Maruxa Pita to be honored / Cecile's intro to a book: A coup, a remarkable fusion

Guests will gather at the Instituto Cervantes on Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. to do honor to the Spanish humanitarian Dolores Pita Lissarague whom friends simply call “Maruxa”.

I have known Maruxa from way back and avidly admire her as a sincere friend of the Filipinos, particularly of underprivileged children to whom she has been of tremendous help through these many years.

Maruxa deserves all the honor, all the tribute that will be given her. Instituto Cervantes Director Eduardo Calvo Garcia thanks Maruxa “for all you do, what you have done, and what you will do.”

Herewith is background information on Maruxa as printed on the invitation. Born in Madrid, Spain, on March 18, 1930, Maruxa came to the Philippines in 1959 to help set up the Institucion Teresiana School (now St. Pedro Poveda College) where she taught and which she eventually headed as principal from 1965 to 1973. Through the years, Maruxa continued teaching Spanish both at UST (1973-1979) and the Spanish Cultural Center (1975-1979). From 1979 to 1993, she led the Spanish Cultural Center as its director.

When the Instituto Cervantes in Manila was established in1993, Maruxa stayed on as the academic head of the center, which was the first Instituto Cervantes to open in Asia.

In 1995, she retired and moved on to establish the Makabata School Foundation, Inc. in 1996 where she currently works as administrator and teacher while undertaking in her words, “what is needed and what I am able to do.”

IC Director Calvo Garcia says to Maruxa further: “For your proximity to those in need, it is not for me to extol your selflessness, fully known to all. Also for your essential contribution to the teaching of the Spanish language in the Philippines.”

I wish Maruxa continued success and God’s choicest blessing. To the country’s grateful thanks, I’d like to add my own.

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“Dance of the Leaves” is a unique book that marvelously combines the poems/verses of Dolorpena Espina-Panerga with the paintings of American artist Marty McCorkle. It is edited by Fray Paolo Casurao, csip.

The book’s introduction, which follows herewith is by Cecile Guidote Alvarez, Philippine president of the International Theater Institute and director of Earthsavers-UNESCO Dream Center:

L’amour ne meurt jamais . . . Love never dies, so goes a most stirring song. In this splendid book of collected love verses, Dolorpena Espino-Panergo bares a heart that lives to love . . . At once refreshing and poignant, the poetry of a woman in her golden year, heart battle-scarred, twice irrepressible, leaps out of the pages, declaring that love is sometimes “desperate yet hopeful/losing yet prevailing/Undying.”

Mrs. Panergo triumphs yet again with another book, her eighth. I met her a few years back in Calbayog City, where I was requested by the venerable Ibabao Arts Council of Calbayog to address its celebration of the National Arts Month. We were introduced by Fray Casurao, Chair of the Pasundayag Network, who also provided me a copy of This Island Home, her celebrated second book.

Her first, August Moon, has the distinct honor of being the first book of poetry written and published in Calbayog City (designed and edited by the tandem of Dante Rosales and Fray Casurao — themselves distinguished men of arts and letters). All eight books are no mean feat, for they not only bring to us the poetry of Mrs. Panergo, but also the participation of painters and art photographers of Samar. Such advocacy includes the care and preservation of natural and cultural heritage: a truly laudable effort.

In “Dance of the Leaves”, the synergy between the outstanding paintings of Marty McCorkle, an American on an extended retreat in Calbayog, and Dolorpena’s verses can be likened to a pas de deux to an ethereal score under the baton of the editor/art director. Mr. McCorkle has enlivened the city’s art scene with his masterpieces; reflections and impressions of the place and people. This artistic liaison of poetry and painting is a coup, a remarkable fusion.

As she dances with the leaves of life, loving to live, determined to love, for as another popular song goes, love makes the world go round, surely we can continue to hope for some more books and some more surprises.