Karlo Antonio Galay-David

In this paper, I attempt to bring four short stories by diaspora writer Erwin Cabucos back to the province of North Cotabato, where Cabucos hails from and where the stories are set. The endeavour is intended to give greater local significance to the literature of the province, seeing how it can be part of local discourse. I join three other readers from different parts of the province in a focus group discussion to scrutinize the stories, both in their writing and their depiction of our province, before reflecting on the impact they would have on the understanding of the people within and outside North Cotabato. The stories read are "The Bleached Hills of Cotabato", "Drinking Rio Grande de Mindanao, "Give us this day," and "The Long Road to Asik Asik'. The readers gave detailed formalist critique of the stories, particularly raising questions about the use of language, dialogue, and character development. They also raise concerns about the many shortcomings in verisimilitude, the inaccuracies and the distortions which may end up being mistaken for accurate truths as the stories are framed as works of Social Realism. They note that invented culture and local detail may be believed as factual by those outside the province, and non-issues that Cabucos chooses to focus on may gain more attention than the province's actual major issues. The position of Cabucos' stories in the discourse of North Cotabato is then questioned, with the readers finding that, due to their lack of any "celebration of strength or call to action," and to its merely reinforcing extant stereotypes of the province, the stories will have little positive impact on the better understanding of North Cotabato and its emerging collective identity. In order to make sense of his fiction's detachment from locale, Cabucos is then briefly studied from the lens of a diaspora Mindanao Settler writer, and I conclude in the paper that his distortions, rather than judged failed portrayals, are better appreciated as attempts at portraying, and demonstrations of the effects of detachment from locale.

This paper was first published in Manila Tagalog as ‘Naliligaw Patungong Hilagang Cotabato: Paglulunan sa Lalawigang Cotabato sa Katha ni Erwin Cabucos’ (as translated by Christian Jil Benitez) in Katipunan: Journal ng mga Pag‑aaral sa Wika, Panitikan, Sining at Kulturang Filipino, Vol. 8, December, 2021. Ateneo de Manila University. https://ajol.ateneo.edu/katipunan

The Mindanao Settler: few collective identities are as complicated and yet as poorly introspected upon and discussed. Marginalized in the National narrative while paradoxically also guilty of sociocultural oppression in the land of our birth, the Settler's condition is at once archetypal of the problematique of the Filipino identity and uniquely positioned in the turbulent discourse of Mindanao.

This essay seeks to look into the complications of Mindanao discourse, and see where a positive Settler identity can be asserted.

A brief survey ofLiterary Criticism in the classical Japanese repertoire, and a descriptive analysis of three seminal works: The Preface to the Kokin Washu attributed to Ki no Tsurayuki; The Maigetsusho by Fujiwara no Teika; and the Naniwa Miyage by Chikamatsu Monzaemon

The present thesis aimed to explore the possibilities of using Davao Filipino, the variety of Filipino spoken in the Mindanao areas of Kidapawan and Davao, as a literary medium, and of the implications to using it in this manner. Specifically, it aimed to determine: how DF could be linguistically described; how DF can be used as a literary language; and in what communicative contexts, as replicated in fiction and plays, DF can be used. The discussion of existing literature relating to the subject medium, the production of literary works, and the discussion of these same works provide answers to these questions.
It was determined that Davao Filipino is the result of the linguistic diversity in Mindanao and serves as a potent tool for the de-Tagalization of Filipino. Furthermore, it was defined as the Tagalog based inadvertent language contact spoken on a first language basis in Davao and Kidapawan, and features borrowings that are predictable. It was further determined that writing in DF presents both difficulties and advantages: the fact that it is a primarily spoken medium means there is a need to grow more accustomed to using it in writing, but the variety’s nature as language contact provided for elegant variation and terminological precision, allowed for preservation of idiom and figure of speech authentic to the locale, and its colloquial origins allow for free indirect speech in third person narration. The expressive limitations of DF’s colloquial origins could also be taken advantage of in first person narration, stream of consciousness, and in dialogue. Its social implications, vis-à-vis the other languages—and other forms of language contact—spoken in its locale can also be used to authentically represent social backgrounds. Translating in DF—particularly for third person limited narration—made the narration more intimate because of DF’s predominant usage in speech. Moreover, DF could be used in a wide array of communicative contexts, ranging from casual conversations, to expressions of fear, love, and hatred. Its usage as a third person omniscient narration medium or as medium for stage instructions was not impossible, although this study pointed out the novelty in such usages. But its usage in formal public speaking contexts was observed to be problematic owing to the conventions of that field, which favoured the standard Tagalog. Five short stories and seven plays written by the researcher are included in the study.

The reading of texts in the Philippines has been largely content based, using approaches that focus on a particular sociopolitical bias. It is in this situation that Regional writers are marginalized in Philippine literary criticism: standards and priorities in Luzon are sought from all texts, thus giving ascendancy to texts from Luzon in the arena of National Literature. To demonstrate the point, Leoncio P. Deriada, arguably the leading Regional writer, is poorly studied and anthologized in spite of his being one of the most decorated writers in the country. This study therefore aimed both to give voice to this marginalized giant and to bring in a new, socio-politically unbiased wind into literary criticism in the Philippines. It aimed to use stylistics, an approach which emphasized on the language of literature in evaluating the text’s merits, on two of his short stories, namely “For Death is Dead in December” and “Lunacy.” The study particularly sought instances of foregrounding – the parts of the text that stylistically stand out, and observe how they affect the meaning of the texts. The study revealed three tendencies in both stories: the non-use of quotation marks in dialogue to lend the texts a stream of consciousness quality; the repetition of phonemes to lend the text a vocal quality and to produce sound to the images being described; and semantic deviation in the form of metaphor, to facilitate metonymy and to create the image of madness. Deriada’s texts are ripe with foregrounding, and his text can be described as being stylistically rich. The stories studied would be good material for the teaching of literary form.

A collection of short stories set in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato, Six Kidapawan Short Stories is most likely the first compilation of Kidapawan Fiction ever to be made. The collection includes both unpublished and internationally printed stories, written within a period of over ten years. The stories were compiled to make the author's works of fiction more accessible, specially to the people of Kidapawan for whom they were written. They were particularly gathered with intention of helping students of literature (specially local literature in Senior High School), with each story accompanied by guide questions which would enrich both discussions of the story in class and the enjoyment and introspection of the more casual reader.

This is a compilation of documents important to understanding the local history of Kidapawan City, with annotations to highlight the implications of key items in the texts. It contains Executive Orders, Republic Acts, Excerpts from the Minutes of the Municipal Council Sessions and from other historical and anthropological references. This annotated bibliography is published under the auspices of the Kidapawan City Government.