Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy

MGA HAGAS NI ALIWAGWAG

A Poem by Danny Castillones Sillada

Members:
Eianna Lian Sencio
Ernst Joshua Brato
Hiroshi Mar Magkidong
Heart Maree Monteverde
I. Introduction

The epic poem, Mga hagas ni aliwagwag by danny sallido captures the
serene beauty of Davao Oriental’s aliwagwag falls, but also depicts the
feeling of distress thinking that the bewitching scenery might not exist
anymore. It encapsulates the wonders of the falls and its importance to
mankind. After every stanza, we go through a journey of the authors
experiences and fear. It is a davaoeno poem that empathizes us to feel the
perspective of the author when reading.
II.
The author conveys the beauty, the feeling of serenity, and the importance
of aliwagwag falls in his life. “Ikaw yang buwa ng kanak kakapoy” and “yang
kanmo mga huni sang hangin, i-hangkop yang kanak kasing-kasing” are
examples of textual evidence. In the poem, Danny Sillada also expresses his
worry about how, one day the falls might disappear and can only be seen in
his dreams. This is because he wrote this poem to “extol Aliwagwag Fall’s
sublime beauty, but also laments its threatened existence due to the gradual
denudation of Cateel forests in Davao Oriental, Philippines.” (Sillada, 2015)
The poem talks about how beautiful Aliwagwag falls is and how someday
it might go away or be destroyed soon. The last stanza from the original
mandaya version shows what the author is feeling when the time comes
where aliwagwag falls is gone. The Aliwagwag Protected Landscape is a
protected area that preserves a major drainage catchment in the southern
Philippine Island of Mindanao in the Davao Region
The Mga Hagas ni Aliwagwag Falls is a Short-documetary film composed
in a poetic form with 4 verses with 4 lines each. It takes only a few minutes to
recite the poem and was written by Danny Castillones Sillada a writer and
cultural critic from Mindanao. Since the language used is a Davaoeño
language mixed with mandaya, and is widely spoken in Davao Oriental, it is
not easy for the readers to interpret and understand especially when the
readers are not familiar with it.
The epic poem contains values and lessons which touches and influences
the readers. In the poem, there is a line that says “Onto your soft breasts I
gently rest, listening to your songs on the gushing waters; your transcendent
beauty is incomparable a goddess from heaven. It gives us a hint and the
awareness about one day the beauty of the Aliwagwag Falls shall be gone by
the hands of the wrong people. The phrases, “But my heart is lamenting that
one day I couldn’t glimpse on your majestic beauty anymore; from the cruel
hands you would vanish and become just like a dream to be cherished!”
shows how people may take advantage of the beauty of Aliwagwag Falls and
abuse it and make a livelihood just to make a profit.
 III.
The poem, Mga hagas ni aliwagwag by danny sallido shows the slowly fading
beauty of Davao Oriental’s aliwagwag falls. As we read the poem, the author
made us feel what he felt towards aliwagwag falls, how beautiful it was, and
how it may be gone soon.

References
Sillada, D. C. (n.d.). Mga hagas ni aliwagwag.

Sillada, (2010) Mga hagas ni aliwawag:

https://dannysillada.weebly.com/mga-hagas-ni-aliwagwag.html

http://scganewsletter.blogspot.com/2012/01/mga-hagas-ni-aliwagwag-whispers-of.html

Aliwagwag Protected Landscape, (2020)

https://l.messenger.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki
%2FAliwagwag_Protected_Landscape&h=AT1IVajnJtiRQK82ogjj9YPfrc0Lvk61DGY5uFCTpKn6AkHp_bUQ
DvLbhSpi4L1scvyGDCUIy0RIugmGBxIA-Eavt-
PzDABI5Tv2BEetB3b1cmpi2A6WQ0XdJEtRU4MB45RjxiawbUA4-6unxQq3CQ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliwagwag_Protected_Landscape