New Directors for the Writers Union of the Philippines

Mapalad po tayong mapabilang sa Board of Directors para sa mga taong 2010-2013 ng Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL). Bagong tungkulin, kakayanin.

(Which means kelangan ko na talagang matapos ang aklat ko bago matapos ang taon at bago tumambak ang trabaho. Hay.)

Saka na lang ang mga retrato ng Kongreso; heto muna ang PR na isinulat ni ser Dan Pinto.

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NEW OFFICERS ELECTED IN 36TH UMPIL CONGRESS
by N. Daniel Pinto

The Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas—the country’s largest alliance of writers, poets, novelists, editors and literary figures—held its its 36th Congress on August 28, 2010.

As early as eight in the morning, confreres started trickling into the GT Toyota Asian Center Auditorium at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, until the crowd swelled to a size big enough to prompt Dean Mario I. Miclat to take to the stage and deliver the welcome remarks. He was followed by outgoing UMPIL chair Victor Emmanuel Carmelo “Vim” D. Nadera Jr., who reported on the organization’s activities during his watch.

In his parting words, Vim Nadera underscored the need for writers to work with the educational departments for the promotion of literacy from literature. The pool of literary talents and the wealth of the country’s literary gems, he said, remain untapped because, all too often, there seems to be a break, a chasm, in the coordinative activities between the writers’ groups and the heads of educational institutions in the country. Now is the time for writers to offer assistance, with pen in hand as it were, Nadera stressed.

In a welcome innovation, the morning session featured a keynote lecture that aptly set the underlying theme of the Congress—Literature and Change—and summarized the core message of the event. And for the first of a series of what will henceforth be known as the Adrian E. Cristobal Lecture Series, the Congress organizers’ choice of inaugural lecturer went to multi-awarded UP professor emeritus Dr. Gémino H. Abad, who delivered a befitting discourse entitled “The Future Is First Shaped by Words.”

The Adrian E. Cristobal Lecture Series is a joint project of UMPIL and the Cristobal family in honor of the late Adrian E. Cristobal—litterateur, fictionist, essayist, satirist, and newspaper columnist—and in homage to the intellectual discipline that he so faithfully adhered to. (Of UMPIL’s three Chairmen Emeriti, Adrian Cristobal was the first, followed by the dear departed Mike L. Bigornia, and the now presently active and very much alive National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario.)

Before the writers settled down to a hearty luncheon catered by the durable Chinese eatery, Ma Mon Luk, they took time enough to elect from among them the incoming members of the UMPIL Board for 2010–2013. Thus: Abdon M. Balde Jr., chairman; Karina A. Bolasco, vice chair; Michael M. Coroza, secretary general; Romulo P. Baquiran Jr., treasurer; and Rebecca T. Añonuevo, auditor. Rounding off the UMPIL directorate are Marne Kilates, Mario I. Miclat, Charlson Ong, and Fidel Rillo, as well as the sectoral representatives which include Joaquin Sy, for Chinoy writers; Phillip Kimpo Jr., representing the poets of LIRA; representatives of GUMIL (for writers in Iluko), KUTING (for writers of children’s literature), and representatives of Sebuwano and Bisaya writers.