The 1993 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts

RESPONSE of Bienvenido Lumbera

Lubos akong nagpapasalamat sa karangalang iginawad sa akin. Alam kong ito ay galing hindi lamang sa Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation kundi galing na rin sa lahat ng dating estudyante ko at mga kagurong naging mabulaklak ang dila nang sila’y usisain tungkol sa akin.

In 1959, I was a graduate student at an American university who had had proposed topic of his dissertation approved. "Bakit hindi paksaing Pilipino? Why not a Philippine topic?" The question started a process of reeducation that was to remake my consciousness as a colonized intellectual suddenly face-to-face with nationalism.

This evening, I stand before you, a recipient of a prestigious award, simply because somebody three decades ago has the impertinence to ask: "Bakit hindi paksaing Pilipino?" This Award is awesome, indeed, for it affirms a principal tenet of nationalist literary studies—the centrality of the vast body of native-language literature in the Filipino literary canon.

Kung may nakamtang mga tagumpay ang kilusang makabayan ng dekada sesenta at setenta, ito, sa palagay ko, ang pinakapangmatagalan. Ipagdiwang natin ang pagkaahon ng Panitikang Pilipino sa kumunoy ng neokolonyal na edukasyon!

Maraming salamat po.