Saving Dying Dialects: Lessons from HULAGWAY

I took the lovely trip to Cinema 76 at Anonas in Quezon City to see Director Alvin Yapan's latest work called HULAGWAY: Dokyumentaryo ng mga Wika at Kulturang Filipino (A documentary of Filipino Language and Culture) a few days ago. Dr. Yapan was tapped by the National Commitee on Language amd Translation under the offices of NCCA (The National Comission for the Culture and the Arts) to direct this film. 

Hulagway means "a portrait" and this film lengthily has taken a look at the person, how one lives, how they communicate with their peers or the community. There are also a lot of metaphorical representation of their struggles, even if they're literally not working with a script, the conversations was molded off how language was used as a tool to enrich lives with stories, songs and poems deeply rooted in culture. 

 

Needless to say, he's a genius when it comes to really complex artsy topics like these and interpreting it for cinema must have been a tall task. His treatment in telling this one is like a documentary. He anchors it with two characters Consuelo (played by Sue Prado) and Robert (which is played by Kalil Almonte). They took the long hard trek to far flung communities in the eastern side of Isabela (up north) and islands off Palawan. 

Imagine, they started this in 2018 and had to work together with only 15 other crew carrying with them loads of equipment to capture unadulterated views, communities and the few men and women who still have a grasp of the dying languages Dupaninan Agta and Tandulanen Tagbanua. This is officially the most difficult film Alvin Yapan has ever made, he made mention of this during the talk we had after the screening. Initially, they had planned to include 6/7 of them (dialects/languages) but the material was too precious to cut off the block. It was also a little too tedious as it involved time consuming research, with little information from various universities (mostly from outside the country) who have conducted studies about them in previous years, they roughed the process of filming and took on talking to the few descendants left who still have a grasp of the language. My favorite scene was the boat traversing a line of mangroves in Palawan, they talked about that on the video.

 

Here's the press conference in two parts where they explained the film and the cause of saving the dialects from these two regions.

During the latter part of the press conference I asked about what concrete plans they have about saving the dying dialect, and they replied that this is just the first step, to become aware, educated, and acknowledge that there is something precious to save. 

The plan is to also have this film be viewed by educational institutions to not just prove its existence, but to formulate a way to find ways to have people teach these dialects and pass on to the next generation. To not lose their identity as IP, and celebrate their uniqueness, their differences, which makes them cool. If this sparks efforts to do so not just from the government, but the citizens of this country, then this film made its mark. Make sure to coordinate with NCCA if you want your school to be part of the film's tour in the coming months. There's more languages/dialects to save in the country, and telling their story is essential.

Make sure to watch it. It'll be life changing!

Birthday Cheers for Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda!

I've been watching her for years on ABSCBN, and in different shows. She's a very good broadcast journalist. Her work in the Senate and Congress formulating laws that help different sectors like education, the environment, women , youth, history and culture has always been there, consistent and has been lauded by many.

Til now, she's been steadfastly moving to generate jobs for indigenous folks, mothers and artisans in her lone district of Antique and in many places across the country, some of which have also weathered the pandemic and changed the lives of many in her own little ways. She's a leader, Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda. She's also celebrating her birthday today.

 

 

Happy happy birthday Deputy Seaker Loren Legarda! Cheers to more years of serving the people in this blessed country of ours!

DAYAW Starts Their 11th Season: "Kakaibang Sigla"

Just got off the DAYAW event hosted by ANC and NCCA. This is their 11th season and talks about culture and people. Since we're just finished watching the Olympics, the documentaries will delve on movement and indigenous sports, energy, competitiveness, dance, music. Present during the occasion was NCCA Vice Head on Cultural Community Pablito Gonzales, Nadia Trinidad and Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda who's been championing the cause on environment and culture for years now.


Pablito Gonzales says "Fellow cultural workers, good afternoon. We believe Filipinos are all indigenous in some respect. Though we come from different backgrounds, our diversity are our unifying forces. We all come from different sectors, but we are united in culture and heritage which is Dayaw. With the excellent production of ANC, we look forward to this brand new season of the show. NCCA supports discussion, programs like these are information vessels for local and international audiences. As an IP advocate for almost two decades now, I'm impressed because even in the time of pandemic, our IP's are struggling selling products. Many have stopped, but they need a way to continue."

Nick Lizaso of NCCA says "We showcased sustainable practices of our indeginous people. We will learn enchanting movement and dances, to inspire our viewers for culture and heritage preservation. Let's invite more Filipinos to watch more seasons of Dayaw."

Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda says "This is "Kakaibang Sigla", a vital energy. Thank you to our partners in NCCA and ANC, despite all odds, we were able to record a lot up to 18 months inside the pandemic. You are all staunch partners in documenting of our schools of living tradition, of going to places that are not usually covered by media outlets. You are competent, professional, dedicated and passionate. I've been in television for 30 years, without our small team, we could have not done it alone. When Dayaw started, it was a passion project. Our manlilikha ng bayan awardees are national living treasures, some of them have passed, but we were able to document their lives and archived it on ANC. Rituals, traditions, knowledge, don't belong in schools in far flung areas and we were able to document that including dying crafts and indigenous skills. We are working on making them sustainable, connecting with DOLE, DTI, NCCA and building weaving centers, dyeing centers, Dayaw is and was a passion project. It has not remained one, it's a legacy project now. I wanted to ensure that all of these are correctly archived in ANC and NCCA. To each and every member of my team in ANC, I'm glad they have remained engaged and what passion have in legislation, and not stop documenting, economic livelihood for indigenous people. Shooting season 11 wasn't easy but we're glad we were able to do it before the pandemic started. We were shooting action sequences, a little different from the usual but we were able to do it. I have so many episodes to go back to, like Wang-od our oldest Mambabatok, and make sure our Kalinga community specifically Budbud tribe be treated fairly. Hopefully, for them not to be poor. We are showcasing them as traditional artists. Ordinary people, people who use social media, you may share information we do there for education. We will be uploading our Dayaw episodes and seasons on YouTube and perhaps do captions, Europeans, Americans, Southeast Asian nations. Thank you for being with us. I will file in October as a Senator, I will continue to help my province Panay and I will share my knowledge, God willing, next year."

Watch Dayaw on ANC, the ABSCBN News Channel at 6PM on Thursdays and replayed different times during the week thereafter.