More winners for September

Last week we congratulated our Olympic Youth archery gold medalist, the Gilas Pilipinas basketball team, and a Dragon Boat team that brought honors to our country — before we moved on to our literary winners.

Today we follow up on the lauds by first congratulating our Philipine Army Dragon Boat racing team that barely made it to Ravenna, Italy, to compete in the 9th International Dragon Boat Federation Club Crews World Championships.

A couple of days before their flight on Aug. 31, the 18 members of the team still had to get enough funding for their air tickets. But thanks to the owner of the travel agency, Dr. Rowie Gabiola, who is herself a paddler, they were allowed to depart on pay-later terms.

Major sponsors were Cherifer Premium, Intermed Philippines, Gameville Corporation, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte II, Deputy Executive Secretary for Finance and Administration Atty. Ronnie Geron, former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and various other friends. Team manager Jobe Nkemakolam, a champion cager from Ateneo, even had to sell his oil paintings to beef up the kitty.

The team came away with two golds in the three events they competed in — pipping the German runner-ups to set a competition record (47.85 seconds) in the 200 meters Premier Open, and in the 500 meters Premier Open with a time of 2:06.76. In the opening 2-kilometer race, the team landed 7th after a sorry collision with Team Netherlands.

Their two-gold feat came in the heels of another Pinoy crew that took home five golds among several medals at the International Canoe Federation Dragon Boat World Championships in Poznan, Poland a week earlier.

In 2011, the Philippine Army team won five golds and two silvers in the World Nations Championships in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Surely, more sponsors should come in to support our paddlers, who have time and again proven that they’re the world’s best, especially in dragon boat racing.

And like last week, now we move on to our latest literary heroes of September. There are several of them, but you’ll have to understand that a couple of guys who have been among my oldest and best buddies are in this list. And only they will make it to the photo section, he-he.

The 40th national congress of UMPIL (Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Filipinas or Writers Union of the Philippines) was held on August 28-30 at the UP-CMC’s Plaridel Hall. The crowning highlight on the last day was the conferment of the 27th Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas trophies for lifetime work to eight writers, as well as special awards.

I still feel sorry for missing out on the morning session that featured the 2014 Adrian Cristobal Lecture delivered by the eminent scholar and author Dr. Reynaldo C. Ileto, currently a Research Associate at the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australia National University. His lecture was titled “The Centennial of the ‘Cacique Democracy’: Constructing Politics in a Time of Pacification” — wherein he reflected on the events of 1898-1913, which he considers “to be the origins of our present nation-state formation.”

Dr. Ileto contends that “(m)ost of the features and problems of contemporary politics can be traced back to this period,” and that “even more than the Propaganda, the Revolution and their heroes, we should be commemorating the centennials of the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), the Pacification campaigns (1903-1912) and the personalities associated with them.”

He adds: “The periodization of twentieth century Philippines needs to be revisited and overhauled in order to better understand the present mess.” I hope the full lecture soon becomes available online. Paging UMPIL, Celina Cristobal, and/or Vicente Rafael. 

At the afternoon session, the Gawad Paz Marquez Benitez for an educator was received by writer Vince Groyon in behalf of his mother, Regina Garcia Groyon of the University of St. La Salle, Bacolod City, while the Gawad Pedro Bucaneg for a literary organization was given to Sumakwelan Iloilo Inc.

The following outstanding writers then received the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas: Lamberto G. Ceballos (Katha sa Cebuano); Querubin D. Fernandez, Jr. (Tula sa Kapampangan); Steven Patrick C. Fernandez (Dula sa Filipino at Ingles); Luis H. Francia (Tula at Tuluyan sa Ingles); Eulalio R. Guieb (Katha sa Filipino); Nilo P. Pamonag (Tula at Katha sa Hiligaynon); Jose Victor Peñaranda (Tula sa Ingles); and Lorenzo G. Tabin (Katha sa Ilokano).

A pity that my old amigo Bert Ceballos of Cebu couldn’t make it to receive his award. We were batchmates way back in 1968 at the Silliman University National Writers Worshop.

But more than making up for that was the presence of our best buddy and compadre, the peripatetic poet-pilgrim Jose Victor Peñaranda, aka Bimboy.

We’ve been confreres and fellow trekkers for over four decades. But his vocation as an independent writer-researcher, resource person on community development, and trainer on self and social transformation has frequently led him away with his loving wife Jo, so that we don’t see one another for years on end, the times they’ve been away in Canada or on exotic assignments in Macedonia and Bhutan. 

His poetry collections, Voyage in Dry Season (Sipat, 1995) and Pilgrim in Transit (Anvil, 2009) will soon be followed up by Lucid Lightning, due soon from UST Press. It will contain mostly poems he crafted, and photographs he took, while in Bhutan for a few years. Bravo at Mabuhay, Bimboy!

Last Thursday, Sept. 11, the Philippines Graphic magazine’s Nick Joaquin Literary Awards were given at Ramon Magsayay Center at the usual, proverbial glittering ceremonies, this time with a Speakeasy theme.

Our buddies Susan Lara and Sarge Lacuesta and I had served as judges for the annual fiction contest that earns the top winners hefty cash prizes: P50,000 for first prize;, P30,000 for second prize, and P20,000 for third prize, plus an Acer laptop for the first prize winner.

Among the short stories published in the 52 issues for the contest year, as determined by Graphic literary editor Alma Anonas-Carpio, we received and deliberated on a long-list of 18 entries. We selected the following:

First prize — “Revelator: like a thief in the night” by Michelle F. Cheridjaw; second prize — “Wolves I Have Known” by Jenny Ortuoste; and third prize — “Upon the Arrival of the Whale Shark in Manila Bay” by Ma. Amparo Warren.

Three stories also gained honorable mention certificates: “Song of the Turtle” by Charlson Ong; “The Jupiter Pandemic” by Rachel Salud; and “Bang Bang Pop Fizzle” by Nikki Alfar.

The Publisher’s Choice for “Poet of the Year” was Cesar Ruiz Aquino for his “Suite of Six” poems published in the magazine early this year. Dr. Aquino, fondly called “Sawi” by generations (yes, generations!) of friends, students, mentees and dementees, and a retired professor from Silliman University (emeritus should be more like it), succeeds last year’s NJ Awards’ Poet of the Year Marne L. Kilates. 

Sawi flew in from Dumaguete a couple of days before the awards night with San Fran-based writer Oscar Peñaranda, himself a Gawad Balagtas awardee last year for his poetry and essays, and who’s currently conducting research at Silliman.

Hail-fellow-well-met was the evening, with Graphic publisher Anton Cabangon managing to catch up after an ExeCom meeting to buddy up with editor in chief Joel Pablo Salud, the proud, brand-new papa of baby girl Likha, surely the youngest-ever (at eight days) attendee at a literary awards night.

Her mom Che Sarigumba Salud, a writer in Filipino, kept her immune with a magic shawl, that is, from possibly viral writers in the august, er, September, company, among them Juaniyo Arcellana, Dean Alfar, Lila Shahani, Vince Rafael, Mac McCarthy (whose novel is being published by UP Press), Ceres YC Abanil, TJ Dimacali, Alvin Dacanay, and last but not least, National Artist for Literature Manong Frankie Sionil Jose, who didn’t seem bored at all the entire night.

Congrats and kudos then to all our recent literary winners, especially our lifelong friends Bimboy and Sawi, who just made this September infinitely memorable.