Notes on Santiago Villafania

 

Notes on Sonny

 

I've known Santiago Villafania from way, way back, when yahoogroups were the thing. I am not sure what year that was, but go figure. Strangely, I never met him in person. But we were often in communication through whatever was the in thing at the moment.

 

As "struggling writers," we were active in the Pinoywriters yahoogroups where we met all sorts of wonderful writers like Inez (now an Ateneo prof and Inquirer columnist too), et al. I learned that he kept a Pangasinan poetry blog called "Dalityapi" and he taught a subject at EAC (also known as Emilio Aguinaldo College) in Manila and was also into IT stuff there.

 

I was more into essays and a lot of ranting in my old blog, and not much into poetry, so I largely ignored his work since formal and poetic Pangasinan language was alien to me, as I was only fluent at it in colloquial conversations, which is a much-watered down version of the language. I was also wary that, if I didn't understand a certain word in his poem, I would surely fail to appreciate the poem in its entirety, for what is poetry if not "the creation of a new language"?

 

From e-groups to blogs, we exchanged honest notes about writing, until the time Facebook became the new thing, which was basically more of the same thing. While I remained largely unknown, Sonny, as we writers called him, rose steadily like the sun rising not just in the writerly world but in the exclusive literati world, not in Pangasinan, but in Manila. I marveled at how he got to be on first name basis with the stars in that, um, "literary firmament" (I must've stolen the phrase from somewhere).

 

I never expected that a poet working in such a largely misunderstood regional language, often denigrated to dialect position and, worse, often confused with Ilocano, could capture the attention of Manila's bunch of high-profile writers.

 

One day, I would encounter his poems in, of all places, fellow Bayambangueño Christopher Gozum's award-winning and history-making indie film, "Anacbanua," the first full-length film on Pangasinan and in the Pangasinan language.

 

I was of course, even more incredulous when Sonny, the Pangasinense, penetrated the global arena with his poems. Di na siya maabot lalo!

 

I would learn, much, much later, that no less than the Pangasinan provincial government would take notice, thus bestowing him the province's highest recognition, the Asna Award.

 

And yet, he was humble enough to comment on my posts here and there and answer my queries whenever I asked anything related to Pangasinan and the Pangasinan language.

 

When our LGU, in cooperation with other entities, launched the Bayambang Culture Mapping Project around 2019, Villafania was such a big help. Together with his fellow Pangasinan poet Melchor Orpilla, they shared freely whatever they knew about anything related to our local culture despite not being from our town. (Villafania is from Sta. Barbara, and Orpilla, Alaminos). After all, we are all Pangasinans sharing mostly the same cultural heritage. The difference was, many of us working on the project didn't know so many things about who we are, or were, or about what we've been through collectively as a culture. We are, therefore, deeply indebted to him and Orpilla, because their knowledge on the subject, despite their youngish age, was not something to sneeze at. (We logically expected those knowledge to come from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s set instead.)

 

Sonny's sudden demise is, therefore, shocking and saddening. It felt like we lost a major resource person, a generous soul at that, in such a strange, rude, because traumatically disorienting way: overnight and without the slightest warning.

 

I may not understand Sonny's poetry well (though I'm beginning to), but it is clear to me where his heart lies when it comes to his beloved Pangasinan and Pangasinan literature: in the right place.

 

May he rest in peace.