Whenever I tell people that I’m from Antique, the next question I usually get is “Where is that?”
I have developed a standard answer to that: It’s in Western Visayas, one of the four provinces that comprise the island of Panay : Aklan, Antique, Capiz Iloilo.
I do that in order that I would be spared the next question which usually is, “Is that, in Aklan? Or In Iloilo?”
Then I get asked, what’s the dialect there, Ilonggo? I say, Kinaray-a.
Kinaray-a is the language spoken mostly in West Visayas. It is spoken in Antique, where I come from.
Writer Alex de los Santos , author of the book, “The Rise of Kinaray-a”, said Kinaray-a is also spoken in some parts of Aklan and Capiz, most of Iloilo and even in Negros Occidental where the biggest number of sakadas, seasonal workers in haciendas, is Karay-a from Antique.
There’s a group of Antiqueños, who has taken up the advocacy of keeping Kinaray-a alive because language gives a person identity and reveals the richness of his culture. They maintain a website, “Dungug Kinaray-a Inc.”
U.S. based Ritchie D. Pagunsan, one of the primemovers of Dungug Kinaray-a alerted me to this year’s Kinaray-a writing contest .
Looking for places to visit this summer?
Try the not-so-trodden paths. Try the perfumed island of Nogas in Antique.
Located in the northern most part of Antique, Nogas Island is 24 hectares of deep and lush forest. If you want to explore it, better get a guide familiar with the island. It’s easy to lose one’s way exploring the inner part of the islands because of the lack of pathways.
Mahirap aminin na naging tanga kami ngunit ganun na nga.
Last Friday, a “Ramon Tulfo” called me up. I did not have doubts that he was Mon Tulfo, the Inquirer columnist, because it was the number of Mon Tulfo that I have in my directory for a long time. Through that number, I have talked with “Mon Tulfo” about other issues like the Ampatuan massacre. (I’m having doubts now. Was the person I talked with months earlier not Mon Tulfo?)
The “Mon Tulfo” that I talked with last Friday said he has read my column in Abante about our province, Antique, having been badly hit also by typhoon Yolanda. He said he has received donations of 500,000 plastic pails from businessman “Plastic King” William Gatchalian. He said he has filled those pails with packs of rice, canned goods and other items from donations of former Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn and businessman Mark Jimenez. He said he would like to give 50,000 of those pails to Antique. Later on, he increased the number to 100,000. He asked for my help to connect with a non-political contact in Antique.
May 2013 be kind and good to all of us. From my favorite work place.Our place in Guisijan, Antique.
“The Impossible Dream” was Evelio’s favorite song.
The song is from the musical “Man from La Mancha”, which was adapted from Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes’ masterpiece “Don Quixote.”
Precious’ moving tribute to Evelio at the end of the latter’s funeral mass in February 1986 (Evelio’s assassination sparked the first People Power that ended the 20-year Marcos dictatorship), had references to the dreamer Don Quixote character.
Kahit na paminsan-minsan ay umu-ulan, talagang summer na. Ang sarap magbabad sa tubig. Dumadami na ang mga tao sa beach at swimming pool.
Sa pinupuntahan kong gym,Fitness First, at siguro sa ibang gym, mas marami na ang nagwu-workout. Siyempre ang gustong pumunta sa mga sosyal na beach, kailangan may ipakita ka.
Napansin ko nga, sa mga department store, naglabasan na ang kanilang mga pang kasuutan para sa summer. Marami na ang bumibili ng swimsuits.
Merong iba kasi na nagpa-fashion show sa beach. Kung ‘yun ang kanilang hilig, pagbigyan. Sa beach naman, busy lahat sa sariling lakad at gimik, hindi na rin naman mahalaga kung pang-Miss Universe ang katawan mo o hindi. Ang mahalaga ay malusog ka, wala kang sakit at nae-enjoy ka sa iyong ginagawa.
ANTIQUE – Ang titulo nitong kolum ko ay hindi komedya na na nakakatawanan kungdi tungkol sa isang klaseng palabas na dinala ng mga kastila dito sa Pilipinas.
Dahil ang comedia ay galing Espanya, ang kwento ay tungkol sa laban ng Kristiyano at ng mga Muslim. Ang mga “cast of characters” ay mga hari at reyna, mga prinsipe at prinsesa at mga sundalo.
Maganda pakinggan ang sagutan at ang eskrimahan. Inaabot ng sobra 10 oras.
Iyan ang aking pinagkaka-abalahan nitong mga nakaraang araw. Kaya medyo missing in action ako sa national politics.
It never ceases to amaze me that I’m able to access internet from my remote corner in Antique, even if the connection is so slow and intermittent.
I have always dreamed of being able to file my stories from our place in Guisijan while listening to the chirping the birds surrounded by orchids, bromeliads, heleconias, lirios and milflores. It gives me so much pleasure that it has become a reality.
Our barrio has come a long way from my elementary school days when the only telephone in the barrio was a public phone, in a black box – double the size of a shoe box- installed in the balcony of a community official.
May Gaisano Mall na sa Antique. Wow, kahit paano, palatandaan ng asenso yan.
Natuwa naman ako ng makita ko ang Gaisano sa San Jose nang dumaan ako doon noong Miyerkoles galing Iloilo. Wala na kasing eroplano na nagse-service ng Antique kaya via Iloilo ako kung umuwi sa aming baryo sa Guisijan, sa bayan ng Lau-an.
Ang Guisijan ay banding gitna ng Antique, na napagitan sa Iloilo at Aklan sa isla ng Panay Mula Manila, 55 na minuto papuntang Iloilo sa eroplano at tatlong oras pa sa bus bago makarating sa aming lugar.