This column celebrates the vibrant literary culture and heritage of Dumaguete City, in anticipation of its bid to be designated as UNESCO City of Literature under the Creative Cities Network. It is produced by the Buglas Writers Guild, a network of literary artists from Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and Siquijor. Each week, we will focus on the work of one local writer. For this month, the guest editor is Dumaguete fictionist Ian Rosales Casocot.
Not many people today remember the late essayist and fictionist Lorenzo Fajardo Dilag — whose 64th death anniversary we commemorate today, March 23; he was a fascinating writer whose career actually bridged the two Negrense capitals, Bacolod and Dumaguete.
He was born on 5 September 1912 in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, the son of Jacinto Dilag, a revolutionary leader, and Maria Fajardo. We don’t know much about him today, but we do have on record the fact that he married one Maria Katalbas, with whom he had eight children. We also know that he studied at Negros Occidental Provincial High School, and then earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the University of San Agustin in Iloilo, after which he moved to Dumaguete where he took up Pre-Law at Silliman University.
Dilag also edited various publications before and after World War II—among them, The Craftsman in Dumaguete and La Linterna, The Commoner, Civismo, and Kabisay-an in Bacolod. He published his best works in the last two papers.
According to the Cultural Center of the Philippines Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts, his important contributions were in the field of literary criticism, focusing mostly on works in Hiligaynon—and Dilag can rightfully be claimed to be one of the Philippines pioneering literary critics.
One famous critical essay he wrote cited the “long-windedness” of Serapion Cuartel Torre’s novel Mater Dolorosa, which he called an “linguistic extravagance,” and also “old-fashioned”—but he also praised Torre for his “ability to affect emotions.” [Torre, who died in 1941, was a Hiligaynon poet, novelist, zarzuela writer, and playwright, widely known as the Father of Modern Hiligaynon Literature. Aside from Mater Dolorosa, some of Torres’ more popular works include the zarzuelas Sayup nga Ikamatay (1915) and Dagta nga Makatinlo (1919), and the novel Bus-og nga Bulawan (1928). He also served as Municipal President of Iloilo from 1923 to 1925.]
In 1934, Dilag also wrote the seminal essay, “Ang Aton Manunulat kag Ila Sinulatan” [Our Writers and Their Writing], for one of the first issues of Hiligaynon Magazine [then called Ang Bisaya sa Hiligaynon]. Already, he showed a keen interest in literary theory and its application to Hiligaynon literature, and in this essay, Dilag used as samples several Hiligayanon pieces to define story-writing technique, to distinguish between the long and the short story, and to do a study on the influence of established Hiligaynon writers and also their followers.
That critical essay triggered another writer, Lerio Pama, to pen a response, which is the essay Langkoy Sabat kay Dilag Fajardo [In Reply to Dilag Fajardo]. Another writer cited specifically in Dilag’s essay, Delfin Gumban, wrote another essay, Kon sa Akon Lamang [In My Opinion], where he responded to Dilag’s claims about his works. [Gumban, who died in 1977, distinguished himself as the so-called Poet Laureate of Hiligaynon, and was a Premio Zobel awardee for poetry in Spanish. He was also a justice of the peace, and a delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention.]
According to Lucila Horsillos, in her book Hiligaynon Literature: Text and Contexts [1992], Dilag “tried to extricate himself from this debate by protesting in yet another essay, Paathag kay G. Lerio kag kay G. Delfin Gumban [Explanation to Mr. Lerio Pama and Mr. Delfin Gumban], [in which he wrote]: ‘My critique was not whimsical but, as usual, based on what is right, guided by things which serve as my criteria to strengthen my critique. I did not condemn or praise the writing of Mr. Delfin Gumban.’”
Who knew literary criticism—published in popular magazines of the era—was provoking such lively debates in Negros and Panay before World War II?
Dilag was not just a critic, he was also a fictionist. He wrote a dozen or so novels, among which are Sa Duta ni Ala [In the Land of God], Rara Avis [Rare Bird], Ang Bata nga Nagtalang [The Lost Child], and Anak sang Bihag [Captive’s Child], all published in 1934. He also wrote Padya sang Kapalaran [Twist of Faith] in 1936, Nagadabadaba ang Gugma [Burning Love] in 1960 [a novel about the propaganda movement], and Kalag sang Solidaridad [The Spirit of Solidaridad] in 1961—the only Hiligaynon novel on Graciano Lopez Jaena. The last two appeared serialized in short-lived publications like Kabisay-an and Kabikahan.
For his services to literature, journalism, and literary criticism, Dilag was honored by Sumakwelan—an organization of Hiligaynon writers in Iloilo—as Short Story Writer of the Year in 1955. He died on 23 March 1961.
