Jesus Catigan Insilada: A Writing Teacher By

Jesus Catigan Insilada: A Writing Teacher

By

Melchor F. Cichon

Revised: March 2, 2018

Among the contemporary literary people from Western Visayas, Dr. Jesus Insilada is known as a reserved writer of poems, short stories, and novels in Hiligaynon.

And through hard work, he has won four Palanca awards for his Hiligaynon short stories in 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2017.

In 2013, he was an honoree of the Many Faces of the Teacher (Bato Balane Foundation),  and in 2014 he was chosen as one of the 2014 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher awardees for the secondary level. Last year, Dr. Insilada was a recipient of the Princess Maha Chakri Award as “Outstanding Educator in Southeast Asia” which he received in Bangkok, Thailand. This year, 2018, Dr. Insilada is a one of the Ten Finalists for the US$1M Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize. At present he teaches English at Caninguan National High School in Lambunao, Iloilo and at the same time serving as school principal.  

In addition, Dr. Insilada has published more than 60 short stories, 10 poems in Hiligaynon and on Liwayway.  Four of his Hiligaynon novels have been serialized in Hiligaynon magazine. These are Panubok, Ang Gugma ni Valentina, Mga Alibangbang sa Handurawan, and Sa Sabak sang Kabukiran.

Dr. Insilada took his Master of Arts in English and Literature, and Doctor of Education, major in Educational Management in WVSU-Main Campus and in WVSU – Lambunao Campus, respectively.

According to him, he loves teaching because it is his  “opportunity to transform the lives of my indigenous students who are deprived and less privileged, and to empower them to reach their dreams through education."

But who really is Dr. Jesus Insilada? Let us open some of his windows.

Dr. Insilada, or Jess, among his peers, was born on March 24, 1978 in Calinog, Iloilo. His parents are Vicente Insilada and Aurelia Catigan, both farmers.  He said that not one of his parents has tried writing literary pieces, although his late grandfather from Escalante, Negros Occidental really had talent in writing but none of his works was published.

As a young boy, Jess has already showed his scholastic superiority. He was a valedictorian when he graduated at Alibunan Elementary School, Alibunan, Calinog. He graduated with honors at Calinog Agricultural and Industrial College-High School Department, and graduated as cum laude at Calinog Agricultural and Industrial College, now West Visayas State University – Calinog Campus.

From high school to college, he was a staff member of their school organs, the Farmer’s Choice, and the Goldern Harvest.  

Then in 2008, he attended his first creative writing workshop at the University of San Agustin.  After that he started sending his works to Hiligaynon magazine where he first published his short story, Salamat Sa Sugilanon.  After that workshop, he kept on sending entries to almost all workshops in the country. He has attended almost all national workshops except two creative writing workshops which he hopes to attend.

When I asked him on what topic/s he is writing about, he said “Be it poetry or story, I usually write about the life, triumphs, culture of the people in my place.  I’m into culture-based writing. When I write about my place and my people, I feel I do my share of promoting our culture. By the way, I am a Panay Bukidnon, a Jalaudnon to be specific.”

Of the many poems, short stories and novels that he has written, he considers his Palanca award winning works as his masterpieces for they have passed the standards of the judges and he is confident of their quality.

Since he already has won several awards that only few people have won, I asked him what else he wants to achieve. His answer is simple:

“I want to be remembered as a teacher who also writes. I wish to continue what I have started. It has been my advocacy to write about the beauty and the uniqueness of my culture. I wish to continue highlighting my culture in the lessons and in my writings.”

And when I asked him what he thinks of the contemporary Western Visayas literature in terms of their strengths and weaknesses, he said, thus: “Western Visayan literature is flourishing. Writers, both seniors and beginners, are active in propagating their crafts. Young writers are fortunate to have senior writers in their side ready to assist and give them direction.  The initiative to have venues for old and young writers to work together serves its purpose.  It is giving good results in terms of publications and new books.”

Jess must have been thinking of the various literary groups in Western Visayas. In Aklan, we have the Akeanon Literary Circle. In Antique, we have the Dungug Kinaray-a and Balay Sugidanon; while in Iloilo, we have the Hubon Manunulat and the Sumakwelan.  All these literary groups have been doing their best to help develop their respective literatures. The Kinaray-a group has been conducting short story and poetry contests and have published several books. The Akeanon group has also published anthologies of their literary outputs. The Hiligaynon writers have also conducted poetry and short story contests and have published their works too. These efforts must surely bring Western Visayas literature to the national literary scene.

Jess hopes that Western Visayas writers will continue this good relationship. He further hopes that the connection between our writers from and outside the academe be strengthened. They need to come to terms, to sit down and have discussion on how to standardize like for example our orthography. “We have already proposed orthographies for  Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a and Akeanon languages from writers groups but we still have to agree which orthography shall we follow which will be proposed to the academe and the media.”