Arkibo ni Kadunong is a study on Bikol oral literature with the possibility of using these

literary pieces in inculcating Bikol’s culture of orality and the orality of Bikol culture in the
academe. Primarily designed as a reference material literature for teachers in Philippine senior
high school, it acts as a record of celebration of oral history from some communities in the Bikol
region. It is a celebration of Kadunong, the oral narrator of Ibalong, and the Bikol folk-epic itself.

The oral narratives in this book go against humanist view and towards
poststructuralism’s view of literature. In Legato’s paper, it was mentioned that poststructuralism
deconstructed “author” as a defiant of the dominant ruling in the construction of reality. Instead
of authors, oral narratives have narrators who are no owners of these stories. These are not
owned by a particular generation for these narratives are known to three generations in the
communities. Geographically owned, maybe, even though the story of Bernardo Carpio as the
“uragon” of Mount Isarog is another version of several tales about the giant.

In my first paper, I have pointed out that the presentation of vernacular literary forms in
the curriculum does not immerse students to the original. This is because most of Philippine
literary forms were shared orally from generation to generation before it was written. The scope
of Arkibo ni Kadunong is to document stories of generations. The use of these oral narratives in
the academe is a move towards the presentation of the “minor” and “minority”, to restructure the
curriculum being dominated by Tagalog literary pieces.

These narratives identify Filipino identity by defining Bikol’s culture sensuality and
sensitivity, thus, the “minor” in literature. It studies a culture that is far from the exposure of
television and other media. It is also a study of Bikol’s belief—a marriage of natural and the
supernatural. There are no stories like that of sádab, lunggáwe, and balónos of Mount Isarog,
and even that of the terrifying lakî. This answers the questions how we view faith to Divine
Providence as matters of restrictions and consequences— dai pagkalwagan an tubig hali sa
Isarog ta lalantopon kita kin tubig— and to whom shall we entrust our safety— ki uragon na
Bernardo Carpio o sa daragang engkanto?

“Minority” in literature is excluded for not being aesthetic but political and economic. We
might see the theme of how welcoming children could be even to a family member who
maltreated them (An Magtugang) or of how a child will view the world, the natural and the
supernatural, with them murder of his parents (Aki asin Daragang Engkanto). These particular
narratives, as narratives from the margins, are similar with the resistant cultural practices from
the “major” literatures of the literary canon.

With the narratives’ translation and study questions for Grades 11 and 12 to continue the
promotion of our own literature to the academe. Due to the continuous change of our education
system, especially now that we experience a pandemic, it is a good move if there are ways that
these narratives will be mainstreamed, maybe as a recording, through a particular platform for
expansion of the study of this kind of literature.