REGION VI

INTRODUCTION
West Visayas is composed of the Islands of Panay,
Guimaras, and half of Negros. These islands have six
provinces- Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, Aklan, Guimaras,
and Negros Occidental- and height cities- Iloilo,
Roxas, Bacolod, Silay, Cadiz, San Carlos, Bag, and La
Carlota.
 Among the literary forms of Region 6 are paktakon,
hurubaton, sugilanon, bordon, luwa, balitao, siday,
binalaybay, composo, korido, sarswela, and nobela.

Some of the writers associated with Region 6 are John

Barrios, Melchor F. Cichon, Esla Martinez Coscollueala,
Valiente Cristobal, Isidro M. Cruz, Alain Russ Dimson, Ma.
Luisa Defante- Gibraltar, Leoncio O. Deriada, Ma. Felicia
Flores, Ismaelita Floro- Luza, Felimo S. Garcia, Magdalena
Jalandoni, Alexander C. de Juan, Ma. Milagros C. Geremia-
Lachica, Tito Mijanes, Teodolfo Naranjo, Ernesto Nietes,
Isabel D. Sebullen, Monalisa T. Tabernilla, John Iremil E.
Tondares, Karen Faith Villaprudente, and Flavio Zaragoza.
“Men, by nature, are
polygamous.”
 THE EPIC OF LABAW DONGGON
(Lambunao, Iloilo)

The Epic of Labaw Donggon is one of two related

epics from Panay Island, in the Visayas, both recorded by
F. Landa Jocano. With its length of 2,325 lines in its
printed version, it is much shorter than the second epic,
to which Manuel gives the title “The Epic of
Humadapnon,” which runs to 53,000 lines and which he
describes as “more successfully sustained, consistent,
and coherent”. This second epic is still unpublished, but
the reader is referred to Manuel’s “Survey” for a
summary of its story. Jocano himself gives the title of
Hinilawod to this longer epic and thinks that “Labaw
Donggon” may be merely a fragment of it.
 Summary of
Labaw Donggon
 Labaw Donggon is one of the three handsome sons of
the diwata Abyang Alunsina and her mortal husband
Buyung Paubari, the other two being Humadapnon and
Dumalapdap. Being of semi-divine birth, the three
brothers possess extraordinary powers. Labaw Donggon,
for instance, miraculously grows into a sturdy young man
shortly after his birth and embarks upon the first of his
three courting adventures.
The first object of his affections is Abyang Ginbitinan, who
lives “by the mouth of Hando, by the river Halawud.” Dressed in
his best clothes, Labaw Donggon goes to Ginbitinan’s house to
visit her and to tell her that he will send his parents to her
parents to arrange the marriage. This done, the dowry is agreed
upon and given, and the wedding is held.
 Not long after his wedding to Ginbitinan, Labaw
Donggon hears about another beautiful woman, Anggoy
Doronoon, of the underworld and conceives a desire to
court her. So he visits her and wins her without any
difficulty. Presumably, (the text does not say so) he stays
with her for a while and then returns to Handog.
 Very soon, however, Labaw Donggon is again restless with
desire for another woman. This time his choice falls on a
married woman, Malitung Yawa. Labaw Donggon dresses in his
best, as usual, and after gazing into a “Crystal ball” to know
how Malitung Yawa looks, sails upward in his magic boat to
the land of the sun. His coming is, however, detected by
Saragnayan, who intercepts him. Upon learning Labaw
Donggon’s intentions upon his wife, Saragnayan sternly tells
him: “You can have Malitung Yawa… if I do not have life
anymore.” A long, hard fight between the two men follows,
first by using their respective charms, and later by using their
own native strength.
 But though Labaw Donggon submerges
Saragnayan into the water for seven years and puts
him on top of a stone and beats him with coconut
trunks, he cannot kill Saragnayan. The reason is
that Saragnayan life is not within his body but kept
inside the body of a pig. After many years of
fighting, Labaw Donggon weakens and Saragnayan
eventually defeats him, binds his arms and feet,
and puts him inside a pig pen below his kitchen.
 Meanwhile, in Handog, Anggoy Gibitinan has borne
a son, Asu Mangga, who asks his mother about his
father. And down below in the underworld, Anggoy
Doronoon has also given birth to a son, Buyung
Baranugan. Though his umbilical cord is still uncut,
Baranugan asks about his father and insists that his
mother allow him to search for him. He dresses up and
asks his mother for his poisoned arrow “which with one
shot pierces through seven men.”Asu Mangga has
likewise decided to go in search of his father that he is
likely to meet his young brother and that if he does,
they should not fight each other.
 The two brothers met, Asu Mangga riding on a
magic boat and Baranugan walking on the sea. The
latter joins his brother in his magic boat and they plan
their search. Looking into the crystal ball, they learn
the whereabouts of their father and see the pitiful
state into which he has fallen: he has become hairy all
over. Vowing to avenge their father’s humiliation, the
brothers steer their boat to the land of darkness. By
invoking the power of their pamlang, the boat is able
to soar to the Land of the Morning Sun.
 Their arrival does not escape the notice of
Saragnayan who wonders who they may be. The
two brothers recover their father’s boat, find
where he is imprisoned under Saragnayan’s house,
break the iron bars of his cage by invoking their
pamlang, and lead him out of his cage and to
their magic boat. There they wash their father
clean until he is handsome once more. Labaw
Donggon tells them of his long and futile fight
with Saragnayan. The two sons then shout their
challenge to Saragnayan – ten times. It is so loud
that Saragnayan loses his courage.
 In his fear, Saragnayan summons help from all
parts of the universe from the underworld, the
upperworld, etc. Faced with a huge army of helpers,
Asu Mangga and Baranugan advise them to go home
since their fight with Saragnayan does not concern
them. But the men insist on Saragnayan does not
concern them. But the men insist on fighting, so the
two brothers start shooting them down with their
poisoned arrows until only Saragnayan is left. When
they cannot kill him, baranugan sends Taghuy, his spirit
friend, to his grandmother Abyang Alunsina in the
eastern sky, for advice.
 Alunsina sends back the information that
Saragnayan’s life is kept inside the wild boar in the
mountain, in Paling Bukid. She further gives them the
charm that will put the boar to sleep so they can get
its heart. The two brothers find the boar, put it to
sleep and remove the heart which they roast and eat
whole. They then return to resume the fight with
Saragnayan.
 All of a sudden, Saragnayan feels a weakness all over
his body. He weeps, knowing that he will be killed by
Buyung Baranugan. He therefore asks for time to enable
him to say goodbye to his wife. A tender scene follows in
which Saragnayan cuddles his wife and while rocking her
in the hammock, tells her of his defeat by Baranugan and
advises her to obey Labaw Donggon and to try to get
along well with his other wives. He leaves her only after
she has fallen asleep and after instructing the servants to
watch over her carefully and drive away the flies so that
her sleep will not be disturbed.
 The fight between Baranugan and Saragnayan is
violent but brief. Baranugan succeeds in climbing to
Saragnayan’s head and, standing on top of his head.
Baranugan strikes Saragnayan’s eyes with is poisoned
arrows. With a great cry, Saragnayan falls, his death
struggles sending the whole world a tremble, for it is in
Saragnayan. Baranugan returns to their boat to take his
father home, but Labaw Donggon is nowhere to be seen.
He has run away and hidden inside a fishing net. The two
brothers sail home happily, thinking to find their father
already there.
 But Labaw Donggon is not at home, so his
two brothers, Humadapnon and Dumalapdap go
on an intensive search for him, the former going
inland and the latter seaward. They finally find
Labaw Donggon inside the fish net, “covering
himself and shivering with fright.”They take him
home, first to Anggoy Ginbitinan at Handog and
next to Anggoy Doronoon in the underworld. But
Labaw Donggon can no longer hear, his ears
having been stopped by some substance, and is
out of his mind.
 Humadapnon, however, defends Labaw
Donggon by saying ”Well, that’s how the
older one should behave/That’s what the
skilled one/fighter should do.” Then
Humadapnon asks whether Nagmalitong
Yawa has any other sisters, and when told
that she has two lovely ones, the two
brothers happily announce that they will
each court one of them.
Upon hearing this, Labaw Donggon speaks up, reminding
them that they have to fetch Malitong Yawa as his wife.
The first two wives momentarily feel jealous and threaten
not to restore Labaw Donggon’s power, but upon the
latter’s assurance that he will love all three of them
equally and his explanation that he needs children to
inherit his name, they are appeased. They let Labaw
Donggon lie down and, as the two women jump over his
head and feet, they invoke their pamlang to restore Labaw
Donggon to his full power and bravery. This completed,
they help him rise and ask him to give out a loud cry.
Labaw Donggon gives out a cry so powerful that branches
break off from trees and the nearby bridge splits, a sign
that his powers have been fully restored.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• 1. Describe Labaw Donggon. What is the practice he has
displayed which said to be common among men?
• 2. If you were Labaw’s love interest, would you be like
them? Why?
• 3. Point out the traits portrayed by other characters. Do
these traits deserve admiration? Defend your
answer.
• 4. What makes you conclude that the story is a product
of imagination and would never be true?
• 5. Give evidences that this epic is an ancestral upshot.
•Literary Review: Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is the series of hints and
clues to show the reader what will happen and,
usually whether the upcoming events will be happy,
fearful, sad, etc. For example, if a character hears
a loud horrible cry in the distance and then feels a
“curious dread,” the author is using foreshadowing.
Sometimes the personality of a character enables us
to foretell how he/she will act in a given situation.
Foreshadowing adds to the suspense necessary in a
story.