Editorial Preface
The contributions to the latest issue of SPJRD cover a diverse range of topics. They range from issues in agriculture such as milk uses, abaca production, and bamboo utilization, and in language and literature of cultural communities in Mindanao, Philippines. All these articles address issues of development of crucial relevance to our country.
In the first article in this issue, Takashi Tsuji of the Saga University in Japan emphasizes that the use of water buffalo milk is a special culture in the Philippines and even in Southeast Asia. Tsuji analyzes the dairy transition currently occurring in our country and concludes that dairy culture has become a major industrial farming system in the Philippines.
Mechelle R. Mangmang and Katherine L. Cozo of the University of Southeastern Philippines offer a strategy to increase the production of abaca, a significant contribution to maintain our status as a leading producer of abaca in the world market.
Isao Hirota of the Gifu University and Takashi Tsuji of the Saga University, both based in Japan, explore the contribution of bamboo to various aspects of livelihood of the Pala’wan on Palawan, Philippines. Hirota and Tsuji strongly recommend the use of ethno-bamboo approach to uncover the new aspects of the relationship between bamboo and people.
To give voice to what has been silenced in the discourse of the majority, this issue also highlights language and literary studies about the cultural communities in Mindanao. Dr. Rodney C. Jubilado of the University of Hawaii at Hilo in the United States of America scrutinizes the morphosyntax of Isamal, an Austronesian language spoken by the indigenous people of Island Garden City of Samal. Using the Minimalist Program, the article of Jubilado is the first attempt to analyze the morphosyntax of ergatives of Isamal language.
Focusing still on the Island Garden City of Samal, Josephine May Grace A. Famoso of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology examines the structure of the Sama folk narratives such as legends and folktales. Famoso then elucidates the cultural practices seen in the folk narratives.
Nena C. Abdurajak of the Western Mindanao State University and Sajed S. Ingilan of USeP unveil the culture of the Tausug of Sulu in doing jihad or holy war by translating the Tausug parang sabil or folk narrative song into English. The article of Abdurajak and Ingilan contributes to the development of positive discourse on Tausug culture.
Jenifer R. Tuban of USeP studies the culture of the Bagobo Tagabawa, an indigenous people group in Davao Region, by analyzing their folk speech such as proverbs and riddles. Tuban points out that the Bagobo Tagabawa folk speech is more akin to the folk speeches of the different cultural communities in the Philippines.
Critiqued by international scholars, this collection of articles thus addresses a broad range of issues that seek to enlarge our consciousness in agriculture, language, and literature, and more importantly, contributes to the ongoing conversations on the economic and cultural developments of the Philippines.
Sajed S. Ingilan
Editor-in-Chief
