Ni AUGURIO M. ABETO

Daw sa tinalikdan lamang nga Kahapon
Nga ang mga Panaynon nagpasimpalad
Kag sining baybay sila naghalapon
Diri sa Buglasan nagtalambipalad.

Kay sangsa panulok nila nian maladlad
Kutob sa Madyaas ini ang Kanlaon
Sila naghiliuyon nga magahalad
Bulak sang ila gugma kay Dlwang Leon!

Sa Mandu sang Diwa sang palhing’ Madyaas
Sa tuyo nga sila magpatambipalad
Sa Diwata sinang bukid nga mataas
Ang panyong palaran ila ginpaladlad.

Nga sa mga balod kag sa Kahanginan
Nanungsong dayon sa gahumlad nga dagat
Sa kuyos sang habagat kag sang amihan
Tubtob sa Buglasan sib ang nagdangat.

Kag nian sa Buglasan ni Datu Mamagtal
Kag sadtong maanyag nga diwata Panas
Ang Kabukiran ila nga ginpamungkal
Kag mga talunan ila ginpanglatas.

Kag sa madasig nga tikang sang inadlaw
Napasad ang madamong’ kabanhawanan
Ang mga kauswagan nagpanalawdaw
Sa baybay, sa bukid kag mga talunan.

Nag-alaging ribok kag mga inaway
Nga nagbilin sang bilidhon nga Maragtas
Sang maisog to nga mga taliaway
Nga sang Kalalat-an sila ang naglagtas.

Sa tigbatas nga mga anak nagikan
Dungog ta nga inapinan sa binangon
Kag yadtong bansagon nga nagkalapukan
Sa aton amo’ng nagbuhi kag nagbangon!

Banwang Toboso, Sipalay, kag Magallon
Hinubaan, nga mga bag-ong’ sinalad
Kag mga banwa nga anay mga talon
Sang kabuhi gindagaan kag hinalad.

Yadtong mga ulang nga sadto nagsugod
Sa mga payag nga nipa kag kawayan
Nanginsulondan sinang labing mahugod
Nga mga anak sa palangabudlay.

Sila ang mga kaliwat nga dungganon
Sadtong mga pinasad nga mga banwa:
Imol, kasarangan ukon manggaranon
Putli kag alangay sa pagpanghimanwa.

Yanang pinanubli nga gahom sa Diwa
Salama tanan kita nga ginbugayan
Tingog sang tigbatas—tingog man sang banwa
Kay sa isip laban man ang Kagamayan!

Ang hambal ni Nanay,—putling’ Hiligaynon
Sa Panay nabun-ag, sa Negros nagluntad,
Nangin-dinalayday kag mga ambahanon
Sadtong sakayanon keg sang manlulontad.

Naglapnag ang putong ni Datu Sumakwel
Nanday Paiburong kag Daru Bankaya
Sa Negros namukag daw bulak nga clavel
Kay ang HILIGAYNON dili gid malaya.

Ang Hiligaynon lumaron sing dayon
Sa dughan sang banwa, sa bukid kag baybay
Sang tanan nga Nanay nangintulalayon
Kag sang mga Tatay nanginbinalaybay.

Namukadkad dayon—Pulong Hiligaynon
Sa mga Ambahan kag sa binalaybay
Pugad sang kalulo, Sabak nga iluynon
Nga ginayauban sang Negros kag Panay!

Panay and Negros

It seems only yesterday
When the people of Panay ventured
To sail this sea and came
To Buglasan seeking union.

When they viewed before them
From the heights of Madyaas, Kanlaon,
They agreed to offer
The flower of their love to the god Laon.

On orders of the god of forbidden Madyaas
To seek union
With the goddess of tall Kanlaon,
They unfurled their lucky handkerchief.

With the waves and the winds,
They glided on the open sea,
And blown by the south wind and the north wind,
They eventually reached Buglasan.

In Buglasan, ruled by Datu Mamagtal
And the beautiful goddess Panas,
They cleared and cultivated the mountains
And penetrated the forests.

And with the swift passage of time,
Many towns sprang up,
Progress spread everywhere
In sea, mountain, and forest.

Discord and war came to pass
Which left in their wake the history
Of our breve warriors
Who faced up to misfortune.

The free men who were their sons bequeathed
Honor they had defended with the bolo,
And those heroes who fell
Gave us the strength to live and rise!

The towns of Toboso, Sipalay, and Magallon,
Hinobaan, the latest to be set up,
Towns which were once wild forest
Were given life-worthy offerings.

Those ancient first settlers
In huts of nipa and bamboo,
Became models most exemplary
To their sons in life’s hardships.

They are of a noble race,
The people of these towns:
Whether poor, middling, or rich,
All equal in their pure patriotism.

The power invested by Cod
Was given equally to us all
The voice of free men—the voice of the nation
The little people were in the majority.

The language of Nanay—noble Hiligaynon
Was born in Panay and brought to Negros,
It became prose and song
Of those early travelers and settlers.

The language of Datu Sumakwel spread,
The language of Paiburong and Datu Bankaya,
It blossomed in Negros like the clavel flower
Because Hiligaynon never will wither.

Hiligaynon instantly became part
Of the heart of land, mountain, and sea
For all the mothers it became song
And for the fathers, poetry.

It blossomed instantly—the language Hiligaynon
In songs and poetry,
Nest of gentleness, the maternal lap,
The language adored by Negros and Panay.

Augurio Maranon Abeto [1903-1977] was a poet and essayist in Hiligaynon during the Golden Age of Hiligaynon Literature, and is widely considered the "King of Hiligaynon Poetry." He was born in the town of Binalbagan in Negros Occidental, and received his law degree from the University of Sto. Tomas, becoming a member of the Philippine Bar in 1933. He was appointed assistant provincial fiscal, a position he held from 1933 to 1938. He was elected Municipal President [the town mayor at that time] of Binalbagan in 1939, and served until 1947. During World War II, he set up a Resistance Force Government in the mountains of Binalbagan, which lasted the whole three years of the Japanese Occupation. In 1949, he was elected congressman of the third district of Negros Occidental, and served one term, during which he co-authord several bills such as the Sugar Crop Sharing Law. He was responsible for the creation of the town of Magallon [which is now Moises Padilla]. He devoted himself to his law practice from 1954 to 1964, and was considered by many to be a formidable defense lawyer. Failing to win a seat in the Constitutional Convention in 1970, he ran for municipal councillor and won in the elections of 1971. He is the composer of the famed Visayan song, "Dalawidaw."