Saving Pangasinan literature
By Gabriel Cardinoza Philippine Daily Inquirer Dagupan City, Philippines—Pangasinan’s writers are in an uphill climb in their effort to save the dying Pangasinan literature. Aside from the dearth of writers in the vernacular, members of the Ulupan na Pansiansia’y Salitan Pangasinan (Association for the Preservation of the Pangasinan Language) say they have not been getting enough support to implement projects that will encourage a literary resurgence. “Pangasinan [writers] today lack the invigorating environment of a literary movement. We are alone in a wasteland … We are a dying tribe on the verge of extinction,” says Santiago Villafania, the province’s leading umaanlong (poet), who is also a member of the Ulupan. With a population of 2.65 million, half of whom are Pangasinan-speaking, Villafania says the province has only three short story writers, two novelists, six poets and one essayist. Only three of them have published books in the last six years. Literary silence “After half a ...