Bugal kang Antique 2005 to confer Datu Lubay Lifetime Achievement Award

According to The Maragtas, it was Datu Lubay who taught the villagers how to weave. He pioneered the weaving tradition as one of the indigenous artistic traditions in Panay .

If the Antiqueños are proud of its hinabul and patadyong in Bagtason, Bugasong, it was because of Datu Lubay. Yet he was one of the lesser known of our Bornean forebears. Some say he was different, because he was an artist. But his was a legacy that lives on. Truly Datu Lubay was a people's artist.

We cannot let Datu Lubay's contribution pass unnoticed. Today, our artists are striving to excel in the field of music, visual and literary arts. They gave us a name. They express in many varied forms our aspirations and our soul as a people. It is through them that the world knows of the beauty and serenity of our mountains and seas, and the beauty of the Antiqueño soul.

Thus, the Provincial Government of Antique recognizes the contribution of Antiqueño artists in uplifting the lives of the Antiqueños through the Datu Lubay Lifetime Achievement Award, a special citation given during the Bugal Kang Antique Awards.

The awardee

Russel O. Tordesillas, was a famous story teller during the 70s. He was known for translating and adapting novels to be narrated over the radio. He serialized the story of Olayra over radio station DYKA. Olayra is a fairy princess who owns a golden ship that travels around the world and lives in a gigantic bobog tree in Carit-an, Patnongon, Antique, so goes the legend.

Tordesillas (1918-1978) from Egaña, Sibalom, Antique wrote Olayra, Prinsesa kang Dagat. The unpublished manuscript is an exposition on the Karay-a belief on the Tamawo. The introduction describes in detail the habitat, characteristics and ways of the tamawo, and the narrative weaves folktales, personal accounts and experiences with the enchanted world of the tamawo and a fantastic love story between a mortal and a woman from the tamawo world. The sequel Bilbo, ang conul portrays the adventures of Bilbo, a half-man, half tamawo.

Olayra and Bilbo are significant texts in kinaray-a literature. They bridge the era of a dominantly oral tradition to the written tradition.

According to Alex C. Delos Santos in his book The Rise of Kinaray-a, Tordesillas might as well be known as the grand-man in Kinaray-a literature. Perhaps he was the only Karay-a writer of note who chose to write in Kinaray-a, while his contemporaries preferred Hiligaynon. The other manuscripts he wrote that can be found at the Center for West Visayas Studies are: Usul Batahur, Bangon Tatay Esco (Rise Tatay Esco), Hustisia Sa Espada (Justice by Sword), Ang Dose Pares (The Twelve Pairs) and Ang Capid (The Twins).