Being born and raised in the Waray shores of Leyte, we reveled in the wealth of Waray literature in songs and poems (siday). We were lulled with such poetry by our forebears. Now that we have grown and finding our destinies in shores away from Leyte, with fondness do we recall these forms of expressing artistry through the written and spoken word.

Waray, as a language, is spoken in the provinces of Leyte, Biliran and the three provinces in Samar island: Western Samar, Eastern Samar & Northern Samar. Incidentally, parts of Masbate facing Samar also speak Waray. However, it is not known whether their forms of literature are also rooted from the Waray masters of Samar & Leyte.

Here then is a site devoted to preserving the rich history of Waray literature from such luminaries as Iluminado Lucente and many other brilliant swordsmiths. I am ever thankful that with the advent of the internet, these legacies from our "Iroy nga Tuna" will once again be shared and relished by Waray souls worldwide thirsty for such antiquity through:

The Online Museum of Everything Waray

Sample:

San-u Ka Bumaya
ni Espiridios Brillo

Kun umabut an adlaw,
ha akun nim’ pagbaya,
bilini aku anay,
hin puraw nga himaya;
panasa an kasamdung,
ha akun hunahuna,
ihalad lugud anay,
an unub nga himaya.

Thanks to Raissa Villasin for linking this site. And much gratitude is accorded to the blog owners for putting this up. Truly, our Waray legacy will forever live on!

Mabuhay an nga Waray!

Calle Zaragosa is a restaurant owned by a High School classmate's Uncle, Gerry Ruiz, located in Independencia Street, Tacloban City.

It has become a venue for social gatherings. Meetings of former classmates (from various schools in Tacloban City) were (and still) done there and meetings of government officials and just about anything.

So Gerry thought of getting a website to publish everything that happens in his restaurant. It caught fire. So Taclobanons and Leyteños from all over the world got wind of this place and its website so everybody browses and visits both the restaurant and the site.

I am pleased to know that this site gives me an update of long lost friends, classmates and relatives; their whereabouts, lives and achievements. And also importantly, the site publishes and announces important dates and events happening in Tacloban and other parts of Leyte.

I'm adding this therefore for easy access so I'd be updated for the happenings of of the city of my youth.

I have family and friends in Tacloban and other parts of Leyte. So even if I now think like I'm a Cebuano, I still want to be connected to the place of my past: Tacloban and Leyte.

This site helps keep my feet rooted as a Waray.

Tacloban City, July 1, 2007

Blogging is like water. It seeks its own surface. Or like Sprite, that you have to quench your thirst for it. (Was it really Sprite's ad?) I will explain what I meant by this later.

Being in my hometown after being away for many years in another adopted city, gave me a different kind of pleasant experience. Being home has now become an experience and not the norm of usual feelings. So I am in Tacloban. Coming here earlier for an official trip in Samar tomorrow, just so I could attend the Tacloban fiesta, see friends who have come home too, and just see how the place has become.

The fiesta first. It's still a circus. Or more appropriately, everything has been blown out of literal proportions. Traffic has increased many folds and all available spaces where filled with parked cars. And any space in between were littered with people who have seemed to have come from some spontaneous combustion. Any more spaces in between were only enough for oxygen to float so these people could still breath and live. This is so unlike the fiestas of the late 80's where there were still actual spaces on the streets where we could still pass.

There are some pleasant surprises in Tacloban; some gustatory delights are now available in restaurants like Ocho, Stephanie's, and of course Bo's Coffee Club and Gloria Jean's. There are good establishments and nice new buildings with attempts at some urban architecture, though not really much, but the effort at trying is worth a whit of commendation. There will be hope in Tacloban's urbanesque future, I suppose. However, the inner roads of downtown is still potholed and tricycles of the wee types are still the legit commuter facility available.

Then seeing the grounds at the RTR plaza had me dismayed. Imagine this: the plaza is probably a hectare-wide and the City government (have they?) put nice and pretty water fountains all around the plaza. These fountains have different shapes, sizes, lights, figures and I bet there are stories behind each unique fountain. So I find it nice. Really nice. I actually saw it first on Patricia Evangelista's TV show when she featured Tacloban. I liked the fountains. All of them. But to my dismay, the city government has allowed talipapa, tiangge, beer joints, stalls, etc etc to fill the entire plaza and the fountains have gone lost in the madness of all these structure and people. The hell?! Here was an attempt to put sanity to the city by putting some art and architecture and the next moment, the city allowed the place to be turned into a marketplace, ukay-ukay style. I wanted to eat all my cuticles and knuckles alternately in anger and desperation at this very conflicting situation.

Earlier after lunch at our Ninang's house along the former Imelda Avenue, there was hieghtened excitement at the avenue. "Adi na hi apple of the eye! Adi na hi apple of the eye!". I looked at my brother in law quizzically and he said, "That's the Congressman-elect of Leyte's first district Martin Romualdez, on a convoy throwing apples for the bystanders. The apple of the "apple in the eye" was the literal gift-giving of apples as his campaign slogan. The Congressman was in Barong (with bodyguards) looking coño amidst a sea of indios. Doña Victorina would only be too pleased at the sight. Yes, this Martin is the nephew of the Imeldific; his father being the former First Lady's brother.

So, why the introduction? After the apple-throwing show, I didn't have anything to do. So I saw this idle PC and was too pleased to see some active browser with an active internet connex. I logged in to my Multiply and got to read the thread of comments on my Meet the President post. I realized I was a nut for automatically turning in my Multiply mode at the slightest chance with no provocation. Feeling and realizing the shame, I logged out and proceeded to behave as the fiesta guest expected of me. Whew, I said, blogging is like water, it seeks its own surface for an even keel or level, satiating the thirst for that glorious feeling of tap-tapping the keys and organizing thoughts into words and seeing it print on screen.

To save myself from further delving into the internet, I left. I joined College buddies Adonis (who came from Manila), Rey and son Jaden (who came from Chicago) and Joboy (who just arrived from Manila that morning). Yes Greg, you in Malaysia, you were lacking in our group. I should write about meeting these best buddies from College and our sort of reunion. We were like pigeons, homing in to base camp after years of flying and hovering in lands far and distant.

And geez, this Multiply sorely lacks a feature where I can note the Music Playing as I write this. So I can write "As the Music Play" by Matt Monro. No, it's not my kind of music, but it's what the music at the sunday radio show of the neighbor is playing.

Pagkatapos hin kamaihaan nga panahon, yana la ako nakalugar pagsurat ha internet ha Leyte-Samarnon nga pinulungan. Kadamo na hin mga espasyo, okasyon ngan websites, nga ak gin-agian, pero daw waray ko gana nga magsurat ha waray. Kun kay ano nga dinhi ha Multiply pa ako nagkaada hin igo nga kaandaman ngan pamahong-pahong pagtikang pagsurat hini, diri ak maaram. Akon pa iton pagtutukibon.

Kay ako como Dulagnon, siyempre pa, it ak angay igsurat, mga butang ngan ideya mahitungod didto hit ak natawhan nga bungto han Dulag. Siring pa ha Wikipedia, it Dulag, "usa nga ika-upat nga klase nga bungto ha probinsya han Leyte ha Sinirangan nga Kabisay-an nga rehiyon ha Pilipinas. Usa ini han mga gidako-i nga mga bungto ha daplin han dagat haa sidlangan. Sumala han 2000 census, mayda ini populasyon nga 38,897 ka tawo ha 7,657 nga panimalay".

Damo an masusurat mahitungod ha Dulag para hit usa nga Dulagnon sugad ha akon. Pero mayda usa nga lugar ha Dulag, harani la ini didto hit am balay ha Capitan Goyong, nga akon uunahaon pagpasangyaw. Amo ini an Dulag Catholic Church, an Parokya han Virgen del Refugio. Usa la ini ka eskina tikang ha amon balay. Kay tungod kaurugan hit mga Dulagnon Katoliko, amo ini it lugar ha Dulag kon diin nagkakatitirok pagpakita hit ira pagtuo ha Guinoo it mga Dulagnon, labi na kun Mahal nga Adlaw, Pasko ngan pagselebrar hit Bag-o nga Tuig.

Pero it istorya hini nga simbahan del Refugio hilarom ngan maundanon. Han gudti pa kami, damo nga klase nga istorya an am nahibatian han pagbomba han mga Hapon han daan nga simbahan, ngan an tuna alirong han simbahan ginhimo nga istasyunan han mga Amerikano pag-abot han Liberasyon. Usa nga maundanon nga sinurat tungod han katikangan han simbahan ha Dulag, nagsiring:

"The first Jesuit missionaries arrived at Dulag in September 1595. An ecomendero, Don Pedro Hernandez brought them in his boat from Cebu. The missionaries, Fr. Alonzo de Humanes and Fr. Juan del Campo, first coaxed the natives to settle within the limits of the sitio instead of living far from each other. After this was accomplished, the Jesuit fathers built a church and a convent.

A nucleus of some 60 boys from Palo was formed by the fathers for the first mission school in Dulag. In the church compound they were taught their three R's and religion. Using the crudest of materials, the boys learned the Spanish language and helped serve as interpreters to the missionaries on their missions. The burden of supporting the boys began to tell on the resources of the padres but periodic allowances from the encomendero permitted them to continue with their studies. The school was patterned after a Jesuit school in Antipolo in Luzon, which the Jesuits had founded earlier.

Dulag became a booming locality by May 1596. It became the centrum of commercial activities. The Jesuits made great progress at conversion. They became successful especially when the principales of the town allowed themselves to be baptized.

Years of peace were suddenly broken when on October 29, 1603, moro raiders ravaged the town. Wild confusion followed after the arrival of 70 vintas full of moros. Some of the precious possessions of the church were fortunately evacuated before the moros finally landed on the shores of Dulag.

Bolisan, the moro leader sailed away to Surigao after 700 captives and rich loot had safely been stored in the holds of their vintas. Fr. Hurtado, one of the missionary priests was himself a captive. During the years that followed, the padre was able to teach Christianity to the moros. He was later ransomed and returned to Dulag.

The moro raids were said to have burned 10 churches in Leyte. Sacred images were destroyed, sacred vessels were looted, and new Christians enslaved.

After the moro raids, more misfortune struck the town. Two typhoons destroyed the church and laid waste the harvest of the season. An earthquake of violent proportions followed this. In 1610, a locust invasion destroyed more crops. In September 1611, more typhoons added to the desolation of the people. As if to climax the lean years, the moros returned in 1613, destroyed the church and town, burned the harvest and carried of men, women and children to be sold as slaves. The parish priest, Fr. Pascual Acuña was also captured by the moros. He was later released in exchange for a moro chief named Pagdalunan who was captured by the Spaniards.

Before the Jesuits left in 1768, they had built a brick church under the avocation of the Nativity of Our Lady. It was significantly called the "Refugio."

After the expulsion of the Jesuits, the Augustinians took over then parish. Fr. Cipriano Barbasan is specially remembered for enlarging and remodeling the church. He was responsible for the ornamentation of the church altar and the construction of lookout towers of the hills of Calbasag and Mount Laberanan in San Jose. Both were solid edifices of brick which served as places of refuge during subsequent attacks by the moros.

In 1843, the first Franciscan parish priest arrived. Under the direction of Fr. Francisco Rosas, the first road to Abuyog was constructed."

Katikang hadto nga istorya han simbahan, damo liwat an naglabay nga kahimyangan ha Dulag. Pagkahitabo liwat han guerra mundial numero dos, amo liwat an kaguba hini nga simbahan, diri tikang han mga moros, kundi tikang han mga Hapones. 

Ada nalipay ak hin dako uyamot pakakita ko ha internet hin tinuod nga ritrato han nabombahan nga simbahan del Refugio han Dulag. An nakasurat pa ha ubos amo ini: "Picture of a church destroyed by bombing, with Army jeeps in foreground. The caption hand-written on the back says: "Dulag - Leyte. Where Japs made airborne landing and held fighter strip for 24 hours".

Mayda ngay-an kamatuoran han uruistorya han mga kalagsan ha Dulag. An Dulag man gud, usa han mga nasentro han guerra mundial numero dos. Bisan an ak Tatay nga ulitawuhay na hadto nga guerra, damo guihap an istorya ha am kun guin ano nira an pagtagu-tago ha mga Hapon. Makuri daw an ira kabutangan hadto nga panahon kay nahadlok hira nga pamatayon han mga Hapon. Han una pala ngani nga tuig han pagsakop han mga Hapon ha Dulag, tuig 1941, usa na an ak Lolo (amay han ak tatay) han mga namatay, pagpusila han mga hapon an ira ginsasakyan tikang ha Tacloban tikadto ha Dulag, dida ha may Bil-at pagkatapos ha Tolosa. An ira ginsasakyan nahulog ngadto ha dagat amo nga waray na makit-i an patay nga lawas ni Lolo Julian.

Usa liwat nga mahinungdanon nga ritrato nga ak hinkagian ha internet pinaagi ha google, nga may kalabutan han ginbombahan nga simbahan del Refugio, amo an ritrato hin rebulto han Sagradao Corazon de Jesus nga nakada han mga guba-guba ngan iba pa nga debris pagkaptos han pambomba. An kumpleto nga pagsaysay hini nga ritrato amo ini:

"Statue of the Sacred Heart at the Catholic church stands after complete destruction of the 18th-Century building. Dulag was shelled by battleships and bombed by carrier planes from October 17-20, 1944, prior to Sixth Army's XXIV Corps landings on A-Day, October 20. The town's mayor, Marcial Lagunzad, was killed along with many other civilians. Almost every structure was completely obliterated. The US Army's 96th Infantry Division, 184th Infantry, commanded by Colonel Curtis D. O'Sullivan, was to land on Yellow Beach 1 and Yellow Beach 2 near Dulag and then drive inland, directing its main effort toward an early seizure of the airfield west of Dulag. It was also to seize and secure the crossings of the Daguitan River. The 184th Infantry landed at 1000 Hours, two battalions abreast - the 1st on the southern half of Yellow Beach and the 3d on the northern half. They encountered surprisingly little resistance on either beach and were able to push inland at a much greater speed than had been anticipated. The 3d Battalion drove through the town of Dulag, which lay directly in its path, to the Dulag-Burauen Highway. The 1st Battalion pushed inland and reached the highway at 1210, just fifteen minutes after the 3d Battalion. At 1530 the two battalions established physical contact and maintained it throughout the day as they continued their advance along the highway. Eleven Japanese had been killed in the 184th Infantry's zone. After the front line moved on, the ruins were used as a hospital. The church was not rebuilt as a war memorial to those who sought refuge during the war".

Ito nga Mayor nga hi Marical Lagunzad nga hin-ngaranan dida han photo caption, amo an amay han amon maestra han Home Economics ha Dulag Central.

An siring didto ha am, pagkatapos daw han guerra, an mga Dulagnon ha bug-os nga nasud, nagburublig pagpatukod hin bag-o nga simbahan, sapit la ngahaw han ginbombahan nga daan nga simbahan.

Yana nga panahon, an mga ruins nala han daan nga simbahan an makikit-an sapit hit bag-o nga simbahan tipakadto ha Barangay Sungi. Ini nga mga nahabilin nga istruktura han daan nga simbahan ginhimo na nga Park ngan outdoors museum didto ha Dulag. Damo nga mga turista it napakadto pag-inaw, labi na an mga Dulagnon nga diri na naukoy ha Dulag, pareho nakon.

Amo ini nga simbahan mahinungdanon ha akon, ngan hit am bug-os nga pamilya diri la tungod hit iya parte hit history hit bungto han Dulag, kun di amo ini nga simbahan diin hira nanay ngan tatay ginkasal, ngan diin kami nga pito nga magburugto guinbunyagan ngan guinpakumpirma. Dinhi guihap hini nga simbahan guinpamisahan hi tatay han iya kamatay.

Bisan diri na ako nagpapraktis hin pagka-Katoliko, masarig pa gihapon ha akon kasing-kasing ini nga simbahan tungod kay parte man ini hiya han amon kinabuhi. Ngan amo man ini an simbolo han amon pagtuo nga naghatag ha ak han pagkilala ha Guinoo nga Dios.