Mangyans and musicians

The Mangyans of Mindoro are making a small sensation with their exhibit in the Ayala Museum. The exhibit began with a press conference on Tuesday, January 3, 2006 and it will end on Monday, January 23.

The driving force of the exhibit is Lolita Delgado Fansler, the current president of the Mangyan Heritage Center, which is located in Calapan, Mindoro. Her son, Quint Delgado Fansler, established the Mangyan Heritage Center, and built its library, in the Year 2000.

Quint graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and became a JVP – a Jesuit volunteer in the Philippines. With him, working with the Mangyans, are many other JVPs - Filipinos and Filipinas - young men and women who are consecrating the best years of their lives to the service of our indigenous people.

Our media is filled with alarming stories of Filipinos leaving the country, hoping to find greener pastures in other lands. But here you have a group of young Filipinos and Filipinas who are highly educated, and completely acceptable abroad, and they have chosen to stay right here and work for the most neglected of our people, the tribal natives.

Mangyan is a generic name for eight groups of indigenous people: Alangan, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunuo, Iraya, Ratagnon, Tadywan and Tau-buid. Numbering 100,000, they are 10 percent of the population of Mindoro, with eight different languages and cultural traditions.

They are blessed by a tremendous amount of careful research, done by two scholarly Europeans: Antoon Postma and Father Ewald H. Dinter, S.V.D.

An anthropologist and a linguist, Antoon Postma came to the Mangyans 40 years ago as an S.V.D. priest. Like most missionaries, he was fascinated by the beautiful simple life of his people, by their sensitivity, by their artistic creations, by their virtues. Eventually he left the Society of the Divine Word, and the priesthood, was laissezed properly, and married a Mangyan. He has lived in the mountains of Mindoro, with the Hanunuo Mangyans, ever since.

He edited the oldest SpanishTagalog dictionary, has translated the Mangyan script for the National Museum, and has published many books and articles on the culture, poetry and writing system of the Mangyans. His scientific research forms the bulk of the materials in the library of the Mangyan Heritage center.

Father Ewald H. Dinter, S.V.D. has worked with the Mangyans, full time, for the last 19 years. He has been heading the Mangyan Mission for 15 years. He established the Mangyan Education Center, and has worked in close cooperation with Antoon Postma.

Out of the 110 groups of Indigenous People in the Philippines today, only four still use their original scripts. The other languages and dialects still exist, but they are written in the Roman alphabet. The Mangyans treasure their own native script. They carve their poems on bamboo trees in the forests. This is one of them.

It’s a fact that we all know,

a truth wherever we go;

the sun in the afternoon

will be setting very soon.

Says the man, already old,

thinking of life after death:

When I leave, it will be nice.

I will whistle, I will yell

on the highest mountain peaks.

Yes, one day I will be glad;

I will see my wife again!

Many things we’ll have to say!

Then I won’t want to come back.

The thought of death is quietly accepted by a Mangyan. It is a part of the life cycle of every human being. It will bring a change in life, for the better. When a Mangyan is old, he likes to think of death as the moment that will bring him back to those he loves, who have gone ahead of him.

Their poetry, the artifacts, the clothing, the simplicity and peace of their life – all these make the exhibit well worth visiting!

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Saint Paul University of Manila will celebrate the 65th anniversary of its College of Music and the Performing Arts with a concert on Saturday, January 21, at 6:30 p.m.

The concert is called BALIK TUGTUGAN III. It will be held in their beautiful, newly renovated, air conditioned theater on 680 Pedro Gil, Malate. It accentuates the desire of the Sisters of Saint Paul de Chartres to move back into the mainstream of music, theater and drama.

The repertoire is varied and colorful. It includes piano and string ensembles, choral music, voice, guitar and marimba selections. The Music Faculty of Saint Paul University will perform: Irma Potenciano, Ronan Ferrer, Thea Perez, Julie Ann Hallazgo, Mary Ann Espina, Najib Ismail, Teresa David, and Jose Valdez.

For this event the school has called back many of its music alumnae, some of them from the United States and Europe. Carmencita Castro Bautista, Priscilla Enriquez, Elizabeth Flordeliza, Maria Luisa Fucoy-Monero, Noemi Manikan and Celeste Legaspi.

Two of the performing alumnae are now Sisters of Saint Paul de Chartres: Sister Maria Annuntiata Santa-Ana, who is the Dean of the College of Music, and Sister Teresita Estrellita Orlino, who is now the assistant Provincial Superior of the Sisters of Saint Paul in the Philippines.

Joining the Music Faculty and the Alumnae are special friends: Ariel Arambulo, who is the son of an alumna, Carmencita Arambulo, and three Deans of outstanding Colleges of Music.

• Dean Raul Sunico of the University of Santo Tomas,

• Dean Ramon Acoymo of the University of the Philippines, and

•Dean Harold Galang of Philippine Women’s University

Playing a trio are pianist Imelda Asiaten, who is based in Germany; the principal cellist of the Philippine Philarmonic Orchestra, Renato Lucas; and on the violin our famous Filipino conductor who has made a name in Europe, Oscar Yatco.

Oscar Yatco will also conduct the Finale, Handel’s Alleluia, which will include the original Ateneo Alumni Glee Club. These men began singing with each other more than 50 years ago, and have stayed together for half a century. In 1955 they performed at Christmas time with the Saint Paul College Glee Club, which was then directed by Sister Marie Vincent, S.P.C. The Ateneo was all male, and the Saint Paul Club was made up of 125 smashingly pretty girls.

Another Ateneo boy, doing the narration for Tom Scott’s "Creation" in this year’s concert, is Tommy Abuel.

For further information, call 5245687, local 216. The contact girl is "Bing".

This is a concert which rests on 65 years of theatrical experience. It will appeal to all those, young and old, who love music.

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