SELECTED HILIGAYNON SHORT STORIES:

ANTHOLOGY OF TRANSLATIONS

PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

2022
Volume: 6
Pages: 1289-1296
Document ID: 2022PEMJ426
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7446750
Manuscript Accepted: 2022-13-12
Psych Educ, 2022, 6: 1289-1296, Document ID: PEMJ426, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7446750, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

Selected Hiligaynon Short Stories: Anthology of Translations

Junjie B. Dimo*
For affiliations and correspondence, see the last page.

Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to analyze selected and translated Hiligaynon short stories. Content
analysis was used to determine the theme and social issues such as social status, social problems, and
behavior. This study utilized an anthology of translation of original ten Hiligaynon short stories
translated in Filipino and English with the help of evaluators who specialize in the field. The
evaluation of the researcher and experts were coded, themed and triangulated. The researcher
identified that among the themes were political, family, social life, faith, belief, and love. The
stories identified the social status of the majority and the increasing rise of the rich. It turns out that
the social problems are political, family, financial, justice for the poor, faith, economic programs,
medical and educational. The behaviors captured in the stories are human effort despite adversity,
being brave to help, stabilization for children, adaptation, love, understanding, and forgiveness to
loved ones. Based on the study's results, it was concluded that the Hiligaynon short stories are packed
with political themes, morals, friendship, principles or beliefs, family, and economics. Also, lifestyle,
faith, love, rich culture, social status, and social problems are part of the daily life of every citizen
were also embedded. Thus, ten selected Hiligaynon short stories focus on the lives of local Ilonggo.
The results have great potential as instructional and references materials in English and Filipino
Courses. The lack of materials using localization and contextualization is some common problems in
Filipino and English subjects; this concept is employed in Indigenous Knowledge (IK).

Keywords: anthology, hiligaynon, short stories, social issues and problems, behavior, social status

Introduction Noli Me Tángere is a Latin for "Touch me not,"

The entire archipelago of the Philippines is rich in
culture, history, and natural beauty (Verhauser-Smith,
2015). But also, the country has a diverse Philippines
literature. A project of Likhaan: UP Creative Writing
Center on Likhaan Book of Philippine Criticism is
about the decennial anthology of the best essays of
literary criticism of Philippine Literatures. Filipino
literature teachers assume excellent literature offers a
moralistic gift—their exploring of the text focuses on
religious and nationalist bits of insight (Garcia, 2014).
Table 1 shows the top literary works from the
Philippines.
Table 1. The top literary works from the Philippines
(Royal Pitch, 2022).
originally written in Spanish from a Biblical passage
John 20:13-17. The story is an 1887 novel by José
Rizal. Noli Me Tangere is about the colonization of the
Philippines by the Spanish Catholic Friars and the
ruling government. The book is commonly published
in English or Tagalog. Dr. Rizal dedicated the book
"To my Fatherland." to probing the problems in
Filipino society (Rizal Works, 2022).
"Florante at Laura," written by Francisco Balagtas and
part of the lesson in secondary education in the
Philippines (Ocampo, 2017). Florante at Laura is a
literary classic and a historical and cultural
masterpiece discussing how love conquers all. This is
twelve syllables and four stanzas of poems about
lovers separated by unfair situations (Magcamit,
2020).
While "Mga Ibong Madaragit," or in English "Birds of
Prey," is a socio-political novel. National Artist wrote
this novel for Literature Amado Hernandez. The story
was about agricultural problems in the 50s (Philippine
Daily Inquirer, 2019).

Another novel is "the Woman with two Navels" by

Nick Joaquin. The story was about expat doctor in
Hong Kong. He gets caught up in the seemingly
disreputable, increasingly tragic tale of a mother and
daughter chasing a musician across an ocean
(Valentine, 2017). Furthermore, the story contains
suffering from the reality of life; thus, the story was

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Research Article
provocative and appealing to the audience.Banaag at
Sikat" or "From Early Dawn to Full Light" (in
English) by Lope K. Santos. The story was about
Felipe and Delfin. One promotes socialism, and the
other detests it. One was the capitalist businessman
and the poor farmer (Ordonez. 2012).
Thus, Filipino literary works have been subject to a
compilation by many scholars, both local and
international - for instance, a Mindanao Harvest 4:
21st Century Literary Anthology of 63 Mindanao
writers. This anthology is the first comprehensive
literary anthology on Mindanao's contemporary
literature published by the Far Eastern University
(FEU) Publications in 2018 but launched at the MSU-
Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT)
CASSALIDA Theater in Iligan City on September 17,
2019. The book's primary purpose is to promote
understanding among students of the island's three
main groups of people. The groups are composed of
lead, moro, and the present, 3rd and 4th generations of
Christian settlers (Mindanao State University – Iligan
Institute of Technology, 2014). Hence, many experts
from Literature Department from different agencies
like Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focused
unravel local poems, short stories, and others to
understand their deeper meaning.
Western Visayas is rich in cultural heritage. There are
six provinces in Western Visayas; Aklan, Antique,
Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental. The
most dominant dialcets are Kinaray-a, Hiligaynon,
Aklanon and Capiznon. Specifically, in Antique and
Iloilo, Karay-a language, commonly called kinaray-a,
is an Austronesian dialect. However, the region has
unique stories made by the native. One is the Pan-
ayanon or the Panay Bukidnon, an ethnically
indigenous group. They reside in the mountainous
areas in Capiz and Lambunao. Another is the
Lubluban; the first Visayas lawgiver was a woman.
Women in colonial era were given high regards
because of their wisdom and judgment (Clark, 2021).
Filipino Department at West Visayas State University
(WVSU) conducted a study collecting and
categorizing local literature in Western Visayas. The
study revealed the region has vibrant local literature
that focuses on the culture and tradition of the
indigenous people. The genre is short verses, folk
songs, passion and praises, Iowa, and riddles. The
themes of the literature are usually concentrated on the
locals' way of life; thus, people from Western Visayas
are skillful, artistic, and intellectual in composing local
literature (Cordero, 2019). In addition, WVSU also
attempts to answer DepEd Order No. 74 s. 2009
Junjie B. Dimo
otherwise known as Mother Tongue-Based
Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). The Filipino
Department took the ingenuity by translating the local
literature written in Filipino in Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a,
and Akeanon. The study results recommend publishing
Kinaray-a/Hiligaynon- Filipino glossary as reference
materials in basic education programs, both teachers'
and students' utilization (Morga, 2019).
Story is a basic substance of all human education
(Iseke, 2014). The most commonly read, reviewed and
discussed works in the classroom are the short stories
printed only in library books that writers mostly write
from different corners of the country. As a result,
Ilonggo students are becoming aware of the inherent
culture of other groups of people. Still, it is
unfortunate and depressing that they do not have
extensive knowledge of their own stories that they
could have been proud of because their history is
attached to it, belief, and identity. Short stories are
commonly used in basic education curriculum and also
tertiary level. However most of these short stories
were written by English writers.
Accordingly, indigenous knowledge is very important;
it comprises native groups' expressions, practices,
beliefs, understandings, insights, and experiences over
time. Each community has iterations and mechanisms
(Grey, 2014). Stories are common in indigenous
culture to sustain community (Iseke, 2013). According
to UNESCO, IK is the understanding, expertise and
viewpoints of certain societies developed from long
historic interaction from the environment. As a result,
traditional knowledge comes from different local
literary works, like; stories, songs, legends, adages,
cultural values, principles, rites, community laws,
dialects, and agricultural practices (The University of
Melbourne, 2022).
The issuance of CHED Memorandum No. 2, s. 2019
on the initiatives in integrating Indigenous Knowledge
System (IKS) in tertiary curriculum. Commonly, IKS
is evident in social sciences and community
development subjects (Banes and Dela Cruz, 2021).
Subjects, such as English and Filipino is encouraged to
take part in this concepts of localization and
contextualization. Specifically that the Philippines is
rich with literary works.
The collection of selected Hiligaynon short stories and
their translation into Filipino to reach the people's
consciousness in different parts of the country will
significantly pleasure Ilonggo writers because it will
prove that people are gradually enjoying and
appreciating their work. As a result, they will be more
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Research Article

researcher. Hence, the translated Hiligaynon to

motivated to continue to enrich the Hiligaynon stories.
Selected stories will explore the different themes, the
state of the people in society, their future problems,
and how they are trying to solve the coming blows of
life. Also, the lack of instructional and reference
materials using local literature is a common dilemma
in the entire archipelago. Thus, this study also aims to
meet the university's need where the researcher teaches
to have additional teaching materials made by
teachers. The anthology of translated short stories will
help make teaching easy and systematic in the
classroom.
Filipino was again translated to English for understand
of an international experts and readers. The researcher
used the table to determine the theme, social status,
social problem, and behavior. Then, the results were
coded, themed and triangulated.
Results and Discussion
Table 2 shows the selected Hiligaynon short
stories(ST) with English translation
Table 2. Selected Hiligaynon short stories (ST) with
English translation.

Methodology

This research uses the content analysis method to

analyze selected Hiligaynon short stories translated
into Filipino and English The study was conducted in
Iloilo. The former name of Iloilo province is Irong-
irong. Ilonggo comes from the Filipino-Spanish word
"irong-irong," which means similar to the nose. It has
a total area of 532,397 square hectares, and most
of its inhabitants are Visayans who use the Hiligaynon
language. Their livelihood is farming, fishing, and
weaving pina and jusi. The island's first inhabitants
were Aetas, also called Aninipay, because of the crops
surrounding it.
Ten Hiligaynon short stories were selected by the
researcher from the different collected document.
These stories have been translated into Filipino and
English from the Hiligaynon language. The researcher
identified the theme of the selected short stories and
recognized the theme and social issues contained in the
short stories, such as social status, social problems,
and behavior. The theme refers to the overall message
or lesson the article shares, stating what the story is
about. This study identified themes in selected
Hiligaynon stories to be translated into Filipino.
The social issue refers to important events in a place. It
could be about life, lifestyle, livelihood, politics, and
education. This study will ascertain social issues such
as social status and social and behavioral problems.
The translated documents went through the evaluation
of expert teachers in Hiligaynon and Filipino
languages from various universities in Iloilo to
further refine and smooth the translation made by the
There are many themes contained in Hiligaynon
stories that will give a reminder that whatever the
problem is to oneself, to loved ones, social relations,
work, love and society, with constant struggle and
perseverance they are solved. And goodness always
prevails in man.
Ten Hiligaynon short stories were selected from
famous Ilonggo writers. The first one was from Judge
Nilo Par Pamunag of Passi City, Iloilo. He published
literary works in Yuhum Magazine and won in Daily
Times competition in various decades. Also, he
received an award from Gawad ng Pambansang
Alagad ni Balagtas in the category of poetry abd
fiction in Hiligaynon presented by the Writer;s Union
of the Philippines at the 40th Umpil Congress,
University of the Philippines, Quezon City (Pamunag,
2015).
Alice Tan Gonzales was born in Bacolod City, and has
lived in Iloilo since 1982. She has received four
cultural Center of the Philippines Literature grants:

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Research Article

short stories (1990), novel (1991), stage play (1994),

and children’s play. She has also won the Gawad
Palanca for a short story in Hiligaynon several times;
“Isa ka Pongpong nga Rosas )1997),” “Ang Likum
sang San Miguel (1999),” “ Sa Taguangkan sang
Duta,” and “Dawata Anak” ( Monde, 2022).

Roweno Ansino is from Guimaras, a contributor editor

of Yuhum Magazine, and volunteer reporter of Bombo
Radyo, Iloilo. He also participated and won
competition in essay, poetry, short stories, and spoken
poetry. He was appointed as Historical Writer by
Guimaras Provincial Government last 2017 (Province
of Guimaras, 2017).

Hiligaynon's short stories contain a variety of

important themes that gather meaningful messages
and lessons that serve as a guide and light for readers
in their colorful adventures. The researcher
determined that the themes of selected and translated
Hiligaynon short stories were political, family, social
life, faith, belief, and love, as presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Excerpt and Themes of Short Stories by

Ilonggo Authors

There are many themes contained in Hiligaynon

stories that will give a reminder that whatever the
problem is to oneself, to loved ones, social relations,
work, love and society, with constant struggle and
perseverance they are solved. And goodness always
prevails in man. Experts in Iloilo organized Poetika’s
first anthology of mix luminaries from the region’s
literature and artistic communities. This is a platform
to discover emergent Ilonggo talents to showcase their
works to local communal (Albay, 2018).

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Research Article

Every person has a dream in life for himself and

his loved ones. He ventures to reach his desired
social status. Social status is important because
sometimes, the value, respect, and recognition are
based on social status. The social status of
Hiligaynon's short stories ispresented in Table 4.

Table 4. Social Status from excerpt of Hiligaynon

Short Stories.

The social conditions portrayed in the selected short

stories reflect real life and events in human life. It tells
stories about the adventure to live well and peacefully
with loved ones. It also shows that a person is willing
to gamble to get out of poverty in life.

Stories validates practices and epistemologies,

expresses experiences of indigenous peoples and
culture, and cultivates relationships and the sharing of
knowledge (Iseke, 2013).

Society comprises people with different occupations,

lifestyles, beliefs, and problems. Man does not stop
trying as long as the world continues to revolve
because everybody is always facing difficulties and
trials in life. Table 5 presents the social problems
taken from selected Hiligaynon short stories.

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Research Article

Table 5. Social Problems from
Hiligaynon Short Stories.
excerpt of Hiligaynon stories address real social problems that
have gone through for many years but remain a social
disease despite the efforts of the government and other
sectors of society to address them. Such as poverty,
deception, false beliefs, trampling on the rights of
others are just a few of the problems that until now
have not been solved.

Morga’s (2019) study on the analysis of the local of

the Ilonggos discovered the appreciation generated by
consolation through philosophizing and blasphemy;
love, courtship and marriage; criticism and insults;
frustration and surrender to the challenges of life and
love; praise and admiration for others; mutual respect
and pertaining to diligence and laziness.
Man has different ways and means to face and solve
all the trials in his life. This is what he considered to
be his approach or strategy to address those that
prevent him from living well and peacefully. The
behaviors of the people to address the problems in
Hiligaynon's stories are presented in Table 6.

Table 6. Behaviors from excerpt of Hiligaynon Short

Stories.

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Research Article
Behavior of each individual drives the person to act.
The Hiligaynon story is rich in manners. The
behaviors shown in the story are very real. There are
people who have a positive attitude that even when
surrounded by poverty and problems are still able to
act calmly. Some become violent and vindictive
because of the behavior displayed by others. There is
also person who behave steadfastly despite the
hardships and insults of others and continue to fight to
show that he can succeed in life through hard work.
There are also people whose behavior stands as an
inspiration to further improve the depressed life.
Conclusion
Ten Hiligaynon short stories were selected to review in
this study. Considering the result of the qualitative
study, the researcher recognized the importance of its
implications in the society to open the awareness of
Ilonggo, especially the youth, about the social
situation. The launching of the Ilonggo writing
competition is also suggested to see whether the social
problem presented by the authors then differs from
their works today. The local government, heads, and
school administrators must allocate funds to publish
Hiligaynon results such as anthologies of short stories
and others to ensure the continued flourishing of
Iloilo's literature. The analysis performed can be used
Junjie B. Dimo
as instructional material in teaching literature subjects
in secondary and tertiary, primarily in Region 6, to
convey meaningful behaviors that students learn and
apply to their daily lives. The limited resources and
references for local stort stories in teaching Filipino
and English, IK is significantly plays an important
role.
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Affiliations and Corresponding Information
Royal Pitch. (2022). What are the top ten literary works from the
Philippines? Available Dr. Junjie B. Dimo
from:https://royalpitch.com/what-are-the-top-ten-literary-works-fro West Visayas State University Lambunao Campus
m-the-philippines/ Lambunao, Iloilo, Philippines
The University of Melbourne. (2022). Indigenous Knowledge
Research. Available from:
ttps://unimelb.linguides.com/indigenious_Knowledge_Research

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