Michael Carlo Villas's introduction to the anthology Pinili: 15 Years of Lamiraw examines Philippine identity and history in the wake of centuries of colonization. Unlike conventional nations with a strong central government and dominant culture, the Philippines is an archipelago; it is a fluid network of islands, languages, ethnic groups, and local cultures without a single clear center of power.
The concept of Archipelagic Postcoloniality embraces this reality: understanding the country through its island geography and regional differences rather than forcing a single national narrative. Writer Oscar Campomanes highlights how this perspective fosters pluralism and "decentering," countering harmful nationalism, ethnic conflict, and central domination. Scholar Resil Mojares adds that the term "regional" should be a source of strength, not an insult; local rootedness keeps culture honest and grounded, resisting unrealistic national fantasies.
Recent shifts in universities like UP Diliman have elevated regional writing, including a master's course on Philippine Regional Literatures in English Translation. Yet the author notes the irony: National Artists once criticized for their regional foundations are now celebrated for them, while regional literature was earlier dismissed as backward or dying. Outside elite circles, such views persist, sometimes freezing local cultures in the past. The better path is interregional dialogue; regions learning from one another and connecting with broader Malay, Southeast Asian, and Pacific cultures. Drawing on O.W. Wolters, Mojares envisions Southeast Asia as a dynamic cultural web or mandala, where nation and region are porous, overlapping, and mutually shaping. In an archipelagic nation, identities flow like currents across seas rather than through rigid hierarchies.
A single, uniform "national literature" is therefore impossible. Pinili (Waray for "chosen" or "selected," evoking the sorting of rice grains) gathers the best poems, stories, and essays from fifteen years of the Lamiraw workshop. Though regionally based, the workshop is multilingual and inclusive (featuring works in Waray, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Iluko, Inabaknon, Filipino, and English) and has produced award-winning writers. From Cainta, Rizal, the editor celebrates the collection as a true expression of archipelagic thinking: reading across languages and cultures feels like sailing between islands, embodying a nomadic, open exploration of voices and translations.
Here's the English translation of "Uyasan" ("Toy"), a Waray-language poem by Teofhen Arthur Macabasag included in the anthology Pinili: 15 Years of Lamiraw.
A mere toy in a male gaze
you breathe life on the sleeping mat
handwoven according to their playful fancy
a well-knitted dress and glittering jewelry
that hang around your neck and body
purchased from their bulging pocket
a toy's life based from the make-belief
of the boy's tongue and desire
— an ownership of sorts.
The Waray poem "Uyasan" by Macabasag uses the metaphor of a toy to powerfully describe how women are often objectified and exploited in a male-dominated society. The woman is portrayed as "a mere toy in a male gaze," meaning she is not seen as a full human being with her own thoughts and desires, but exists mainly for the man's looking and pleasure. She is "brought to life" (dressed up and made beautiful) on the sleeping mat according to the man's "playful fancy," showing that her appearance and role are shaped entirely by what men want. The well-knitted dress and glittering jewelry she receives come with a price; they are purchased from the man's bulging pocket. This highlights how women can be "bought" or kept through money and material gifts. Her entire life as a "toy" is built on the boy's tongue and desire, depending on male lust, sweet talk, and fantasy. In the end, it amounts only to "an ownership of sorts," where she is treated like property that belongs to someone rather than a person with real freedom or equality.
This metaphor sharply critiques patriarchal culture, revealing how women are dressed up, played with, and controlled according to male whims, much like a child's toy that is enjoyed when wanted and set aside when not. The poem fits well with the archipelagic postcolonial themes of the Pinili anthology by exposing everyday power imbalances and giving voice to marginalized gender experiences within Filipino society.
From an archipelagic postcolonial perspective, Villas would likely praise the poem "Toy" as an excellent example of the kind of writing the Lamiraw Workshop aims to nurture. The poem gives voice to marginalized women, exposing how they are often reduced to "toys": owned, dressed up, bought, and controlled through male desire and money. It directly challenges patriarchal power structures, the male gaze, and possessive attitudes that treat women as property, echoing the introduction's critique of harmful nationalism, ethnic hierarchies, and dominant narratives. Locally rooted in everyday Filipino life (the handwoven sleeping mat, the "bulging pocket"), yet universally resonant, "Toy" rejects romanticized or monolithic national stories in favor of unflinching honesty about messy power dynamics in homes and relationships. It embodies the fluidity, self-critique, and interregional dialogue that Villas and Mojares advocate—navigating personal experience and broader social critique.
Uyasan or Toy was my first submission of Waray poem or siday to the 4th Lamiraw Creative Writing Workshop sponsored by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. I wrote this siday roughly 17 years ago BEFORE attending any creative writing workshop. (Macabasag)
Macabasag's Waray poem "Duha nga mga Pagtug-an" (Two Confessions) was featured at the 5th Lamiraw. This particular poem, however, was not included in Pinili. Below is an English translation of "Duha nga mga Pagtug-an".
I requested that the shivering star
wrap you in its thick light
do not worry about me in this snowy world.
fire fills my heart every time I see you and Baying.
Mojares would likely read the poem through the lens of Archipelagic Postcoloniality by emphasizing decentering, fluid identity, and pluralism. He would note that the poem decenters the "national" voice because it is not written in English or Filipino but rooted in Waray terms, names like "Pidang" and "Baying," and a speaker identified as "Pusoy who works in the United States." For Mojares, this is local rootedness keeping culture honest; the poem speaks not from Manila's center but from diaspora and Eastern Visayas, offering one current in the archipelago rather than a single national narrative. He would also see fluid identities across seas in images like "snowy world," "shivering star," and "fire fills my heart," which map diasporic longing from the U.S. back to the Philippines. Drawing on O.W. Wolters' mandala model, Mojares would argue that identity here flows like currents instead of through rigid hierarchies, making the poem itself a form of interregional dialogue as Waray emotion reaches across the Pacific. Finally, he would use the poem to defend pluralism over a uniform "national literature." Its specific imagery (thick light of a star, a snowy world, fire in the heart) shows it is not trying to represent all Filipinos but one island voice and one migration story. Mojares would claim this specificity is a strength, not a lack, because the Philippines becomes legible through such regional pieces. He would also push back against the older dismissal of regional literature as backward or dying by pointing to the poem's emotional intensity and cosmic imagery as proof that Waray poetics is contemporary and complex.