education of the Bureau of Public Schools, wrote De Veyra to request him for copies of all his works "to enrich the meager collection" of the Bureau "of works of vernacular writers and for possible use in adult and community education." Graduate students doing research on Leyte-Samar folklore come to him for materials. The demand for his books as reference material is increasing as more and more teachers of the vernacular come to know about them.

To De Veyra, now in the twilight of life--he is 80 years old-- this recognition, so long delayed, is sweet indeed. But greater tribute may yet come from future generations of Leytenos and Samarenos when they realize the great debt they owe De Veyra for preserving for them not only their age-old folkways but the very tongue that is theris as a legacy from their forefathers. It is they who will accord this great Bisayista full honor.

Footnotes

(1) A Philippine student whose expenses are paid by the government while he studies abroad. (Webster's International Dictionary).
(2) A title of respect for an elder brother or a person of the male sex.
(3) I use this term advisedly, quoting Dr. John U. Wolff, assistant professor of Linguistics and Asian Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. author of Beginning Cebuano and Beginning Waray: "We refer to Samar-Leyte Bisayan as a LANGUAGE not as a dialect with good reason. In common parlance the term 'dialect' is used to refer to a type of speech which is not as good as a language, and thus when people talk of the 'Bisayan dialect' they have an idea that somehow Bisayan is not as good as English or other Western languages. I do not believe that Samar-Leyte Bisayan is inferior or ought to be so considered, and I, therefore, call it a language, not a dialect, and urge others to do the same." From "The Historical Development of the Samar-Leyte Bisayan Vowel System," Leyte-Samar Studies, Vol II, No. 1, Footnote 1, p. 37.
(4) The Casalla Building still stands. It forms part of the group of school buildings of the Rizal Elementary School.
(5) Any fish or meat dish to go with tuba, the fermented sap of the coconut palm.
(6) The Spanish test is as follows: "Lo es sin duda alguna todo trabajo que tienda a aclarar los puntos dudosos de nuestra historia con el auxilio de los estudios filologicos y folkloricos...Como se habra observado, en los articulos bisayas propios de la redaccion publicados en nuestro semanario hemos tenido elgun cuidad en la pureza de nuestro dialecto deseando de esta manera contribuir a la perfeccion del habla de Leyte y Samar. Venimos publicando articulos del Sr. Romualdez sombre la escritura bisaya, y comprendiendo su utilidad para nuestro folk-lorismo, hemos publicado una coleccion de refranes bisayas, formado por el joven entusiasta, Vicente I. de Veyra..."
(7) A Spanish stringed instrument of the lute family. (Webster's International Dictionary)
(8) De Veyra wrote under several pen names: Vatchoo, Veni Vidi Vici, Honey Boy, Ignacio McVey, Cunning Fellow. He is best known as "Vatchoo," a name given him by a younger brother who as a baby could not pronounce "Vicentico", de Veyra's nickname.
(9) The Spanish text is "Un libro mas, y de los mas preciosos y originales, acaba de aparecer en el campo de la literatura native para reforzar elya vigoroso indice intelectual de la capacidad filipina... El libro esta llamado a ocupar lugar preferente en la bibliografia filipina. Vaya, por esto, nuestra enhorabuena al autor del libro y a los autores de las poesias insertas en el libro."
(10) The Bisayan text is: "Hala, sangkay... hinin aton tuna nga pinalangga."
(11) Vicente I. de Veyra, "The Leyte-Samar Dialect," Leyte-Samar Studies, Vol. I, No. 1, 1967, p. 18.
(12) Ibid.
(13) Ibid., p. 20.
(14) Ibid., p. 35.
(15) Jose P. Abletez has written with some detail on this Christmas carol of the "Waray of Samar and Leyte" in "A Christmas Carol," Philippines Herald, December 21, 1963, p. 28.
(16) From the Foreword of the maiden issue of the Leyte-Samar Studies, Vol. I, No. 1, 1967.

-----------------------------
Source:
Leyte-Samar Studies Vol II, No. 2
Divine Word University, 1968.

Child's Play

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:14:17 -0800

Two Poems from Caracoa 19

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:52:46 -0800

The poems below are two, among four pieces, that were first published in Caracoa 19 (July 1988), published by the Philippine Literary Arts Council.

'Canine Reproduction' by davidlh

To a Repressed Bacchante

Dare we do
As those dogs on the street
Our eyes are glued to?
Let's just sit and drink our coffee.

But you gasp as one mounts
The other -- what flesh
Imaginings make you flush?
Your furtive glances --
Could they imply more
Than parlor intimacies?

Your eyes can't keep casing
The window and, how you chatter.
Ah! You're no bacchante
You'd have me believe.
Okay, pour me a cup instead.
"Oh, that is hot."

Oh, if only we had a season
Just for jointures.
Oh, if only our love
Would settle in the groin.

But why blush again
Why draw the curtains?
Are we stuck
In a rut?

Image is davidlh's "Canine reproduction," posted in WikiMedia under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 license.

The Wine Glass, by Jan Vermeer van Delft

Party Blues

(for Nancy)

Not like in Prufrock you say
Where the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo
You stop seething patiently
On your chair you say
Here's where you're different
You let your glass drop
To the floor you pick the shards
Smiling at the silent chair you say
Sorry not to the women
(Who think you're different)
Coming and going talking
Of who? and who? you don't ask
Or the men (who don't think you're any
Different from the women) with
Their godawful cigars and politics
I like your game you say
Only to yourself and pace
The room round and round and
Round among your guests
Look sit down you make me dizzy
You say here's another glass cry
Have a throe or would you rather
I'll tell you another lie

Image is Jan Vermeer van Delft's "The Wine Glass," posted in WikiMedia under public domain.

An Maupay Ha Mga Waray

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:54:27 -0800

Book cover of An Maupay ha Mga Waray

An Maupay ha mga Waray ug iba pa nga mga Siday
Voltaire Q. Oyzon
NCCA and UPV Tacloban Creative Writing Program
Manila, 2008

The good thing about the Waray is that they do not give up. Or, as Voltaire puts it: "Kun hinuhobsan inin akon dughan / sugad hiton medyahan / dayon ko ini inaalgan / didto kanda Mana Semang / (Mana Semang, ilista la anay)" [When the heart dries up / like this half-gallon jug / quickly I rush to Mana Semang's / to fill it up / (just put it in my bill, Mana Semang)].

This wry sensibility characterizes how the Waray copes with the tough life dealt to most. As long as there is tuba to go with life's vicissitudes the heart will still beat and "mangayat hin away" [spoil for a fight].

Perhaps that is why so many siday or poem in Waray deal with social issues. Tongues loosened by the tart taste of tuba, poets can spew the bitter in dribbles of sweetened lines some may consider as harmless nonsense.

In the poem "Lagung" [Fly], for instance, Voltaire draws a picture of a fly that can only look on and drool at the food it cannot taste because the glass walls of fastfood joints, while providing an enticing gastronomic view, prohibit its entrance to "undesirable creatures."

Like the fly and, by extension, street urchins who peer through the glass and "tutok / simhot / ... ha Jollibee, Dunkin' / di ngani Cindy's [popular fastfood joints in Tacloban] / ... hamot / laway" [stare / sniff / ... at Jollibee, Dunkin' / or Cindy's / ... smell / drool] at scrumptious meals patrons eat but which they can only look at or beg for until the service crew shoos them away.

It is Voltaire's deft use of such images and situations that such harmless nonsense can contain scathing truths. In his "Kan Toytoy Pag-asoy han Agsob nga Karantahay ha Ira Balay" [Toytoy Tells About the Singing at Home], Voltaire shows how aesthetics and social commentary can go together in a poem about domestic violence.

The poem describes how when the drunken father arrives home "naglulubay-lubay, / nagkikinanta han Inday, Inday [a popular Waray folk song] / diretso ini hiya ha kusina / manngungukab, / babagtingan an kardero, / mapakarakatak han mga plato" [swaying / singing Inday, Inday / heads straight for the kitchen / rummaging, / clanking pots, / jangling plates].

The wife's pacifying and soft alto, "baga'n kanan aghoy taghoy" [like a forest spirit's whistle], soon sings second voice to the husband's gruff complaints. Then, "... may malagubo, / bati han bug-os nga baryo, / hi nanay - napalsito" [a thud, / and the whole barrio hears / my mother singing in falsetto].

But it is not only Voltaire's skillful presentation technique that shines through in the poem. The aural play of onomatopoeic Waray words, the use of rhyme, and the counterpointing of the husband's bass and the wife's alto/falsetto complement the poem's descriptive narration and the delayed ironic twist in the ending.

Merlie Alunan, who writes the book's "Introduction," is right indeed about Voltaire being at home in the Waray language: "He [understands] its nuances. Its tones and accents [echo] in his inner ear. He [is] at home with its rhythms. He can deal with its intricacies with the delicacy and finesse required by the poetic process" (9).

And several poems in the collection reflects Voltaire's love for the Waray tongue. Rather than take a more strident but definitely less effective tone, Voltaire displays the same subtlety and humor in the use of language and images when he tackles the language theme.

In "Nagbalyo-balyo Ako hin Nanay" [Changing Mothers], Voltaire effectively uses snippets of a Waray popular song to counterpoint the cultural effects of a colonial and/or linguistic hegemony. And parodying the Tagalog patriot, Marcelo H. del Pilar, who parodied "The Hail Mary" in "Ang Aba Guinoong Baria" [The Hail Money] to protest the greed of Spanish friars, Voltaire throws a gibe at the imperialism of the so-called national language in "Paghimaya" [Glory Be].

But even as Voltaire pays tribute to a heritage that is seemingly on the verge of extinction, his use of Waray is a testimony that the local tongue continues to flourish even as it confronts the onslaught of technological progress and the consequent homogenization of culture.

In "Para han mga Pulong ha Waray nga Pinamatay" [For the Murdered Words in Waray], he turns quasi-scientific as he likens seemingly lost words in Waray to the dew that covers the earth every morning. But he also turns wistful and hopeful as he writes: "Ano an angay ta basolan? / Ano an angay ikabido? / Ha kalibotan, waray butang, / waray butang nga naaanaw" [What's there to regret then? / What's to feel bad about? / In this world, nothing, / nothing's gone forever].

Voltaire's collection - with poems tackling themes from the domestic and particular to the more universal in their very particularity - is, to use a perhaps rather outdated New Critical term, well-wrought indeed. In his use of linguistic and literary elements - folkloric allusions or appropriations of earlier literary forms and/or themes - coupled with a truly homegrown humor, Voltaire Q. Oyzon is an original talent worthy to be the heir to the Leyte-Samar literary tradition.

Usa pa ka tagay [One more round].

(Note: Voltaire sent me a copy of his then newly-minted book and asked if I could do a review which he could send off to newspapers and magazines. It wasn't a chore doing the review since I had already written a short evaluation of the manuscript for the NCCA.)

Avocado Love

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:38:08 -0800

Avocado, photo by Dalibor Bosits (as posted in Wikimedia)

green my skin purples
as your hand clenches
my heart's bruised pit

Poster poems

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:31:43 -0800

Bringing the Dolls, by Merlie Alunan

I saw this photo of a framed poster poem that brought back memories of my Dumaguete days. Back then, I was a graduate student in the Creative Writing Program of Silliman University. One of my teachers was Merlie Alunan, who wrote the poem "Bringing the Dolls." She also involved us in one of her projects for the provincial tourism office -- transforming poetry into posters.

The framed poster above now hangs in Merlie's daughter's restaurant, Ayo, in Tacloban City. That was also one of my happy memories -- dining at Merlie's house, and enjoying the company of her children. You can just imagine how great the food was as four out of Merlie's five children now own and run their individual restaurants.

Child's Play and Other Poems

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:25:07 -0800

Here's my first collection of poems culled from the pieces submitted for my Creative Writing master's thesis at Silliman University, Dumaguete City.

The collection takes its title from the first poem, which sort of sets the theme for all the poems. I had to take out some of the other poems included in my thesis since they did not seem to thematically fit the present collection.

This set of poems were written from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, and all of them were published -- in one version or another -- in Philippine popular magazines or literary journals and in one international online anthology.

So much for introductions. I'll leave you to read the collection ...