In Ilocano, the translaton is: Idi un-unana nga panawen.
Long ago and far away, my maternal grandparents, who lived next door in one compound, had a subscription of Bannawag (Dawn in English) Magazine. It was a gift of my aunt’s suitor, whom she later married. No, it was not a bribe.
A bit of a background: Bannawag features serialized novels/comics, short stories, poetry, essays, news features, and entertainment news, and was founded on November 3, 1934. The first issue had a production run of 10,000 copies and sold for 10 centavos each. It is still in circulation today, 80 years later.
It was one of my early reading fares every week when the rolled magazine was thrown by the mailman into my grandparents’ porch. I took the liberty of unrolling and reading it before they could. I would alternate Bannawag with the English storybooks sent regularly by an uncle in the US and our Encyclopedia Britannica.
I had totally forgotten about Bannawag until a dear friend, Luis (a multi-awarded prolific writer in Filpino), featured my book “Dump Truck in My Heart” in Liwayway magazine, one of the Filipino publications he writes for. And memories came rushing back.
Bannawag is published by Liwayway Publications, Inc.
So, do I write in Ilocano?
To my shame and embarrassment, I can’t. It was not taught in school and it was just a weekly fare. But English literature was within easy reach daily. In my time, although we spoke Ilocano at home, English was the medium of instruction and before I could warm up to Filipino in my four-year stay at the University of the Philippines, I left for the US.
Back in the Philippines for good, I twisted Luis’ arm to teach me how to write in Filipino. But after editing my 5th draft, he gave up, “Grace, I suggest you stick to English.”
Ket ngarud kakabsat, kastan ti kasasaadko.
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