The Eastern Samar Community Blog

Poet Andrea Sagaoinit, whom others consider as the “Iroy ha Pagsurat han Kinaiyahan,” approaches education with reverence. Her literary craft seldom, if not always, brings to mind the magnitude and value of pursuing studies, be that formal or informal. In spite of losing the main theme of her poetry in Waray, Andring – as she is fondly called by her family, neighbors, and friends – persists, without hesitation, to bring up the issue of education.

Speaking in a hortatory voice, Andring’s siday* incessantly reminds the old folks and the youth to give a higher level of importance to education. It is the principal responsibility, however, of the elderly to provide all the needs and support for the learning of the kabataan. In Halad han Kabataan, for instance, she speaks with command toward the parents:

An kabataan aton kalipayan
An kabataan aton ginlalaoman
Kay unina ha urhi masaliwan…

Due to the addressee’s predestined age and death, the young people must be molded according to the dictates of culture – that is, the practice of utang-nga-kaburut-on. Parents have the social task, as it appears to be a custom, to raise and nurture their offspring so as to be raised and nurtured by them in return in due course of time. In the ordinary line “An kabataan aton ginlalaoman” perhaps resonates to Jose Rizal’s infamous saying. And like Rizal, Andring sees a brighter future of the nation through the role of formal education to the youth.

Andring is aware of the poverty and crisis that perpetually confront the Waray society. She articulated in “Ha Sinirangan” about the effects of exploiting the rich natural resources in our island to the detriment of the kabataan in particular and the populace in general:

Kairo han aton Kabataan
Kon wara na ibayad han iskoylahan
Masasayang la an ira pag-aram
Kairo hini nga bungto han Borongan

She is referring perhaps to the economic danger (i.e., losing the livelihood of the fisher folks and farmers) as a consequent to the dying state of the seas, rivers, trees, and mountains due to illegal mining and water pollution. Most Waray people are simple fishermen and farm laborers, this Andring knows, thus the destruction of the earth caused by the modern world is the destruction of everything that breathes.

And in order to ameliorate one’s living amidst the cruelty of modernity, the hope is within the youth’s upbringing and education under the critical eyes of the righteous old folks. In Ha Maupay la, Matam-is an Kadaugan, she argues the necessity to teach the youth a good sense of character and citizenry through an example.

Para an tam-is han kadaugan ungod-ungod,
Masaplit nga diri makakalimtan
Maupay nga tutdo para han kabataan.

The school constituents have got to help in facilitating the youth’s full learning. Andring reminisces the thumbnail history of Sabang Elementary School in “An Am Eskoylahan ha Sabang” with this statemental verse:

Ini nga Sabang nga nahimo diri
Gud malilimutan bisan san-o.

She narrates – I cannot distinguish between the poet and the persona in Sagaoinit’s poetry since her poetic tradition, if there exist such a sort, is similar to public speaking – the beginning of building the Sabang’s school out of debris and rubbles, “Pagtikang hini nga iskoylahan/Makurian kabataan kay ini/Duok han katubigan…” Tough as it may seem in establishing and improving its physical structure, the proponents still were able to successfully construct the said primary school. The following descriptive and direct lines describe how it was realized:

Ini buburoligan ngan tatabunan
Basi diri na makuri an dalan
Damo ini an nagsurusaliwan

The society as a whole, according to Andring, is accountable to the youth’s current state and future. The government institutions, church people, civil society, academe, and ordinary civilians ought to offer and impart a decent and humane atmosphere of learning for the youth’s development and potential. In An Gugma Magpadayon, she talks of unity among the members of society:

An gugma ano an tigaman
Bisan an magkuri aton pagbubuligan
Kay an pagkaurosa han maupay nga mga larang han iskoylahan…

Many of Sagaoinit’s Waray poems contains rewritten theme away from the main theme. At the expense of sacrificing the aesthetic of Andring’s siday, she attempts to emphasize the numerous messages in her single craft than the craft itself. Like other radio poetry in Waray – where Andring is identified to the radio poets – her siday are largely didactic, moralizing, and propagandistic. Despite the limitations of Sagaoinit’s poetic process, her literary works voice out, if not recount, the collective thinking, knowledge, and culture of the society and time she had lived in.

* The wordings of Andring’s siday are maintained as written in Jonas Palada’s Hingyap except for certain alteration of spelling.