A dozen AsPac poets, and then some

This evening the Honorable Senator Loren Legarda Leviste hosts a welcome dinner for the poet-delegates to the first ever international poetry assembly in this country.

Thanks to The Japan Foundation, the Asia-Pacific Conference-Workshop on Indigenous and Contemporary Poetry has drawn 11 notable foreign poets who will join the host country’s representative as the official delegates from a dozen countries ringing "an ocean of shared destiny."

Mounting this ambitious conference is the Philippine Literary Arts Council or PLAC, formed 20 years ago by co-founders Gémino H. Abad, Cirilo F. Bautista, Alfrredo Navarro Salanga (since deceased), Ricardo M. de Ungria and this writer.

Perhaps the PLAC founders also share an ocean of destiny with our host tonight. Sometime in the early 80s we read our poems at a Paco Park presentation, and one of the guest readers was the young and beauteous broadcaster Loren Legarda. It comes full circle, then, this cyclic assignation between poets and muses, however the latter may have turned, uhh, "presidentiable."

Jimmy and Ricky will read a poem each tonight, as a way of formally welcoming our guests. So too will the gracious senator. Fittingly, she will read "Prayer" by the late lamented Franz Arcellana, National Artist for Literature, who was interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani barely a fortnight ago.

She will be introduced by a member of the Conference Secretariat, to whom we owe great seas of gratitude. Our fellow Philippine Star columnist, Panjee Tapales Lopez, has been instrumental in filling up a fine program of activities for our guests beyond the academic confines of paper presentation. Through Panjee’s efforts, the delegates, organizers and core participants are also being treated to a full day break on Corregidor Island, courtesy of Department of Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon. Eugenio L. Lopez III, aka Gabby, chair and CEO of ABS-CBN, co-hosts a dinner reception for the core participants

We also have to thank UMPIL (Writers Union of the Philippines) chair emeritus Adrian E. Cristobal for his generous counsel and immeasurable support in getting local institutions to augment our counterpart funding.

One of our donors so far is the writer and former Senator Francisco "Kit" Tatad. And thanks to another UMPIL Chair Emeritus, the distinguished Filipino poet Virgilio S. Almario who has recently been installed director of Likhan: UP Institute of Creative Writing, Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople will host the farewell dinner on Saturday night.

We of UMPIL will take the opportunity on that occasion to award Ka Blas the Gawad Vicente Sotto for Outstanding Writers in Government.

The poetry confab starts at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at the UP Faculty Center Conference Hall, with poet-delegates Lynda Chanwai-Earle of New Zealand and Kirpal Singh of Singapore delivering their papers on the linkages between modern poetry and indigenous verse in their respective homelands.

The afternoon session will be bookended by a welcome luncheon hosted by UP Diliman Chancellor Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman and a dinner reception hosted by no less than UP President Francisco "Dodong" Nemenzo.

The following day, Ateneo de Manila University’s AILAP or Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts & Practices, under director Dr. Benilda S. Santos, hosts the full-day session at Escaler Hall. A keynote address by National Artist for Literature Edith L. Tiempo and a specialist’s talk by Antoon Postma on the Mangyan ambahan are bonus features for this session. Poet-delegates Kazuko Shiraishi of Japan, Ou Zhide of China, Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf of Malaysia, and Harry Aveling of Australia will deliver their papers.

Headlining the full-day session on Friday, Aug. 23, at De La Salle University’s Marilen Gaerlan Conservatorio, as hosted by the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing and Research Center headed by Dr. Marjorie Evasco, are Sitor Situmorang of Indonesia, Nguyen Bao Chan of Vietnam, Ko Un of South Korea, and Anthony Tan of the Philippines. Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista will deliver the final remarks.

The last session on Saturday, Aug. 24, will be conducted at University of Santo Tomas, under the auspices of the UST Center for Creative Writing and Research under director Dr. Ophelia A. Dimalanta. Poet-delegates Montri Umavijani of Thailand and Frank Stewart of the United States will deliver their papers, while Rio Almario will give the final talk, on traditional Filipino verse forms. A special guest on this day is National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose.

Panels of reactors that will be divided among the four session days include our most outstanding poets and writers: Abad, De Ungria, J. Neil. C. Garcia and Marne Kilates for the UP session; Ramon C. Sunico, Danton Remoto, Ruel de Vera, Rofel Brion and DM. Reyes for Ateneo; Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, Dr. Isagani Cruz, Dr. Oscar Campomanes and Shirley Lua for De La Salle; and Dr. Becky Añonuevo, Lito Zulueta, Ramil Digal Gulle and Lourd de Veyra for UST.

The culminating activity will be a grand poetry reading from 6 to 7:30 in the evening at the Li-Seng Giap Auditorium of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) on Pearl Drive, Ortigas Center.

Everyone is welcome at all of the conference sessions. Seating will have to be prioritized, however. After the delegates, core participants and venue hosts, seats will be reserved for those who have registered as participants for a fee that covers lunch and refreshments and the conference kit. Students and the faculty of the hosting venues will of course also figure in the prioritization for seats.

But the grand poetry reading on Saturday at the capacious UAP auditorium, courtesy of executive officer Jason de Villa, should be a special treat for all poetry lovers.

Hope to see you all there.