The Philippine Literature

The Mindanao Creative Writers Group, Inc., and the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE) are accepting applications from writers to the 19th Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW) to be held on May 14-18, 2012 in Iligan City.

Panelists this year are Erlinda Kintanar Alburo, Leoncio P. Deriada, Merlie M. Alunan, German V. Gervacio, Steven Patrick C. Fernandez, Ralph Semino Galan, J. Neil Garcia, John Iremil Teodoro and Christine Godinez-Ortega and this year’s keynote speaker, Victor N. Sugbo.
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By Jose Rizal

Wise education, vital breath
Inspires an enchanting virtue;
She puts the Country in the lofty seat
Of endless glory, of dazzling glow,
And just as the gentle aura’s puff
Do brighten the perfumed flower’s hue:
So education with a wise, guiding hand,
A benefactress, exalts the human band.
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Mila D. Aguilar

1.

Love can be killed
so easily,
nick after
painful nick.
Marveling at each drop of blood
as it clusters round
some blade of grass,
adding color
to the greenery,
you fail to see
the paling of the victim,
until the nicks become
one great big wound
surpassing healing.
And then the love,
it goes so easily.

2.

Love’s not
some substance
you can manufacture.
Nor a person that can be
repaired.
It flows,
like blood
in veins and arteries
and capillaries

intertwined.
That is why
a cut can make it
flow out so
and a thousand cuts
can waste it.
I speak not only
of strange, personal loves,
you hear,
but the greater love
of men and women
for the things they hold
most dear.

ni Rosalina Sebastian

Ang bilin sa akin ng ina’t ama ko

Maging magalangin mamumupo ako

‘Pag kinakausap ng matandang tao

Sa lahat ng lugar sa lahat ng dako. Read the rest of this entry »

Ang lumalakad ng matulin
kung matinik ay malalim

And di-marunong mag-ipon
walang hinayang magtapon

Ang kawayan kung tumubo
langit na matayog ang itinuturo;
Ngunit kung masunod na ang anyo,
Sa lupa rin ang yuko Read the rest of this entry »

ni Jose P. Rizal

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig

Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,

Sanglang kalayaan nasa ring masapit

Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.

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Long ago when the world was still young the good and evil gods were not yet enemies as they are now. They were friends, each living separately in a mountain (bolod, Bicol). One report even said that they were brothers. Gugurang, the good god, was living inside Mount Mayon, and Asuang, the evil one, inside Mount Malinao. As gods they had control of the welfare of the people. But Gugurang was more powerful than Asuang who was merely a subordinate; the former was the chief deity (cagurangnan) of the Bicols.
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Barom-Mai was an old and ugly king who lived in a kingdom called Calinan in the Visayas hundreds of years ago. Although he was powerful, he was helpless when it came to winning the love of his young bride, Madayaw-Bayho (daughter of Tageb, king of the pirates). Read the rest of this entry »

A thousand years ago, there was a rich maharlika, or nobleman, who spent his early bachelor days recklessly, wining and dining in the company of nobility. He drank the finest wines, ate the most delectable food and enjoyed the company of the loveliest, perfumed and bejewelled women of the noble class. Read the rest of this entry »

Noong unang panahon ay nasa loob ng kasoy ang abuhing buto nito. Lungkut na lungkot ang buto sapagkat madilim na madilim sa loob ng kasoy. Lalo itong nalungkot nang malamang magdaraos ng isang handaan ang Adang kagubatan. Sa gabi ng handaan ay ipinatawag ng Ada ang lahat ng hayop at halaman.
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