For the love of Cebuano lit

My mother died five years ago, but whenever I hear "Matud Nila" (What They Say) and "Usahay" (Sometimes) over the radio, I would cry in my heart. In fact, learning to read and write in Cebuano is one way of my honoring her memory.

 

I was in Cebu again last November 2 to 4 for the 28th Cornelio Faigao Memorial Annual Writers Workshop held at Elsalvador Beach Resort in Sabang, Danao City, just 30 kilometers south of Cebu City.

 

Elsalvador Beach Resort, by the way, is really spelled that way; after the owners Elsa and Salvador.

 

The resort is by the sea, but the beach is rocky and full of brown seaweeds and is not good for swimming. But there are two swimming pools surrounded by trees and varied tropical flaura in the resort. Perfect!

 

The Faigao Workshop started in 1984. It was named after the poet Cornelio Faigao who was the chair of USC English Department. It is a free workshop given to deserving writers in English and in Cebuano.

 

Hope Sabanpan-Yu is the workshop director, and the current director of the Cebuano Studies Center of University of San Carlos (USC). She is an indefatigable "Bisayang Daku" (A tough Visayan) of Cebuano literature, publishing two or more books a year.

 

My co-panellists were poet Merlie Alunan from Tacloban City, Erlinda Alburo of Cebu, and an old friend, Ralph Semino Galan, who is from Iligan City.

 

The fellows this year were Abigail Therese Cublian, Daryl Nino Jabil, Ranulfo Visaya Jr., Sam Avenido Jr., Ushabelle Bongo, Alsteine Joi Diapana, Maeren Marie Sanoria, Brenda Seno, Jin Garciano, Samantha Lagar, Kevin Lagunda, Famela Lipura, Monna Eve Senara, Rolly Jude Ortega, and Richel Dorotan.

 

Dorotan is the literary editor of the Manila-based Cebuano magazine, Bisaya. Aside from his many Palanca awards in Cebuano short stories, he is, in my opinion, one of the sexiest minds in Cebuano literature.

 

I first met Dorotan three years ago in Cebu during the Tabaoan Philippine International Writers Conference of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts. We are both Bisaya but work in Metro Manila and, coincidentally, we were on the same flight, too.

 

In the coaster from the airport to our hotel, I overheard Dorotan talking in Cebuano and I was confused. A writer from Mindanao? He would, together with poet Danton Remoto, we would sit in the panel discussion called "Writing Erotica." I stopped myself from commenting about his Osama Bin Laden look.  

For two years now, I am seriously trying to learn how to read Cebuano literary texts, because I want to expand the scope of my scholarship to include the whole of the Visayas. I know Kinaray-a, Hiligaynon, and Aklanon. I'm learning Cebuano rather quickly.

 

The poets to watch for in this year's batch of Faigao fellows include Jin Garciano, Kevin Lagunda, and Mona Eve Senara. For several years now, I have been sitting in as a panelist at several regional workshops, including the Iyas National Writers Workshop, and the Iligan National National Writers Workshop of Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology,

 

I have been privileged to read the early works of young writers all over the country, and I must say the works of young poets writing in Cebuano have impressed me, even more so than many of those written in English or Filipino (or Tagalog, as Ma'am Merlie and Ma'am Linda would insist).

 

Aside from its rather laid-back lifestyle (compared to how crazy Manila can get), I love Cebu because of the rich and beautiful Literature. I also love Cebu because of my Cebuano writer friends.

 

Visiting Cebu, whether to attend a workshop or to simply take a vacation, is like going home to the tongue of my late Mother, who is terribly missed. — KDM, GMA News

 

J. I. E. Teodoro is an award-winning writer from San Jose de Buenavista, Antique. He is an assistant professor at the departments of Filipino and English at Miriam College in Quezon City. He is a blogger: jieteodoro.blogspot.com, bantaytvatpelikula.blogspot.com, and literaturanghiligaynon.blogspot.com.