NOVO ECIJANO- ILOKANO POET AND GALLEGAN PROFESSOR, RECIPIENT OF DOCTOR OF LITERATURE (HONORIS CAUSA) AWARD

 

NOVO ECIJANO- ILOKANO POET AND GALLEGAN PROFESSOR, RECIPIENT OF DOCTOR OF LITERATURE (HONORIS CAUSA) AWARD

by Samahang Lazaro Francisco PRO

 

Poet and college professor R.B.E. Abiva receives his Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) last January 27 in Pangasinan through joint resolution of the following: International Leaders, Researchers, and Professionals, Inc. (ILRAP), Poetry Planet International Publishing House, Associacion Escritores y Artistas Del Obre of Peru, Association Literatura Moderna Espanola of Spain, World Vision, Science, and Arts of Macedonia, Contemporary Literary Society of Amlor of India, and the Theophany International University- Port-au- Prince in Haiti with blessing from Fundamental School of Baptist Theology and Texas Baptist Bible College Graduate School and Research Institute in the United States of America (USA).

R.B. ABIVA serves as a faculty member in the fields of Social Sciences, Filipino, Journalism, Creative Writing, Research, and Literature at Manuel V. Gallego Foundation Colleges. He is the current chairman of the Gallegan Research and Extension Council (GREC) and founder of the Dr. Manuel Viola Gallego Centre for Heritage Studies.

Author of fifteen (15) books comprising poems, short stories, flash fiction, and novels, his works, 657 all in all, have been published in Diliman Review, Liwayway, Bannawag, Sentro ng Wikang Filipino (SWF), National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), and many others. He also worked as a language coach, translator, and cultural researcher for popular and historical films under Happy Karga Productions and independent films such as Henyo (2023) that depicts the life of San Miguel De Mayumo Mayor Boyet Tecson that was shortlisted in 2023 competition in the province of Bulacan.

After graduating from Polytechnic University of the Philippines, he pursued his post-baccalaureate studies through Distance Learning Scholarship Program of DOST CARAGA of which he was able to complete international courses in humanities, literature, philosophy, and history on the following universities: Wesleyan University-USA, University of California, Santa Cruz, The International School for Holocaust Studies in Tel Aviv University, Soren Kierkegaard Research Centre in University of Copenhagen, McMillan Center in Yale University, University of Virginia, The University of Tokyo, The University of Edinburgh, and Duke University.

He is an MA-Malikhaing Pagsulat Candidate at the Graduate School of Arts and Literature, University of the Philippines-Diliman. He also received the following fellowships from the Rogelio Sicat Workshop, 2018 for Short Story; Cordillera Creative Writers Workshop, 2018 for Poetry; Pasnaan 9 Ilokano Writers Workshop, 2019 for Ilokano Poetry; UP National Writers Workshop, 2019 for Poetry; Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo Workshop, 2021 for Poetry; Luntiang Palihan, 2022 for Ilokano Poetry; and Iligan National Writers Workshop-Southeast Asia, 2023 for Filipino Poetry.

GUMIL- Filipinas, Bannawag Magazine, and NCCA have recognized him as Pasnaan 9 Most Outstanding Fellow. He also achieved the following awards in literature: Gawad Monico Atienza of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Creators of Justice Literary Award in America, Instabright National Literary Award (New York), Ophir Prize for Literature and the Arts, Saniata Prize, LIRA Prize, British Embassy-Manila, and many more. On October 5, 2023. He also received citations from Department of Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, University of the Philippines, and Lazaro Francisco Cultural Heritage Association. Abiva was named Outstanding Faculty of the Institute of Teacher Education at Manuel V. Gallego Foundation Colleges. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the Order of the Knights of Rizal (OKOR) for actively promoting literature in the province of Nueva Ecija.

In 2019, ABIVA founded the Samahang Lazaro Francisco (SLF) and is an active member of Philippine PEN, LIRA, Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL), Gumil-Filipinas, Pambansang Samahan ng Linggwistika at Literaturang Filipino, Kataga, Order of the Knights of Rizal, and Nueva Ecija Odd Fellows Lodge No. 38.

Currently, ABIVA is preparing for the next project, the re-publication of the constitution of the Kapatiran ng mga Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino (KAWIKA, 1954) by National Artist for Literature Lazaro Francisco, Novo Ecijano Lexicography, and The Language Problem of the Filipinos (1932) by Dr. Manuel V. Gallego.

Not familiar to many that Abiva is an excellent painter and sculptor. In 2016, his paintings and other artworks had been exhibited in UP Bulwagan ng Dangal for a month-long exhibit calling to free all victims of unjust political persecution. ###