DELA CERNA
He said it before several times, then in a forceful manner; he said it once more on May 3, 2018 this time in a raspy voice, at the UP Cebu Centennial program. Former U.P. President and strong advocate of Cebuano language and culture, Professor Emeritus Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo sent an urgent appeal: “There should be more studies in Cebuano studies, Cebuano history, Cebuano literature, and Cebuano language.”
In 2004, before the end of his term as U.P. President, Dodong Nemenzo saw to it that there will be a sustainable program promoting Cebuano language and culture, so he granted an endowment of P1 million for this program in UP Cebu.
This was when I was also the director of the Central Visayas Studies Center of U.P. Cebu and promotion of Cebuano culture and history was the center’s main interest. It was not that easy to get the endowment for I was required to make a project proposal for the program Promoting the Cebuano language and culture with a line up of activities that would consume up to the last centavo of the endowment. The program was under the Central Visayas Studies Center and it included workshops, training, fora, conferences and performances on Cebuano Language and Culture. The project proposal underwent rigid scrutiny by the budget office in Diliman before it was granted to U.P. Cebu. My term as director of Central Visayas Studies Center ended in 2009 after which I went on sabbatical leave and subsequently decided to retire due to health reasons. After my stint at the CVSC, there was no more trace of a continuity more so a sustainability of Cebuano language and culture program in U.P. Cebu.
Nemenzo’s appeal is a new challenge for U.P. Cebu as it enters its “ikaduhang siglo”.
Last May 3, I was in five video interviews of music researchers, choral trainers, and living singing legends of Cebuano songs with amazing performances. The interviews were part of the project of Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos where I am consultant entitled “A Study of Extant Cebuano Songs with Transcription and Analysis.” Headed by its director Dr. Hope Sabanpan-Yu and funded by the National Research Council of the Philippines, the project was conceived five years ago when Hope Yu and I were discussing the derth of research on Cebuano culture and the project was not welcomed by local governments and organizations.
It was so inspiring and heartwarming to know from Tata Osorio about the music tradition of Dalaguete, south town of Cebu where music is part of a child’s training and where folks make musical instruments from the bagacay or bamboo. Osorio wrote Dalaguete’s history in the town history project of the province. He recalled how he underwent notereading as a child.
Linda Dajao-Sayson, a, 73- year old singing legend of Cebuano songs had been singing all her life from age 12 up to the present. She gave a lively rendition of Minggor Lopez’s “Tambutiti Tamburiyaw”, a soulful version of Minggoy’s “Kamingaw sa Payag”, and the emotional “Bisan sa Damgo Lang” of Mil Villareal. Listening to the songs made us teary eyed.
After the interviews I rushed to UP Cebu just in time to hear Nemenzo’s challenge to U.P. Cebu.