JASPER GARVIDA’s iBangui roots confirmed

Today we got the final arbiter on Jasper Garvida’s roots!  Jennelle Garvida, Jasper’s very own sibling, left a comment on the earlier blog entry last month.  Here’s Jen’s comment in its entirety:

“First off, I want to thank you for this article. I am commenting to finally help resolve the roots of Jasper, my brother.

Roy Padre mentioned that the ones embracing and congratulating Jasper after he was announced the winner toward the end of the above video are his grandparents. That is an incorrect statement. Those are in fact our parents.

Roy is correct though in stating that Jasper’s dad is Modesto Agullana Garvida (from Bangui). Our mom Liza, hails from Solsona and Laoag from the Laureta and Marcos clan.

Prior to my family migrating to Canada, we were raised in Project 4, QC and had opportunities to visit our parents’ hometown and had visited relatives in Bangui, Pagudpud, Solsona and Laoag. From our childhood memories, we remember our heritage and of course our longing to someday visit Ilocos Norte soon.

Once again, thank you for your support.”

Frankly speaking, the first time I saw the videos on Jasper on YouTube, they reminded me of a few familiar faces from Bangui and I suspected right then and there that this phenom must have roots from there.

In any case, our heart swells with pride for Jasper.  Such as when an interviewer asked him:  “Apart from winning, what was your highlight on Project Catwalk?”  To which Jasper replied:  “For me the highlight was actually seeing my parents again after the show because I hadn’t seen them for such a long time and they hadn’t really seen what I’ve been doing and for me that was the biggest highlight.”

An erstwhile lecturer for fashion students at Havering College in London, Jasper has moved on, saying “it would be unfair for me not to give myself entirely to that job so I decided to stop teaching and just work in fashion at the moment.”  He revisited Alternative Fashion Week 2008 where, he admits, “it all started for me.”  He had his own collection featured on Oli Fashion (oli.co.uk).  Jasper, we are proud to note, is on an enviable trajectory in his life:  from iBangui roots to conquering a much grander international stage in haute couture.

Ania ngata a sanga ti saririt ti “pungpong ginabbong“?

Iti panagcunami, nalabit naan-annay met a panangpanunot ken panangamiris ti inaramat ti nangputar iti “Pungpong Ginabbong”.  Agsipud ta idi un-unana, no pungpongen (play with a baby by moving about its arms and legs, according to Carl Rubino’s dictionary) da ti ubing, agtalna daytoy wenno mairidep, no la ketdi saan a mabisin, wenno nabasa ti lamping na, wenno awan im-impenna.  Ammo met a di maawatan ti ubing a maladaga dagiti sasawen ti cancion, isu nga atapen mi a ti ayug ti addaan bilegna a mangandingay iti ubing.

Pinadasyo cadin a pinungpong ni baket wenno lacay yo cadagiti canito a dudua cayo ken sigurado cayo a nacabalunet diay ridaw ken tawa tapno awan agsirip?  Agtalna ngata ti nataengan a mapungpong a cas iti maladaga?  Wenno yepyepen santo casla matumba a nambaan a sumuco ken ni turog?  Siimenyo no ania ti ibunga daytoy cabayatan panangdengngeg yo a dua iti ayug ti “Pungpong Ginabbong”:

‘Tay la coma silaw a kinulding…

Dennis Posadas

Back in the late 1950’s when Bangui barrio folks like me still used the kingki (kerosene wicker lamp), or if you’re fortunate with some extra money, a Coleman gas lamp, to light the darkness, one of my aunts in Bangui went to Manila for the first time, stayed there for about a week.  When she came back home to Bangui where we didn’t have any electricity at the time (except, for instance, that huge lightning volt that killed my brother’s carabao instantly during a wicked thunderstorm one night in late summer), she and a bunch of neighbors were huddled around a bonfire of dried rice stalks one early cold morning when I distinctly heard my aunt, as she sucked one last gasp of smoke from her almost completely burnt out tobacco, ruefully said:  “‘Tay la coma silaw a kinulding…”  She was, of course, referring to the incandescent electric light bulb she saw in Tata Justo (Jose, Sr.) Padre’s house in Manila which she only had to flick the switch with her finger to turn it on or off.

Well, residents of Bangui eventually got the “silaw a kinulding” sometime in the late 60s and early 70s.  And to top it all, Banguinians are the first in the entire Philippines to have windmills along their shoreline to harness the awesome winds blowing in from the South China Sea and converting same into electricity which is pumped into the power grid.  And, of course, now the townsfolk can enjoy the benefits of a host of electric appliances and gadgets, such as refrigerators, electric fans, televisions, washing machines, stereos, computers, etc.

Solar Desk Fan

Now, if Dennis Posadas, former Intel engineer/analyst, prolific information technology author, columnist, blogger, and who is currently the Deputy Executive Director of the Philippines’ Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering, had his way, he would also have all those appliances and then some operated for FREE or almost FREE using solar power.  In “How the Philippines Can Be a Solar Power“, Posadas writes:  “The Philippines semiconductor and electronics industry, working closely with local universities, industries, and investors, can offer significant opportunities for innovation, particularly in solar energy applications development and manufacturing-process reengineering and optimization.”

The website home-solar-systems.com lists some of the most commonly used residential solar power applications. Such technology utilizes the heat coming from the sun for heating spaces and water. It can also be used for cooling spaces, ventilation, desalination, cooking and many other purposes.

The list of uses of solar power includes:  calculators with a small solar cell, solar battery chargers to recharge cell phones, Ipods, laptop computers and other small devices, solar panels known also as photovoltaic cells that transform the sun’s energy to electricity.  The more common use of solar power is of the residential variety–providing electricity for homes. In the latter case, solar panels are installed on the roof (photo at left) or on the ground and the electricity produced feeds a battery bank and an inverter providing 110 or 220 volts for the home. Other popular solar devices using solar technology are solar lights, solar fountains, solar pumps, solar refrigerators (ama, nalamlamuyot ngata ti ayus tay impalamiis a basi!), solar water heaters and solar fans. These products are now widely available and are a good example on how solar energy can be utilized to cut energy costs.

Ay wen, Ikit, dimo coma masapul ti mangipaburec iti danum a pangpatay ti lamiis diay nacabatia a pagbelnasmo. Wenno adda coma pagpaypaymo a paligpalig (solar fan) cadagiti calgaw a nadagaang.  Ken nasaysayaat nga amang ta awan baybayadam nga electric bill no daydiay coma solar light ti usarem a silaw a kinulding.

No dimo saluadan, amangan no malipatam ti ag-Ilocano

Cadagitoy napalabas nga aldaw, nakisinnucatac iti email ken ni Dr. Aurelio S. Agcaoili, tubo ti ciudad ti Laoag ken nagturpos iti University of the Philippines, premiado a mannurat, lider ti gunglo ti NAKEM, maysa cadagiti sagat nga adigi ti panangparang-ay iti Ilocano ken agdama a Coordinator ti Programa a Pagsasao ken Kur-itan nga Ilocano, Departamento dagiti Pagsasao ken Kur-itan nga Indo-Pacifica, Universidad ti Hawai’i iti Manoa:

Sunday, January 25, 2009, 11:23AM

Patgec nga Ariel:  Annugotec nga akikid ti focus ti blog co, ibangui.wordpress.com, isu ngarud nga umay ca man singaen ken ruroden bareng mapan mo usisaen no ania ti pagcurangan dagiti dua a naudi nga impaskin co sadiay.

Yamanec unay ti ania a criticism nga ipaaymo, Cabsat.

Agraem, —Manong Joe

Monday, January 26, 2009, 4:36PM

Patgek a Manong Joe:  Dinardarasko a sinirpat ti blogyo gapu ta ammoc nga adu ti maadal ken maagsaw.  Ket agpayso!  More, more!  —Ariel

Monday, January 26, 2009, 6:45PM

Dear Ariel:  Thanks for taking the time to humor me.  One thing I was painfully aware of was that the rhetoric was terribly inadequate.  I know you have more ammo in your arsenal.  By all means, let’s use ’em.

The all too enervating reality in what we are trying to do to save Ilocano is the crippling silence of a lot of our fellow Ilocanos who are in a position to see to it that we don’t witness the eventual, albeit slow demise of our language.  —Manong Joe

Monday, January 26, 2009, 7:09PM

Manong Joe:  Dayta ngarud, Apo Joe, ti pagsaksakitan ti nakem ti adu kadatayo iti daytoy a tignayan.  Dagiti pangnamnamaantayo a makatulong iti daytoy a tignayan, awanda.  Ngem ala, aramid daytoy a kultural, aramid a pulitical, ken aramid a kabulig ti ranget ken pannakiranget, iti man bukod a bagi, iti man kailian/kailokanuan, ken/wenno iti sabali pay. Sapay ta agballigitayo.

Maysa a panagsaludar kenca, —Ariel

Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 9:25AM

Patgec nga Ariel:  Kinaagpayso na, lacayacon ngem agsipud ta nabayagen a nagtaeng ditoy agdama nga ayanco, nairuamacon a maibilang a cadawyan wenno ordinario laeng (nga isu ti kinaagpaysona) isu nga agalumiimac nga awagam iti “Apo”.  Isu a pangngaasim ta isardengmo ti panangawagmo caniac iti “Apo”.  Caniac a maysa, ni Apo Dios laeng ti rebbengna a maawagan iti Apo.

I know that the move to invigorate Ilocano, such as envisioned in the Gunigundo Bill, requires funding.  However, being this poor rat, I can’t help much in that aspect.  So who can we turn to as our patrons who would not be squeamish about unloosing their power, influence and financial resources to keep the fight alive and kicking and focused laser-sharp to getting the desired results and eventually winning the fight for multilingual education?  Maybe your NAKEM group could come together and formulate a strategy focused on this Gunigundo Bill in particular and, in general, on placing Tagalog on an equal footing with the other major local languages such as Ilocano, Cebuano, Bicol, etc., CERTAINLY NOT as the favored language which is lording it over the other languages at such a costly sacrifice of losing these non-Tagalog languages forever–maybe not in our lifetime but forever any way such as we have witnessed happen with other languages that died.

In other words, here’s your chance, Ariel, to have your group fashion a formidable Ilocano language movement manifesto that has a backbone and muscle to bring about the needed results in much the same manner as the Tagalistas took advantage of the corridors of power to have Tagalog declared as the pseudo “national language”.  As I wrote you earlier, I really don’t mind having English as the national language, as indeed it is now constitutionally, being that it is is also the global lingua franca, and have the other local languages thrive equally with Tagalog in the spirit of the Gunigundo Bill.  Earlier in the mid 1900s, we relished the perception that we had the highest percentage of our population who spoke English with a high literacy rate to boot until the Tagalistas, with their hidden agenda of effectively colonizing the country themselves, came along on the coattails of a Tagalog-speaking president and a swath of Tagalog cohorts in high places.  The rest of us Ilocanos, Cebuanos, Bicolanos, Pampanguenos Hiligaynons, Pangasinenses, Warays, etc., stood by almost completely mesmerized and scarcely lifted a finger at the coming demise of our respective languages, cultures and unique bodies of literature.  WE WERE SO UTTERLY TRUSTING AND DUMB THAT UNTIL NOW NOT VERY MANY AMONG US KNEW AND UNDERSTOOD OR EVEN CARED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HIT US.

History has clearly demonstrated again and again that people with distinctly unique languages/dialects tend to gravitate to the language vigorously propagated by governments as the language of commerce for purely economic or survival reasons.  And that, as you and I know, is what’s happening to the non-Tagalog languages in the Philippines.  The increasing use of Tagalog and the conversely decreasing use of the others can only spell out a sure consequence, namely, the demise of the non-Tagalog languages.

Someone wrote:  “Ethnic genocide is the destruction of a culture.  You can compare it to a living being who is born, lives, and dies.  If he dies a natural death after a long and beautiful life, very well.  But if we kill him, or we don’t help him when he is in danger, that’s something else…  It’s the same with languages in danger of extinction.”

I was kind of hoping that Bannawag, Tawid NewsMagasin, and other Ilocano publications of note, Ilocano writers and Ilocano bloggers would show some energy to carry the torch.  But I believe most of them find no immediacy to the attendant issues.  There just seems to be an incredible amount of apathy toward preserving one’s mother tongue simply because the people who dictate policy and who care to influence the Constitution are brainwashed about the imposition of Tagalog (which was not even the language of the majority at the time) as one of our national languages.  We seem to fail to see that government is just a bunch of people like the rest of us–with their own sellfish agenda.  At this point in time, the Tagalogs just seem to have more energy and determination to assert themselves to colonize the rest of us who, to their undisguised eleation, are mere uncomplaining sacrificial lambs waiting to be butchered and skewered.  —Manong Joe

Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 11:11AM

Dear Ariel:  Please don’t get tired of the repetitious messages coming from me.  I suppose you don’t need them.  But what’s important is for you and the rest of us to keep repeating the message until something like the ground beneath our feet shifts in our favor.  We’ve got to keep pounding the message:

“What matters is not the death of a language in itself, but what that death can bring:  When a language disappears, a whole way of thinking, a vision of the world disappears with it, which can only impoversih human culture and the capacity of people to understand the world around them.”

We are nearing the threshold of inevitability of Ilocano being supplanted entirely by Tagalog/Filipino.  We can no longer afford to waste our chances.  NOW IS THE TIME TO FIGHT BACK AND ASSERT OUR RIGHTS TO THE USE AND PRESERVATION OF OUR NATIVE TONGUE, OUR CULTURE, OUR LITERATURE, OUR HERITAGE.

If we don’t, the time will come when the agcamcam (the new Tagalog colonizers) among us don’t even need the obligatory or deferential but insulting and despicable “Okinnam, okinnam…”  —Manong Joe

Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 11:13AM

Manong Joe:  Wen, ngarud:  nakakaskas-ang.  Adu dagiti Tagalista a maibilang a kabusor daytoy numo ngem diak agalumiim.  Kinaagpaysuanna, profesorko pay ti maysa kadakuada.  Ngem saan a mabalin daytoy, Manong Joe.  Masapul ti nanakman a dangadang–ken masapul ti kinaregget a kankanayon, a no dadduma ket agmawmaw met.  Mabannog ti puso, madudog ti kararua nangruna no ti makita ket dagiti pada met a nengneng a dida met ammo ti lablabidenda.  Anian!  Ngem saan a gasat daytoy:  daytoy ket resulta ti saan nga umno a panagsirmata ken kinaawan panagparmata iti masakbayan.  Awan pabasolen no di met laeng datayo.  Saan a gasat, saan a ti sabali tapno iti kasta ket makasursurotayo a makibalubal iti nagan dagiti fundamental a karbengantayo. —Ariel

Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 11:33AM

Patgec nga Ariel:  Idi nagawidac iti daytay napalabas a Marso, dimo ngata patien ngem casla adda pimmusay a parte ti kina-Ilocanoc idi sungbatandac iti Tagalog tunggal nakisaritaac iti Ilocano cadagiti pada nga Ilocano iti amin a nagpasiarac idiay Ilocandia, agraman dagiti cailian idiay Bangui.

Dayta ti dackel a paggiddiatan ti caadduan cadagiti pada nga Ilocano dita Hawaii.  Iti daydi naudi a panagpasiarco dita Hawaii, napaliiwco a lumawag ti rupa ken macaisem dagiti Ilocano no casaritam ida iti Ilocano, uray pay no dimo am-ammo ida–sadiay Honolulu wenno Hilo airports, idiay USS Arizona Memorial Park, Ala Moana Center, wenno idiay Waikiki Beach.  Nadlawco dagiti pada nga Ilocano nga ibaw-ingda ti panagkitada kenca apaman a mangegda nga ag-Ilocano ca.

Sal-ut a biag!  —Manong Joe

Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 12:03PM

Manong Joe:  Daytoy, Manong Joe, ti empirikal a datos a mismo a nakitam.  Isu nga agung-ungetakon.  Ket iti NAKEM Conference idiay Batac idi 2007, diak nagawidan ti ngiwngiwko ket imbagak nga estupido ti pagannurotan ti govierno maipapan iti edukasion, kultura, ken lengguahe–a nengneng a padak dagiti agpatpataray iti sistema ti educasion.  Iti tallaong nga imbagak dayta.  No dadduma, masapul a kulibagtongem dagitoy pada nga Ilokano a sinalbag.

Ala, makapaunget nga agpayso.  Idi agsubli dagiti nagbakasion a fakultimi, kasta met ti imbagada ken nagung-ungetda met ta agin-Tatagalog kano met dagiti mamaestro ken mamaestra.  Pwe, kunam man!  —Ariel

Dagiti baro nga agcamcam

No dimo naamiris a dagus no apay nga impostec ti “Okinnam, okinnam…” ditoy baba, ti cangrunaan a calicagumac nga ipakita kenca isu ti kinabileg ti pagsasao a pangparucma iti cayat a parmeken.  Nadlawmo nga iti canito (agarup 94 seconds calpasan panangrugi ti YouTube video) a nag-Ilocano dagiti kumacanta nga agpabuya, nabulosan daytoy iti panagray-aw dagiti caadduan nga Ilocano cadagiti nagtitipon nga agbuya.

No di pay nalawag dita utec ken pamanunotam no apay nga incalicagum dagidi nagturay cas iti daydi Presidente Manuel Quezon, Lope K. Santos ken dagiti naruay a pasurot da cadagiti nangangato a puesto ti govierno manipud idi 1935 agingga ita, ti calicagum da a mangparang-ay iti “nailian a pagsasao” a naibatay iti Tagalog, nalabit mautob mo itan no apay babaen ti mismo nga ejemplo iti “Okinnam, okinnam…”  Kinapudnona, masapul dagiti baro nga agcamcam–dagiti Tagalog–a macasursuro ca nga agsao iti Tagalog tapno:

• nalaclaca a maawatam dagiti ibilin da nga aramidem;
• maawatam ida no lacuan da ca idiay tiendaan ken shopping mall, wenno umay da ca danonen a lacuan dita balay mo;
• mapanca agbuya iti pelicula a Tagalog, agdengngegca iti Tagalog radio broadcast ket mangegmo dagiti advertisements iti Tagalog, gumatang ca iti Tagalog a diario, periodico, ken libro, gumatang ca iti ticket tapno inca agbuya cadagiti live performances iti Tagalog ken dadduma pay;
• ipagarupmo nga ay-ayatem ti ilim ken tumulong ca a mangidur-as iti “pangacaycaysa” tayo babaen ti panangsursurom nga agsao iti Tagalog, er, Filipino (“Filipino” ti pangawagda ita, imbes a Tagalog, tapno dica agaripapa wenno agtukkiad nga agsursuro nga ag-Tagalog).  Ngem iti panagcunam, adda cadi talaga naing-inget a panagcaycaysa tayo ita mayarig idi un-unana?
• in-inut a dimo aramaten ti Ilocano, ti nacayanacam a pagsasao, tapno in-inut a malipatam daytoy ket iti casta mapucaw a mamimpinsan ti ca-competencia dagiti baro nga agcamcam–dagiti Tagalog.

Saan da a ganggannaet.  Saan a babaen ti paltog wenno campilan ti panangparmec da kenca tapno sumuco ca ket surotem ti wagas ti biag a calicaguman da a surotem tapno maiturayan da ca ken nalaclaca a sepsepen da ta nagling-etam.

Malagipmo dagiti napaspasamac iti daydi Norman Conquest of England?  Malagipmo a daydi William (“William the Conqueror”), duque ti Normandy ti amianan a Frances, ti nangirusat idi 1066 AD iti panangsakup iti England.  Segun ti Wikipedia, “The Norman Conquest was a pivotal event in English history for several reasons. It largely removed the native ruling class, replacing it with a foreign, French-speaking monarchy, aristocracy and clerical hierarchy. This in turn brought about a transformation of the English language and the culture of England. By subjecting the country to rulers originating in France it linked England more closely with continental Europe, while lessening Scandinavian influence, and set the stage for a rivalry with France that would continue intermittently for more than eight centuries. It also had important consequences for the rest of the British Isles, paving the way for further Norman invasions in Wales and Ireland, and the extensive penetration of the aristocracy of Scotland by Norman and other French-speaking families… One of the most obvious changes was the introduction of Anglo-Norman, a northern dialect of Old French, as the language of the ruling classes in England, displacing Old English. Even after the decline of Norman, French retained the status of a prestige language for nearly 300 years and has had (with Norman) a significant influence on the language, which is easily visible in Modern English…”

Ilocano: R.I.P.?

No dimo pay la maawatan wenno adda pay la panagduaduam  no apay a cayat dagiti Tagalog–dagiti baro nga agcamcam–nga agsursuro ca nga ag-Tagalog, isingasingco nga ulitem a basaen ti Norman Conquest of England.

Malacsid no awan nabati a gagarmo nga agtukkiad nga iturayan dagiti baro nga agcamcam ken awan ti panangilalam iti Ilocano–ti bucod mo a nacayanacan a pagsasao agraman ti cannawidan ken literatura ni Ilocano.  Cas pagarigan, pumusay ti Bannawag agsipud ta bumassit a bumassit ti bilang dagiti Ilocano a gumatang iti daytoy a periodico, dimonto ngata iliwen?

This is where we meet and shoot the breeze

Seems like a lot of high-tech words start with the lowercase “i” such as iPhone, iPod, iMac, iPaq, to name a few. No high-tech stuff, iBangui, however, is just another way of saying “taga-Bangui,” or “from Bangui.”  That municipality about 58 kilometers north of Laoag, the capital city of Ilocos Norte, NOT to be confused with that republic somewhere in the bowels of Central Africa.

Just to keep your feet on the ground:  when you google “Bangui”, please don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of info, such as the impression you could find a Four Seasons type hotel in there, or the never-ending chatter about the windmills.  To our local folks, those windmills are a novelty, even as the folks that fish kinda dislike them for the noise that they generate, reportedly scaring away the fish.  What would probably surprise me is if someone the likes of Don Quixote or Sancho Panza emerges from the madlang people as in the story (Tilting at windmills):

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, “Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless.”

“What giants?” asked Sancho Panza.

“Those you see over there,” replied his master, “with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length.”

“Take care, sir,” cried Sancho. “Those over there are not giants but windmills…..”

But not to digress, we’d like you to know why we have this blog:  It’s a convenient meeting place for those of us who still live in Bangui and those that moved out of Bangui and migrated to other places in the Philippines or around the world but who still have a flicker of nostalgia for the place.  Leave a comment.  Drop a line.  Send some nice pictures.  My email address is joepadre@sbcglobal.net.  I do reserve the right to choose and edit what gets published to maintain some modicum of order.