ANGELES CITY – The Kapampangan region has a new Ari ning Parnaso (King of Poets) and he promised to usher a “new era in Amanung Sisuan (native language).”
“Ing asasabi cu mu , ya pin ing modernu ya ing panlalawe cu king Bayung Parnaso. Para canacu, e ya cabud na mu carangalan a tinggap macapauli ra ding minuna cu nang agawa, nune metung yang tungculan ban manibat ngeni gawan cu ing anggang agyu cu para king pangasagip na ning malulumud tamung amanung sisuan (I have a modern view of the role of the New Parnassus. For me, this is not only an honor for my previous works but a responsibility which I must do to the best I can to save our dying language),” Renato Bonus Alzadon said by email to this correspondent from Maryland, Virginia on Tuesday.
A native of Aranguren in Capas, Tarlac, Alzadon works as a director of a behavior health program in Maryland.
Fourteen poets laureate elected him on Saturday as the successor of Vedasto Ocampo who died last June.
Like his predecessors Ocampo, Jose Gallardo and Amado Yuzon, the 58-year-old Alzadon will keep the title—and do the task of articulating the noblest ideals of the Kapampangan race—for life.
“Pablasang metung ya pin tungcul, inya ibubu ke ing metung a malino administrasyun. Manibat canacu, king Princepe, caring Casangguni, Cawal ning amanu, angga na caring capatad tamu caring miyaliwang suluc ding baryu, mica atin ta ngan malino tungcul, a tutuc tamung gampanan ban keta lumabung yang pasibayu ing amanu tamung sisuan (I shall offer a clear program. It shall see me, the Prince of Poets (Romeo Rodriguez), the council of poets, cultural workers down to our people in the villages having clear directions so that our language will be revived),” he said.
“The footprints that I want to leave in the history of our language are not only my poems but how I, as the New Parnassus, stood up to lead with a perspective for the future,” Alzadon added.
He will be home for his coronation on August 28 in time for the Aldo ning Amanung Sisuan (Day of the Native Languague).
SOLEMN
Conscious of their social and cultural roles, the poets laureate shielded the selection process from controversy and doubts by adhering to a tradition of consensus and respect, according to Robby Tantingco, executive director of the Holy Angel University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies.
The CKS assisted the poets laureate in designing and conducting the election process. It also involved the Angeles University Foundation, another avid advocate of Kapampangan culture and language through the late Dr. Evangelina Hilario-Lacson.
After four rounds of voting that took three hours and under the keen watch of observers, they emerged from the election chamber laughing like they just birthed a new child.
As they wanted it, the election was done with full dignity befitting poets laureate.
Led by the Sibul ding Poeta (Spring of Poets) Dr. Tec Sanchez-Tolosa, master of ceremony Josie Henson and observers Fray Francis Musni and Andrea Gatchalian, the poets laureate and their authorized representatives walked quietly to the camara (voting room) in a single file at 10 a.m. Young musicians played the violins, filling the hall with the folk song “Atin ku pung Singsing (I Have a Ring).”
Tolosa unlocked the door of the room after she read a poem of Ocampo, locking the door again after the poets settled on their seats.
On the table were a Bible and three hurna (boxes) for official ballots that are blank, filled-up or read and counted.
After Henson, chair of the Akademyang Kapampangan, made a roll call, the poets laureate recited an oath that invoked God’s guidance and truth in their duty to elect the next king.
KINDRED SPIRITS
Before dropping the ballots in the box, the poets laureate called on the kindred spirits of Ocampo, Amado Yuzon and Jose Gallardo to stand as witnesses in their voting.
The four voting rounds came up with the same results over and over again, with Alzadon taking seven votes; Romeo Rodriquez, five; and Frank Guintu, three.
Reporters saw them openly debating about their choices in between breaks. The representatives of United States-based poets laureate like Alzadon went back and forth to the next room to use computers to consult via the Internet.
Unable to reach the previously agreed two-thirds-plus-one-votes (11 in all), Henson said that after the fourth round, the poets laureate decided to settle for the majority’s choice, Alzadon. They also named Rodriguez as prince. The last decision was not entirely new. In Gallardo’s case, he picked his own second-in-command, said Rodriguez.
FARMER’S SON
Alzadon is an entirely different breed from the previous kings.
While Yuzon, Gallardo and Ocampo performed in Crissotan (public events where extemporaneous metered or free verse poems were recited) and used local radio after the post-war era to bring the magic of poetry to all and sundry, Alzadon has been using the power of the Internet to bring his poetry to young and old Kapampangans in the country and overseas.
He learned to write and recite poems through his father, a poet himself.
Tantingco considers Alzadon as the most prolific Kapampangan to date. “Almost daily, he posts new poems on the Internet. His works are not difficult to read and they’re beautiful to read and hear,” Tantingco said.
Aside from coming in between breaks from work, Alzadon has published 117 of his poems in his book “Kasapunggul a Sampaga (A Bouquet of Flowers).
Very perceptive, he writes about his daily encounters, friends, family, nature, language, history and social issues
In the preface of that book, Ernesto Turla, founder and president of the Academia ning Amanung Sisuan International, wrote in Kapampangan: “I hope that as you read his poems, you can fully comprehend his messages and restore in your hearts your love for our country and regain the self-respect from out of the government’s neglect of our country.”
“Ing asasabi cu mu , ya pin ing modernu ya ing panlalawe cu king Bayung Parnaso. Para canacu, e ya cabud na mu carangalan a tinggap macapauli ra ding minuna cu nang agawa, nune metung yang tungculan ban manibat ngeni gawan cu ing anggang agyu cu para king pangasagip na ning malulumud tamung amanung sisuan (I have a modern view of the role of the New Parnassus. For me, this is not only an honor for my previous works but a responsibility which I must do to the best I can to save our dying language),” Renato Bonus Alzadon said by email to this correspondent from Maryland, Virginia on Tuesday.
A native of Aranguren in Capas, Tarlac, Alzadon works as a director of a behavior health program in Maryland.
Fourteen poets laureate elected him on Saturday as the successor of Vedasto Ocampo who died last June.
Like his predecessors Ocampo, Jose Gallardo and Amado Yuzon, the 58-year-old Alzadon will keep the title—and do the task of articulating the noblest ideals of the Kapampangan race—for life.
“Pablasang metung ya pin tungcul, inya ibubu ke ing metung a malino administrasyun. Manibat canacu, king Princepe, caring Casangguni, Cawal ning amanu, angga na caring capatad tamu caring miyaliwang suluc ding baryu, mica atin ta ngan malino tungcul, a tutuc tamung gampanan ban keta lumabung yang pasibayu ing amanu tamung sisuan (I shall offer a clear program. It shall see me, the Prince of Poets (Romeo Rodriguez), the council of poets, cultural workers down to our people in the villages having clear directions so that our language will be revived),” he said.
“The footprints that I want to leave in the history of our language are not only my poems but how I, as the New Parnassus, stood up to lead with a perspective for the future,” Alzadon added.
He will be home for his coronation on August 28 in time for the Aldo ning Amanung Sisuan (Day of the Native Languague).
SOLEMN
Conscious of their social and cultural roles, the poets laureate shielded the selection process from controversy and doubts by adhering to a tradition of consensus and respect, according to Robby Tantingco, executive director of the Holy Angel University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies.
The CKS assisted the poets laureate in designing and conducting the election process. It also involved the Angeles University Foundation, another avid advocate of Kapampangan culture and language through the late Dr. Evangelina Hilario-Lacson.
After four rounds of voting that took three hours and under the keen watch of observers, they emerged from the election chamber laughing like they just birthed a new child.
As they wanted it, the election was done with full dignity befitting poets laureate.
Led by the Sibul ding Poeta (Spring of Poets) Dr. Tec Sanchez-Tolosa, master of ceremony Josie Henson and observers Fray Francis Musni and Andrea Gatchalian, the poets laureate and their authorized representatives walked quietly to the camara (voting room) in a single file at 10 a.m. Young musicians played the violins, filling the hall with the folk song “Atin ku pung Singsing (I Have a Ring).”
Tolosa unlocked the door of the room after she read a poem of Ocampo, locking the door again after the poets settled on their seats.
On the table were a Bible and three hurna (boxes) for official ballots that are blank, filled-up or read and counted.
After Henson, chair of the Akademyang Kapampangan, made a roll call, the poets laureate recited an oath that invoked God’s guidance and truth in their duty to elect the next king.
KINDRED SPIRITS
Before dropping the ballots in the box, the poets laureate called on the kindred spirits of Ocampo, Amado Yuzon and Jose Gallardo to stand as witnesses in their voting.
The four voting rounds came up with the same results over and over again, with Alzadon taking seven votes; Romeo Rodriquez, five; and Frank Guintu, three.
Reporters saw them openly debating about their choices in between breaks. The representatives of United States-based poets laureate like Alzadon went back and forth to the next room to use computers to consult via the Internet.
Unable to reach the previously agreed two-thirds-plus-one-votes (11 in all), Henson said that after the fourth round, the poets laureate decided to settle for the majority’s choice, Alzadon. They also named Rodriguez as prince. The last decision was not entirely new. In Gallardo’s case, he picked his own second-in-command, said Rodriguez.
FARMER’S SON
Alzadon is an entirely different breed from the previous kings.
While Yuzon, Gallardo and Ocampo performed in Crissotan (public events where extemporaneous metered or free verse poems were recited) and used local radio after the post-war era to bring the magic of poetry to all and sundry, Alzadon has been using the power of the Internet to bring his poetry to young and old Kapampangans in the country and overseas.
He learned to write and recite poems through his father, a poet himself.
Tantingco considers Alzadon as the most prolific Kapampangan to date. “Almost daily, he posts new poems on the Internet. His works are not difficult to read and they’re beautiful to read and hear,” Tantingco said.
Aside from coming in between breaks from work, Alzadon has published 117 of his poems in his book “Kasapunggul a Sampaga (A Bouquet of Flowers).
Very perceptive, he writes about his daily encounters, friends, family, nature, language, history and social issues
In the preface of that book, Ernesto Turla, founder and president of the Academia ning Amanung Sisuan International, wrote in Kapampangan: “I hope that as you read his poems, you can fully comprehend his messages and restore in your hearts your love for our country and regain the self-respect from out of the government’s neglect of our country.”
