Pangasinan subol

By Marifi Jara

They are the isko at iska from Pangasinan, living in Baguio for the meantime. That’s short for “iskolar ng bayan”, a moniker for students studying within the University of the Philippines (UP) System.

And they are not forgetting their roots even as they move out of their Pangasinan nests to harvest an education from the country’s prime public tertiary academic institution. Members of the UP Subol Society in Baguio, in fact, endeavor to promote Pangasinan culture, which is why they eagerly took the opportunity to stage an exhibit during this month’s celebration of Buwan ng Wika with the theme “Maraming wika, Matatag na bansa”.

This theme reflects a major shift in our country’s language policy; a positive swing from the old “Isang Bansa, Isang Wika”. We are a multi-lingual and multi-cultural society, a reality that we can turn into a strength only if we begin to recognize and understand it. Then we can move onto promoting respect and pride in that diversity.

Dagupeña Fe May Dulay, president of the Subol Society in Baguio, said this is the first time ever, as far as she knows, that their group has been able to mount a Pangasinan exhibit in connection with the annual wika celebration. Thanks, of course, to the new language direction initiated by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language).

Members of the UP Baguio Subol Society busy preparing for
their Buwan ng Wika exhibit promoting Pangasinan culture.

UP Baguio also supports the promotion of the various Philippine languages, recognizing that these vernaculars actually enrich Filipino, the national language. Dean Elizabeth Calinawagan of the College of Arts and Communication, in her speech during the opening of the Buwan ng Wika celebration, said literary writing in the vernaculars is one important means of the enrichment process.

Part of  Subol’s exhibit are the past winning entries in the Essay and Poem Writing Contest that they hold during the annual Padunungan, the biggest activity  undertaken by the organization with the combined efforts of the group based in UP Diliman and that in Baguio.

The Padunungan started in 1977, the same year Subol Baguio was established following Subol’s birth in Diliman in 1975, as a quiz show for elementary and high school students. The event, designed to encourage academic and creative excellence among Pangasinense students, has since blossomed to include contests on photography, poster-making, song-writing, on-the-spot junk art, and extemporaneous speech.

Preparations are ongoing for  Padunungan 2007: “Metamorphose, level UP!”, scheduled on October 25-26 at the Macario Ydia Development Center in Mangaldan, and Fe May, a journalism major, said they are hopeful that Governor Amado Espino Jr. will give them the same support as that extended by former Governor Victor Agbayani, an alumnus of UP Subol.

Alongside the exhibit, the group is also selling Pangasinan delicacies (like the popular Calasiao puto) and the proceeds will be used to buy books about Pangasinense writers to be donated to the UP Baguio library.

Also, Subol, in cooperation with the UP Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity, is conducting the “Ditto Sarmiento Essay Writing Contest” with the theme “Kung hindi tayo, sino? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan?: The role of campus journalism in social change”. High school and college students in Pangasinan can submit their entries until October 10. For more details, contact Rowell (09204251751) or Charina (09159420902) or visit www.alphaphibeta.org.

Apart from promoting Pangasinan culture, the Subol members’ primary goal is to serve their home province.  “Our aim is to bring back service to Pangasinan,” said Fe May.

And she adds, “Mabila-bilay so Subol! Inarok ya!”

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/)

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