ABOUT THE BOOK

While lying in his duyan (hammock) in his grandmother Laonsina’s house in langit (sky), Humadapnon finally decides to marry the binukot (kept maiden) his pet bird Banugon kept telling him about—Nagmalitong Yawa (Mali), a stunning well-kept maiden from Halawod who is the daughter of his distant relatives Matan-ayon (Ayon) and Labaw Donggon (Abaw).

According to Laonsina, Mali’s family might reject his marriage proposal since he has not seen her in person yet, this feat proving to be difficult since she is confined and well-guarded in her bukutang bulawan (golden chamber). For him to see the lovely woman, Humadapnon must grow alayaw and pangdan trees and cast a tigadlom (magical spell) that would make them invisible until they bloom. As the flowers finally open their petals, the beautiful Mali is enticed by their sweet scent and goes out of her bedchamber to gather the fallen blossoms.

Humadapnon then comes up with a plan to go after Mali. To win her over, his pet birds—Punay, Parupagayong, and Banog—serve as messengers to ultimately obtain her hand in marriage.

ABOUT THE CHANTER

Federico Caballero was born in Barangay Masaroy, Calinog, Iloilo, and came from a long family line of epic chanters. He helped pioneer the first School of Living Traditions (SLT) in the Visayas in Barangay Garangan, Calinog, Iloilo, teaching epic chanting along with other Panay-Bukidnon arts through his wife’s and siblings’ assistance. He died on August 17, 2024, at the age of eighty-five, leaving a collection of thirteen titles in the Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay series published by the UP Press.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR AND RESEARCHER

Dr. Alicia P. Magos is professor emeritus from UP Visayas. Her work on the Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay spans more than three decades. Together with Federico Caballero, she spearheaded the first School of Living Traditions (SLT) at Barangay Garangan, Calinog, Iloilo, revitalizing the Panay Bukidnon’s epic chanting and their long-forgotten or abandoned needlework called panubok (from tubok, “to slip a needle inside a cloth”).

ABOUT THE RESEARCHER

Anna Razel Limoso-Ramirez is the project coordinator for the publication of Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay and the main translator of these epics in contemporary Kinaray-a and English. A graduate of UP Visayas both for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, she is an indefatigable field researcher and writer who has conducted numerous studies, produced video documentaries, and spoken in lectures about the Central Panay environment and communities, being one of the few researchers focused on Panay studies.