BIOGRAPHY OF GINAW BILOG

ABOUT:
Ginaw Bilog, Hanunoo Mangyan from Mansalay, Mindoro, grew up in such a
cultural environment. Already steeped in the wisdom that the ambahan is a key
to the understanding of the Mangyan soul, Ginaw took it upon himself to
continually keep scores of ambahan poetry recorded, not only on bamboo tubes
but on old, dog-eared notebooks passed on to him by friends.
Born in 1953, poet Ginaw Bilog contributed to the preservation of the Ambahan
or the traditional poetry of the Hanunuo Mangyans in Oriental Mindoro.
Most treasured of his collection are those inherited from his father and
grandfather, sources of inspiration and guidance for his creative endeavors. To
this day, Ginaw shares old and new ambahans with his fellow Mangyans and
promotes this poetic form on every occasion.

WORKS:
The Mangyan script is one of the four remaining syllabic scripts in the country,
and Ginaw Bilog’s work has been crucial to its preservation. Based in Mansalay,
Oriental Mindoro, the poet was known for writing ambahan (a metaphoric poem
comprising seven-syllable lines), first in a notebook, then on traditionally used
bamboo tubes.
The poems, often recited with music at social gatherings and used to convey
messages among the Hanunuo Mangyan, had topics like advising the young,
bidding a friend goodbye, and asking for a place to stay.
Mindoro Island in the Philippines is home to two closely-related, incised-in-
bamboo endangered alphabets–Hanunuo in the southern part of the island, and
the less well known Buhid farther north. It’s a sign of how accustomed we have
become to the notion of writing in parallel horizontal lines that these scripts have
caused great confusion among outside observers. Some thought the script was
vertical, others left-to-right or right-to-left, even bottom to top. The act of
incising with a sharp bolo knife in a hard, round, relatively unstable surface such
as a piece of bamboo is fundamentally different from writing on lined paper.
Historically, young Hanunuo men and women learned the Hanunuo script in
order to write each other love poems. The goal was to learn as many songs as
possible, and using the script to write the songs facilitated this process.
Nowadays they are more likely to use digital devices, which are unlikely to
support the Hanunuo script.
The Mangyan Heritage Center has started teaching the Hanunuo Mangyan
Syllabic Script in Mangyan public elementary and secondary schools, partnering
with the Department of Education to give a one hour once a week schedule for
each class in selected schools.
AMBAHAN
The ambahan is the traditional poetry of the Hanunuo Mangyans of Oriental
Mindoro. It is usually written on bamboo in the Surat Mangyan, a centuries-old
pre-Spanish script. The syllabic script and the ambahan poetry have
complemented each other, contributing to their continued existence today.
Ambahan is a literary product and poetic expression of the Southern Mangyans
of Mindoro, Philippines. Although there are about seven different ethnic groups
living in Mindoro, collectively called the Mangyans, these groups are quite distinct
from each other as to language, customs, and way of living. Only the ethnic
group living in the south of Mindoro, roughly comprising the areas within the
municipalities of Bulalacao (San Pedro), Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, and San
Jose, Occidental Mindoro, claims the name Mangyan as the descriptive title of
their tribe. To stress their point, they might add the epithet: "Hanunuo"
Mangyan, that is, a "truly, real, genuine" Manygan.
Ambahan can also be stated as:
a) A rhythmic poetic expression with a meter of seven-syllable lines and
having rhythmic end-syllables.
b) It is most often presented as a chant without a determined musical pitch
or accompaniment by musical instruments.
c) Its purpose is to express in an allegorical way, liberally using poetic
language, certain situations, or certain characteristics referred to by the one
reciting the poem.
Like all poetry, the ambahan is an expression of an idea or feeling in a beautiful
and harmonious language. Unlike other forms of poetry, however, the ambahan
is not poetry for its own sake or for the poet's satisfaction. The ambahan is
primarily a poem of social character; it finds its true existence in society. It is
created by the Mangyans to serve practical purposes within the community. It is
used by the parents in educating their children, by young people in courting each
other, by a visitor is asking for food, and by a relative bidding goodbye or
farewell. Of course, it would be a mistake to think that the Mangyans converse
with each other only by the ambahan. If a man comes from his field, he will not
use an ambahan to tell his wife that he is hungry; he will express the feeling of
his stomach in plain and clear language. Nevertheless, the ambahan is used on
those occasions
JAMBI L. LAGONOY

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