CEBU, Philippines – Renowned Filipino literary artists accentuate the importance of writing with a purpose. They are unanimous in the view that beyond winning competitions, writers should have a remarkable goal in mind as they create their masterpieces.
In the case of playwright Rodolfo C. Vera, known among his peers as Rody, it’s all about history. “Personally, I am very interested in things that happened in the past,” he relates, “to show that it is still relevant and that it continues to resonate to this day.” He believes that there is a need for more writers who delve into Philippine history.
Rody, who is a graduate of Bachelor of Arts in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines, says “Filipinos easily forgets.” But he believes “that this frame of mind can still change, that we will remember the issues of the past to understand our present society. This is where writers can come in and do their part.”
Mr. Vera, 53, has recently begun a career in film. He is excited to share even more stories with which his audiences can relate and empathize, and dreams of writing a piece on the Japanese occupation in the Philippines and the La Salle massacre based on the account of his mother, herself a survivor. “I’m excited about the many possibilities in film, which is more accessible [by the general audience].”
For Dr. Alice Tan Gonzales, her remarkable goal is to continue to be a regional writer, authoring literary works in her native tongue, Hiligaynon. “I feel that it is my duty to perpetuate the use of the language, especially the literary language,” she says. “Much of the literary language is not used anymore, even in the Visayas.” She adds, “We cannot truly be people of the national community and the international community unless we understand, first of all, that we are Western Visayans.”
Born and bred in Bacolod, Dr. Gonzales recounted how she began her literary career writing in English. However, she felt she was ‘more effective’ when she started writing in Hiligaynon. She noted, “Your native tongue is your mother language, your ‘gut language’ because you feel the intensity of the words when they are written and said in your own language. Writing in Hiligaynon, I can see and feel how powerful my words are.”
While many of the youth in her hometown no longer know how to read or speak Hiligaynon, Dr. Gonzales believes that this will change. Thanks to efforts such as integrating the Hiligaynon subject in the local school curricula and having a language category in competitions like the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, more young audiences now have a platform for learning their native tongue – one that can even inspire them to create beautiful literature.
It is Dr. Gonzales’ dream “for Hiligaynon and Philippine Literature to come up with very strong figures that would leave a mark in the international scene.”
Both Dr. Gonzales and Mr. Vera are Hall of Fame Awardees in the recent 64th Palanca Awards. They share the view that aspiring writers should be motivated not by the thought of winning but by the creative process and the learnings that come out of crafting literary pieces that galvanize and inspire their audiences.