Speech for Matalunggaring Awards 2022

 

Speech for Matalunggaring Awards 2022

Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat, lalo na sa ating mga awardees ngayong taon.

Kapag ang isang Bayambangueño ay umani ng karangalan kahit saan man, lahat tayo ay kasama rin sa karangalang iyon. Ito ang ideya sa likod ng Matalunggaring Awards: ang pagbibigay-pugay sa ating mga local achievers dahil sa pagbibigay ng karangalan sa ating bayan.

Siyempre, kakabit ng karangalang ito ay ang pagbibigay ng inspirasyon sa ating mga kababayan. Ang magtagumpay ka sa iyong napiling larangan – sa kabila ng mga pagsubok sa buhay – ay nag-uudyok sa lahat na diskubrehin ang kanilang papel sa buhay na iniatang ng Diyos at pagyamanin kung anuman ang talentong ipinagkaloob sa kanila. Naniniwala ako na ang ating mga talento ay hindi para sa ating mga sarili lamang o para sa ating pamilya. Ang ating talento ay regalo ng Diyos para pakinabangan ng ating komunidad at ng buong mundo.

Iyan ang kapangyarihan ng pagbibigay ng inspirasyon: ang mag-udyok sa lahat na tahakin ang kanilang sariling landas at ipaglaban ang daan tungo sa tagumpay, ang magkaroon ng kumpiyansa sa sarili sa paniniwalang, “Kung kinaya ng iba, kaya ko rin!”

Ang isa pang significance ng Matalunggaring Awards, para sa akin, ay ang pagkaroon ng malalim na sense of gratitude o pasasalamat – pasasalamat dahil tayo ay biniyayaan ng ganitong mga indibidwal na may ganitong nakamamanghang talento. Minsan ako ay nabibigla na lang na may mga Bayambangueño palang may mga ganitong achievements, at ganun na lang ang aking pasasalamat. …Sapagkat sa likod ng kada isang achievement, may isang kwento ng pagpupunyagi, at maraming kwento ng buhay na nakinabang sa tagumpay na ito.

Minsan ako ay napapaisip dahil karamihan ng ating mga naging awardees ay nagtagumpay sa labas ng Bayambang. Para bang nakasalalay ang kanilang tagumpay sa pag-alis o paglisan. Maaaring ito ay dahil --nakakalungkot mang sabihin pero ang katotohanan ay -- limitado ang oportunidad sa ating bayan upang umangat at magtagumpay sa buhay. Ngunit sigurado akong parte ng kanilang tagumpay ay ang kanilang simula, na siyang humubog sa kanila upang tahakin ang sariling landas. Kaya’t mapapansin ninyo sa mga talumpati ang pasasalamat sa pamilya, sa mga kababayan, sa mga taong tumulong sa kanila magmula pa nung umpisa, at sa bayang kumupkop at umaruga sa kanila at unang nagbigay ng inspirasyon.

Dahil sa Matalunggaring Awards, napagtanto kong ang tahimik na bayan pala ng Bayambang ay maaaring pagsimulan ng mga world-class na talents at achievers. Pero hindi ko maiwasang mag-wish: Na sana ay maaari ring maging matagumpay kahit nasa sariling bayan ka, dahil narito na ang mga oportunidad. Kaya naman ginagawa natin ang lahat ng ating mga makakaya upang ito ay maging isang realidad pagdating ng panahon. Dahil matayog ang ating pangarap para sa bayan ng Bayambang, tayo ay nagdesisyong sumugal dito ng malaki, kaya tayo may St. Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park, St. Vincent Village, Niñas Café, nilipat natin ang headquarters ng Stradcom dito at iba pang kumpanya, nagpagawa ng Comprehensive Land Use Plan sa tulong ng Palafox Associates, mayroon tayong JKQ Hospital, may Post-Harvest Facility Complex sa Amancosiling Sur, at marami pang ibang mga proyekto.

Alam ko eleksiyon na naman, pero hindi ko po ito sinasabi para mangampanya, dahil ang awards na ito ay walang kinalaman sa pulitika. Nais ko lang namang mag-wish na ang bayan ng Bayambang ay magsilbing inspirasyon din sa lahat, hindi lang dahil maraming mga magagaling na nagmula rito, kundi dahil din marami ring oportunidad dito upang gumaling at mag-shine sa iyong napiling larangan.

Sana ang award na ito ay magsilbing inspirasyon para sa lahat to give back sa ating bayan, upang mahalin ang ating bayan, at sama-samang ipagmalaki ito dahil ang bayang ito mismo ay marami ring na-achieve at napagtagumpayan sa likod ng mga balakid, tulad din ng mga Matalunggaring awardees natin sa loob ng apat na taon na ito ay ating ipinagkakaloob.

Magandang araw sa inyong lahat, at maraming salamat!

 

Emiliano Santos Sr.: Bayambangueño Writer of Note

 

I am elated to learn that our town has produced a writer of this caliber.

Emiliano Santos Sr., originally from Brgy. Cadre Site, used to be an editor of "Philippines Free Press" and "Manila Times," according to his surviving daughter, Zenaida T. Santos.

 

According to grand-daughter, Jocelyn Santos-Espejo, Mr. Santos once attempted to write the history of Bayambang, but his work got lost due to a great flood, together with all his papers.

 

I wish someone has surviving copies of his writings.

 

Apart from being a writer, he became a widely admired orator and a well-loved Municipal Councilor for three terms.

 

I hope to discover more about Santos through your comments, particularly about his being a distinguished man of letters. Breaking through as an editor in Manila's publishing world of cutthroat competition is no mean feat.

Atty. Ferdinand Quintos: Bayambangueño Poet/Writer/Human Rights Lawyer of Note

Atty. Ferdinand Quintos: Bayambangueño Poet/Writer/Human Rights Lawyer of Note

Atty. Ferdinand Quintos was born in Bayambang, Pangasinan on October 18, 1942 to Praxcedes L. Quintos and Teodora S. Quintos. He is said to be the 10th child of his father, who had six by his first marriage.

Atty. Quintos was known for being versatile and even a “jack of all trades,” for he was not just an exemplary lawyer, but also an acknowledged poet, painter, and newspaper editor.

He tried writing poetry at a young age, and wrote during his free time. He was a prolific poet, but lost all of his early works as he changed jobs and moved places.

While immersed in work in one of his faraway destinations, he composed short poems on his mobile phone, which he printed in a small volume called “Cellpoems.”

He went into extensive poetry writing, in English, Tagalog, and Pangasinan, and created special poems, such as name poems and alphabet poems, among others. To avoid losing his new works, he compiled them in a book, “Indian Summer Verse of Atty. Ferdinand L. Quintos.”

Quintos held a Bachelor of Arts degree major in Political Science and minor in English. He completed his law studies at Far Eastern University in Manila in 1971.

Quintos was co-writer of a book that annotated the country's 1972 Constitution.

On July 10,1975, he was appointed as an investigator in the Office of the City Fiscal (now Office of the City Prosecutor) of Davao City. He later resigned and went into private practice.

While practicing law, he became a columnist and crossword puzzle constructor of “Peryodiko Dabaw,” the forerunner of Sun.Star Davao and the first daily in Davao City and Mindanao. He afterwards became the paper’s second editor-in-chief.

In January 1990, he joined the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR). He began as a law officer of CHR’s Territorial Office No. XI in Davao City. After a year, he was assigned to head the agency’s Territorial Office No. IX in Zamboanga City. In 1993, he was appointed as Regional Director of the CHR’s Regional Office No. IV in San Pablo City, Laguna. He lectured on human rights subjects in military/police training centers.

While heading the CHR-IV, he was sent as an agency scholar to the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) where he finished Master in Public Management.

Quintos retired from public office in 2006.

From 2012, he had been invited as a member of the Board of Judges of Kurit Panlunggaring, the annual Pangasinan writing competition, an institutionalized program of the Pangasinan provincial government.

Unfortunately, Quintos was diagnosed with gallstones and enlarged prostate in early May of 2015, but he was not permitted to undergo operation by his specialists after his heart condition appeared to be frail. In a Facebook post dated May 27, 2015, he mentioned about his need to undergo heart bypass operation at the Philippine Heart Center, the reason why he went back home.

He died of heart failure in his hometown at the age of 72.

Maria Victoneta, one of his children, remembers her father as silent and deep and who always had listening ears.

He is survived by his wife Elma Victoria and children Moonlight, Maria Victoneta, Maria Victoria, Ferdinand Quintos II, Marianne, Jasmin, and Ferdinand Quintos III.

***

(The foregoing statements were lifted, collated, and/or paraphrased from online references. See comment boxes for the links.)

New Pangasinan words and expressions of interest

 New Pangasinan words and expressions of interest

Here are a few Pangasinan words and expressions that caught my interest lately because they seem old but new to most of our ears, potentially unique because hard to translate, hilarious, and so on.

Help us decipher these terms, please.

mantaleren - (Tagalog?); babbling nonsensical sounds, as in babytalk?

kikig - ?

inmukwap - sinmangi?; ngumanga?; (English?); Example: "Agak tinmuloy ta inmukwap may step-in ko."

bugares - ?

akusbil so lupa to - akumpil?; di maipinta ang mukha?; pouting?

maraskal - masaol?; madaya?

enteremis / intirimis? - a variant of malandi (as heard in Brgy. Amanperez)

atiki - (Tagalog?); got hit in that painful, jerking way characterized by an electrical sensation; Example: "Ay agi, atiki ak!"

maalinyada - mapostura; (English?) Example: "Ay agmo kabat man? Ama'y biin maalinyada met ey?"

manmumutik - Tagalog?; lazing? (English)

kalamor - kahit papano; (English?); Example: "Atan so racket ko nen saman kalamor."

kuwan - kuno (Tagalog); (English?);

mata'n singa abot na alkansya - eyes like the hole of a piggy bank; singkit; slit-eyed

singa abot na kuweba - like the hole of a cave; used to describe unusually large nostrils

inka-karigatan - ? ; Example: "Inka-karigatan kon mangliw na uniform na anako anggano angapo lay siraen mi."

 

abiti-bitil -  sabik na sabik