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BY JOHNNY NOVERA
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Tuesday, March 28, 2017
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TWO IMPORTANT events just passed, falling on two consecutive days last week, or on March 21 and 22. Did we celebrate them?
March 21 was World Poetry Day. It was a special holiday proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 to encourage reading, writing, publishing, and teaching of poetry worldwide, as well as to support creative expressions and endangered languages. It is said that poetry is the window of the soul.
We remember Ilonggo poet Flavio Zaragoza Cano who was writing poems in easy-to-read short verses in a local Hiligaynon weekly. Was he from Mandurriao? We saw a memorial marker for him at Mandurriao Plaza that badly needed a facelift because it can hardly be read now. Is the local group of poets in Iloilo called Sumakwelan still active? Did they celebrate World Poetry Day? We wish they can maintain memorial markers like that for poet Flavio.
Poetry is a type of artistic expression that emphasizes feelings and ideas by using different styles and rhythms. It promotes literacy as well as close cultural understanding among our people and can be a good communications tool, too.
With the advent of computers, more popular now however with the youth in social media is Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
We believe that Writing History in our Streets, a project discussed in our two past columns of putting up markers with historical information on our street names can also qualify to be included in social media.
We are simply awed with our initial discovery that our residents do not know many of the personalities for whom our streets are named.
Once our Committee can set up our first historical marker scheduled for Quirico Abeto Street which the barangay council is set to approve in their meeting on Sunday, then we will have a model to follow and will accelerate this historical project in other areas.
Right now we are completing our research on Roman Mapa Street and soon Oñate, De Leon, Guzman, Mejorada, Mirasol, Perfecto and Benedicto streets, all in the vicinity of the church and Mandurriao plaza, will follow.
We looked forward also to the Philippine River Day on March 22, 2017 in Iloilo but we did not notice any special activity at the Iloilo River or at the esplanade on the river banks. It was a public holiday as originally declared in 2014 to provide a united movement for our people to save our rivers and remind us of our duty to the environment. We did not notice, however, any fiesta atmosphere at the Iloilo Esplanade or on the river during the holiday, or did we just miss it?
We recall joining a three-city tour of Australia for nine days about two decades ago that included the cities of Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. All three cities we visited had navigable rivers but it is at the Gold Coast that we like to remember our river tour experience to this day.
We had a night tour of the river that opened up to the sea on the Island Queen Ferry, with dinner, music and a dancing orchestra on board. We did not even notice that it was already midnight when we came back to port.
It was such an enjoyable evening that set us to thinking of the tourist potentials of our own Iloilo River. It is sad that we never came to such an idea up to now for Iloilo. (jnoveracompany@yahoo.com/PN)
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