I wrote this for the one person who taught me how to be a fighter.


Time has passed. Still I’m waiting for you to light back my darkened world. Should have known then what know now. I should have paid attention when you talked. I should have given you more time. I should have gone to your gigs and events; I didn’t realize that they were so important to you. I should have thanked you for exerting effort with the candle-lit dinner, it was really good. I should have seen your effort to when you waited under the storm just to bring me an umbrella. I should have seen you play, they said you were MVP. I should have embraced you when you failed, I believed you when you said that you can manage. I should have been there when you cried your heart out. I should have been there to help you. I should have encouraged you to stand up and fight. I should have watched your transformation from a war-freak to my very ideal. I should have laughed with you when you triumphed. I should have given you more worth. I should have shown you how much you mean to me. I should have told you more often that I love you more than anything else. I should have figured out that sometimes, you can’t handle your problems alone. I should have gone with you that night. I would have told you not to drink too much. I would have taken you home. I should have gone there and picked you up and not let you drive because you’re too drunk.


If I still have you with me, I would have hugged you tighter. Hold your hand and never let you go. I would often to talk to you even if we reach daybreak. I would go to your gigs wearing that ring you gave me. I would wash the dishes after the candle-lit dinner. I would walk under the storm with you until we reach my apartment. I would bring a banner every time you play and shout as loud as I could every time you make a point. I would tell you that even if you fail, you have me. I would embrace you and cry with you if you lose. I would cancel every meeting I have just to be there and offer a helping hand. I would give you all the support u need. I would thank you for transforming so that my parents would like you but tell you that I love you even if you catch a fight every week. I would laugh with you whenever you win. I would tell you that I’m so proud of you. I would tell you that u make me fall for you more every time you sing. I would learn the song that you wrote for me. I would let you feel that you’re very important to me. I would never leave your unit not unless you tell me what’s wrong. I would tell you that I love you at any given time or place. I would go with you when you go out. I would stop you from drinking way too much. I would take you home and make sure that you’re safe in you bed.


But these useless regrets can never do anything now. They said when you were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital; you asked them to tell me that you love me. I love you too. I would die a thousand deaths just to have you back, if that could bring you back even just for 2 minutes. Just to hear you say again that you love me.


I wanna take you back to the place where we first met. I remember perfectly that night. I was too drunk and accidentally scratched your car and you saw that. But you didn’t ask for any payment, just a date with me. Who wouldn’t accept that bargain? I was just a date, I told myself. But what I didn’t expect was you meant: A DATE NOW, RIGHT NOW. I had to cancel my night out with my girl friends. I was kinda hesitant because you looked like somebody I just couldn’t trust in the time of my tipsiness. I drank way beyond my limit and fell asleep so you took me to your unit because u didn’t know where I lived. When I woke up in the morning, I was intact. You never took advantage. I looked for you because I remember that the last person I was with was you. I could not be mistaken. Then I found you in the couch sleeping so subtly. I stared at you for quite a while admiring your abs, admiring the star tattoo in your neck. I noticed the angelic face in spite the rocker image. I admitted you look better in the morning. You opened your eyes and gave me the sweetest smile. It made my heart stop beating. That was how I remember meeting you.




The next thing I know was me going out with you more often. Wherever you were, i was there. There was even that time you stole me from the party and took me to the highest peak in Cebu. Your reason was you saw me bored to death in the party but you brought along with you a bottle of red wine (my fave!!!) and some chips while admiring the lanterns and the buildings and the romantic city lights… We sat there and admired the part of Cebu where we both grew up. We were talking nonsense when you told me that you were moving on one step higher - FALLING IN LOVE with the prettiest girl in school. I figured out that you were referring to Jenna. Then you took this silver ring from your pocket and told me that you were gonna give that ring to that girl. I was shattered but tried to project a smile. You stood up and said that we should get going. You went along and I was left there. As I opened the door leading to the staircase, I saw the ring and a note on the floor that said, “to the prettiest girl I laid my eyes on… if you accept, come down the stairway and meet me in the car. If you wont, might as well stay there on the in the mountain.. take notice: you don't have anything to …” Bastard! I had no choice but to come to you but you know, in a heartbeat, I would.




A week before your crash, we got into an argument. Basically, it was just a petty issue but I don’t know what went wrong that it worsened. I said a lot of things that I shouldn’t have said. And you could not take any more of it so you finally spoke. That you were longing for me, the old me that you fell in love with. That I was too preoccupied with going after my dreams that I neglected you the time you should have gotten. And while I was running after what I wanted, you were running after me but I never saw you that’s why you sought consolation from your friends. Then she came along. You said you never had anything with her but my friends told me otherwise. They saw you together in the dance floor with a different kind of tension so they took a picture shot of you and showed me. a picture tells a thousand stories, you know. I told you right there and then that I was breaking up with you, that I never wanted to see your face again. And I walked out.


For days, you tried to explain but I never heard you out. I never gave you the chance. And what happened next was you started your heavy drinking again. It only drove u farther from me. Then one night, I got a call from your brother that you were in the hospital because your car was hit by a truck and you were too drunk to step on the breaks.


I wish we could start all over again. I wish you were here. I wish I had the chance to kiss you again. I wish I could have just heard you out. Every part of me is aching for you. I guess I just miss you and I still have you in my heart. And you’ll always have that place that is just yours alone; which nobody can ever replace. You were the one who taught me how to be brave, how to run after my dreams, how to be patient. How to fight back when I was being maltreated, how to love myself more. Now I realize what you told me…. “you’re ready now. Now, you’re strong enough to withstand anything….” You we’re molding me to be somebody better. The only thing you didn’t teach me was to let go of you.


I still wear your ring.
I miss you Chase.












Credits: My Applicant

• Check the soil.

• Be sure you have adequate supply of water.

• There must be good sunlight for the vines.
  

• Get rid of the pests!
  

• Prune well.

Mangyat Kaw Mag-Binutuanon?

Butuanon belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages, one of the world’s largest language families, both in terms of numbers of languages (more than 1,200) and in geographical spread (from Madagascar in Africa to Easter Island near the coast of South America.
In relat…ion to other Philippine languages, Butuanon belongs to the Southern branch of Visayan languages, and the Visayan languages in turn belongs to the Southern branch of Philippines languages (to which the Mindanao, Bicolano, and Tagalog languages also belong). As such, most of the words in its vocabulary are cognate to the words found in other Visayan languages. Its grammatical rules are also similar to its fellow Visayan languages Surigaonon and Cebuano.
There is a common misconception that Butuanon is a dialect, but in fact it is a language.
Dialects are defined by international linguistic standards as mutually intelligible versions of a language. For example, the common medium of communication in Baranggay Babag Butuan City is mutually intelligible with the one used in Talakugon Municipality; thus both are dialects of the same language, which is called Butuanon by international linguists. Butuanon as a language is at par with the other 160 or so Philippine languages, including Tagalog, and the rest of the world’s languages. To call Butuanon a dialect does not do justice to this rich and complex language.
Language is the main medium by which humans communicate ideas and feelings to each other. Consequently, language is not only the main transmitter of human culture, but it also forms the most important part of culture. Without language, human society and culture would not exist at all.
Language also has another role that is often overlooked. Each language is shared by a cultural community, and forms the main basis for the existence of such a community, which is called an ethnolinguistic people. If the language of an ethnolinguistic people dies, so does this people. For example, if no can speak the Butuanon language, there will be no Butuanon ethnolinguistic people.
Children are born with the ability to learn any language, but they usually (sic), this is their parents’ first language—a language that has been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years.
There are at present more than 6,000 distinct languages and peoples of the world. Each week, one or two of them die out, usually due to years of discriminatory policies of governments that promote only the language of their capitals and centers. These languages differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Each language offers unique concepts and ways of expressing them, and thus unique perspectives (points of view), besides defining the very peoples of the world. Each of them is priceless and irreplaceable, a treasure that humanity can hardly afford to lose.
Any language with less than 300,000 speakers is regarded by international linguists as endangered. The Butuanon language at present can only be spoken by less than 1,000 youngsters in Butuan itself. If the next generations of Butuanons are not taught Butuanon in school, that will be the end of the Butuanon ethnolinguistic people.
Butuanon Syllabus
Butuan Global Forum
The main purpose of this syllabus is to preserve the priceless and irreplaceable Butuanon language that has defined the Butuanon people for more than a thousand years.
Butuanon Pronunciation
Two important points on the pronunciation of Butuanon words:
1. The student should take note that Butuanon has prolonged vowels such as ââ, ûû, ôô, îî, which are pronounced as prolonged sounds of the shorter vowels. (This is a characteristic it shares with Cebu City and northern dialects of Cebuano, and perhaps other Philippine languages, but not with other Visayan languages such as Hiligaynon and Karay-a, and also not with Tagalog.)
These are true phonemes, not diphthongs (two vowels pronounced in sequence.) This has to be clarified because most Philippine language syllabuses aim to teach Tagalog, which does not have these prolonged vowels. Thus Tagalogs pronounce ‘aa’ as ’a-a’.
Example 1: Tagalogs prononounce ‘tsaa’ as ’tsa-a’, while Butuanons and Northern Cebuanos pronounce it as ’tsââ’.
Example 2: Tagalogs pronounce ‘oo’ (yes) as ‘o-o’, while Butuanons pronounce it as ôô. In this syllabus, we will follow the Butuanon pronunciation.
2. Another important point is that the ‘L’ or ‘l’ phoneme in other Visayan languages is usually not pronounced in Butuanon cognate words if it occurs in the middle or at the end of a word..
Example 1: The Butuanon cognate word for the Cebuano ‘balay’ is ‘bâây’ (house).
Example 2: The Butuanon cognate word for the Cebuano ‘tambal’ is ‘tambââ’ (medicine).
Example 3: The Butuanon cognate word for the Cebuano ‘katumbal’ is ‘katumbââ’ (pepper).
Butuanon Syllabus – Lesson One
Butuan Global Forum
LESSON ONE
NON-VERBAL SENTENCES
DESCRIPTIVE, CLASSIFICATION and EQUATIONAL SENTENCES
A Butuanon sentence is made up of COMMENT and TOPIC. The TOPIC specifies what the speaker is going to talk about.
TOPIC MARKERS indicate the TOPIC. For a PERSONAL NAME (PN) the topic markers are SI/SINDA. For a NON-PERSONAL NAME (NPN) the topic markers are ANG/ANG MGA.
PERSONAL NAME (PN) refers to the names of persons or titles that are substituted for the names of persons. SI is the singular topic marker and SINDA is the plural form.
Names: Jo – Maestro si Jo. Jo is a teacher.
Bobit – Niwang sinda Bobit. Bobit and his companions are thin.
Titles: Doktor – Buotan si Doktor. Doctor is kind.
Attorney – Maaslag sinda Attorney. Attorney and his companions are big.
NON-PERSONAL NAME (NPN) refers to words that are not names of persons or titles substituted for names of persons, and to groups of words, phrases and sentences, which function as a noun. ANG is the singular topic marker and ANG MGA is the plural form.
Words:
Ginoo – Maluluy-on ang Gino-o. God is merciful.
Pangoo – Si Lino ang Pangoo. Lino is the President.
Bata – Tambok ang mga bata. The children are fat.
Phrases:
Kang Cory – Patsada ang kang Cory. Cory’s is pretty.
Kaaba ni Cris – Patsada ang kaaba ni Cris. Cris’ dress is pretty.
Yaton lamisa – Madiyaw ang yaton lamisa. The one on the table is good.
Either SI or SINDA always marks the TOPIC, unless it is a pronoun (personal or demonstrative) in which case the TOPIC FORMS of these pronouns are used.
The topics are indicated in the following sentences.
Maaslag siya. (Personal Pronoun) He/She is big.
Imo iyan. (Demonstrative Pronoun) That is yours.
NOTE: the topic pronouns are also referred to as focus pronouns. Pronouns and FOCUS will be explained later. Also the English equivalent of the third person singular pronoun SIYA is both he and she. He will be used as the English equivalent throughout the books.
The COMMENT says something about the topic. The COMMENT usually begins the sentence. A sentence whose comment is not a verb is a NON-VERBAL SENTENCE. While there are many types of non-verbal sentences, this lesson emphasizes three types of non-verbal sentences:
DESCRIPTIVE SENTENCES – when the comment is an adjective describing the topic.
Tambok ang bata. The child is fat.
Niwang sinda Maria. Maria and her companions are thin.
Mahaaba ang tao. The man is tall.
Dakwa ang lamisa. Table is big.
CLASSIFICATION SENTENCES – when a noun is the comment of the topic describes the topic or identifies as to type or class.
Maestro si Rolly. Rolly is a teacher.
Mga estudyante sila. They are students.
Doktor ang tao. The man is a doctor.
Magbasakay sinda Boyet. Boyet and his companions are rice farmers.
EQUATIONAL SENTENCES – when there are two topics, which are equal to each other, serve as comments for each other.
Si Rolly ang maestro. The teacher is Rolly.
Si Tiron ang amigo ko. Tiron is my friend.
Sila ang mga estudyante. They are the students.
NOTE: In equational sentences there must be agreement in the use of plural or singular form of the two topics. In descriptive and classification sentences if the topic is plural, the comment may be made plural by putting mga before the comment but it does not have to be plural.
Niwang sinda Ryan. = Mga niwang sinda Ryan.
Estudyante sila. = Mga estudyante sila.
NEGATION. The negation of these non-verbal sentences is made by putting DII before the comment.
Tambok ang bata. Dii tambok ang bata.
Maestro si Rolly. Dii maestro si Rolly.
Si Tiron ang amigo ko. Dii si Tiron ang amigo ko.