Hagbayon

It has been guitar days for me. I went to Makati last December, and out of a generous honorarium from DepEd for an editing project, I acquired a new axe. I was looking for an Ibanez but found the Yamaha Crown with a price tag of PhP24, 500. I wanted to buy it but later changed my mind when I went into an RJ Guitar shop around Park Square. I instinctively picked up a 6-string RJ Ibanez type (with Floyd Rose) model with Mahogany body (blue finish) and rosewood/maple neck. I tested it and to my judgment, it sounded and felt better than the Yamaha. And it cost only around PhP10, 500 (the shop was on sale). A foreigner came in with his son and daughter. The son saw me doing the sound check and said ‘Whoa!’ when I made the guitar scream. I loved the axe and so I went to a nearby ATM and came back to the shop armed with cash. To my dismay, I learned that the foreigner had bought the guitar I tested including the reserve unit on display.

The salesman suggested that I try the 7-String Ibanez Type Shredmaster  (with Floyd Rose) model. “It suits you,” he said.

I tried it out and found the action to be too high. The salesman happened to be a guitar technician and so he did some adjustments. “Mas malalim and tunog,” he said as I tested the unit.

7-String guitars are used by progressive rock, shred and hardcore players. It really can go deep and visceral. But it can also scream. It renders thick slabs of legatos especially when the player uses a shred-level distortion source coupled with precise alternate picking. Switching the pick-ups on mid or low could also help deliver sharp and tight arpeggios usually done by sweep picking the fretboard. And so I did my legatos, arpeggios and taps. I was just happy that the unit cost only a thousand higher.

It was in January when I was working at the SM Mall of Asia and SM Lucena (SM City Naga will open this May) when I bought a set of 7-strings, guitar and string cleaners and a Super Chorus. I used to have other pedals but lost them when I was a student in Manila. Now I only have my Metal Zone, Turbo Distortion and the newly acquired Super Chorus. I still use my trusty Marshall Valvesate amp. It has been with me for 13 years. My old guitar, an ESP Voyager copy served me for 14 years. It only broke down when I brought home the Shredmaster. It seemed that my old axe just had to rest.

BURIED with work somewhere else. This is my alibi for not updating my blog.

It is no joke being a college instructor. At times, I would like to attribute my sudden slight increase in blood pressure (aside from no-no foods and beer) to my attempt to play teacher in front of hormonal and emo-crazed youngsters. Everyday, I feel like a rondalla player in a rock concert.

Also my work as PR practitioner is about to go full swing for SM-Naga will soon operate in the region. This will bring not only employment for me and other compatriots but a promise of world-class shopping experience. As a writer, I am excited because of National Bookstore. As a guitarist, I await the opening of Yamaha, Perfect Pitch, J and B and/or Laser. As a film lover, I sure will invade SM Cinema.

Soon enough Shoe Mart will become part of Bikol culture.

I expect that there will be a St. Pauls Publication outlet in SM-Naga. St. Pauls is popular among Bikol writers because of Homelife Magazine. Writers (mostly regional) delight at the prospect of being printed in its poetry page as edited by Leoncio Deriada. In fact its October 2008 issue features one of my poems entitled “Magnanakaw.” Also in the same section are the works of Honesto Pesimo, Jr., Carlos A. Arejola and Estelito Jacob. So please grab your copy!

NCCA has started contacting the chosen delegates to the 1^st Philippine Literary Arts Festival slated on February 11-12, 2009 at UP-Diliman. Its original concept is that of 40/40—forty writers below forty years of age. 10 writers each from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, plus 10 from the National Capital Region. However, NCR produced a list of more than 10 young writers. So it is no longer 40/40 (50/40 perhaps?). From Bicol I know the delegates to be Jaime Jesus Borlagdan, Kristian Cordero and this writer. Recent National Book Award winner Vic Nierva is listed as a delegate for NCR. During the festival, I expect that there will be conferences, performances, lectures and book exhibits. Truly, it’s something to look forward to.

Similarly, I will surely attend the launch of Ani 34 on December 17, 7PM at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Ramp. I have four titles in the anthology and the CCP Literary Arts Division is considering my podcast on “Uniberso” for a dance performance. This is a welcome development and I am open to the idea of collaborating with the dancers.

Needless to say, I congratulate all of the writers included in Ani 34. CCP’s Literary Yearbook is still the longest running literary anthology in the country featuring a myriad of writers across the archipelago. Indeed, the anthology of anthologies.

2008 starts rather fast for this blogger. First, my poem ‘Pagsilung’ appears in the December 30 2007-January 5, 2008 issue of Bikol Reporter. Its Tagalog/Filipino version ‘Panonood’ had an earlier peek at daylight in the pages of Philippine Panorama in November 2006. Also, another poem of mine in English, one I call ‘In the Green of Marahan’ gets printed in the January 2008 issue of Homelife magazine. It’s such a bonus because in the same issue, poetry editor Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada discusses the results of the 2007 poetry competition.

Iriga City
once again proves to be the undisputed home of Bikolnon contemporary
writers. Deriada writes: ‘Among the cities, Iriga and Quezon were
topnotchers with four poems each.’

Now Quezon City is home to UP-Diliman and Ateneo de Manila.
It is a place teeming with writers. Now Iriga City is in the Bicol
region’s Rinconada area and one writer even said that Rinconada means
‘sa tabi-tabi’. Oh my! We are not living up to our name.

Deriada also reports on the contenders for the Filipino category. Noted names include Ariel S. Tabag, Alex C. de los Santos, Isidoro M. Cruz, Carlo A. Arejola, Genaro Gojo Cruz, German V. Gervacio and Genevieve L. Asenjo.

Right now, I am also
giving a lecture-workshop series to 16 young writers all from a nearby
exclusive school. It’s theory and practice, lectures then poetry
clinic. Of course, I don’t claim to know everything so it is also a way
for me to learn new things with them. The teacher-student relationship
has always been a dialectics.

By the way, this blog would like to congratulate Mr. Marcel L. Milliam a First Place Co-winner in the 2007 Meritage Holiday Poetry Contest as adjudged by Eric Gamalinda. Marcel was my co-fellow during the 12^th Iligan National Writers Workshop.
Sharp and outspoken, our sessions were always lively because of him. He
would always visit our room and bug us to come out and have some beer.
And I am sure he will treat us some more when we both get to visit
Manila. Congrats again, Marcel!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Man Asian Prize Exec Director to Meet with Local Writers Jan. 24

Peter Gordon,
Executive Director of the Man Asian Literary Prize, will be in Manila
on Thursday, January 24, to promote the prize among Filipino writers
and to speak on “International Opportunities for Filipino Writers.” The
UP Institute of Creative Writing is hosting his talk, which will be
held that day at 2:30 pm at the AVR Room, 2nd floor, Rizal Hall
(Faculty Center), UP Diliman.

The Man
Asian—informally known as the “Asian Booker”—was established in 2006
and made its first award in 2007 for the best unpublished novel in
English or English translation by an Asian. Filipino fictionist and UP
professor Jose Dalisay Jr.’s novel Soledad’s Sister made the
shortlist of the inaugural prize, which drew 243 entries from all over
Asia. The deadline for the 2008 Man Asian is March 31.

Gordon will speak
about the prize and on literary publishing in Asia in general. The
UPICW is inviting all interested writers, translators, publishers,
teachers, and students to attend the lecture-discussion, which will
also feature Dr. Dalisay and fellow novelist and columnist Alfred
“Krip” Yuson.

Peter Gordon is also
a founder and former Director of the Man Hong Kong International
Literary Festival (held each March in Hong Kong), founder and editor of
the Asian Review of Books, and publisher at Chameleon Press. He writes a weekly op-ed column in the Hong Kong daily The Standard and is chairman of the Russian Interest Group at the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

(From Vim Nadera)

2007 Meritage Holiday Poetry Contest

Meritage Press is delighted to announce the results of the 2007
Meritage Press Holiday Poetry Contest, judged by Eric Gamalinda. The
results include this contest’s second time for a tie for “First Place”,
and also the first repeater for “First Place”:

First Place, Co-Winner: “First Winter Passing” by Naya S. Valdellon
First Place, Co-Winner: “O.N.S.” by Marcel L. Milliam
Honorable Mention: “AN EXPLANATION” by R. Torres Pandan

Naya S. Valdellon is this contest’s first poet to receive “First
Place” twice, the prior time occurring in 2002 when she tied with
Michella Rivera-Gravage in the contest judged by Oliver de la Paz. The
2007 results also feature our first non-English language poet winner.
Unfortunately, Eric Gamalinda felt he was only able to assess the
Tagalog entries, and so entries in other Filipino languages were not
included in the judging.

Judge Eric Gamalinda says about the winning entries:

“First Winter Passing” is a lovely poem about how language
connects and disconnects, and how it is nearly impossible for many of
us to bridge this solitude except perhaps through poetry and its
spectral silences. “O.N.S.” is deceptively old-fashioned like a
kundiman, but fused with a naughty, graphic eroticism and a verbal
precision that no translation can do justice-by lines 7-9, I was
captivated by its masterful lyricism. “An Explanation” is a
quiet, elegant little poem that feels like an iceberg: beautiful,
mysterious, larger than it seems. I apologize to those who sent poems
in other Filipino languages that I couldn’t read; I had to exclude them
from the competition, and thus only judged the Tagalog-language poems.

Here are some information about the winning poets:

Naya S. Valdellon is currently finishing her M.A. in English major in Creative Writing at the University  of Toronto. Her chapbook of poems, The Reluctant Firewalker,
was published by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts as
part of its UBOD New Authors Series in 2005. Her poetry has received
the Hart House Poetry Prize, the Maningning Miclat Award, and the Don
Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature.

Marcel L. Milliam is Ilonggo by birth but Capiznon by
association. He is the founding Chairman of “Yanggaw”, The Capiz
Writer’s Circle, and a member of the “Dagyang Pulong” Iloilo Writers
Group. He works for GMA TV6 in Iloilo
as a talent under the ETV Department. He writes poetry mainly in
Hiligaynon, but produces pieces in English and Filipino as well. After
receiving fellowships from the 1st Fray Luis De Leon Creative Writing
Desk of the University of San Agustin, Iloilo, “2nd Panagsugat” Writers
workshop of UP Vis-Min, 12th Iligan National Writers Workshop of the
MSU-IIT, and the 7th Iyas National Writers Workshop for his Hiligaynon
poems, he has now “crossed-over” into fiction. He has won twice the
NCLA-VI “Paktakontxt” of the NCLA-VI, consecutive wins in the UPV SWF
Bigkas Binalaybay sponsored by the NCCA from 2003-2007, both in the
Pagbigkas at Pagsulat Categories. His works have been published in four
issues of SanAg, the official literary Journal of the Fray Luis
De Leon Creative Writing Desk of the USA-Iloilo as well as in the 33rd
ANI of the CCP and numerous other local and national publications. At
present he is a 3rd Year student in the Bachelor of Laws Program (Llb.)
of the University of Iloilo College of Law and is actively involved in
the works of the Alternative Law Groups Inc. (ALG) and was a paralegal
intern of the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB), Cebu.  When he miraculously has free time, he is also involved with the Iloilo theater scene as a stage actor.

R. Torres Pandan has been a law school dean for ten years and a partner in the biggest law firm in Bacolod City, Philippines
for 16 years. He has won the Palanca Awards for poetry and his first
book of poetry was short-listed for the 2005 National Book Awards. He
is also the Research Director of the Philippine Supreme Court’s JURIS project on mediation.

The winning poems can be seen at the Meritage Press “Babaylan Speaks” link at
http://meritagepres s.com /babaylan/

Be ONE of the 15 FELLOWS with multi-awarded writers!

IYAS Writing Worshop

• Aplicants should submit original work: either 6 poems, 2 short
  stories, or 2 one- act plays using pseudonym, in five (5)
  computer-encoded hard copies of entries, font size 12, bound or
  fastened, in separated folders with a diskette (MSWord).

• These are to be accompanied by a sealed size 10 business envelope
  with the author’s real name and pseudonym, a 2×2 ID photo, and a short
  resume, which must be mailed on or before March 14, 2008.

• Entries in Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Tagalog or Filipino may be submitted. Fellowships are awarded by genre and by language.

• Grant will cover board and lodging and a partial transportation subsidy.

PANELISTS

Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista

Ms. Genevieve Asenjo

Dr. Marjorie Evasco

Prof. Danny Reyes

Dr. Elsie Coscolluela

Dr. Antonio Tan

Wokshop is on April 20-26, 2008 at the Balay Kalinungan Complex, University of St. La Salle , Bacolod City .

Sponsored by: University of St. La Salle, NCCA, Benvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center , De La Salle University, and Negrence Studies Development  Center

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO:

Dr. Gloria Fuentes
Asst. Vice President for Academic Affairs Office
University of St. La Salle
La Salle Avenue , Bacolod City

“Onward you move regardless of plans, you my friend are a roadworthy man.”—Wolfgang, ‘Roadworthy Man’

Now let us recapitulate some of the important events that I got involved in this year.

I
helped in my father’s candidacy as a Baranggay Kagawad. Though it made
me see the real score behind this political exercise, I still believe
that we can still do better and improve grassroots legislation for
national progress.

As writers, we are also legislators. Thus on July 1, 2007, Kabulig-Bikol
ratified its Constitution and By-Laws. Though I see that there are
still provisions that require some work, as it is, the current By-Laws
can already help the organization function with some degree of
formality. This country is run by law and not by men, and the same goes
for any organization.

I served as Election Officer during Kabulig-Bikol’s selection of the new NCCA-National Committee on Literary Arts Representative.  As
part of the process, we interrogated the candidates with regard their
plans and programs. And then we proceeded to the electoral process via
secret balloting. The margin was so close, and to complicate matters,
one of the members took an early leave and so we needed to contact him
and know his vote. Not wanting a delay in the process, Estelito B. Jacob conceded to Carlos A. Arejola.

We processed the nomination and sent it to the then Head of the NCLA, Lito Zulueta.
But later on, we had to resend the nomination because the NCCA, after
revising its IRR made some changes in the nomination requirements. They
now required a joint nomination (we tapped DIBA, Inc.) and a
duly-accomplished application form. As Election Officer and likewise
Kabulig-Bikol’s PR Officer, I provided Carlos Arejola with updates with
regard the changes in the requirements. We sent the documents again,
and this time, not anymore to Lito Zulueta but to the Project Management Division (as indicated) and Carlos Arejola’s application was approved.

Kabulig-Bikol
also helped in raising some funds to partially shoulder Carlos’
transportation expenses for the NCLA elections held in Cebu City last
December 10. And he is now officially the Representative for Southern
Luzon. Though he is expected to represent Bikol writers he will cover
as far as the Quezon Province in the NCLA as it tries to deliberate on
and execute programs that would revitalize the literary arts scene in
the region.

Meanwhile,
another group that is determined to push for advocacies with regard
Bicol culture and history was formed during the year. Tentatively named
Bonyog-Bikolnon it has Fr. Wilmer Tria, Fr. Philip Bersabe, Estelito B. Jacob, Fabiana A. Arejola, Jose Fernando Obias, D.C. Nathan A. Sergio, Ruben P. Barrameda, Ramon Olaño Jr., Jose V. Barrameda Jr., Fr. Manny Zagaoa, Kristian Cordero and Jose Jason L. Chancoco as Incorporators. The group, during its December 9, 2007 meeting at the Madrigal Building
agreed to place Jose Obias, Fabiana A. Arejola and Jose Jason L.
Chancoco as Interim Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary respectively. The
group is now processing its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Now
this blogger believes that for Bikol literature to prosper, Bikol
writers ought to think not only of their respective careers and go down
from their Ivory Tower and meet up with other people also interested in
the art specially the beginners. That is why my monthly Palihan continues. And I see myself doing more of these literary discussions this coming year.

As for the publications, we still got lucky. Here’s some of my published works this year:

§ Homelife: “Isang Gabing Ganito” (October Issue) and “Elehiya” (November Issue)

§ All with Tagalog translations—“Tigsik Lubid”, “Siklo-Real” and “Siklo Solar” in Ani 33: 20^th Anniversary Issue (Nature and Environment) edited by Mr. Herminio S. Beltran, Jr.

§ Along with poet Santiago Villafania, I indulged in a literary discussion with master poet Cirilo F. Bautista.
And the result of this fruitful discourse was published in Bautista’s
Philippine Panorama August 19, 2007 article entitled “Of Writers and
Readers”

§ Bikol Reporter:  March 18-24, 2007 issue—“Pasakalye ki Kaye 1” and November 25-Dec 1, 2007 issue—“Opera”

§ “Sa Parasurat na Inapon sa Salog”, “Sakyada”, “Sa Berde kan Marahan” and “Pasakalye Ki Kaye 1” in Burak nguna bago bunga: Ika-apat na tipon nin mga luwas kan Burak, an Dahon Parawitdawit. Pinakaray ni G.B. Calleja

§ March 2007 Issue of The Pillars—reprint of “The Chanters of Baao”

§ “The Social Dimension of Textual Interrogation in the Classroom” in The Arabesques Print Review, a journal based in South Africa.

§ “Bakwet” in Latay sa Isipan: Mga Bagong Tulang Filipino (UST Press) edited by Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista and Allan Popa. Launched on August 30, 2007 at the World  Trade Center.

       § “Nekromansa” in Sawi: Funny Essays, Stories and Poems on All Kinds of         Heartbreaks (Milflores Publishing)

I am still the Bikol and Tagalog editor of Dalityapi Unpoemed’s Makata.
It still receives contributions from all over the world. Still, it is a
portal of Philippine if not Southeast Asian literary arts.

While I also served as judge for the 2007 Premio Tomas Arejola para sa Literaturang Bikolnon, this blogger is also happy  to report the three literary distinctions I got this year:

§ Talaang Ginto: Gawad Surian sa Tula, Gantimpalang Collantes 2007 (Hon. Mention)

§ Gawad “Soc” Rodrigo 2007 (From the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino and National Commission for Culture and the Arts)

§ Home Life Magazine Poetry Contest 2007 (1^st Prize, Filipino Category)

I also participated in these literary activities:

§ Served as host during the OragonRepublic Writer’s Night at Lolo’s Bar on July 19, 2007

§ Read poems during the Mundag Literary Awards at Ateneo de Naga University on February 17, 2007

§ Reactor to Dr. Cyril Conde’s lecture on February 15, 2007 at Ateneo de Naga University entitled “The Archive of Kadunong: Exploring the Oral Narrative Literature of the Bikol Region in the Philippines”. I talked about oral tradition and Bikol printed poetry.

§ Forum Member or Kinatawan during CHED and KWF’s  “Konsultasyon-Balikatan sa Ortograpiyang Filipino” held at DepEd-RELC, Legaspi  City on  July 10, 2007

§ Along with other Bikol writers, I supported Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista’s nomination to the Order of National Artist 2009

§ Launched the Hagbayon Podcast Channel on June 2, 2007 at http://www.gcast.com/u/hagbayon. It’s the first of its kind in the country.

And of course, my thanks to ABS-CBN reporter Ms. Rizza Mostar and cameraman Christopher Hermoso for featuring this writer for the ‘Bicolano: Angat Ka!’ segment of TV Patrol Bicol on December 7, 2007.

Merry Christmas and a Happy News Year to All!

http://www.hagbayon.wordpress.com

Sure I have been on TV before, but this time, it’s a different thing. An ABS-CBN Bicol crew
actually came to my house for an interview—for a poetry prize. Yeah,
it’s cool to be on TV, but it’s cooler to be on TV for poetry.

Now I saw this as a
chance to put Bikol literary arts where it should be—mainstream. It’s a
curious thing that for a country so rich with culture and language, we
are not a poetic lot. My teacher Cirilo Bautista would always tell me,
the poetry page of Philippine magazines is avoided by the country. No
wonder we don’t send food, pens or flowers to our poets. We don’t give
them discount in our coffee shops of booze joints. We don’t buy their
books. We even mistake them for the dead.

I totally object to
this. The poet deserves attention when he deserves it. The same as when
actors get featured when they win a Famas, poets ought to be in boob
tubes when they win prizes. This way our countrymen will see that poets
are given importance, making them read more and possibly aspire to
become poets themselves.

So there I was trying
to be coherent in front of the camera, explaining dimensions of poetics
and literary culture to a young female reporter who is not so much
acquainted with it (she had to ask me what a Palanca is). I was also asked about my poem, the one that won, and I had to explain the difference between Balagtasismo and Modernismo. From being maligoy to being compact, logical and direct.

Too bad it came too
all of a sudden. I got an SMS and the next thing I knew, they were
right on my doorstep. I was not able to have with me my Homelife Prize co-winners. But then, I made sure they were mentioned and got their due, specially the Kabulig-Bikol and our advocacy.

The news feature was
aired on Friday, December 7 at around quarter to six in the evening.
The reporter was Ms. Rizza Mostar, an AB MassCom student of Unibersidad
de Santa Isabel-Naga.

Call it literary ESP. I knew I would surely have a poem published in the November issue of HomeLife Magazine, so there I was buying two copies from St.   Paul’s Bookshop. And indeed a work of  mine
was there, conveniently printed in the poetry page. As usual, I had a
short chat with the Sisters and they were egging me to contribute for
the Paulines Magazine. ‘Why not Sistah,’ I replied. 

I have written about
this before, my mild clairvoyance of anything literary. Like seeing
Hotel Veneracion in a dream before I actually got to attend the UST
National Writers Workshop; or having a sort of an ‘advance
proofreader’s copy’ of my work, seeing the page in a dream before it
reaches the stands. This time, I saw this plaque. Nothing else more,
just a plaque.

So when I texted Dulce Deriada saying ‘hi and ‘thanks’ to his father for using ‘Elehiya’ this month, HomeLife’s poetry editor, Dr. Leoncio Deriada
could only blurt out: ‘May ESP ka ano? You had an inkling that you
won?’ It turned out that my poem in Tagalog/Filipino ‘Isang Gabing
Ganito’, yes, that one with a typo when it got printed, won first place
in this year’s contest. I thought I was dreaming, like the clairvoyance
thing again, but this time I did not have to wake up.

Maybe five months of
isolation and concentrated literary thought when I was in Imus, Cavite
back in 2000 (just finishing off my ROTC) developed this ‘clairvoyance
thing’ in me. It was the time when I could sit the whole day just
thinking of my literary plans. I loved those moments as flavored by my
endless readings and writers’ dates. It was just me and God signing a
contract.

Now Home Life
Magazine’s poetry contest just like when it started in 1992, considers
as entries only those poems that got printed in its poetry page for the
year. Dr. Leoncio Deriada serves as its editor and at the same time
ex-officio judge during deliberations in November. Judges would come
from different parts of the country, and thankfully, I am in no way
connected to this year’s judges (except Dr. Deriada who was a panelist
during the Iyas and 12^th Iligan National Writers Workshop). This makes a clear-cut win, methinks, considering that my co-winners are good company (Kristian Cordero of Iriga City-2^nd and Estelito Jacob of Camaligan-3^rd prize). Also, New York-based poet Luis Cabalquinto of Magarao won first place for the English Division.

But not without heavy
competition. According to Dr. Deriada, it was the Filipino Division
that gave the judges a hard time. Poets from the NCR, Central and
Northern Luzon also contended for the top spot against their Bikolnon
opponents. But not much luck this time, for even the fourth place was
occupied by another Bikol poet, Carlo Arejola, almost displacing Esting Jacob by an inch. A Bicol sweep indeed.

  Being a lone voice does not make one weak, but rather, it makes one destined to be echoed. This is what fuels Santiago B. Villafania
as Pangasinan’s poet of the first water. And Book after book, he
pummels on the chests of the Pangasinense poet-warriors of
old—resurrecting them. It is not enough for him that he edits the
country’s premiere literary E-zine at present, the Dalityapi.Com,
he would also turn it into a portal of sorts for anything literary;
news from around the world about workshops, publications, awards,
conferences, festivals, about writers in general. He would also come up
with a monthly poetry Webpage, the Makata, where voices by poets from various places would reverberate in its URL.

Though he never attended any of the national writers’ workshops
(which could make one enmeshed in the country’s UAAP literary
politics), he is well-respected by a new generation of poetry
practitioners ensconced in the E-group system and the blogosphere.
Needless to say it is his tireless zeal and abilities and not his
connections that propel him up in the literary ladder. Silently
publishing the Makata every month and targeting the literary pages of
national magazines; he soon began to come up with his own books, one of
which was sponsored by the NCCA, and his latest the ‘Malagilion’, published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino through Central Books.

The book was launched during the recent literary conference
in Pangasinan and is due for re-launch next month (December 3) in
UP-Diliman. Lovers of regional literature ought to attend this event.