SAGPON: BARRIO OF WRITERS BY BIENVENIDO N. SANTOS

SAGPON: BARRIO OF WRITERS

By Bienvenido N. Santos

I found this article in the files of the late Dr. Celedonio G. Aguilar through the kindness of his son, my kumpadre, Orville Aguilar. This was written by Bienvenido N. Santos and published in the May 8, 1957 issue of the Kislap-graphic magazine. This is refreshing.

Believe it or not, but an obscure barrio
in Bicol has more writers per square mile
than any comparable hamlet in the Republic—
of letters.  Bellweather Santos here  condescends
to sing their praises.

Sagpon is a small barrio of Daraga town in Albay. As the name indicates it is an extension of the town proper. Within its boundaries or in the suburbs are located the Albay Normal School, with its training department, and the Albay High School, with a campus considered the most beautiful in the country. Between the two schools is the President Quirino Stadium, where the insterscholastic meet was held the year before the destructive typhoon Trix. On the other side of the main highway are the Regan Barracks, the Provincial Hospital and about half a dozen new cottages for the hospital staff. Back of these buildings the trains run to and from Manila and Legazpi, the capital of the province. There is also a private school named United Institute, which is run by Protestants. A big majority of the school population are children from Catholic families in and around Sagpon.

QUAINT LANDMARKS

Beyond the bridge, towards Daraga, is the beautiful house of a former ambassador who comes home to Sagpon every now and then to talk to his flowers. That is what he says, this dignified old man with a poet’s heart, he comes back to Sagpon to talk to his flowers.

There is a swimming pool name Hi ‘n’ Lo on the other side of the bridge opposite the ambassador’s mansion, which has water all the time unlike the big swimming pool in the President Quirino Stadium, which has been empty and dry since the Liberals went out of power. The tiles are cracked. It cost the province ten thousand pesos to build the swimming pool. Once or twice, particularly around summertime, the principal of the Albay Normal School, who had charge of the swimming pool, made attempts to fill it with water, but the venture proved a failure. Maybe the water cost too much. At any rate, it was too much trouble for the principal who was a very busy man. His school is fast becoming a laboratory school of sorts that includes in its concept of education the community around it, which is Sagpon. National and regional workshops and seminars are held here annually, sometimes twice a year. The program of activities usually includes an entertainment number put up by the two puroks that comprise the barrio of Sagpon.


WELCOME SPEECH

The other day the barrio lieutenant, a former schoolteacher, whose sons are now colonels, majors, and captains in the Philippine Army, asked me to give a welcome speech in behalf of the community. The audience was the typical conglomeration of dignitaries that attend national workshops in education, American and Filipino delegates from UNESCO and the UP, Ph. D.’s in psychology and education, doctors in visual aids, and the highest officials of the Bureau of Public Schools, including the director who later delivered a valedictory, and his successor who delivered something else. All of them managed to come by plane in spite of the thick overcast on the afternoon of their arrival. They were met at the airport by the prettiest teachers in the division of Albay. These good-looking girls pinned corsages on the lapels of the visiting educators.

Well, before such an intellectual crowd, the barrio lieutenant thought that perhaps, if only for my unusual dimensions and equally extraordinary pretensions, I might make a good front, especially if I was given enough time to prepare a welcome address. That was my part in the contribution of the community. The two puroks had contributed money and prepared merienda. There was to be salabat and rice cakes, and, for the Americans, cookies and sandwiches.

It was raining hard that afternoon we were scheduled to give our program. The workshop was running well into its second day of conscientious deliberations on off-campus teaching. The delegates had come from all parts of the Philippines where there were normal schools. But in spite of the rain, the inhabitants of Sagpon managed to come, riding in buses that took them into the school compound for double the regular fare. Those living behind the creek on the other side of the happy valley, walked in the mud. They dried their feet clean before entering the hall, called a gymnasium, where the consultants, delegates, and observers were assembled. The barrio folk took the back seat and kept quiet while a woman’s voice droned over the microphone: “. . . from 8:00 to 9:30, meetings of area one and two; from  9:30 to 11:00, a progress report from all area chairmen; from 11:00 o’clock . . .” her voice disappeared in shattering pellets of rain on the gymnasium’s roof.

WHICH VIRTUES, STATISTICS?

But we of the barrio of Sagpon, who were sponsoring the program, were more concerned about the salabat that was so long in coming. It had been brewed in one of the houses nearby, but it had not yet arrived. The cakes were already cold, and the flies had finally pinpointed the area where the sandwiches lay under a Manila paper. Some of the participants, the dancers and the musicians, had not yet arrived. The barrio lieutenant sat solemn and neat-looking in his new barong, pretending to listen to the voice droning out a heavy schedule for the next day, but I knew he was thinking of what to say. He was listed on the program as the master of ceremonies.

I was thinking of my own part, what I was going to say in my welcome address. Of course, I would say, welcome, welcome, all of you to the barrio of Sagpon. I have no key to offer you because . . . well, because you don’t need a key to open our doors. They are always open, especially for visitors like you. Of course, you know that you are welcome. Haven’t we braved the rain to be here to perform for you? We do this all the time. I think it is called community education. That is, when visitors of importance like you come around, one of the teachers, our adviser, runs to our barrio lieutenant and tells him to prepare a program, eats and dances, and music, and maybe speech or two in English, look for somebody in the purok who can talk English. . . so you see, we are here, talking to you in English.

CELEDONIO G. AGUILAR, Ed.D

We have brewed salabat for you, the likes of it you don’t find even in Malacañang. And we have cakes and sandwiches, and we’ll show you our native dance, the pantomina, and sing songs for you. Our string band, the Sagpon Rondalla, is here to play you native music, especially the well-known Bicol song, Sarong Bangui, which means, One Night, I’m sure, one lovely night, not like this evening of rain and strong winds . . . . You have been very tired.

Now, you relax and watch us perform . . . . Yes, yes, this barong is made of pineapple fiber; and these wooden clogs, we call bakia, even our best writers in English call them bakia. We have a song called, Ang Bakia Mo, Neneng. It means, your wooden clogs, Neneng. Neneng could mean darling, feminine darling, not masculine darling. Bakia is an important word in our dialect. It is an interesting sample in semasiology. Even wise educators like you use it. You refer to the bakia crowd. That’s us, who are welcoming you. There is also a fraternity of husbands known as bakia. . .they are henpecked, we call them bakia, or under the saya. Saya means skirt, in a manner of speaking, that is. That’s a joke. A joke. We have jokes. We laugh and feel good and call our place a happy valley. Today we are happy because we can entertain you. We do it all the time. Community education. Integration.  It is no trouble at all. But we wish you could visit us in our homes, and even if you have to stoop when you get through our doors, you will find welcome in our shamefaced attitude towards your visit, shamefaced because we have no glittering things to welcome you with . . . but you are welcome. Then perhaps you might learn how people like us live when we are not dancing the pantomina or getting integrated in community education. . .

RODRIGO E. SALAZAR, M.D.
(He was college professor in Biology
and Zoology)

But I did not say any of these things. In fact, I only remembered to say welcome near the end when I ran out of statistics on Sagpon, its population, number of voters, our industries, or what we live by, our petty problems, and the advantages of community education. But I think, nobody paid attention, so even if I said all those things I should have said, nobody would have listened because everybody was eating, and I wanted to get down the stage and eat also. The salabat was hot and good. The rice cakes were warmed over and the sandwiches were filling. Besides, these were tired men and women who had been through a tight schedule. They were impatient to return to their quarters and rest.

So perhaps it did not matter even if I did not say any of these things I should have said. I am sorry about that. But there was something else I could have included in the statistics, but I did not want to alarm the audience at the seeming presumption of the statement I wanted to make. I did not want those people to think that I was phony even if I looked like one. Besides, my wife said some of them were friends in the UP, so I thought I was going to impress them with an array of statistics and try to sound wise. But I was a fool, or, worse, a coward, who did not have the guts to say the most vital, if most incredible thing, of all the pertinent things there is to say about Sagpon. It should have been worth all the trouble of walking in the rain and delivering a welcome address to a group of lovely people, enjoying a merienda.

MORE WRITERS/SQ. M.

And this is what I should have included as part of the statistics: The barrio of Sagpon has more writers to the square meter than any other barrio in the Philippines. Now that sounds like a lot of bragging, but it is true. And those are not just ordinary writers. Especially if you ask them. Now show me another barrio that can stand the test, by the square meter of the native soil, or by the classification, barrio. You have towns with many writers, especially university towns where practically everybody in the English department is a writer. But not barrios. Not small-town puroks with big-time names. That is the source of our pride, and I should have included that in my welcome speech, but nobody would have believed me. Besides, as I said, nobody was listening. The salabat was good.

SALVADOR ESPINAS

Sagpon and its outlining suburbs take pride in these writers: Vicente Rivera Jr., who has won several prizes in the short story, has had a novel serialized in a women’s magazine, and who threatens to win this year’s Palanca award in the short story; Hermel A. Nuyda, one time also another short story prize winner; his younger brother Glenn A. Nuyda, short story writer who roams the wilds of Sagpon whenever he finds time, catching real, live, nonsymbolic butterflies; Vic O. Ballesfin, short story writer and regular feature writer for a Manila magazine and other Manila papers; Othello O. Ballesfin, his younger brother, who writes poems for a literary national magazine; Valdemar Olaguer whose published poetry both here and abroad has elicited comment and wonderment; Celedonio Aguilar whose poems have appeared in several metropolitan magazines; Salvador Espinas, whose works appeared in the Philippine Magazine, and whose are known to all teachers in the Philippines who read the educational magazines;  Bonifacio Alcala who writes for national periodicals; Alfredo Belen who started as a frequent prize winner in the old Graphic magazine, his stories later appearing in other national magazines; Jose Ravalo, of whose stories was  once featured in the Sunday Times Magazines; Rodrigo E. Salazar, an M.D., whose published poems will soon appear in book form; and one or two others, one a lady of unusual charm and humility to who even an anonymous by-line is a shining name in bold type.

OTHELLO O. BALLESFIN

HOUSES REMAIN

A few of these writers have left Sagpon, but their houses still stand, except the Nuydas’, whose house went down during the typhoon Trix. Valdemar Olaguer has a volume of verse ready for publication. Meanwhile he has taken unto himself a wife and now teaches in Camalig.

Daily, Othello O. Ballesfin, who practically lives in the post office, waits for word from the god of young and old poets, Oscar Zuñiga. Vic O. Ballesfin has joined the Knights of Columbus. The last time I saw him he was taking a picture of the Bishop of Legazpi. Bonifacio Alcala works in Iriga, I am told. Jose Ravalo teaches in the normal school. Salvador Espinas and Alfredo Belen have been working together for years now on textbooks in Bicol, the latter having published, at his own expense, Bicol songs and folk tales. Celedonio Aguilar is not only a writer, but also an underwriter.

The other Saturday, while a tropical depression hung over Albay without budging for hours, these writers met at lunch. After the luncheon, they found themselves with a president and other officers, but they still have no name for their group. But more important, they have already lined up a book of poems by four poets among them, tentatively called Sagpon Quartette. These are poems by Celedonio Aguilar, Othello O. Ballesfin, Salvador Espinas, and Rodrigo E. Salazar. I have been asked to write the introduction. As a matter of fact, I thought this was going to be my introduction, but Sagpon kept getting integrated into the picture. But I am going to introduce them, anyway, because they are Sagpon’s, their genius and their industry, truly a part of this community.

POETS

The poetry of Aguilar and O. Ballesfin has a familiar ring, but once in a while, they say what they themselves want to say and say it well, as when Aguilar broods over

        “. . . a twilight lover, homeward
        Remember; moonlight and
             music
        On cool statements.”

or when he asks:

       “When else O love can you take me
        By the hand beneath the moonlight?”

or when Ballesfin complains in superb poetic diction:

       “I stand here silently now while all the blasts
       Of pulpit winds shatter about my empty hands
       The fashion of my art can half design
       All windows in heave . . .”

       “Heaven has no wall, beloved,
        Tall as your indifference . . .”

       “Beloved, some day you, too, will know
       Why the heart loves on even as it cries
       Enough, enough.”

Salvador Espinas writes in the manner of Robert Frost and Maximo Ramos, but occasionally, and this is when he is really good, he writes in the manner Salvador Espinas, who lives in the mountains, who farms a little farm, who has lived a hard life, and has known a great deal of want, but who still knows beauty when beauty comes along. He writes:

       “I have crossed many rivers
        Wide and rough,
        Braved many a tempest
        Over atrocious rocks
        But conquest is ever far;
        At dusk
        Now vicious rivers rise
        Wider and rougher.”

The doctor-poet Rodrigo Rodrigo E. Salazar, who also teaches biology shows this too well in these lines:

        “I feel an embryo of desire
         Bursting the seams of my integuments
         With cotyledons of fire,
         Aching to blush in red habiliments
         Of love . . .

         “Only you can quench my parched hypocotyls
          And bid my plumules rise as stem and leaves
         Of flame-tree lush atop a desolate hill.”

The next project of these Sagpon poets is another book of poems by Valdemar Olaguer. Meanwhile they are still looking around for the money to pay for publication expenses. They are optimistic.

Now it is a new year again. An election year. The main road in Sagpon is being widened. The workers are busy even in the rain. It has  been raining all of last month. Now the sun is shining again. In Sagpon when the sun shines, the palay is laid out to dry on cemented areas and mats, even along the highway. And the plane from Manila comes on time, and there are papers to read. The barrio lieutenant sits in his store and reads all day, smiling now and then at customers to whom he would unburden memories, say, of a little boy named Doming who walked to his store barefoot in the rain long ago. Of course, Doming is now the country’s budget commissioner, Sagpon’s loss to greatness which is also its claim to fame. Then there is Zeus Salazar who graduated from the UP summa cum laude. There is the little house where he lived. That is his father waiting for a bus for Sorsogon, showing Sagpon folks the latest letter from Sorbonne, where his son is a UP scholar. Memories. Stuff for dreamers and writers, like the ones who feel they must write as though they have just themselves talked to God the other night, right here in Sagpon, in the depth of the winter solstice. #

MGA BIKOLANONG HEROENG NAWAR'AN KI ANINO - PANLIMANG PARTE

COMISARIO JUAN

Raffi Banzuela

Saro pa sa mga pigkatakutan na depensor kan banwaan sa panahon kan mga pananalakat kan mga piratang Moro iyo si Comisario Juan. An madunong, parasurat na naging Alkalde Mayor kan Albay, si Don Juan Alvarez Guerra an nakaunambit sa istorya ni Juan kan 1887. Daing itinaong apelyedo kay Juan. An Comisario titulong itinao ni Guerra kay Juan dahil sa saiyang nagkagirinibohan.

Isinurat ni Dr. Luis Camara Dery na sabi ni Guerra si Juan taga Isla Kag-raray (From Ibalon to Sorsogon, A Historical Survey of Sorsogon Province to 1905, Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1991: 97). Sabi ni Guerra, sarong aldaw nag-aparesir sa saiyang opisina an sarong lalaki na ramog ki dugo, igwa siyang darang sarong sako. Nakigkig su Alkalde Mayor  sa lumbay na osip saiya kan lalaki na (tradusyon sa English): “Señor, last night the Moros attacked our town, but we defeated them and killed many of them. Since we could not bring all their heads here, inside this sack are more than 400 Moro ears which we tied together with a long abaca string.”

Ginibo ni Guerra na Comisario (government agent) si Juan, tinawan ki uniporme kan Sarhento, sinabayan man ki pensyon sundo na siya buhay. Digdi namundag an leyenda kan 400 na talinga kan mga Moro.

Igwa ki sarong istorya sa Sorsogon na sagkod kan 1950’s madagingon pa, ini an manungod sa sarong mampak—dakulaonon na bayong na pigparakaraon su mga tawo sa nagkapirang mga banwa. (Luis Camara Dery, From Ibalon to Sorsogon, A Historical Survey of Sorsogon Province to 1905, Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1991: 251-252). Duman sa Barcelona, Sorsogon, may nagkapirang mga barangay na an pangaran gikan sa eksperensya ninda sa mampak. An Mapapak itinaong ngaran ta duman daa naheling su mampak. An Tagdon naman naging siring ta duman nagtugdun su mampak. An Layog naging ngaran kan lugar ta duman nag-agi su mampak, dangan an Paghaluban lugar na boot apitan kan mampak alagad napadulag siya kan mga tawo gamit an mga latigo dangan garud. Ta dai nakababa sa Paghaluban, nakaabot sa pig-aapod ngonyan na Macabari. Inapod na Macabari dahil pagbaba kan mampak dakulon su mga sanga dangan mga kahoy na nagkabarari.

Duman sa San Pascual, Casiguran su mga namamanwaan nagtobod na sa Kuweba kan Porog igwa ki nag-eestar na mampak. Sa Binontolan, Prieto Diaz igwa man ki sarong kuweba na inapod na Pinanaan. An sabi sa istorya, an sarong agta na pig-apod Comisario Juan nagduman sa kuweba, hinanap su mampak, kan makua pinana, tigbak. Nakahangos su dakulon na mga namamanwaan sa ginibo ni Comisario Juan.

Ano daw ining Comisario Juan na guminadan sa mampak iyo an Comisario Juan an nagpungot kan 400 na mga talinga kan mga parasalakat? Interesanteng istorya na dai aram kan banwa.

MGA BIKOLANONG HEROENG NAWAR'AN KI ANINO - PANAPAT NA PARTE

SI DON PEDRO ESTEVAN

Raffi Banzuela

Bako man gayod salâ na midbidon si Pedro Estevan bilang sarong heroe kan Kabikolan. Saiyang tinawan ki proteksyon su mga namamanwaan sa panahon na su mga piratang Moro daing kaniniring su pasakit sa mga banwaan. Su mga Kastila pinabayaan su mga namamanwaan, inagawan pa kan armas na puwedeng gamiton sa saindang depensa. Uga-ring diiton sana an nakakaaram kun siisay an tawong ini, kun ano an saiyang nagkagirinibohan.

Si Pedro Estevan naging gobernadorcillo kan Tabaco, Albay kan 1782. Gikan siya sa pamilyang namayo kan banwaan bago pa mag-abot su mga Kastila. “Indio legitimo principal de nacimiento de una ilustre familia,” susug sa mga kasuratan (Luis Camara Dery, From Ibalon to Sorsogon, Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1991: 95-96). Kun siring, si Estevan  sarong maguinoo. Saro kan mga naging responsibilidad niya bilang gobernadorcillo iyo an pangenotan an saiyang mga kaimanwa sa paglaban sa mga piratang Moro.

Ginamit ko sa sarong rawit-dawit (AWIT KAN DUMAGSA) an mga impormasyon na napag-adalan ni Dr. Dery. Si Dr. Dery sakuyang amigo. Segun sa historya, si Estevan sana an unikong Indio na tinâwan ki medalya kan Hadi kan España, ini iginawgaw saiya kan Obispo kan Nueva Caceres sa  paagi ki sarong seremonya. Nagkapira pang mga orgolyosong pag-omaw an itinao saiya. Su mga principalia kan banwaan kan Bacacay tinawan siya ki daga sa pagmidbid kan saiyang nagkagirinibohan. Nadangog ko pa an nagkapirang mga gurang sa banwang ini na pig-apod na Tibang-Tibang an sarong lugar harani sa barangay Pili. Gayod ini an daga na itinao kay Don Pedro Estevan. Tibaad midbid siya sa lugar bilang “Teban” o “Tibang.”

Ginurangan ni Don Pedro Estevan an pakipaglaban sa mga piratang Moro. Mala, 80 anyos na siya pinangenotan pa an pakilaban sa sarong dakulang puwersa kan mga piratang Moro duman sa Togbogan Bay sa kadagatan kan Caramoan, Camarines Sur kan Oktubre 25-26, 1818. Igwa ki 40 mga panco su mga piratang Moros Dinaog ninda ito. Sabi ni Norman G. Owen dinaog nara Estevan an dakulaon na puwersa kan mga Moro (The Bikol Blend, Bikolanos and Their History, Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1999: iv, vi, 6, 10, 183, 266). Sa enkuwentrong ito nadakop ni Estevan si Prinsipe Nune, aki kan Sultan kan Mindanao. Napalubog o nadakop man ninda an 23 na mga panco. Nagpoon kan 1782 si Don Pedro Estevan sa pagtao ki proteksyon sa mga namamanwaan. Ini nagtapos kan 1821. Gurang na siya. 

Igwa pa ki ibang Bikolnon na nakilaban sa mga piratang Moro alagad si Don Pedro Estevan ang pigmidbid na daing takot, pinakamatibay. Natuparan ko man an sarong istorya unong kay “Comisario Juan” na irinalaog sa sarong sako an  may 400 na mga talinga ki mga piratang Moro na dinaraog ninda. Ini ipinaheling kay Don Juan Alvarez Guerra an Alcalde Mayor kan panahon na ito. Iba si “Comisario Juan” kay Don Pedro Estevan.

Nagkaigwa ki katoninongan dangan marhay na pamuhay-buhay su mga Bikolnon sa pagkaronot ni Estevan sa maringis na pananalakat kan mga pirata.

Tibaad lamang matawan ki tamang pagmidbid si Don Pedro Estevan, makalakop an saiyang nagkagirinibohan, maadalan man.

An joanga sarong klase ki sakayan sa dagat na kaipuhan an dai kukulangon sa 100 na paragaod tanganing mapa-andar. Igwa ining sakay na 20 gerero buda anom pa na may mga badil. An mga paragaod igwa man ki mga armas. Kun may kaiwal, an gabos na lunad minasururug. 

An mga panco, midbid man na paraw, orog na dakula kaysa falua, kàya maglunad ki 50 katawo. Piggagamitan an panco ki mga layag buda sagwan tangani maghiro.
An falua sadit sa panco, igwa ki abot sa 17 mga paragaod. Makaskas maghiro. Ini su gamit nara Estevan sa pagpatrolya buda pakilaban sa mga piratang Moro kan siglo 17 sagkod 18.

Su mga pig-apod na gobernadorcillo iyo an mga Indio na piniling mamayo kan mga banwaan susug sa kagustuhan kan mga Kastila. Su saindang mga pangenot na trabaho iyo an magkolekta kan mga tributo buda magpasunod kan mga pangangaipo sa pig-aapod na polos y servicios. Nagkaigwa kan mga gobernadorcillo sa tahaw kan siglo 18 sagkod nagtapos su pananakop kan mga Kastila sa Pilipinas.

Boot sabihon kan Marina Sutil iyo an puwersa sa kadagatan na kompuwesto ki mga saradit na sakayan na armado ki mga lantaka. Ginamit ini kan mga Kastila sa pagbokod sa mga pirata.

An principalia sarong sektor o klase sa sosyedad na midbid dara kan saindang estatura sa buhay—sa lado sosyal, ekonomiya, buda politika.

An dumagsa paros na gikan sa sirangan.

SU PAG-ADAL KAN MGA SUANOY NA BIKOLANO

Gikan sa sakuyang librong ALBAY VIEJO.

SU PAG-ADAL KAN MGA SUANOY NA BIKOLANO

Raffi Banzuela

Ano kaya an satuyang pagsabot sa taramon na “edukasyon”? Igwang panaramon sa English na “Education is training in preparation for life or some particular task.” Sa konteksto kan pagsabot na iyan, an mga suanoy na Bikolnon igwa ki edukasyon.

Siriisay su mga enot na nag–erok sa lugar na midbid ta ngonyan bilang Bikol?

An mga agta (negrito) su enot na nagtugpa sa lugar na ini sobrang 25,000  anyos na an nakalihis.

Sindang mga suanoy na agta dai ki gobyerno, daing mga leyes, dai kan pig–aapod na kaburunyugan, dai ki arte buda siyensya arog sa naaaraman ta ngonyan. Basta nagkaburuhay sana, dai ki pagkaiba sa mga usa, sa mga opon na dakulon pa kan panahon, arog man sainda.

Ugaring dara kan pangangaipo sa paghanap ki pagkakan, naka–ukod sinda kan paggibo ki garud, pana, buda akbong.

An paggibo buda paggamit kan garud, pana, siring man akbong sarong “particular task” na kaipohan pag–adalan, maukodan.

Iyan su enot na edukasyon na nakua ninda . . . gumibo ki garud, buda pana; gamiton an garud buda an pana, gumibo ki akbong.

Kan anyo 1000 Bago Mag–abot si Kristo  susug sa mga historyador, nagsampot an mga Indonesian sa rehiyon na ini. Sinda su ika–duwang dagsa. Su primero uminabot kan anyo 3000 Bago Mag–abot si Kristo, nagtugpa duman sa kanawayan kan Luzon.

Sindang mga bagong sampot sa Bikol igwang  kaburunyugan, mga “rancherias,” apod kan mga Kastila.  Igwa sinda ki mga harong na sa itaas ki mga darakulang kahoy ipigburugtak, igwa man sa daga ipigtugdok. Moog an apod kaito.

Igwa sindang mga gubing. Bako arog sa mga agta na huruba. An saindang lawas may mga tattoo. Tatao sinda mangurukulintas ki mga tinuruhog na burak kun bako man mga magayon na arikurong ki mga tagati.

Tatao sinda magmakot ki kalayo mala ta sagkod pagbâbol aram na ninda. 

Kun taratao makipagnegosyo, di taratao
magbirilang. Bako daw?

Sa buhay ninda kan lingaw nang panahon na ito, nangaipo na man kan pig–aapod ta ngonyan na disiplina. 

Kan anyo 1000 sundo 1300 Pag–abot ni Kristo, nagsampot sa lugar na ini an ikaduwang dagsa kan mga “Malay immigrants” hale sa Java, Sumatra, Borneo, buda Malay Peninsula.

Liwat, susug sa mga historyador, naka–abot sinda digdi sa paagi kan mga sakayan na kun apodon “balangay.”

Kulibat, su grupong naenot sainda, nagtugpa sa kanawayan kan  Luzon kan anyo 2000 Bago Mag–abot si Kristo sundo anyo 100 kan Mag–abot si Kristo. 
An ika–tolong grupo naka–abot sa Mindanao buda Sulu.

Pigsasabing su mga nakasampot sa Bikol taratao magsururat, mala ta may bitbit na sadiring alpabeto, silabaryo kun gagayodon, baybayin ngani su apod. Laen pa sa alpabeto o silabaryo, igwa sindang konsepto ki gobyerno; may mga leyes na pig–ootob;  may  pig–aarang na Gugurang, may kikatakutan na Aswang, may pigtotobodan na mga anito;  may arte buda siyensya, igwa ki literatura, taratao magnegosyo, may agrikultura, igwa man ki mga industriya. Igwa sinda ki mga sundang siring man mga panarag. Igwa sinda kan bagsik sa pakigiyera.


Su edukasyon ninda igwang dakulaon na pagkaiba kaysa  mga agta. An mga kaakian ninda igwa na ki ensayo poon pagka–aki sundo maging bagong–tawo (young adult). Igwa sindang pigsunod na mga gawe, hiro, birtud, buda bagsik. 

Ito su suanoy na sistema kan edukasyon kan mga antigong sampot sa lugar na ini.

Kan mag–arabot su  mga Kastila, dai man ki nagkaturuparan na mga pisikal na istrakturang eskuwelahan kun apodon ninda, dai kan arog duman sa lugar na saindang ginikanan. Alagad sa pag–adal kan mga Kastila nakakua sinda ki pruweba na igwa ki edukasyon digdi kan mga uminaging panahon. Nahiling ninda kun pâno gamiton su baybayin.

Mala ta nabilog ngani ni Fray Bernardino de Melendreras, OFM, prayleng Kastila, an istoryang “Ibalong” na ipigsaysay su mga agi–agi nara Baltog, Handyong, buda Bantong. Sa paagi kan “Ibalong” nagkaigwa ki ideya su mga Kastila kun pâno su panggobyerno kan mga panahon, kun pâno ipigpa–otob su mga leyes, kun pâno pigmidbid su mga may halangkaw na katungdan sa kaburunyugan, kun pâno ipipamugtak  su mga suruguun buda mga oripon. Naaraman man kun pâno magsurat, magbasa, magkanta, sundo mag–istorya su mga tawo sa kapanahonan na sinda pa sana su aranion.

Pruweba man gayod ini na daing inabutan na mga barbaro su mga Kastila. Inabutan ninda an sarong rasa na ogmang nagkakaburuhay sa sadiring sibilisasyon, sadiring pagsabot kun ano an buhay. Mala, taratao ngani magmina ki bulawan, taratao gumibo ki mga alahas na bulawan (Reyes, 1992, 13-20; Blair buda Robetson, passim). Bulawan baga su nakadagka kay Juan de Salcedo na magbaklay pasiring sa kaibalongan sundo na ipigpundar niya su Villa Santiago de Libon.

An mga historyador tobod na an mga suanoy na Bikolnon igwang sistema ki pagsurat. Aku ninda na maski dai ki lapis, dai ki papel,  nagsurat an suanoy na Bikolnon . . . sa mga botong, sa mga dahon, sa daga . . . gamit an kun anong puwedeng ikurit.

An iskolar na si Padre Evergisto Bazaco, O.P. sa saiyang librong History of Education in the Philippines (1953), nagtobod na dakulaon an posibilidad na igwa ki paagi sa pagturo kan mga uminaging panahon. Kun dai man an gabos na mga kaakian natuturuan, sindang namamayo  kan mga katiriponan  pigpaturuan su saindang mga aki kan mga kaipohan sa pamuhay–buhay susug sa saindang estatura sa banwa.


Naunambitan ni Padre Bazaco, na igwa ki mga  “instructors” o mga paraturo na nagmumunda sa paggamit, halimbawa, ki  mga armas o sa pagsurat kan mga pangaran. Piggibo sa laog kan harong o sa natad su pagturo.

Maski igwa ki pruweba na su mga suanoy na Bikolnon igwa ki baybayin, dai ki pruweba na lakop su paggamit kaito.

Si Padre Francisco Colin, S.J. nagsurat kan taon 1663 na: 

“(I)t is not found that these nations had anything written concerning their religion, nor political government, nor ancient history. All that has been learned concerning them is founded on oral tradition, from father to son, preserved in tales and in songs which are held in memory and repeated during their voyages to the rhythm of the oar, or in their merry–making, fiestas, funerals, or even in their tales where many are gathered together.”

An pig–aapod na “literacy” kan mga panahon dai pigsukol sa kahalabaan kan mga botong o kun pirang pidasong dahon an nasuratan. Su bagsik kan suanoy na Bikolnon pigsukol sa paagi kan kapasitud niya sa pakigiyera;  sa hiwas, talubu, buda ani kan saiyang pananom;  sa  saiyang trabaho; sa pagrokyaw kan pagka–igwa ki agom.

An mga historyador na sara Antonio de Morga (History of Philippine Islands, 1907), Padre Delgado, buda Padre Colin igwa ki obserbasyon sa katahawan kan siglo 17. Sabi ninda, an kadaklan kan mga suanoy na Bikolnon, maging lalaki o babayi, tatao magsurat gamit an baybayin. Sabi ninda, diit sana sa mga namamanwaan an dai taratao magsurat.  Sa pagsumirum kan siglo 17, su baybayin makaskas na nalingawan kan mga suanoy na Bikolnon.

Arog kaini an pagdakop ki sira; arog kaini su saindang
pagturo.

Si Padre Sebastian Totañes, OFM (1745) sa isinurat niyang Arte de la Lengua Tagala y Manual Tagalog may obserbasyon na bihira ngaya makatupar ki suanoy na Bikolnon na dai tatao magbasa kan saiyang mga isinurat. Alagad, kondenado gayod su paagi kan pagsurat kan mga suanoy na Bikolnon ta kan uminarabot su mga Kastila pirit nindang ipigpahalon su saindang taramon buda istilo sa pagsurat sa mga inabotan nindang kagrugaring kan nasyon. Pinunas sa kurikulum kan saindang pagturo an suhetong pagsurat o pagtaram ki Bikolnon.

Pirit na nag–adal su mga Bikolnon na makasurat buda makataram sa Kastila. Caramba, barbaro an dai tatao mag–Kastila! Pirit pang pina–adal ki Latin. Uminabot ini sa puntong ipig–i–ing–ing na sana an sadiring taramon.

Maski na siring kaito su nangyari, su “lengua franca” kan panahon, an taramon na gamit kan mga tawo, dai man giraray naupos. Ini na ngonyan an pig–aapod na Bikol. Kulibat, igwa akong naagihan na istorya na an mga danay na taramon na Bikolnon, gustong sabihon may pagkasuanoy, kulang sa adulterasyon, makukua sa Miraya–Bikol (sa mga banwaan kan Ligao pasiring sa Polangui) dangan sa Ciudad kan Iriga, banwaan kan Buhi buda mga pagtaraning na lugar.

Si Padre Marcos Lisboa, OFM inadalan ki soysoy an taramon na Bikol buda tinabangan niyang magtalubo sundo na magka–igwa kan pig–aapod na “metrical art” (ca. 1616).

Ngonyan, matia nindo an taratao gumamit kan Bikol buda kun igwa kamo kan birtud kan apresasyon o kun tatao kamo mag–omaw, mamamate nindo an kotok sa talinga, an tabyon kan dila, an rarom sa paghorop-horop. 

Kan su mga misyonerong Kastila naka–ukod man mag–Bikol, su edukasyon kan mga suanoy na Bikolnon gabos na naiba, tinangad ninda su mga Kastila, napa–ugos sainda.

Su sukol sa bagsik kan sarong suanoy na Bikolnon bako na sa rayó kan pagbarabad ki garud,  bako na sa ninggo kan saiyang pana, bako na sa tarom kan saiyang minasbad. Sinukol na sa bilang kan paglaog niya sa simbahan, sa bilang kan saiyang panganam, sa tadong kan pagsunod sa mga kabu’tan kan mga prayle, sa takot sa mga guwardya sibil.

Napatobod kan mga prayle siring man kan mga soldados ninda su mga suanoy na Bikolnon na an gabos sa kinaban na ini tangga ki agyan pasiring sa kamurawayan. An dai magtobod sakop ni Satanas, kaipohan isikwal kan banwaan.

Dangan nagtrayompo su mga Kastila sa pagpasunod sa mga suanoy na Bikolnon kun pâno an pagtanom ki kun ano buda kun pâno an paggabas ki dakul tanganing pirming bastante an atang kan “Indio” sa Kagurangnan, lalo na kun igwa ki misa. Bastante man sa pagkaon buda mga kaipohan an saindang mga kumbento siring man kusina dangan dakul ki balon an mga guwardya sibil kun nagbobokod sa mga remontados buda cimarones.

Bastante buda pûsog su pagkamolde sa pagtobod kan mga suanoy na Bikolnon. Nagtadum sa saindang pagkanitawo  su mga hulit manungod sa kamurawayan, kun pâno pasil buda siguradong maka–abot duman.

Sa paggamit kan taramon na Bikol, naladop kan mga Kastila su pinakaposod kan pagkatawo kan suanoy na Bikolnon.

Lambang oportunidad na makadamot ki parasunod, sa paagi kan pagngayo–ngayo kasunod an puwersa buda humá, su mga prayle  minahingowa na tolos na makapundar ki mga rancheria gamit su pig–apod na “reduccion” (Owen, 1999).

Kun igwa na ki mga rancheria, gigibo man kan  mga prayle an gabos nindang kàya tanganing ibayabay an obligasyon na kaipohan daing barî  an pagtobod sa mga togon kan Kagurangnan. Sa mga rancheria na ito  su mga prayle tolos minaturo sa mga tawo ki “arte” buda “siyensya,” dangan kun anong mga trabaho an puwedeng gibohon kan mga bagong tagasunod. Kasabay sa mga bagong adalán iyo an pagpamidbid ki mga bagong pananom na nagkakurua sa manlaen-laen na lugar na saindang naduduman. Ipigturo man an marhay na pagkakan, su tamang nutrisyon.

Sundo sa pangubing–gubing “tinuruan” kan mga prayle su mga tawo, susug sa mga gawe buda gibo kan mga Kastila dangan mga Yuropeo. Mala ta nakabastopol buda baston su mga Kastila, iyo man su mga suanoy na Bikolnon. Nakabitis ugaring! Tinuruan sinda kun pâno magpagayon kan mga pandok, magpahamot kan yukyuk, siring man magpakarhay kan saindang mga harong—maggamit ki mga muebles, magpakintab kan mga salóg, magka–igwa ki hardin sa mga natad, magkudal kan palibot. Itinanom sa saindang pagmangno na an gabos na gibo, tama buda salâ, may baldes an Kagurangnan. Ini ngapit maagi sa eskutenyo.

Kan panahon na ito, an minadusay kan saiyang buhay sa pagserbi sa mga Kastila pig–omaw, tunay daang marhay, matinobod na aki kan Kagurangnan, mapapasaiya an kamurawayan; may sungay an minasuhay—daing sagkod na tangis sa higâbo an aabotan sa ika–duwang buhay.

Kan panahon kan mga Kastila, an nasyon, bilang sarong arkipelago, pigbaranga–banga sa mga sona. An kada sona nasa pangataman kan gobyerno sibil katambay an mga grupo kan mga prayle na nasa hurisdiksyon kan mga awtoridad eklesiastikal. An sona piggibo susug sa mando na gikan sa hadi kan Espanya, susug man sa rekomendasyon kan mga prayle.

An Kabikolan napasakamot kan mga Pransiskano maski minsan nasasalbogan ki mga Agustino buda Dominikano. Kun arin man na grupo an maka-abot sa sarong lugar tolos an tugdok ninda ki ermita o simbahan siring man eskuwelahan. Marhay su istratihiya sa pagpatobod sa mga “Indio”: Tuhog sa puso kan simbahan, tumbok sa hutok kan eskuwelahan, su braso igot naman na pogol kan mga guardia sibil. Su mga bagong sakop daing mapadumanan kundi an maging matinobod-tobod. Lapnit-karabaw an iabot kan sutil. Su habo malapnitan nagiging cimaron o remontado.

Si Padre F. San Agustin,  OFM (1778)  sa saiyang “Cronica de las Apostolic Provincian de S. Gregorio de los Religiosos Descalzos de Ns. San Francisco a las I. FF,”   rinomdom an pinakaprimerong eskuwela parokyal sa Kabikolan. Ini ipigpundar duman sa Paracale buda man sa Naga. Kulibat, an Naga nagtalubu gikan sarong suanoy na balangay laen man sa Nueva Caceres na ipigpundar kan mga Kastila (Gerona, 2003, 11).


 Naging  parte an mga eskuwela parokyal na ini kan may 1,000 na mga eskuwelahan na ipigturugdok sa bilog na nasyon. Su mga Pransiskano na iyo an tinawan kan pagmangno sa kaibalongan nakatugdok ki 88 na mga eskwelahan sa Albay, apat sa Burias, 20 sa Camarines Norte, dangan 68 sa Camarines Sur.

An mga eskwelahan na ito klasipikado susug sa tangga kan pag-adal. Igwa kan “entrada,” “asenso,” buda “finishing school” na may kategoriyang ika–duwa o primero klase.

Dangan ipinamidbid kan mga Prayle su saindang
Doctrina Christiana; intero nang naiba su pag-adal
kan mga suanoy na Bikolnon.

An Albay pang–lima sa bilog na nasyon sa bilang kan mga ipigpundar na eskuwelahan. Igwa ki 120 sa Cebu, 95 sa Iloilo, 94 sa Bohol, buda 89 sa Leyte. An datos na ini gikan sa “The Philippines School Report of 1892, ‘Report of the children’s schools for both sexes, at present in these islands, classified in accordance with the order of his Excellency, the governor-general, in his decree of July 29, 1892’” (Blair buda Robertson, 46, 100-102).

Su mga prayle siring man iba pang mga kapadian bako kontentado na su mga kaakian sana an magralaog sa eskuwelahan. Minawot nindang sundo su mga may edad na mag–ereskuwela man. Kaya an ginibo iyo an pag–abre ki mga klase sa pagkabanggi. Nagpundar pa sinda kan pig–aapod na “Sunday  Schools.”

Igwa na kaito ki mga kuwarto kun saen piggibo an pagturo. Alagad kun igwa ki kaulangan, arog kun gamit su kuwarto para sa ibang okasyon, an pagturo piggibo sa harong kan pig–apod na “principal instructor,” kun bako man duman, sa laog kan simbahan. Su mga kaakian na aga an pag–eskuwela, sa simbahan su klase. Kun dai puwede sa simbahan, dalagan sinda sa harong kan “principal instructor.”
Kulibat, may obserbasyon si Feodor Jagor (The Philippines Through Foreign Eyes) na su mga eskuwelahan maation, daing sanitasyon.

Sa enot na peryodo kan pananakop kan mga Kastila, an tinawan ki duun sa pagturo iyo an apat na “R”—”Religion, Reading, Writing, Arithmetic.” Isinabay man an “Arts and Trades.”

Su mga suhetos iyo an “Christian Doctrine, Sacred History, Reading in the Proper Dialect.” An “Reading in the Proper Dialect” hinale sa kurikulum, inabandonar kan mga nagpapadalagan kan mga eskuwelahan. Pâno mabayubu su sadiring taramon kun ini dai na natutuparan sa eskuwelahan? An iba pang mga suhetos iyo an “Spanish Grammar, Spanish Composition, Arithmetic, General History, Geography of the Philippines, Geography of  Spain, History of  the Philippines, Principles of Ethics and Civics,  Music and Singing, Trades and Practical Agriculture” (para sa mga lalaki), buda “Needlework” (para sa mga babayi) (Blair buda Robertson, passim).

Bago poonan an mga klase, igwa ngona ki misa siring man pangadyi. Gawe na daing bari, aro–aldaw puwera sana sa panahon kan pagtarok buda pag–ani ta daing mga klase. An mga klase minapoon pag–ika–walo kan aga sundo ika–sampulu may saro o ika–sampulu may duwa kan odto.  Su klase sa pagkahapon, poon pag–ika–duwa. Pag–ika–apat o ika–lima  kan hapon an tapos. An klase sa pagkahapon titapos sa paagi ki sarong prusisyon dangan mga pangadyion (Bazaco).

Su mga paraturo kan panahon na ito kaipohan na mag-agi ngona sa sarong pormal na pag–adal. Kan magdugang su bilang kan mga estudyante, kinulang sa mga paraturo. Kaya su mga estudyante na ngani, sindang  nagpahiling ki kapasitud, tinogotan nang magturo. Nagkaigwa na kan pig–apod na “teacher-assistants.”

An Kura Paroko su nagserbing “head teacher” siring man superbisor kan mga eskuwelahan.

Isinurat ni Bazaco na igwa ki duwang klase ki pagturo. Enot, su pig–apod na “individual method,” an ika–duwa iyo su “monitoring method.” 

Sa “individual method,” su mga  estudyante saro–saro na pipa–agi sa mga eksamen. Kan magdakul su mga estudyante, ilinaog su “monitoring method.” Sa “monitoring method” su “assistant teacher” aro–aldaw, bâgo dangan pagtapos kan klase, minadolok sa “head teacher” tanganing aramon kun ano an mga mando o togon. Su mga “teacher–assistants” igwa man ki katungdan na mangnohon su mga pig–apod na “monitors.” Taod–taod su mga “monitors” nagi man na mga paraturo.

Su mga paraturo dai kan pig–aapod ngonyan na mga “lesson plans.” Maski mga “textbooks” dai man su mga para–adal.

Suru–semana, su mga para–adal nagkukua ki eksamen na ipigtatao kan Kura Paroko.

Su resulta kan sistemang ini sinumada ni Ferdinand Blumentritt sa sarong artikulo sa La Solidaridad kan Oktubre 1899. Sabi ni Blumentritt:

“If the general condition of the civilization of the Tagalogs, Pampangos, Bikolanos, Bisayans, Ilocanos, Cagayanons, and Zambaleños is compared to the European countries of Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece, the Spanish–Filipino civilization of the said Indian Districts is greater and larger in extent than that of those countries.”

An lambang relihiyosong edukador kan panahon na ito, nakaka-risibi ki 500 “ducats” gikan sa Tesoreriya Peninsular buda sa Tesoreriya kan Mehiko. Alagad, an pundong ito pirming restante sa pangangaipo kan eskuwelahan. Tanganing madugangan an pundo, su mga encomienda hinaragadan ki kontribusyon. Kulibat, an ducat sarong klase ki kuwartang gibo sa bulawan (gold coin), may timbang na 3.4909 gramos na an 0.986 bulawan. Nagpoon ining gamiton sa Yuropa kan 1566 sundo na 1857.

Kan 1582, si Obispo Domingo Salazar, O.P., nagpaluwas ki togon sa mga prayle. Saiyang ipinasabot na an edukasyon dai puwedeng gabos libre.  Sabi niya, su mga magurang na may kaya, tumabang sa pagsimbag sa gastos kan pagpaadal sa mga aki. Su mga tios buda daing paagi na gastosan an pag–adal kan saindang mga aki, iyo sana an puwedeng palibrehon sa matrikula buda sa ano pa man na mga bayadan sa pagpa-eskuwela.

Kan mahale su sistemang encomienda, igwang sarong Dekrito Royal na ipinaluwas su hadi kan Espanya na nagmando sa gabos na mga munisipyo na iyo an magsimbag sa gastos kan pag–eskuwela kan mga namamanwaan. An kuwarta kukuwaon sa tesoreriya munisipal. Igwa ki mga munisipyo na nagsarabing diiton an saindang kuwarta kaya dai na puwedeng inaan pa. An problema ta bako sana nagkakapirang munisipyo an nagsabing kulang sinda sa pundo, lakop sa bilog na nasyon an balubagi na tios su mga munisipyo, daing sentimong puwedeng itagama sa pagpadalagan kan mga eskuwelahan. 

Si Gobernador–Heneral Jose Raon nagpaluwas ki sarong dekrito na boot makaresolbir sa problema. Arog kaini su gusto ni Raon: An lambang munisipyo mangapital (invest) sa mga maganansyang (profitable) negosyo buda kultibaron, taranoman an mga bakanteng lote o “public lands.” An ano man na kuwartang madamot, gamiton sa pagpa–adal kan mga kaakian.

Su simbahan nagtabang na man sa paagi kan pig–aapod na mga duhol (grants). Su mga uru–iguwahon sa banwa nagtarao ki mga donasyon. Sinabayan sinda kan mga relihiyosong kaburunyugan (foundations).

Sa edukasyon kan mga panahon tinawan ki orog makusug na duun su mga suhetong “Religion, Reading, Writing,” buda “Arithmetic.” An pagsurat sa istilong Kastila kuminiling sa mga suhetong “Religion,” siring man sa “Reading,” buda sa “Arithmetic.” 

An pinaka–importante sa gabos na mga suhetos iyo an “Religion” buda “Ethics.” Naisip kan mga Kastila na su mga suanoy na Bikolano magiging orog na matadong,  matinobod–tobod na Kristiyano  kun palbag sinda sa mga katukduan sa “Religion” buda “Ethics.” Su nangibabaw na katoyohan iyo an pagpalakop kan relihiyon kan mga Kastila; an sa irarom: su mga sakop gibohon na matadong. 

Su mga nakatapos sa elementarya nagka–igwa ki oportunidad  na makapagpadagos sa segundarya dangan maging mga paraturo, inhenyero, doktor, abogado, o kun bako man mga padi.

(An bibiografia kan artikulong ini itoon sa libro.)

'FOR A SIMPLE BIKOL ORTHOGRAPHY'

Para sa Buwan ng Wika, basahon ta daw tabi ining artikulo ni defunto Dr. Merito B. Espinas manungod sa ortograpiyang Bikolnon. Igwa ako ki mga boót idugang o kaya liwanagon alagad sa ibang okasyon ko na sana gigibohon. Orog na importanteng igwa ki pigpoonan an amigo kong  si Dr. Espinas. Tibaad lamang an artikulong ini makapukaw man sa interesado sa pagbayubu kan satuyang sadiring taramon. Nakua ko an artikulong ini sa Research Journal kan Legazpi College, Legazpi City (January-February 1964, Vol. I No.1). Sa isip ko sayang kun diit sana su mga nakabasa kan magayon na artikulong ini kaya isinabay ko lugod digdi sa sakuyang blog buda facebook. –Raffi Banzuela

FOR A SIMPLE BIKOL ORTHOGRAPHY

Merito B. Espinas


In this age of hurry and confusion in which the awakening masses play a vital role, education becomes not only a routinary activity, a mere aspect of civilization, but a weapon of survival itself. “Civilization,” according to H., G. Wells, “is the race between education and catastrophe.” And although nobody really wants war, it is ignorance that leads the masses to be swayed. “Ignorance, ignorance, ignorance everywhere,” lamented the late G. B. Shaw, “that is what is wrong with us, and what defeats our good intentions every time.”

DR. MERITO B. ESPINAS

But education is impossible without language. And what is worse, education of the masses requires not only the major languages but also the dialects and the vernaculars. This makes the task more complicated. In the Philippines alone, where teaching in the vernacular for the first two years of the primary grades has been in a phase of wider implementation since its adoption in 1957, no less than eight major languages and about eighty dialects are involved. So it appears that if the curse cast by God on the builders of the Tower of Babel confusing their tongues is true, then it certainly is worse compounded in this country.

At any rate, in this article we limit ourselves to Bikol, the major language of almost 2.5 million Malays who, according to the Webster’s new International Dictionary, “were advanced in civilization even before the Spanish occupation.” And of the language, we further limit ourselves to its orthography, , from the Greek words orthos (right) and graphein (to write), which means “correct or standard spelling.” 

We take up a few terms before we proceed: vernacular, dialect, and language.

Vernacular, which is the term widely used in the Philippines to describe teaching in the dialect, actually comes from varna, a Sanskrit word meaning “a slave born in his master’s house.” This was likely a species of dialect that was developed among the slaves who talked only among themselves to distinguish it from the cultivated language of the masters who only gave commands. This term indicating slave origin does not seem proper to use in this country where variations in language arose more from accidents of geography than from class distinctions.

Dialect is from the Latin dialectus and from the Greek dialektus or dialegesthai, meaning to converse or discourse, Dialogue. Thus it is clear that a dialect is not expected to be written but mainly to be spoken. The Owásnon and the Kamalígnon, for example, are dialects that are somewhat awkward to write faithfully  unless probably accompanied by musical notations. A dialect, being only for conversation, must rise to the level of a language for it to be written. Thus it is not unusual to observe a Bikolnon speak in his dialect but write in his language, which is Bikol.

Language is a “system of conventionalized signs, especially words or gestures having fixed meanings,” or specifically,  as “the words themselves in their grammatical relationships.” A language, says G. L. Kittredge, “is an elevated dialect.” This involves the following: it is spoken, it has a fixed vocabulary set, if possible, by a dictionary, it is written, it has a grammar. In other words, language is a dialect that has undergone refinements, broken edges, tended towards uniformity in its being written and spoken. People have to study language. It sets standards. It becomes the literary medium. It will be seen that an American or Englishman studies English. It is especially required if he is to teach English. In the same manner a Filipino studies Pilipino, particularly is he is to teach it. But neglectfully enough, the average Bikolnon does not study Bikol, not even the BSEE student who will have to use it in the primary grades. He takes the language for granted. While a student pursuing a bachelor’s degree is required at least twenty-four units of Spanish and eighteen of English, he is not made to earn a single unit in the language to qualify him to teach in the first two years of the primary level. Somehow this has retarded the growth of the language, if not actually defeated its purpose as a medium of instruction.

It can be that Bikol is not being taught as a course in our local schools offering the Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education because of lack of instructional materials and of teachers equal to the task. Among other things this calls for a standard dictionary, a grammar to start with, and written works in Bikol, including folk literature.

Above all, however, is the need for a simplified uniform spelling. The various ways by which Bikol is being written today are already discouraging, but steps have to be taken immediately before things become complicated. Even elaborate languages tend towards simplification of orthography. Thus latest adjustments have been tried with the English language without evident success, although it is to be admitted that modern English is a far cry from the written language of Chaucer and Shakespeare. The Japanese have been more successful, though. Simplifying the 55,000 Chinese characters which were introduced from China in the middle of the sixth century A.D., they have devised a group of letters known as hiragana and katakana to represent the sounds made by the Japanese tongue.

We can do no less with Bikol. We can take advantage of this newly developing language. What changes the established languages may not be able to effect in generations, we can accomplish by the simple act of setting up norms. Thus we may consider the following principles to simplify Bikol orthography.

1. Spell the word as it is spoken and read it as spelled. The pronunciation is to follow the pattern set by the ancient Tagalog Baybayin.


2. The alphabet shall consist of the five vowels A E I O U and the fifteen consonants B K D H L M N NG P R S T W Y.

3. The vowels E and I are interchangeable. This is also true of O and U. No distinctions in meaning arise from such interchange. Examples: lalake or lalaki, sampulò or sampulù.

4. Consecutive vowels are to be pronounced separately. Examples: babae, làum, higdàan. The vowels ao, however, are not to be confused with aw. Thus, the ao in the tao must be differentiated from the aw in baláw, pantáw, danaw,  karabaw.

5. The gn, which is Portuguese, must be change to ng. Thus manga (mga, Tag.) instead of the usual magna. This is to be distinguished from the gg sound, as in banggi and mangga.

6. Accent marks are to be placed over stressed vowels. These marks are the acute accent 
(  ́ ), the grave accent (  ́ ), and the circumflex accent (  ̂  ). Examples: diít, kalán, makusóg, pusò, luhà, akì, pilsî, dugô, mabatâ. Not only will the accent marks set the pronunciation immediately but also distinguish the meaning of certain Bikol words that are composed of identical vowels and consonants but which differ only in accent. Thus the unaccented salug (river) if accented becomes salúg (floor). Likewise pakó is fern but pakò is nail; kokó is fingernail; kòko is chin.

7. The nya, the bye, the dya and other similar sounds are to be spelled without the customary i between the consonants, unless evidently pronounced, or if found in some loan words. Examples: bunyág, ngunyán, madyá. Evidently pronounced: makuriyon, araniyon (variants of makurihon and aranihon). Loan words: kumpaniya, pansiteriya, panaderiya.

8. The uw sound as in duwa, buwal, tuwad, luwas is found in true Bikol words, but not with most loan words where the u is omitted. Thus, kwarto, twalya, bwís.

9. Names of persons, geographical places, buildings, streets, and similar entities identified with proper names in English, Spanish, and other foreign languages are to be retained in their original spelling for the meanwhile, but efforts must be made to produce their Bikol equivalents moulded after local pronunciation and spelling. If other languages can have their own versions of proper names, we see no reason why Bikol cannot do likewise. Here are some comparisons: Juan (Sp.); John (eng.), Ivan (Rus.); Maria (Sp.) Mary (Eng.), Marie (Fr.), Mariae (Lat.); London (Eng.), Londres (Sp.); Japan (Eng.), Japon (Sp.); Philippines (Eng.), Pilipinas (Tag.), Hiripin (Jap.).

10. Geographical names in the Philippines other than those of Spanish, English, and other foreign languages are to be spelled as pronounced. This might prove a little hard to take at the start, especially for the old writers in Bikol, but it would save the future much inconvenience in spelling.  Thus: Catanduanes should be Katanduanes; Oas,  Owás; Guinobatan, Ginobatan, Polangui, Polanggi; Ligao, Ligáw; Tabaco, Tabakó; Putiao, Putiáw; Virac, Birák.

11. If a prefix is attached to a word that begins with a vowel, hyphenate. Examples: ma-abot, mag-ulî, nag-itokitok. Sometimes, the prefix is nothing but a repeated vowel: i-iwalon, a-abtan, o-osip, u-uli. Repeated end vowels, however, are not to be hyphenated: warâa, halèe, tiwîi, pasâa.

12. The hyphen that separates a repeated vowel used as a prefix is to be removed once another prefix is attached to it. Thus, a-abtan becomes ma-aabtán; i-iwalon, ma-iiwalon; u-utang, nag-uutang; e-erok, mag-eerok.

13. Repeated words are to be hyphenated. Exmples: apod-apod, lakaw-lakaw, hiling-hiling. But not gamgam or dapdap because gam and dap alone are meaningless in themselves.

14. The hyphen that connects a repeated word is to be removed once a prefix or suffix is attached ti it. Thus lakaw-lakaw becomes naglakawlakaw, lakawlakawan, lakawlakawi; apod-apod becomes ma-apodappod or apodapodi.

15. The f in loan words is to be pronounced as p (opisyal, kapé, telépono); the v as b (byolín, bakasyón, bírhen); the z as s (sero, asúl, basár).

16. The ch in loan words is to be written as ts or s (sinelas, kutsilyo, tsiko); q and c as k (bakero, kinse, kwarto, loko); j as h, s, dy (hustisya, sabón, dyunyor); ñ as ny (monyika, senyór, karinyo); ll as ly (pilya, sinsilyo, mwelye, lyeno); x as ks (seksi, ekskursyón, boksíng).

17. A word that is foreign is to be rendered in its original spelling but underlined or put in italics to show it is not part of the language.

18. If a foreign word becomes part of the language, its spelling must be made to conform with Bikol orthography.

19. A foreign word might be corrupted in its process of being assimilated into the language, in which case it should be spelled as commonly pronounced. Examples: kumustá, pyamrera, bistík (beefsteak), súsmaryosep.

20. Inasmuch as some Bikol words are pronounced acceptably in two or more ways, they must be spelled as intended to be pronounced. This will prove helpful, especially in poetry. Examples: iyan may be yan; paghilngon, paghilingon; tàno daw, tadáw; dai, di; ini, ni; saimo, sìmo.

To see how some of these principles apply, we compare below the old spelling of a folk lullaby with the new.

CATUROG NA, NENENG KATUROG NA, NENENG

Caturog, caturog          Katurog, katurog
Sacloton nin banog          Sakloton nin banog
Ipaglayuglayug          Ipaglayuglayug
Sa poro can maniog          Sa poró kan manyóg
Ipaglacaolacao          Ipaglakawlakaw
Sa tagnod anahao          Sa tangód anahaw
Ipagduyanduyan          Ipagduyanduyan
Sa poon cauayan.          Sa pòon kawayan.

Caturog na, Neneng          Katurog na, Neneng
Caturog na baya          Katurog na bayâ
Dai pa si Tay mo          Dai pa si Tay mo
Naghanap qui sira          Naghanap ki sirâ
Pag-abot niya, Neneng  Pag-abót  nya, Neneng
Quita maglalaga          Kita maglalàga
Humigop ca, Neneng  Humigóp ka, Neneng
Gnani cang tumaba.  Ngani kang tumabâ.

It is to be expected that this offer to simplify Bikol orthography will meet opposition among old writers whose use of the language has been freely left alone for years to their whims and caprices. They naturally would cling to what they have been used to. But in this article, it is the future we think of. If we find the language even now too complicated to write and read, it is because of what was done in the past. As the participants of the First District Vernacular Symposium held at Camaligan Central School in Camarines Sur on August 2-3, 1956, have rightly concluded, “We can make the future of our children as unsatisfactory as ours is today by bequeathing to them our inadequacies and prejudices or we can make their future better than ours as it should be.”

Despite what appears to us today as a low state of the Bikol language, it must have enjoyed a measure of progress long ago when the region was a land of heroic deeds by fierce warriors. If for no other source legendary epics are to be believed for what little truth they contain then, probably earlier than other peoples in the country, Bikol had its own system of writing. It is even likely that the much-vaunted Tagalog baybayin was of Bikol origin. The Bikol epic, HANDYONG (sic), stanza 40, for instance, mentions as certain Sural who invented the ancient writing of Ibalon in what is now Libon, Albay. Later engraved in a stone slab by Gapon, this weighty evidence however, still remains to be found. Incidentally, the Bikol word for “to write” is surat. In Tagalog, it is sulat. Could it be that Tagalog derived this word from Bikol?

Anyhow, the syllabary gave way to the Roman method of writing shortly after the arrival in 1573 at Libon of the dashing young conquistador, Juan de Salcedo. Since then the Roman alphabet (sic) has been here to stay, it seems. But like the Japanese in the middle of the sixth century A.D., we have to adapt it to our peculiarities of spelling and writing, to make a simple, workable system of it to facilitate its learning by as many of our fellow Bikolnon as possible in order that, hand in hand with the other brown peoples of this country, we can give our share to mass education, upon the success or failure of which rests the outcome of “the race between education and catastrophe.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agustin, Andres de San. Arte de la Lengua Bikol. Manila: Tipografia de Ramirez y Giraudier, 1879

Arce, Alejo. An Approach to the Standardization of Writing Bikol. Unpublished Master’s thesis, University of Nueva Caceres, City of Naga, 1956.

Dy-Liacco, Leonor H. R. Bikol Syntax. Unpublished Master’s thesis, University of Nueva Caceres, City of Naga, 1956.

____. Guiding Principles for the Nationally Uniform Orthography of All Philippine Languages and Dialects. Institute of National Language, Manila, December 26, 1956. (mimeographed)

Ofracio, (Rev.) Jose O. “Morphographic Study , of the Bikol Dialect,” The Vinculum. Serialized: March, September, and December, 1961.

____ Report of the Committees on the Adoption of Standard Bikol Alphabet. Division of Camarines Sur, Bureau of Public Schools, City of Naga, 1955. (mimeographed)

____ Work Plan. First District Vernacular Symposium. Camaligan Central School, District of Milaor, Division of Camarines Sur, August 2-3, 1956.