My Award Winning Song, “Magliwanag ka”
“Magliwanag ka sa Kadikloman (Be a light )
Mag-ilaw Ka sa Katahawan (In the midst of darkness)
Ipahiling mo an karahayan (Show your good deeds)
Sa mga tawo kan Kinaban” (to the whole world)
The Bikol Song entitled “Magliwanag Ka” became the third-prize winner masterpiece I had written at the 2nd Bikol Song Adaptation Festival, one of the events of Kaogma Festival labeled as the “Hottest Festival in the World. ”
It exhorted,
“Sarong Pamilya kita sa Dios (We are a family in the Lord)
Na may puso, may pagtubod (with a heart and faith)
Ipamibi ta sa kagurangnan (Let us pray to God)
An paglakaw sa katanosan (as we walk in righteousness)”
The song was performed by a cousin, National Music Competition for Young Artist (NAMCYA) Contender, and ABS-CBN Bikol TV Host/Newscaster Shiela Denina-Herras who received the “Best Interpreter Award.” Renowned singing priest and composer Father Lorenzo “Louan” Jarcia was the chairman of the board of judges. The abovementioned song writing competition was conducted in the Plaza Rizal, Naga City last May 22, 2000.
Despite the imminent threat of terrorism, the Bikolano artists were “Oragon”, a Bikol virtue for persistence and spirituality in the midst of hardships. “Orag” is the root word of Oragon and can be used as a noun or adjective. Being the only teen in the finalist group, when he exited the stage after accepting the honors, large audiences could be heard saying:
Maorag ka talaga! (You are good.)
Maoragon ka talaga! (You are the best.)
Nowadays, “Oragon” had been understood and used in a positive sense but needs to be redeemed beforehand in the contemporary world after being altered during the Spanish colonization. 2008 Philippine National Book, Premio Tomas Arejola, and 2009 Madrigal-Gonzales Best First Book Awardee Victor Dennis T. Nierva wrote, “In Sawikaan 2007, I presented the paper of the foremost Bikol historian (and now probably the world’s leading scholar of the 1521 conquest), Dr. Danilo Madrid Gerona. The title of his paper was ‘Orag as Bikol Virtue’ which elucidated as well as endorsed the resurrection of the original meaning and understanding of the Bikol word orag. Gerona’s paper meant to recover the recognition and acceptance that the word deserves after the Spanish colonizers bastardized its supposed noble definition” . The original meaning of “Orag” is “exceptional, valiant, fearless…and emerged unscathed and triumphant in sagas and adventure.” But the Spaniards made some changes, especially the friars who transformed it into “a spiteful, undesirable word, and eventually became no less than a signification for sin” . The term Oragon was reduced in Fray Marcos de Lisboa’s lexicon “into a person who is deshonesto o libidinoso—he could no longer be trusted, he was the thief, the covetous, the pervert, the master of immorality. The devil, perhaps, in Christian sense, was the most oragon of all.Gerona concluded his paper by sharing contemporary manifestations of recovery of orag‘s old meanings. He ended by articulating the evident resurging usage of the word orag, may it be deliberate or not, as an exemplary character and virtue of the Bikolanos… In Bikol literature, according to Santos, the brilliant writer is described or labeled as someone who is oragon. A person who masterfully performs tigsik is also an oragon because despite intoxication, he is able to maintain his way with sophisticated and heightened language on many things, he can still succeed in arguing using poetry, he can still roast or toast anyone, he can still censure even those who are in power.” The Bikol artists can empathize (nakikisama) in the suffering but have a courage (orag) in the midst of adversities- not just performing oragon in music and the arts but implanting the virtue as their identity. This song festival “enable people to leave their everyday lives for a short period of time and reflect at a distance upon the [Oragon] virtue, norms and constraints to which they are bound, or at the extreme, overstep the restraints and forge their own identity”.
When I was a young adolescent, I believed that becoming an oragon through shining your light as reflected on the song meant making people accept the Lord Jesus Christ and carrying out charitable deeds. But as I get older, I see that the song now also talks about battling systematic evil and corruption in Philippine society. I regularly testify in local trial courts as a defender of justice. I also informed the national government and its agencies about at least 20 private, gigantic banks and corporations that were corrupt and abusive.In spite the anxiety and stress it caused, I decided to keep it a secret from my fellow student officers. They were too young. I don’t want to add to their already heavy burden as student leaders.
In New Testament, agathosune is the greek word for goodness means a “virtue equipped at every point.” It is the kindness that “rebukes and discipline”. Jesus showed agathosune “when he cleansed the Temple and drove out those who were making it a bazaar.” The Filipino Self confronts others who is not doing the right thing, like a parents who discipline their children, and a friend who warns for making wrong choices. In society, the Filipino Self shows goodness and courage (lakas ng loob)when a person criticizes extra judicial killing (EJK), violation of human rights, and corruption in the government based from evidence based facts, not opinion. Late senator Jovito Salonga was asked why he left University teaching and pursued politics. He replied,
“It is partly because of a strong, deep seated conviction that I had no right— whatever to condemn or criticize the governance of public affairs—as I usually did—If I were not prepared or willing, in my own little way, to do something about it. How could I talk about the need of cleaning up the much talked about mess in the government unless I was prepared to disregard, for the moment, personal interests and get something done.”60
Makialam sa mga nangyayari sa lipunan(intermeddle in public concerns) for the common good. This is the reasons I founded a not- for- profit corporation, the International Center for Youth Development.
References
Breboneria, P. D. (2022, January 5). Utak Henyo 1.0: Personal leadership (unedited version). Peter Breboneria Official Website. https://peterbreboneria.com/utak-henyo-1-0-personal-leadership-unedited-version/
Breboneria, P. D. (2021, September 10). Performing Oragon in Bikol song festivals. Utak Henyo. https://utakhenyo.com/performing-oragon-in-bikol-song-festivals/
