Group 5, E12C

"I Higaonon"

Telesforo Sungkit Jr.

Submitted by:

Group 5

Members

Cruz, Denzel

Hibaya, Arwen Murray T.

Paderna, Raquelle

Sy, Kianne Mae

Submitted to:

Mr. Aldrin A. Lucelo

“Project in English for Academic and Professional Purposes”

Date
Telesforo Sungkit Jr.

Telesforo Sungkit Jr. is a novelist and a poet from Sumilao, Bukidnon. He writes in
Higaonon, Cebuano, Filipino and English languages. He is considered to be the first Lumad,
which is a Cebuano term that translates to ‘native’; author. He was popular at 29 years of age
when he was launching his book in 2009 that was written in the Filipino language; entitled
Batbat Hi Udan, which is also known as The Story of Udan. His named masterpiece was also
considered as a “historical novel” by the scholars in University of the Philippines Institute of
Creative Writing in Diliman, Quezon City. (Bukidnon Our Home, 2009)

He is indeed, very well-known for having written full-lengths of epic novels and being
the first most accomplished writer from Bukidnon. He won the National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (NCCA) Writers' prize, back in 2007, for his Cebuano novel Mga Gapnod sa
Kamad-an. Later then, the NCCA Writers' Prize in 2011, for his Cebuano Novel known as Ang
Agalon sa mga Balod. Furthermore he is the grantee of the National Book Development Board
Trust Fund for Writers, for another one of his Cebuano novel called Mga Tigmo sa Balagbatbat.
One of his works was also published by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House in
2013, namely, Driftwood on Dry Land. (Sungkit Jr., 2018)
I Higaonon, Synopsis

The poem ‘I Higaonon’ is one of his works; published in 2013 in Dagmay. Higaonon is a
word combined with different terms, wherein, ‘Higa’ means living; ‘Goan’ means mountains,
and ‘Onon’ mean people. Cooperatively, this means “people of the living mountains”, or “people
living in mountains’. The tribe is a group of nomads, they move from one mountain to another to
look for fertile soil for their harvest. They are scattered around Bukidnon, Agusan Del Sur and
Norte, Lanao Del Norte and lastly Misamis Oriental; their particular way of living is about
managing forests and they are the last tribes of Mindanao to in the mountains. (Binahon Jr., F.,
n.d.)

The metrical composition, ‘I Higaonon’, talks about the prejudice the natives experience
from the colonizers, particularly about; (1) the disrespect and the downgrading of their religion
because of their different beliefs and rituals. (2) The hypocrisy of the colonizers in terms of
creed. (3) The scorn toward the native tongue of the Higaonons from the colonizers' own
language. (4) The corruption and deceit in what they introduce as politics and governance. (5)
The natives being slaughtered in their own accommodation; monstrosity it is to them, but what
the colonizers call it, is democracy. (6) Finally, the abuse toward the indigenous' livelihood.
(e.g., Sungkit Jr., 2013, stanza 1-23)
Literary Theories

The literary theories we plan to use in its sequential order are: (1) Formalism; to read and
picture what the literary piece is trying to convey, and see it as it is; a poem. It is a literary
criticism that study the text itself, considering the features of it. The main focus of formalism are
the historical and biographical relevance of the work and the arrangement of language (What is
Formalist Criticism?, 2010). It also refers to the critical approaches which interpret and evaluate
the inherent features of a text. (2) Ethnic studies; to help emphasize the reflection of the author in
his piece, -and Postcolonial; to reflect on the relationship between the two sides implied in the
poem and how it affected history and the current situation, after. Ethnic studies refers to minority
studies and has historical relationship with post colonial criticism. It is the theoretical study of
race and cultural pluralism. It concerns itself generally with art and literature produced by
identifiable ethnic groups. Post Colonial Criticism, on the other hand, investigates relationship
between colonizers and colonized in period of post colonization (Brewton, V., n.d.). (3) The
Marxism; to cover both the social and political classification that is reflected in the poem. People
who have higher position in government tends to belittle those who have lower ranks then them.
They use their position as their power to rule over them. This does not happen only in the of
Politics. This also happens in business world, those who have more money tends to have more
power. They think of their money as a power. Karl Marx believed capitalism creates an unfair
imbalance between people (Chappelow, J., 2019). (4) The New Historicism and Culture
Marterialism; covering its historical value as a literary piece, as well as learning from it. The new
historicism and cultural materialism both engage in processing and renewing our images in the
past; revisiting the past (Brannigan, J., 1998). New historicism aims to show each period or era
that has it’s own ideological and conceptual frameworks (Mambrol, N., 2016). The differences
of these 2 are that new historicists, is that one is during its own time at a literary work. While
cultural materialists will examine its political context work throughout time, up to modern day
(Massiet, J., 2013).
Application of the Literary Theories

The poem by Telesforo Sungkit Jr., ‘I Higanon’ is written in the first person’s point of
view, as if speaking on behalf of his ancestors about the ways of their tribe; regarding their
religion, language, form of govenment, features, and livelihood. Their tangible and intangible
wealths. –But most of all, the prejudice that the natives, or the aforementioned tribe, experienced
from the colonizers. The feud was biased and was in favor of the colonizers, as they
downgraded, scorned, deceived, slaughtered, and hegemonized the truly accommodating natives.
The subjugation resulted to the extinction of the native tribe, making them one of the least
known enthnolinguistic groups in our county (Binahon Jr., F., n.d.).

The literary piece, holds a part of our country’s history. It reflects, and wishes to convey
that we should remember what colonizers have been able to do to us. It doesn’t mean that we
should begrudge against foreigners, because in fact, our goal is world peace. –But we should be
careful and keep in mind that history repeats itself. –How the colonizers have deceived and
misused them for labor and their livelihood; reflects many of our local industries suffering today,
especially in this time of pandemic. Let us take a lesson from this to support our own, to stand on
our own.

.
Bibliography

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