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Finally, an Ilocano translation of the highly acclaimed book, “ America is in the Heart,” by a famous author from this town, Carlos S. Bulosan.

The Ilocano book, “Adda Itti Puso ti Amerika,” which is considered a history of the early Filipinos in America, will be launched on February 19 at Bulosan’s hometown by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) led by Presidential Adviser on Culture and NCCA Executive Director Cecille Guidote Alvarez and the local government here led by Mayor Ramon N. Guico Jr. and Vice Mayor Ramon V. Guico III.

Guico said the book launch and mini-exhibit coincides with the town fiesta celebration and the annual visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a favorite daughter of the town. He said the President is expected to join the book launch as a fitting tribute to the town's hero.

The President's mother, the late First Lady Evangelina M. Macapagal, and grandfather, the late engineer Juan Macaraeg, a US pensionado, hail from Binalonan.

Also expected in the event is Pangasinan Gov. Amado T. Espino Jr. and Dagupan City Mayor Al Fernandez, who are fans of Bulosan.

The Ilocano book was translated from English by Manuel S. Diaz and published by the NCCA and the Media Touchstone Ventures Inc.

Ces Rembaud, managing editor of the weeky Bannawag magazine, hailed the publication of the Ilocano book. “This book will enable the Ilocanos, especially the youth, to understand the hardship and difficulties that the early Filipinos in America underwent so the next generations would succeed there,” he said.

Chairman Jose Lad. Santos of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) said the book should be made a required reading for students in the country to able to appreciate the role of the first Filipinos abroad, particularly in America.

No less than former President Fidel Ramos hailed Bulosan for his contribution to the success of the Filipinos in the United States .

In his visit to the US in 1993, then President Fidel Ramos paid tribute to Bulosan for his contribution towards the acceptance of Filipinos in America.

Ramos said: “Carlos Bulosan, my neighbor in Pangasinan, arrived in Seattle, Washington poor and unlettered; then worked in canneries, picked fruits and vegetables and did other menial jobs. But he taught himself to be a better person.

“If life is so much better here for minority groups today, they owe a great part of that change to this man – Carlos Bulosan. We may not remember Carlos Bulosan, but his ideals – and his struggles – have survived him.”

Bulosan, hailed by National Artist Nick Joaquin as one of the greatest writers of his time, is only one of the famous sons of Binalonan, a small town but a giant in many ways because of its outstanding sons and daughters.

Other famous Binalonians aside from President Arroyo, her mother and Bulosan are Chief Justice Manuel Moran of the Supreme Court, grandfather of beauty queen Margie Moran; First Lady Evangelina Macaraeg, famous US pensionado engineer Juan Macaraeg and Mayor Ramon Guico Sr., who was one of the country’s outstanding mayors and farmers during his time.

Guico’s son, Ramon Jr., is the only three-term president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, while a grandson, Ramon III, is the town’s vice mayor and a leading educator as he heads one of the most progressive aviation schools in the country, the WCC Aviation Company.

Binalonan is also the home of a West Point graduate, Elicio V. Tavanlar, and top military and police officers like Major General Nathaniel Legaspi of the Philippine Air Force, Col. Norman Legaspi, Col. Amorsolo Gabot, Col. Bonifacio de Castro, Chief Supt. Dominador Resos, Commodore Romeo Aradanas and others.

Other outstanding lawyers and leaders also trace their roots to Binalonan like former Court of Appeals Court Justice and Justice Secretary Demetrio Demetria, a bar topnotcher, and the late Congressman Magdaleno Palacol Sr.

To sports enthusiasts and fans, Binalonan is the home of Philippine cycling champions Rufino Gabot, brothers Samson Etrata and Benjamin Etrata, William Calip, and Gonzalo Espiritu.

And thanks to President Arroyo, Binalonan has its second Philippine Ambassador (after Manuel Moran) in the person of Eva G. Betita, who is now the Philippine envoy to Brazil.

Presidential Adviser on Culture Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, who is NCCA executive director, said the book was translated by writer Manuel Diaz under a grant from the NCCA initiated by its National Committee on Language Translation headed by Dr. Jovy Peregrino, National Committee on Communications head Alfredo Gabot, who is a grandson of Bulosan, and the Sub-Commission for Cultural Dissemination led by Commissioner Elmar Ingles.

Bulosan is perhaps the most prolific and most popular writer of his time. His works – short stories, essays and poems – have been published in leading magazines of his day, like The New Yorker Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Arizona Quarterly and Westways, among others.

In 1943, Bulosan submitted a collection of his stories entitled “The Laughter of My Father” to Harcourt Brace & Co. When it came off the press in 1944, the book became an instant hit and was later translated into several languages.

It was also in 1943 that Bulosan was commissioned by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and The Saturday Evening Post to write one of the four freedoms for his inauguration. Bulosan’s essay, “Freedom from Want,” was published by the magazine side by side with “Freedom of Speech” by Booth Tarkington, “Freedom of Worship” by Will Durant and “Freedom from Fear” by Stephen Vincent Benet, and illustrated by famous American artist Norman Rockwell.

Tarkington, Durant and Benet were all Pulitzer Prize winning authors and among the most popular American authors of the 20th century. The fact that Bulosan was commissioned along with the three famous authors is a testament to his literary success.

Bulosan wrote many stirring stories, poems, essays, plays, and editorials, including “The Romance of Magno Rubio” which has been transformed into an award-winning play; “As Long as the Grass Shall Grow,” “Letter from America,” and “The Voice of Bataan.”

Bulosan chronicled the painful struggles of Filipino workers and other minorities in the US. He captured their often cruel stories with a sensitivity that tugged at the heart of every Filipino. His vivid account of these struggles is carefully woven into his soul-stirring book “ America is in the Heart,” first published by Harcourt Brace & Co. in 1946.

So powerful is Bulosan’s presentation that thousands of copies of the book have been sold, and even up to the present, it is required reading in high schools and colleges in the US.

The University of Washington in Seattle re-issued the book in 1973 with an introduction by American writer Carey Williams. The university is also the repository of all the original works of Bulosan.

“America is in the Heart” has also been translated into various languages. The book’s sequel, “The Power of the People” or “The Cry and Dedication,” was subsequently published in the US and Canada. (PNA)
LAP/Alfred Gabot/utb



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