The state of Surigaonon that they reported was troubling, to say the least.

The youth of Surigao were

losing much of the local language and were already prone or becoming comfortable to mixing in
phrases of Visayan or Tagalog. Sir Jun, the oldest at 83, was expressing his wish to pass on the work of
cultural preservation to a new vanguard, the younger generation or the so-called second-liners. He
expressed dismay in his discovery that the wards in a “school for the Mamanwa” were being taught in
English and Tagalog instead of in the local dialect. Or that the now-popular “Bonok-Bonok” festival in
Surigao was actually ill-named because it was coined by cultural and tourism people, and not the by
local linguists. Shouldn’t it be “Bonok-Danak,” he said, because those were the local terms that
described the often violent downpours – quick to fall and just as abrupt in stopping – that fell in the
province during the monsoons?

And what of the dialect – should it be called “Surigaonon” or “Sinurigao”? Although “Surigaonon” is
formally and widely-used, a book advocating “Sinurigao” was already published to keep the issue
burning. Then what about some terms in a dictionary published by a local pundit? Although
acknowledged as one of the most comprehensive collection of Surigaonon words, were not some of the
terms merely Castilian language-origins – like using “camote” for “kamote”? Should not a working
team already check and improve on the terms used?

And how would history judge the Gonzales brothers who led the insurrection in Gigaquit, Surigao del
Norte against the Spanish? “I have not known one single family – now I count six brothers – that has
lost so many family members in history. Not even the Bonifacio brothers have lost that many,” Sir Jun
told his audience. Also a controversial topic for the group: the Colorum uprising in the island of Bucas
Grande, Surigao in 1924 against American rule – how would future historians treat their revolt?

Our task to preserve our cultural tradition in the form of language and tradition is not an easy task, Sir
Jun told the motley group of scholars, pundits, the curious and those already long committed. Before
his book “Surigao Across the Years” was launched in 1993, Sir Jun took on a mostly lonely task of
piecing together Surigao’s history, his “love affair” with the city’s past having started in 1976 when he
became writer of the Surigao Historical Commission.