Marginalized in modules on Bikol texts

Marginalized sectors and folklore are the topics of five new modules on Bikol literary texts, now available to teachers and students of 21st Century Literature, Bikol Literature, Philippine Literature, and the Teaching of Literature.

Project Dakit 2, coordinated by proponent Dr. Abelardo Belleza of Bicol University, consists of five modules on a poem from Albay on the theme of indigenous peoples, a queer poem from Masbate, a story on a child’s mental health from Caramoan, Camarines Sur, newly recuperated Bikol folk tales from Camarines Norte, and a beloved Bikol folk song.

A recommendation from previous module project Dakit 1 was to prepare modules for Bikol texts that deal with the underrepresented sectors of society, such as the LGBTQIA+, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, women, children, and the like. The theme of women has been covered sufficiently in previous projects so more effort was taken to find texts that deal with the Bikol IP, PWD, children, LGBTQIA+.

The texts for which modules have been written are for two poems “An Istorya kan Ano Agta, Malansi?” by Jaime Jesus U. Borlagdan and “Desiderio” by Roda Daignre; short story “Manoy, Manoy” by Maria Cecilia ‘Maki’ de la Rosa; folktales from Camarines Norte; and the Bikol folksong “Ano Daw Idtong sa Gogon.”

Borlagdan’s poem deals with the Bikolnon’s not-so-subtle discrimination against the region’s indigenous people. De la Rosa’s story is a grim depiction of how a village raised a child while “Desiderio” is a first-person expression of the persona’s desire.

The module on the folksong provides lessons not only for literature but also for the subject Music Arts PE and Health (MAPEH). The module on the folktales Donya Ponay, Maria Timbang Palo, and Inay Kandi from Camarines Norte offers a post-colonial lens for reading them vis-à-vis the history of mining in Mambulao-Paracale.

The module writers in this project funded by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) are Marvin Davila Aquino of the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture in Calabanga, Donita Dizon-Reyes of the Ateneo de Naga University Junior High School, Jose Marco Ragragio Valenciano of Sorsogon State College, Dr. Abelardo Belleza of Bicol University, and Paz Verdades M. Santos.

Dakit 2 is the fourth of a series of module projects on Bikol literature sponsored by the NCCA. Maliw 1 coordinated by Dr. Santos and Maliw 2 directed by Marifa Borja-Prado of Ateneo de Naga University provided learning materials for online learning for students in the elementary, Junior and Senior High School, college, teacher training, and graduate school during the Covid19 pandemic. Dakit 1 led by Ma. Cienna A. Jaucian of Bicol University and Dakit 2 modules are designed for a period of transition or crossover, dakit in Bikol, for hybrid classes, given the frequent suspension of classes due to disasters post-pandemic.

As in the former projects, copies of the modules are available upon request from their respective authors and from the Kabulig-Bikol, Inc. and Pagsurat Bikol Facebook pages.

– Doods M. Santos