(Mayo 27, 2010)
Dimtengka kadagiti nabara nga oras
Iti maar-arakattot a sardam, sa iti agnerbios
A bannawag iti ili a nagkamangan,
Adayo kadagiti amin a dangadang
Iti lagip a naggapuan, kas iti panagtalappuagaw
Ti nakisang itan a danum ti Padsan.
Adu a pakasaritaan: ti daniwmo iti presidente
Nga iti panagtabon ti kararuana ket piman
Ta maitantantan kadagiti arimukamok,
Kadagiti bisibis ti tudo nga iti angrag
Ti tiempo ket ti maidagel a panagkulay-ong.
Kadagiti talon a masaripatpatan dagitoy
Kalpasan ti panagpadara ti nakem
Iti madagdagullit a kompesar ti kalgaw
Iti agur-uray a kanalbuong ti gurruod
Wenno ti anak-ti-sal-it, agkimat tapno
Iti apagapaman ket ti daga nga iti agmatuon
Ket ti pammadso ti nabaybay-an a gimong.
Saan nga ili ti adda kadatayo ita.
Saan a pagilian nga iti kansion ket ditoy
A maarikap ti sonata ti linteg nga iti sirmata
Ket adda kadagiti maidasar nga un-unnoy
Ti konsierto dagiti dadaulo nga agmauyong.
Liriko amin dagitoy ti gasat a ditay inay-ayat.
Liriko dagiti dayyeng nga iti agsapa
Ket ti pait dagiti bigat nga iti komedor
Ket ditoy a mabalasa ti numero a naimbag.
Kas iti loteria dagiti tagainep, kas iti pinnusoy
Tapno kadagiti papaayat ti ginnasanggasat
Ket ti agtagitao koma a ragragsak.
Ita ket ti umuna a tudo iti arununos ti kalgaw
A panagawid ti mannaniw manipud
Panagtalawataw kadagiti antigo a sursurat.
Inkur-it dagitoy kadagiti pakasaritaan
Nga iti kannag a bulan ket ti isasangbay
Ti umuna unay a pammakawan.
Itapaya ti mannaniw ti nakaungap a dakulap
Tapno iti appupo ti mangted bang-ar a danum
Ket ti kari a di pananglipat
Kas iti panaglaing iti tian iti sarsaraaw
Ti adu a pananglanglangan.
Editorial-Observer June 2010
RITUALS OF REMEMBERING
The June month carries the weight of sign and symbol, meaning and memory.
And hope springing eternal as well, despite the unbearable heaviness of living a life of electoral spectacles courtesy of the Philippine national elections in May.
The cleaning up of the election trash—literally and figuratively—has begun, and so has the reality that now begins to bite: that our people need real jobs, not the sub-contracted one that pays them a pittance.
That our people need food, the real food that nourish their body and soul, and not food that is recycles from restaurant garbage bins and other people’s leftovers.
That our people—our food-producing people including the farmers of Hacienda Luisita—need land on which to grow their crop and feed their families.
June, as it is, is ‘something sacred to Juno’, the protector of the state, or its other equivalent, today’s nation-state.
And so it should be to the Philippine nation-state as well.
The post-election euphoria—or the post-election despair—depending on which side of the coin the candidates and their supporters are in, is something that comes as surely as the early morning sun in the tropical heat of Philippine summer.
For the people of Philippine descent in the United States, the month of June, among others, is ominous.
We can only watch from afar—but we have been witnesses as well.
This month of our many rituals of remembering—with the Independence celebration and the anniversary of the birth of Jose Rizal, to name but two—opens up new possibilities for the people in the homeland or in the land of the ancestors: the possibilities for a new life with a new president that promised to be different, that promised to make life better for the ordinary citizen of the land.
Or it opens up the same story of want and deprivation too.
For one, this we say: There will be no exhibit of people the new administration can use to prove something that is pointless in the first place.
There will be no Mang Pandoys with their endless stories of despair and death.
There will be no Jason and the other boys who had the fictional desire to catch the attention of the president—a case of children’s wild imaginings—by making paper boats and had these sail—no, drift by—by the murky waters of Pasig that eventually passed by the Malacanan Palace and then noticed by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
This is the same president that promised us social justice and democracy and freedom. This is the same president who is leaving us with stories of wanton abuse of power and excess.
There will be the frenzied preparations for the inauguration of a new president, with that inauguration marked by the same litany of promises we have heard repeatedly said, as if in a rubric of calculated meanings and presidential argumentum ad populum, as if in the sacred rituals of presidents who had come to visit us and announced their coming to us as our redeemers only to inflict upon us more pain and more sorrow, more death and more abuse.
We can only wish that this time around, with a living vision that we all deserve, the homeland would finally find peace with itself by finding peace with its new president that promised so much.
There has been so many rituals of remembering that we have gone through—that we have witnessed, that we have consumed for their spectacular worth, with the grandeur of a presidential rhetoric of greatness no less to make us believe some more in the power of democracy, in the power of political imagination, and in the power of a president’s word.
For once, let these rituals of remembering come to life, to light, and to truth.
The new president, His Excellency Benigno Aquino III, deserves all our support.
The new president, His Excellency Benigno Aquino III, deserves our prayers.
But we must also remember that we get the president we deserve.
In light of this, we cannot sit on our hands even as the country tries to stand on its feet.
We will measure the performance of this new leadership against the vision that the new president told us: one of transparency, commitment to justice and democracy, and dedication to service.
We will pray for him. And we wish him well.
But we will demand from him. And we mean it.
A Solver Agcaoili, FAO, Jun 2010
The June month carries the weight of sign and symbol, meaning and memory.
And hope springing eternal as well, despite the unbearable heaviness of living a life of electoral spectacles courtesy of the Philippine national elections in May.
The cleaning up of the election trash—literally and figuratively—has begun, and so has the reality that now begins to bite: that our people need real jobs, not the sub-contracted one that pays them a pittance.
That our people need food, the real food that nourish their body and soul, and not food that is recycles from restaurant garbage bins and other people’s leftovers.
That our people—our food-producing people including the farmers of Hacienda Luisita—need land on which to grow their crop and feed their families.
June, as it is, is ‘something sacred to Juno’, the protector of the state, or its other equivalent, today’s nation-state.
And so it should be to the Philippine nation-state as well.
The post-election euphoria—or the post-election despair—depending on which side of the coin the candidates and their supporters are in, is something that comes as surely as the early morning sun in the tropical heat of Philippine summer.
For the people of Philippine descent in the United States, the month of June, among others, is ominous.
We can only watch from afar—but we have been witnesses as well.
This month of our many rituals of remembering—with the Independence celebration and the anniversary of the birth of Jose Rizal, to name but two—opens up new possibilities for the people in the homeland or in the land of the ancestors: the possibilities for a new life with a new president that promised to be different, that promised to make life better for the ordinary citizen of the land.
Or it opens up the same story of want and deprivation too.
For one, this we say: There will be no exhibit of people the new administration can use to prove something that is pointless in the first place.
There will be no Mang Pandoys with their endless stories of despair and death.
There will be no Jason and the other boys who had the fictional desire to catch the attention of the president—a case of children’s wild imaginings—by making paper boats and had these sail—no, drift by—by the murky waters of Pasig that eventually passed by the Malacanan Palace and then noticed by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
This is the same president that promised us social justice and democracy and freedom. This is the same president who is leaving us with stories of wanton abuse of power and excess.
There will be the frenzied preparations for the inauguration of a new president, with that inauguration marked by the same litany of promises we have heard repeatedly said, as if in a rubric of calculated meanings and presidential argumentum ad populum, as if in the sacred rituals of presidents who had come to visit us and announced their coming to us as our redeemers only to inflict upon us more pain and more sorrow, more death and more abuse.
We can only wish that this time around, with a living vision that we all deserve, the homeland would finally find peace with itself by finding peace with its new president that promised so much.
There has been so many rituals of remembering that we have gone through—that we have witnessed, that we have consumed for their spectacular worth, with the grandeur of a presidential rhetoric of greatness no less to make us believe some more in the power of democracy, in the power of political imagination, and in the power of a president’s word.
For once, let these rituals of remembering come to life, to light, and to truth.
The new president, His Excellency Benigno Aquino III, deserves all our support.
The new president, His Excellency Benigno Aquino III, deserves our prayers.
But we must also remember that we get the president we deserve.
In light of this, we cannot sit on our hands even as the country tries to stand on its feet.
We will measure the performance of this new leadership against the vision that the new president told us: one of transparency, commitment to justice and democracy, and dedication to service.
We will pray for him. And we wish him well.
But we will demand from him. And we mean it.
A Solver Agcaoili, FAO, Jun 2010
Surat iti Ili
Agbirbirokkami, O Ili iti karayo
A nasudi. Sukat daytoy ti tarumpingay
Ti iyaadayo kas ita, nga iti sapasap
Dagiti saomi ket ti nabiag a ragsak
Kadagiti duadua, nga ita, iti versikulo
Dagiti sirmata ket ti panagdadanggaymi
Tapno iti naganmo ket awagandaka.
Iti duogan a panawen: ti payapay ti aklo
Wenno ti panangmalmalo iti pungan
Sa ti pagan-anay, tapno iti ugaw
Ti maidasar a taraon ket ti lagip kenka
Wenno ti lagipmo nga agsubli iti sibay
Wenno iti pannakarikna iti babantot
Iti bagi kas pannusa iti kaawan
Iti iyaadayo kas iti ipapanaw
Tapno iti pantok dagiti turod ti rabii
Ni kaskadi nga ila ket ti panagam-amangaw
Nga agbirok iti desdes a pagkamangan.
Naliday dagiti aldawmi ditoy, O Ili,
Iti karayo a nasudi. Kadagiti panagbannawag
A mangriing kadakami tapno dagiti oras
Kamatenmi kas iti panangkamkamat
Kadagiti dalan, dayaw, dandanag,
Adu, adu a pakapilawan ti adda kadakami
Ket ti kaasim kadakami, dayta, dayta
Ita ti dawdawatenmi. Pinanawandaka
Tapno iti umuna a gandat ket ti dimin
Panagsubli iti arpad, tapno iti lakasa
Dagiti maipenpen a lagip ket ti agnanayon
A panangal-alaw iti kararua, iti isip kas iti panunot,
Panagduadua kadagitoy a mapaksuyan a bagi
A sumurot kadagiti pegges ti panawen
Nga itan ket mangpampanaw met kadakami.
Agrakayat’ balabala dagiti tagtagainep
Kas panagrakaya dagiti selula ti tured
A kunami idi ket dinto mangliput kadakami.
Sabali ngamin ti pagsasao ti agkabannuag
A widawid wenno ling-ay a ditoy baro a disso
Ket intugotmi, nagpuonanmi, kas iti bara
Nga adda iti lukong ti dakulap nga iti agnanayon
A pannakapaay ket umay a mangar-aria kadakami.
Adukami a pimmanaw, riwriw a liday
Kas makitam, ket iti daytoy a tallaong
Ket ti suma ti amin a panangay-aymi
Iti gasat, naimbag a gundaway, ngem gasat
Met kadagiti paspasarak iti isem iti sardam
Wenno iti karkarna nga inana iti bannog a kasinginmi.
Agawidkami kadagiti darepdep tapno iti parbangon
Dagiti balikas nga iduldulinmi a kas kari
Ket ti ladawam, sika O Ili, ti imahe
dagiti agpagungga a panangngaasi.
Ta addakami ditoy, iti walangwalang,
A kaskasdi a mangliwliwat iti ritual
Ti panagsubli, kas iti atang nga iti dios a lung-aw
Ket iti apagkirem maibabawi tapno awaganmi
Dagiti bulding, dagiti pilay, dagiti artek,
Dagiti aminen a kagura kas pananggurgura
Iti bukod a bagi a pangikkat buribor ti ulomi.
Agbirbirokka, O Ili, iti bannuar, agbirbirokkami
Met iti ili nga addaan iti mannubbot, daytoy
Baniaga a profeta nga iti barukong ket sadiay
Nga agindeg iti napaut tapno dinto agparang
Iti sabali, tapno sadiay, kadagiti sulinek
Ti talged nga adda iti maila a pusomi,
Ket ti panagbantay ti sirmatami
Tapno, kas ita, iti daytoy a ngayed
Ti panagmaymaysa ket ti punganay
Ti milagro dagiti sardam
Ti panagtao ti batumbalani a para kadakami:
Babato daytoy kadagiti amin a maisupadi
A balikas tapno iti urnos dagiti kapitulo ni padas
Maipasngay ti bannuar ti agkatangkatang a lasag.
Ditoy, iti estranghero a daga,
Ditoykami nga agsurnad, sumuknal iti espiritu
Ti mangisalakan a panagwaywayas.
Recited, INCAT Alum Assoc Banquet, Pacific Beach Hotel, Honolulu, May 1, 2010
A nasudi. Sukat daytoy ti tarumpingay
Ti iyaadayo kas ita, nga iti sapasap
Dagiti saomi ket ti nabiag a ragsak
Kadagiti duadua, nga ita, iti versikulo
Dagiti sirmata ket ti panagdadanggaymi
Tapno iti naganmo ket awagandaka.
Iti duogan a panawen: ti payapay ti aklo
Wenno ti panangmalmalo iti pungan
Sa ti pagan-anay, tapno iti ugaw
Ti maidasar a taraon ket ti lagip kenka
Wenno ti lagipmo nga agsubli iti sibay
Wenno iti pannakarikna iti babantot
Iti bagi kas pannusa iti kaawan
Iti iyaadayo kas iti ipapanaw
Tapno iti pantok dagiti turod ti rabii
Ni kaskadi nga ila ket ti panagam-amangaw
Nga agbirok iti desdes a pagkamangan.
Naliday dagiti aldawmi ditoy, O Ili,
Iti karayo a nasudi. Kadagiti panagbannawag
A mangriing kadakami tapno dagiti oras
Kamatenmi kas iti panangkamkamat
Kadagiti dalan, dayaw, dandanag,
Adu, adu a pakapilawan ti adda kadakami
Ket ti kaasim kadakami, dayta, dayta
Ita ti dawdawatenmi. Pinanawandaka
Tapno iti umuna a gandat ket ti dimin
Panagsubli iti arpad, tapno iti lakasa
Dagiti maipenpen a lagip ket ti agnanayon
A panangal-alaw iti kararua, iti isip kas iti panunot,
Panagduadua kadagitoy a mapaksuyan a bagi
A sumurot kadagiti pegges ti panawen
Nga itan ket mangpampanaw met kadakami.
Agrakayat’ balabala dagiti tagtagainep
Kas panagrakaya dagiti selula ti tured
A kunami idi ket dinto mangliput kadakami.
Sabali ngamin ti pagsasao ti agkabannuag
A widawid wenno ling-ay a ditoy baro a disso
Ket intugotmi, nagpuonanmi, kas iti bara
Nga adda iti lukong ti dakulap nga iti agnanayon
A pannakapaay ket umay a mangar-aria kadakami.
Adukami a pimmanaw, riwriw a liday
Kas makitam, ket iti daytoy a tallaong
Ket ti suma ti amin a panangay-aymi
Iti gasat, naimbag a gundaway, ngem gasat
Met kadagiti paspasarak iti isem iti sardam
Wenno iti karkarna nga inana iti bannog a kasinginmi.
Agawidkami kadagiti darepdep tapno iti parbangon
Dagiti balikas nga iduldulinmi a kas kari
Ket ti ladawam, sika O Ili, ti imahe
dagiti agpagungga a panangngaasi.
Ta addakami ditoy, iti walangwalang,
A kaskasdi a mangliwliwat iti ritual
Ti panagsubli, kas iti atang nga iti dios a lung-aw
Ket iti apagkirem maibabawi tapno awaganmi
Dagiti bulding, dagiti pilay, dagiti artek,
Dagiti aminen a kagura kas pananggurgura
Iti bukod a bagi a pangikkat buribor ti ulomi.
Agbirbirokka, O Ili, iti bannuar, agbirbirokkami
Met iti ili nga addaan iti mannubbot, daytoy
Baniaga a profeta nga iti barukong ket sadiay
Nga agindeg iti napaut tapno dinto agparang
Iti sabali, tapno sadiay, kadagiti sulinek
Ti talged nga adda iti maila a pusomi,
Ket ti panagbantay ti sirmatami
Tapno, kas ita, iti daytoy a ngayed
Ti panagmaymaysa ket ti punganay
Ti milagro dagiti sardam
Ti panagtao ti batumbalani a para kadakami:
Babato daytoy kadagiti amin a maisupadi
A balikas tapno iti urnos dagiti kapitulo ni padas
Maipasngay ti bannuar ti agkatangkatang a lasag.
Ditoy, iti estranghero a daga,
Ditoykami nga agsurnad, sumuknal iti espiritu
Ti mangisalakan a panagwaywayas.
Recited, INCAT Alum Assoc Banquet, Pacific Beach Hotel, Honolulu, May 1, 2010
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