PAGBUBULAY-BULAY NI TERESA MAGBANUA, ISANG GURONG OFW, NAKAHIMPIL PANSAMANTALA SA BANSANG HAPON



ni E. San Juan, Jr.



Ay naku, ilan taon na akong nagtuturo ng wikang Filipino dito sa Hapon
    ngunit di ko pa kabisado ang pagyuko sa mga kempetai
           o ispelengin ang hiwaga ng kanji  hiragana o katakana--
Nais kong matuto sila ng paggamit ng "kamusta" "paalam" 
     "maganda"     "pag-ibig"  "luwalhati"   "panaginip"  
        kaya tinuruan ko rin ng tinikling   itik-itik   singkil

Subalit nahumaling sa pagsayaw--   indayog ng daliri    wagayway ng panyo
           ngiti rito't tawa doon, nasaan ang tunggalian ng uri?                                   nahan ang dahas ng pasismo't imperyalismo?
Masarap magkuwento ng Boracay kaysa Payatas, Balagtas kaysa Jonas Burgos,
    anong sarap ng chika-chika sa halina ng pandiwa't pang-uri 
        kaysa dahas ng Estado.

Mula sa makiring Osaka, di ko pa nasisilip ang yelo sa tuktok ng Mt. Fuji....
Samantala, may ilang estudyanteng nais mag-turista't mausisa lahat....

Nagkaroon na ng People Power 1, People Power 2, at may bantang sumiklab muli       sakaling pauwiin na lahat ng OFW sa Saudi   Hong Kong   Europa....
Ilang kababayan ang nag-asawa na ng Hapon at Saudi para sigurado....

Ngunit teka--mausok at nakababagot, di na matiis ang trapik sa EDSA,
    nagbabanta  pa rin si Palparan,  tumitindi ang pagpatay at pagdukot,
        gumagala pa rin ang mga teroristang Abu Sayyaf
kaya payo ko sa kanila, dito na lang kayo sa mariwasang kabibi--bakit pa ipapain ang     katawan upang mapahamak sa "Perlas ng Silangan"?

Dito na lang kayo sa masaganang lupa ng cherry blossoms    yen arigato       
    alindog ng geishang nagsasayaw sa lilim ng mga templo ng Buda
             sa Hiroshima at Nagasaki 
        malayo sa tsunami  sa Spratley at     pirata sa dagat Sulu ng Mindanao--
Dito na lang kayo mag-aral ng wika nina Bonifacio   Sakay  Ka Roger
     upang magamit ang salitang "kalayaan"    "puri"  "dangal"  "katarungan"
        putris, pati na "Makibaka huwag matakot!"  "galit" "higanti"
        "Lintik!"   Walang hiya ka!" "Oras mo na"-- 'nak ng tupa!

Oo nga, kumadre, bakit kailangang pigilin ang dila't isip bago pa man dumating 
    ang pulis at sundalong dudukot at papatay?  Bakit?

Sayonara! Oo, halina kayo sa bayan ng mayumi't mapanggayumang babaylan--

Baka sakaling matuklasan natin ang niyebe ng Mt Fuji sa tugatog ng   bulkang Mayong 
    sumasabog.

***
[Si Teresa Magbanua (Nobyembre 4. 1871- Agosto 1947) ay isa pang maipagkakapuring Pilipina, ang natatanging babaeng heneral tulad ni Reyna Sima, Prinsesa Urduja at Gabriela Silang ay pinatunayan na ang mga babae ay may angking kakayahan tibay ng puso at katapangan at handang magsakripisyo o maghandog man ng buhay kung kinakailangan.]

***
About the author:

E. San Juan, Jr. (born on December 29, 1938, in Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines), is a known Filipino American literary academic, mentor, cultural reviewer, civic intellectual, activist, writer, essayist, video/film maker, editor, and poet whose works related to the Filipino Diaspora in English and Filipino languages have been translated into German, Russian, French, Italian, and Chinese.[2] As an author of books on race and cultural studies,[3] he was a “major influence on the academic world”.[2] He was the director of the Philippines Cultural Studies Center in Storrs, Connecticut in the United States.[1] In 1999, San Juan, Jr. received the Centennial Award for Achievement in Literature from the Cultural Center of the Philippines because of his contributions to Filipino and Filipino American Studies.

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