Region 6

Hiligaynon Literature

Hiligaynon is the lingua franca of the West Visayas in Central Philippines. Politically labeled Region 6,
West Visayas is composed of the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique and Aklan on the island of Panay;
Negros Occidental, the western half of the island of Negros; and the new island-province of
Guimaras which used to be a sub-province of Iloilo.

Purely oral, West Visayan literature before the coming of the Spaniards was in Kinaray-a which must
have been the language in folk literature of the ten Bornean datus who, according to the folk
account of the Maragtas,got the island of Panay from the aboriginal Ati in exchange for a headgear
of gold and a necklace that touched the ground.

Folk literature ranges from brief riddles, proverbs, ditties, ritual chants to elaborate love songs,
tales and extensive epics. A poem is called binalaybay and the tale is the asoy or the sugilanon.

The paktakon is a riddle while the hurubaton is a proverb. Both are usually in two lines and
rhymed.

Folksongs may be as simple as the ili-ili or lullaby or as intricate as the ambahan, a long song
alternately sung by a soloist and a chorus; the siday which can be a long poetic joust between two
paid poets respectively representing the two families in a marriage suit (siday sa pamalaye); or a
balitaw, a jocose love song sung in a debating manner by a man and a woman.

The asoy may be a legend or a tale about a folk hero or a local happening. Foremost among the
Panay epics are the Labaw Donggon and the Hinilawod.

Ritual chants are delivered by the babaylan or healer to please the diwata or supernatural beings
or spirits in exchange for good health and luck in the home and the fields during planting and harvest
seasons.

The coming of the Spaniards and the conversion of the people to Christianity produced new
forms of folk literature. Written literature also started, first with translations of Spanish texts of
prayers and lives of the saints.

Religious literature flourished during the Spanish times.

The establishment of Imprenta La Panayana in Iloilo City late in the nineteenth century by a
Bicolano, Mariano Perfecto, engineered written Hiligaynon literature. With his Pasyon, novenas and
corridos, Perfecto published Almanake Panayanhon (Panayan Almanac), the all-time Hiligaynon best-
seller. Almanake, which published literary works by most of the early Hiligaynon writers, is still being
published today by the Perfecto heirs.

The coming of the Americans saw the so-called Golden Age of Hiligaynon literature even if the
orientation was still heavily Spanish– didactic and Roman Catholic though strongly nationalistic.

The relatively short period from the 1920’s to the coming of the Japanese is considered the Golden
Age which produced many writers and artists in literature. The establishment of Hiligaynon
magazine by Liwayway Publications in Manila and of the Makinaugalingon Press by Rosendo Mejica
in Iloilo City further strengthened Hiligaynon literature.

The establishment of Yuhum magazine in Iloilo City by La Defensa Press and of the short-lived
Kasanag by Diolosa Publications, kept literature not only alive but strong. The influence of English
literature, especially in the short story, became pronounced in the 1960’s when Hiligaynon writers
became more aware of formalist guidelines like characterization, local color and irony.

Yuhum stopped publication in the sixties and resumed during Martial law. Hiligaynon closed during
Martial law and resurrected in 1989.

The Cory Revolution of 1986 is an important milestones in the history of Hiligaynon literature.
Because of the new management of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the creation of the
Presidential Commission for Culture and the Arts which later became the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts, new writing and new writers have been born. The CCP and the NCCA have
become truly the people’s patrons of the arts by paving the way for the creation of regional and
local art councils, providing writing grants to writers of marginalized languages, supporting
workshops and publications and conferring awards. Competitions likewise have had their share in
the ferment of new writing. Most significant is the inclusion of the Hiligaynon short story, alongside
that of Cebuano and Iluko, in the Palanca Awards since 1997.

The Cory Revolution has also ushered in these historical landmarks in the literature of West
Visayas:

The emergence of Kinaray-a writing;

The emergence of Aklanon writing;

The emergence of writing in Filipino which is Visayan-based;

The ferment of campus writing in these languages;

The emergence of multilingual writing in the region.

Important young writers in West Visayas today include: Hiligaynon– Alicia Tan-Gonzales, Peter
Solis Nery, Edgar Siscar, Resurreccion Hidalgo, Alfredo Siva, Alain Russ Dimzon; Kinaray-a — Ma.
Milagros C. Geremia Lanchica, Alex C. de los Santos, John Iremil E. Teodoro, Jose Edison C. Tondares,
Maragtas S. V. Amante, Ma. Felicia Flores; Aklanon –– Melchor F. Cichon, Alexander C. de Juan, John
E. Barrios.

All these writers are either bilingual or multilingual. It should also be understood that West
Visayas has produced a big number of writers in English and a few very good writers in Spanish, but
they are not included here.

An article from Rappler tackles the life of a write named Pio Apil. At the age of 84, Pio Apil is still in
love with writing prose and poetry in Hiligaynon. He is one of the oldest writers for Hiligaynon
Magazine. He has a profound love for Iloilo and our local language. Consequently, he has been
writing almost every day since he was 9 years old. Even during the Martial Law years when
Hiligaynon Magazine stopped circulating, he kept on writing. He never stopped penning down his
reflections, melancholia, loss, imaginary lives and worlds. To him, it is not that important if no one’s
reading the poems, the novelettes, the comic strips and the short stories he has woven. The intimacy
he shares with the paper and the ink makes him feel so alive; so meaningful. And it’s all that matters
to him. At 14, he reached grade four. At 18, he started writing about romance. At 21, he finally got
published in his school paper when he reached high school. He wrote his thoughts on a notebook.
He scribbled what his young mind could touch. He wrote so much about daily life and nature. He
spent most of those years being with cows. Being a bakero (cow herder) helped him and his family
afford school. During the Second World War, he looked after 7 cows in exchange for 7 sacks of palay.

Here is one of Pio Apil's work:

IGSUSULAT
by Pio Apil
“Sa hagunoy sang malum-ok
nga dupoy sang hangin
nga nagapaibok sang
akon inugsulat,
ginahanduraw kong
kapintas sang
panagubilin
sang paghigugma nga sa
saad indi dapat.”
—
“In the blowing of the
Soft breeze
which makes my composition
breathe,
I can imagine the
cruelty of the last
words of the love
that is untrue
to the vow.”
Pio Apil won several Hiligaynon short story writing contests in his career. He was also a part of
Patubas, an Anthology of West Visayan Poetry, 1986-1994.