A little deed equals immense joy & pride

I got this good news when Phil Harold Mercurio (regional coordinator of the National Committee on Literary Arts of the NCCA) sent me a note that Ma. Carmie Flor I. Ortego won the Jimmy Balacuit Literary Award for Fiction in the 20th Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW). I sponsored Carmie Flor’s participation in this workshop. A little deed that brought me immeasurable joy and pride.

The Iligan National Writers Workshop is one of the institutionalized workshops of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). It was founded in 1994 by Jaime An Lim, Christine Godinez-Ortega and Anthony Tan.

It invites writers all over the country to submit their works for critiquing. Fifteen are selected from the different regions. It is a workshop that is truly national because it accepts works in the various Philippine languages aside from Filipino and English. The Iligan workshop accepts works (poetry, fiction, drama) in Cebuano, Waray, Kinaray-a, Hiligaynon, Chabacano, Maranao and Higaunon.

“It is a unique workshop because it has a quota system of five writers per region but today, it accepts fellowships from individual donors,” said Prof. Christine Godinez-Ortega, INWW director.

This year, added Prof. Christine, five Iligan workshop alumni were accepted with their latest works or works in progress — in the form of a textbook, a novel, a short story.

Some of them are transformed into scripts for film or TV, or performed on stage.  

 â€œSome of the graduates of the Iligan workshop are in theater and their works are prize-winning, too (Glenn Mas, Dennis Teodosio, et al.),” explained Prof. Christine.  

She added, “UST’s Ralph Semino Galan’s criticisms and poetry, for example, have been turned into books as well as Rebecca Anonuevo’s, John Iremil Teodoro’s, et al. Another is Charlson Ong’s whose novels have been published here and abroad.”

A writing workshop, Prof. Christine said, is an effective way of training writers in language use and technique of presentation. “One can have talent but if there is no training, then the talent remains raw. Besides, the workshops get writers who are likewise professionals like lawyers, doctors, teachers, advertising writers, script writers, etc.”

And despite the onslaught of social media where people communicate and mis-communicate at an instant, literature is alive, well and kicking.

“The fact that our literature is being celebrated, is still being written means that literature is alive and well. Literature embraces the oral, too, including songs, riddles, parables, poetry apart from the narratives and what is being written now: Contemporary poetry, postmodern fiction, flash fiction, etc.”  

These were the fellows who attended the 20th INWW: From Luzon were Dominique Beatrice La Victoria of Ateneo de Manila University for play in English; Ma. Vida Frances Cruz of Ateneo de Manila University and Laurence Roxas of UP Diliman for fiction in English; and Louise Vincent Amante of UP Diliman for poetry in Filipino.

Fellows from Visayas were Nikos Primavera of UP Visayas, Iloilo City for fiction in English; and Ma. Carmie Flor Ortego of Leyte Normal University, Tacloban City for poetry in Cebuano. She is the third fellow that bears my name (Boy Abunda Writing Fellow).

Fellows from Mindanao were Edgar Eslit of St. Michael’s College, Iligan City for fiction in Cebuano; Rolly Jude Ortega of Notre Dame of Marbel University, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat for fiction in English; Amelia Catarata Bojo of Central Mindanao University, Musuan, Bukidnon for poetry in Cebuano; Shem Linohon of Central Mindanao University, Valencia City for poetry in Higaunon; and Marc Josiah Pranza of UP Mindanao, Surigao City and Vera Mae Cabatana of MSU-IIT, Iligan City for poetry in English. Linohon is the Manuel E. Buenafe Writing Fellow while Cabatana is this year’s Ricardo Jorge S. Caluen Writing Fellow.

To mark its 20th year, the INWW invited five workshop alumni for a discussion of their works in progress and a talk on their creative process. The alumni also mentored the fellows after the workshop sessions.

The alumna from Luzon was Susan Claire Agbayani of Miriam College, Quezon City for fiction in Filipino. From Visayas were Hope Sabanpan-Yu of the University of San Carlos, Cebu City for fiction in Cebuano; Norman Darap of University of San Agustin, Iloilo City for fiction in Kinaray-a; and Cindy Velasquez of the University of San Carlos, Cebu City for poetry in Cebuano. From Mindanao was Ralph Semino Galan of MSU-IIT, Iligan City for Translation into Filipino.

Apart from Prof. Christine, comprising this year’s panelists were Leoncio Deriada, John Iremil Teodoro, Victorio Sugbo, Macario Tiu, Steven Patrick Fernandez, German Gervacio, Antonio Enriquez and Jose “Butch” Dalisay Jr. as this year’s keynote speaker with a talk on The Writer at 25.

This year’s INWW included the Seminar on Literature, Translation & Pedagogy for literature teachers with Macario Tiu, John Iremil Teodoro and Hope Sabanpan-Yu as lecturers, the book launching of the 19th INWW Proceedings titled Writing Memory, Memory Writing (2013) edited by Prof. Christine and published by the MSU-IIT; and the Jimmy Y. Balacuit Memorial Literary Awards.

The Iligan workshop is also the only workshop that publishes its proceedings each year. The Iligan workshop is supported by the NCCA, the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology and individual donors.