The Greatest Isinay Book Ever Published (5)

I HOPE I DON’T sound like a salesman of Dr. Ernesto Constantino’s ISINAY TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS. In case you don’t know, it’s not or was it ever available in book stores nor, I guess, even in Amazon.com and other such publication sellers through the internet.

But if I appear like I’m advertising the book, it’s perhaps because I’m just voicing out my indebtedness to Dr. Constantino for his efforts at producing not only a book that we Isinays could use for a long, long time, and for making the book a treasure trove of bits and pieces of Isinay history as well as tidbits on the people, geography and natural resources of the Isinay world that should not be side-stepped by history buffs worth their salt.

For instance, iBambangs, iAritaos, and Irupajs who wish to review how their respective towns got their names would probably want to get a taste of history – flavored with interesting folklore – told by representatives of such Isinay families as Acosta, Arcega, Castañeda, Daniel, Felix, Gonzales, Larosa, Liquigan, Pating, and Tungpalan -- and not from outsiders.

A number of interesting places in the three Isinay towns have also been represented. There is an ala-Romeo and Juliet legend of the Salinas Salt Springs written by Aritao’s Edgar Daniel. And it surprised me that the characters are different from the Gumined and Yumina love story of Salinas that I wrote about for the Ilocano magazine Bannawag when I was fourth year at St. Mary’s Dupax and then again for the martial law era Focus Philippines as a forestry student at UP Los Baños.

I also liked an oral account by Ama Juan Felix on how Banila (a former sawmill site in the southeastern part of upstream Dupax del Sur in the early 1960s) used to be called Kaynu (as it used to be the home of an Ivilaw named Kaynu along with his sister Betta and brother Betuwag) and how it looked like siren poto^:

Masdé tay ri dèdee-ar, toy war dèdee-ar an Antonio Felix ot mangan-anup da, toy sari si amung ugalen di Isinayar situ Dupaj. Ot satiyen dèdeȇ, inaw-awita sirin lugar, dahdahngan mi daratiyen Ilungut an tiyun sin-iiva. Besan, pingsaneyan dinatong di dèdee-ar an satiyen lugar ya maserot an pittuwan on maserot an pangkudalan si baha, inaplayan di dèdee-ar si pangkudalan mit baha. Siriyen taw-on an inaplayan di dèdee-ar ya tinultuloy min tinartaravaho. Ot nambaliw an payaw.

Tiyempon di gerar, immali ra Mister Ceferino Abordo an nammaymayor si beveyoyar Aritao, an wa pisiya niyen Mayor Abordo ya tahun promanentetdi Aritao. Isinay ra, Isinay ri lapu rar pirira.

Addi ela, satiye nambaliwanar mot tiyen lugar, e, siriyen navus di gerar, ya na-impruv. Nambaliw agrikultura. Siriyen marin maliluwa, ya naappiya mot di kalsarar dari. Inappiyan mot Apu Mayor Giron an ama pay la si Isinay, tahuttiye Dupax, promanente, on nanggovgovernador di dèdee nar dari, si Apu Don Alfonso Castañeda, an dirat natural pay la an nanpobrika si saratiyen lugar. Besan, nammayor si Apu Giron ot nambaliw. Wa mos di nambaliwanar ot impambaliw mos di konseho munisipal an barrio Banila besan.

Addi ela, ya, salamat si ap-apuwar dari an naun-una toy inesep da ri innun di Dupajar an mangaronan mangan-anup lohom an mandodopah. Addi ela ya, salamat toy satiyen piyô an nambaliw mos an barrio. Dioy ami tay siri, on dioy tay si urittî si piyô mit natdan si tawir mit na-un-unar darin dèdee an Isinay, an dèdee tau lom-an.

Ot satu lohom si domo an iptaw. Besan ma-enjoy mit maves di barrio war an Banila, mibus si mayor miyar besan, Mayor William Giron. Satu lohom si domo baba-on.

Incidentally, I chose to lengthily quote Ama Juan Felix here for two reasons. First, his contribution to the book was done orally and thus represents the typical way Isinays of my hometown used to speak in the 1970s when the native language was not yet “polluted” or “deformed” so much by Tagalog from TV. Second, his story is the only one that has touched on the Ivilaw/Ilongot part of the history and life of Isinays.

Indeed, no account of Isinay world, particularly Dupax (be it Sur or Norte) would be complete if it did not include the screaming fact that Isinay country also used to be Ilongot and, for that matter, also Igorot country. [Note: I shall write a couple or so of posts later to give readers of ISINAY WORLD an idea how life was when Dupax was still headhunting country.]

Other Must-Read Parts of the Book

And how about the origin of the word “Isinay”?

The “Sussur di Isinayar Dari si Beveyoyar Aritao” by Apu Eufronio Larosa Sr. should usher in eureka moments to interested readers. Here are excerpts:

Si na-un-unar darin ehaw, ya diyoy si osan bayur si as-asupar bayur Caraballo. Satiyen bayur ya na-ingaronan si bayur Sinay. Mibus toy war leya-iyar daritdin poto ot masde ran manganup, ya diyoy si osan ehaw na naansasavayat di leleya-iyar dari an nambeyoy si tandih di wangwangar ta amoy ran manganup si bayurar Sinay. War appiyon di manganupar dari ot ibolos dan pa-un-unon di asu rar dari an ingngaronan dat tonor toy dirat na-un-unan mannor si lamanar on asan seyunuron di leleya-iyar dari an tondon on gayangon di lamanar.

Si sariyen ehaw an inoy ran inpanganup ya inbolos dan inpa-un-una ri asu rar dari. Ot marin naliluwa ya diyoy si dingnge rant eyun di asuwar dari. Dinahas dan inoy tinun-uran. Ot andiyen eyomdaran di inila rar toy osan bavayi an nilawus di serot nar si timma^doh si tu^tu^ di bayurar, mu marin matahun tahu toy osa lohom an rebulto. Si amma-iyar gayhayan leleya-iyar dari ya ivuya ra otiyan oppaton ta iratong dat po^dah dar omu naaliyar lugar da, mu neyomdaran da toy marin poddan ma-iniin toy amung poddan batu an nivangbang di dam-ot nar.

Andoholan inavoleyan da ot dinahas da bayaw an immulit po^dah dar dari toy inoy ra bayaw inbalita si tahuwar lom-an si sariyen inila ra. Dinahas si deen poddan leleya-i an ni-oy nisangat si naaliyar bayur Sinay, ot neyomdaran dan tuwa si inila rar an serot na riyen rebulto. Nandara^dan dan inoppat toy amma-in podda ri gayhaya rar mangi^pas siri lugar dar ta siri otiyat pittuwana, mu siyari pay lan marin poddan ma-iniin.

Data-Rich Isinay Diary in the Spanish Era

A big positive point for Constantino's book is having included three Isinay diaries of Mr. Juan Mallo written from August 1810 to August 1811. The diaries contain a blow-by-blow record of his experiences as a cavecilla (troop leader) and of how life was during the advent of Spanish colonization.

At the time, there was no Nueva Vizcaya yet; there was only a big province of Cagayan. Although Mr. Mallo didn't mention it, at the time also, the Isinay-speaking region (including Aritao and Dupax) south of the Magat river was called Ituy. But at least he used "Paniqui" to refer to the communities further north of Aritao.

How Juan Mallo's Isinay diaries came to be part of the book is itself a story. Here’s what Dr. Contantino says in his Introduction:

The texts of the diaries found in Chapter VII of this book are based directly on a typewritten copy which was given to me by Mr. Dominador C. Boada, Sr. from Dupax delSur on October 25, 1976 when I went there to do fieldwork. Mr. Boada told me that the copy was given to him by the Catholic priest assigned to the municipality for translation. However, Mr. Boada could not find the time to translate said diaries.

I had the diaries translated by Mr. Eufronio Larosa Sr. in 1978. He translated them into English rather freely. He also identified and corrected some errors in copying. In 1979, I had the same diaries translated by Mrs. Magdalena Larosa-Aliaga, the elder sister of Mr. Larosa, and she translated them into Ilokano. Later, I was told by Dr. William Henry Scott, a lay missionary of the Philippine Episcopal Church and a scholar, that it was he who sent the typewritten copy of the diaries to the Catholic priest of Dupax del Sur and that the manuscripts of the diaries were in the Dominican Archives in Quezon City. The manuscripts have not been published.

After Mr. Larosa and Mrs. Aliaga had translated the diaries, I retranslated them into English in Tokyo in 1981, and I was able to identify and correct some ‘miscopied’ words. I also changed some word divisions in order to make it easier for the words to be entered into the vocabulary of the texts found in this book which I compiled. The texts of the diaries in this book should be checked against the manuscript of the diaries by someone who knows Isinay very well.

Except for the Doctrina Cristiana, the three diaries are the oldest entry in the book. The first diary details how Mallo and his men had to hike and cross deep rivers often at midnight and sometimes without eating, and how they were always on the lookout for the Buccalot's "lugarar dien panguiralijan dat batu" to be able to safely reach Quiangan where they were part of joint Spanish forces sent out to subdue the Ifugaos in the area who were then referred to as "Buccalot."

An interesting part of the diaries were the account of the atrocities committed by the Spanish military to subdue the Buccalot. They contain how many rice granaries and entire villages were burned to starved and defeat the Bugkalots – using Christianized natives such as Isinays and Gaddangs and imported warriors from Cagayan and the Ilocos. As if to give the other side of the war zone, the diary also describes how the forest-dwelling indigenous peoples fought back, using spears and shields made of "catat si nuang on baja", well-positioned rocks ready to be rolled against the enemy on mountain trails, pit traps armed with pointed bamboo poles, poisoned kalderos, and their mastery of the jungle terrain of Bagabag and Ifugao.

Oh well, the book is certainly a fountain of many more materials that can make your Isinay Bird sing and sing all day long, but I have to stop twittering for now so I can go out and peck some fruits as well as exercise my wings.

[MAVUS MOT SI MISEYUNURAR AN PARTE]