(Seated, from left) National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Cultural Dissemination Section (CDS) Head Corinnah Anne Olazo; National Committee on Language and Translation (NCLT) members David Michael San Juan, Imelda de Castro, Raquel Sison-Buban, Jose Julie Ramirez, Romeo Peña, Ramilito Correa, and Jimmuel Naval; and CDS Project Coordinator Angela Sonico; (standing, from left) NCLT members Lourdes Bascuña, Purificacion Delima, and Erlinda San Juan; NCLT Chairman Michael Coroza; Rep. Antonio Tinio, son of the late National Artist for Theater and Literature Rolando S. Tinio; National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera; Settie-Zhymah Padate; Maje Papin, representative of Kristian Sendon Cordero; Felino S. Garcia Jr.; Ruth Elynia Mabanglo; NCLT member Sandor Abad; NCCA Deputy Executive Director Marichu G. Tellano; and Bernan Joseph R. Corpuz, NCCA Plan, Policy Formulation and Programming Division chief pose for photos at the end of the awarding ceremony of the Gawad Rolando S. Tinio sa Tagasalin (Rolando S. Tinio Translator’s Prize) at the NCCA headquarters in Intramuros, Manila, on July 16. (NCCA Photo)
THE National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has named award-winning writers Kristian Sendon Cordero and Felino S. Garcia Jr. and Maranao professor Settie-Zhymah S. Padate as recipients of the inaugural Gawad Rolando S. Tinio sa Tagasalin (Rolando S. Tinio Translator’s Prize).
In a ceremony at the NCCA headquarters in Intramuros, Manila, last Monday, the agency’s National Committee on Language and Translation (NCLT) honored Cordero in the poetry category for “Kwatro Kantos” (Four Corners), his translation of poems by Luis Cabalquinto, Gode Calleja, Raffi Banzuela, and the late Jun Belgica.
Garcia was recognized in the short story category for “Mga Kuwento ni Juana: Mga Naratibo ng Lahing Malayo ng mga Isla ng Filipinas” (The Stories of Joan: Narratives of the Malay Race of the Philippine Islands), his translation of María Adelaida Gurrea Monasterio’s Spanish-language story, and Padate in the epic category for translating “Ang Digmaan sa Magoyod A Selegen at sa Komenekeneg A Ig,” part of the Maranao epic Darangen.
Cordero told The Manila Times that he read “most of the four poets’ works in Burak (Flower),” an annual anthology published by the Albay-born, Canada-based Calleja “that features works—mostly poetry and translations—in the different Bikol languages.”
The Camarines Sur-born, New York-based “Cabalquinto is considered by many as the dean of Bikol poetry,” and “continues to write in three languages, but now mostly in Bikol,” while “Belgica and Banzuela [have]released their own anthologies in Albay,” he said.
In his acceptance speech, Garcia said he first met the Negros Occidental-born Monasterio at the Instituto de Cervantes in 2013, and first translated the story in longhand in Leyte’s Tacloban City.
He admitted that it took him four years to translate the work, because he was not a professional.
Garcia also emphasized the importance of translators in allowing Filipinos to read and understand great Spanish stories, noting that a lot of Spanish books are yet to be translated.
In an interview, Padate described Darangen as a pre-Islamic narrative highlighting Maranao culture, tradition, and beliefs.
The professor said her fascination with epics started with Darangen, which she heard her mother narrate when she was a child.
“During my early years, I got to hear a lot about Darangen [from]my mother, who loves and knows the story, for she can understand the original text,” she added.
Her fellow Maranaos’ unfamiliarity with the epic was one reason Padate decided to translate it into Filipino.
“I started [translating it while I was]doing my masteral thesis,” she said, noting her winning work is only “one of the episodes [in]Darangen.”
“As a Maranao, I always wanted to show [our]culture and traditions,” she added.
Cordero, Garcia, and Padate were chosen by a panel of judges led by National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera. He said the new prize was important because there were a lot of written works that needed to reach Filipinos in a language they understand well.
According to poet and NCLT Chairman Michael Coroza, the panel—which included Galileo Zafra, Efren Reyes-Abueg, Aurora Batnag, and Ruth Elynia Mabanglo—used loyalty to the original text as its standard in choosing the winners.
The prize was named after the late National Artist for Theater and Literature Rolando S. Tinio, whom Coroza hailed as the foremost Filipino translator of his day.
“Influential ang trabaho [at]inspirasyon ang kanyang ginawa” (His work was influential, and what he did was an inspiration), he said.
Tinio’s creative works ranged from poetry to plays in both English and Filipino. Five of these won first prize at the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature and consequently earned him a place in the prestigious competition’s Hall of Fame: the one-act plays “It’s April, What Are We Doing Here” (1964), “A Life in the Slums” (1975) and “Claudia and Her Mother” (1984); the teleplay “Ang Kuwento ni A” (The Story of A) (1993); and the screenplay “Kulay Luha ang Pag-ibig” (Love is Tear-colored) (1994).
As a translator, Tinio is celebrated for his translations of the works of Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, and Anton Chekhov that were staged to great acclaim.
Tinio died of a heart attack in July 1997, the same year he was proclaimed a National Artist.
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