(Excerpted from the book, Sukimat, Nakem Conferences Press 2009, eds. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, Anabelle Castro Felipe, Alegria Tan Visaya)
Acknowledgements
This anthology, the fourth in the series of Nakem publications since 2006 and a combined publication effort of Nakem Conference Philippines and Nakem Conferences International, would not have been possible were it not for the financial and moral support of the Commission on the Filipino Language of the Republic of the Philippines.
The Commission, then chaired in an acting capacity by Dr. Ricardo Ma. Duran Nolasco, provided partial funding for the publication of its publication.
Dr. Nolasco made it certain that Nakem Conferences—even at its initial stages in the Philippines, when the cause of cultural democracy and social equity in language was still an intellectual discourse that is not worth the time of many academics, even those espousing nationalism and freedom—would get the necessary support from the Commission. During his watch at the Commission, Nakem Conferences was able to learn the ways to organizing work and to identifying issues that matter to the people of the Amianan. He also made it a point to come and inspire the Nakem participants in the two conferences held at Mariano Marcos State University in Batac in 2007 and at St. Mary’s University in Bayombong in 2008.
We wish to acknowledge the help of two university presidents who made it sure that the Nakem Conferences held in their places were to be the best that they could offer: Dr. Miriam E. Pascua of Mariano Marcos University and the Rev. Fr. Dr. Manuel Valencia of St. Mary’s University. We can only thank them enough for opening the doors of their “intellectual and academic homes” to the pilgrims of Nakem Conferences.
The first Board of Directors of Nakem Conferences Philippines deserve our thanks for making this organization a reality to reckon with in the advancing of the cause of Nakem, of the cause of cultural pluralism and diversity, and of the cause of advancing the promotion, protection, and perpetuation of the mother, first, and native languages of the Amianan. In particular, we owe our thanks to the following members of the board: Nancy GB. Balantac (Mariano Marcos State University), Zacarias A. Baluscang Jr. (Apayao State College), Carmen P. Centeno (Department of Education), Josephine R. Domingo (MMSU), Edil H. Duran (DepEd), Norma L. Fernando (DepEd), Andres Malinnag Jr. (University of Northern Philippines), Bonifacio V. Ramos (St. Mary’s University), Marie Rose Q. Rabang (UNP), Jaime G. Raras (UNP), Noemi U. Rosal (University of the Philippines), and Elena C. Toquero (Isabela State University).
So many have made Nakem Conferences happen: the teachers and academics who began to believe that, yes, together we can explore the ways to rethinking about ourselves as a people of the Amianan and to revisiting the ways in which we have to know ourselves; the cultural workers who tirelessly supported our conferences including the working committees of both the 2007 and 2008 Nakem International Conferences; the individuals and political leaders who came to support us even when we have yet to show our force; and to the education leaders and thinkers who believe in what Nakem stands for in the area of education to freedom and democracy. To all of you, our endless utang a naimbag a nakem, our endless gratitude and thanks.
Aurelio Solver Agcaoili
Nakem Conference International
University of Hawai’i
Anabelle Castro Felipe
Nakem Conference Philippines
Mariano Marcos State University
Alegria Tan Visaya
Nakem Conferences Philippines
Mariano Marcos State University
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