DELA CERNA
For the generation of Cebu Theresians who were in the classes of Sister Maria Delia Coronel, ICM, few were aware of the grounding of understanding, appreciating and preserving Philippine cultural heritage the way Sr. Delia did in her most unique way.
We were part of the contributors to her “Stories and Legends from Philippine Folklore” in the 60s which was her doctoral dissertation in Literature.
In the 70s, she was missioned in Lanao del Sur where she worked as superintendent of the Diocesan Schools for the Prelature of Marawi. She headed the folklore Division of the University Research Office of the Mindanao State University.
I remember that every summer then, Sister Delia used to invite me and Lolet Aliño, who was then the college librarian of STC, to help fix the library of their schools in Malabang.
She went to Lanao del Sur at a time when the country was in chaos with the MNLF on the rise.
She approached the Maranao people with reverence and studied and appreciated their culture to the point of preserving their cultural heritage. She worked with a team that researched, interviewed, documented, transcribed and translated the Darangen for publishing.
The Darangen of the Maranao people is one of the oldest and longest Philippine epic poetries.
Its uniqueness lies in its classical Maranao language and passed on orally from one singer to his or her successor.
Preservation of such a cultural treasure was a monumental task of Sr. Delia. In 1978, she was abducted by a group of armed men and I remember how she wrote about her captivity and her interaction with her abductors after she was released.
In one of her visits to Cebu, she recounted that she was visited by one of her abductors in her office who was in the university on scholarship.
She knew the Maranao culture by heart so much that once we were at the airport to send her off, she singled out one of the women at the waiting area as a Maranao.
We asked her how could she tell and she said by the way she was standing.
I did visit Marawi twice in the 80s when Sr. Delia was still there.
First time was in 1985 during a semestral break when I went with four other teachers of UP Cebu on a tour in some parts of Mindanao.
One of my co-teachers was from Ozamiz so we would not be a stranger.
Landing in Cagayan de Oro, we proceeded to MSU-IIT in Iligan to visit a former co-teacher in Carcar who was teaching there, but unfortunately she was not around.
Then we decided to proceed to MSU Marawi to visit Sr. Delia to the concern of everyone whom we asked for directions.
Along the way I remember seeing armed men along the byway. It was afternoon when we reached the MSU campus and we were obviously strangers.
The guard politely inquired about our purpose there and directly told him that we were visiting Sr. Delia, my former teacher.
The office informed us that Sr. Delia left for Cebu. So we asked for an overnight accommodation and the dorm in-charge told us that there was no vacancy.
We were advised by the guard to see the chancellor of the University which we did.
The chancellor was very accommodating and after a few pleasantries, we asked if we could stay for the night in the dorm.
He immediately called the dorm in-charge who earlier turned us down to provide accommodation for us in the dorm.
Having been assured of accommodation for the night, we were able to catch up with a quick shopping in the market and we brought a handful of items which until now still form a part of my collection.
The second time I went to Marawi was when I attended the National Conference on Philippine Local History at the MSU Campus and where I had a brief but good time with Sr. Delia as the perfect tour guide.
She explained to me the different artifacts and the fabrics on display at the conference and gave some tips on what to buy.
She also gave me some copies of the Mindanao cultural journal. It was also at this time that Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was staged by the MSU with PETA in Maranao with the perfect setting by the lake.
Sr. Delia lived in Marawi City for decades. Through an endowment from Toyota Foundation, the Darangen was published in 8 volumes with a total of 27 books from 1986 to 1993.
Then on November 25, 2005, the Darangen was proclaimed a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanities by the UNESCO.
Sometime in 2013, the ICM sisters of St. Theresa’s College, Cebu decided to give some of the remaining copies of Darangen to schools through persons who knew Sr. Delia in Cebu City.
I am very grateful to Sr. Ofelia Ibañez, ICM who gave me a call informing me that they were giving me a set of the 8 volumes of Darangen for the University of the Philippines Cebu.
I turned them over to the dean (now the chancellor) of UP Cebu for the library and not all libraries have this cultural treasure. For those interested to browse over the Darangen, the UP Cebu library has the complete set of 8 volumes of the Darangen.
Missionary, educator, scholar and journalist, Sister Delia showed other paths to peace considering the present situation in Marawi. Her invitations to her former students in the 70s to help the schools in Lanao was only one of the unanswered call to help underserved communities.
I may not have answered her invitation then but Sr. Delia can be assured that I have passed on her legacy of what is cultural work, the importance of preserving cultural heritage by my advocacy for cultural heritage.
She truly deserves the title of “Literary Titan of Mindanao” when she was recently awarded the Fr. Francisco Demetrio SJ Award for Culture and the Arts by the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City.
My generation of Cebu Theresians are so blessed and honored to have been a part of her dedicated journey and we need to pay it forward.