conversations

So the former interviewer got interviewed. Yesterday and today, writers from The Weekly Sillimanian and The Silliman Magazine visited the National Museum of the Philippines to speak with me for a feature they’re preparing. Two long sessions. Party because we covered a lot, partly because I definitely went off-tangent more than once. 

We talked about personal projects, literary work in my home province of Bohol, nuances across Binisaya languages. We even tried to define what “literary culture and heritage” means in Negros Island and how institutions like the museum can help sustain it. Plus many small, unexpected detours in between.

It was fun. I remembered being in their place, writing features for The Weekly Sillimanian in 2006-2007, and then serving as features editor in my last two years of college.

When asked what my recognitions mean—whether the Poet of the Year titles from the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards or the recent Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Award—I said they feel like bonuses. They push me to keep writing, yes, but they were never the point. I’ve been writing since I was five or six, stumbling and growing through the work, and these milestones arrived without my chasing them.

Maybe that’s why they’re gratifying. They all came as surprises. I’m already happy sending drafts of poems through text messages to friends and loved ones, the way I’ve done since 2006. I still believe this: when you love the things that work for you, and when you work for the things you love, everything else falls into place.

We then talked about Dumaguete’s UNESCO Creative City of Literature designation. In my heart and mind, Dumaguete has always been a City of Literature. Long before the title, the art thrived through brave, thoughtful souls who kept the words alive. My hope now is that this recognition widens the circle—welcoming more voices, making literature accessible, and helping people see how prose and poetry matter in everyday life, from the tiangge to government offices, from the streets to the academe. 

Thank you, Danielle Mari Bonior, Zarelle Villanzana, Carla Adeline Via. I hope I got the message across.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

[ more photos here ]

dumaguetres

The National Museum of the Philippines-Dumaguete turns three today, November 25, on the very same day Dumaguete City celebrates its fiesta in honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of philosophers, scholars, and students! A fitting date for a museum dedicated to learning and promoting our culture, arts, and heritage. And most of all, for a city that is now a UNESCO Creative City of Literature. 

We may still be young and small, but we always make sure every visit is meaningful and memorable. 

We’re open every day—yes, Mondays to Sundays—from 9AM to 5PM. See you puhon! And Happy Fiesta, Dumaguete! 

[ More photos here ]

duaw ta!

Last Friday, October 17, found ourselves walking the entire stretch of Hibbard Avenue, cutting through Colon Street, and braving the piercing midday heat all the way to Ninoy Aquino Freedom Park for this year’s Buglasan Civic-Military Parade. Felt a bit like test subjects for the street-dancing parade happening later that day! Kidding aside, made the right call to design and print our own shirts for the IEC school campaign we had last month; now we have something uniquely ours to wear at events like this. So kaya pa ba next year? 

[ More photos here ]

museums and galleries month 2025

Happy Museums and Galleries Month, everyone! Every October, museums all over the country celebrate Museums and Galleries Month (or MGM). It is our time to honor our nation’s cultural heritage and the institutions that help preserve it. Established through Presidential Proclamation No. 798, s. 1991, this month encourages all of us to appreciate Philippine art, history, and the stories behind our sacred and everyday objects. 

It’s a reminder to visit your local museums (especially our National Museum of the Philippines-Dumaguete!), check out or even join an exhibit, or simply reconnect with the past that continues to shape who we are today. Also, this post is meant to commemorate the stye in my right eye. A first! What perfect timing! Great job, Staphylococcus aureus bacterium! 

living treasures

The story of abaca in Negros Island reaches back beyond living memory. Many believe it predates Spanish colonization, and local communities already wore clothes out of this wild banana species.

When I returned to Dumaguete City and began work as a researcher last year, I sifted through resources and spoke with people who pointed me toward this humble yet remarkable fiber. That search eventually led me to a story I had never heard before: pinakang. 

Pinakang is the laborious art of softening and smoothening abaca weave (sinamay) by soaking it in vats of natural solution, drying, and pounding with heavy wooden mallets. The result is a finer fabric unlike any other. The catch? There is only one person left in the entire region who still does this work masterfully, someone that even weavers and traders from as far as Manila and Cebu seek out.

Her name is Antonia “Minyang” Waro of Brgy. Calayugan in the municipality of Valencia. At 84 years old, with almost no written records about her or pinakang, her fading presence struck me with urgency.

So in the past five days, I set out on a fieldwork to learn about this overlooked heritage. What I found went far deeper—into an industry that has grown increasingly fragile, into environmental concerns that threaten the abaca itself, and into stories of people who still hold the threads of this tradition.

All this led me to the prized laob variety, source of the finest abaca fiber called bitool. To farmers Christopher and Candelario Nuay of Brgy. Malaunay who still practice pag-kige, the manual stripping of fibers. To mamisi-ay or abaca rope-maker Rottie Mendez in Brgy. Jawa, one of the last in her line. To Ricardo “Titing” Bantaya, once a farmer, now a trader of this sought-after fiber. To Lindon Escalante, Valencia’s agriculturist, who faces the challenge of dying abacas. To Nena Locsin of the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority, whose work tirelessly protects and sustains what remains of the industry.

From one woman’s memory of pinakang, I discovered countless strands waiting to be woven together. This story will take time to unravel.

[ More photos here ]