Look. | Roots and Rhymes: A Coordination Meeting for Creative Cultural and Historical Exploration
On April 27, 2026, Mr. Leo Carlo Casinillo, a CTU Argao Graduate School student and Faculty of Dalaguete National High School facilitated the initial coordination meeting of CTU Argao Graduate School represented by Professors Ariel L. Ramos and Teresita Sarile and LGU Dalaguete represented by Dalaguete tourism officer Mark Rajah Navarrete along with the officials of SK, PYCC, and DART, discussed to formalize the partnership for the “Kabilin ug Kaugmaon” project, aimed at preserving Dalaguetnon cultural and historical legacy by empowering youth and senior citizens to document and reimagine their heritage through poetry and creative fiction, aligning with goals of vibrant Cebuano literature and local identity.
Key objectives include heritage documentation via historical narratives and landmarks, youth empowerment as “identity-shapers” contributing to national history, and revitalizing Cebuano poetics. Discussions emphasized teaching devices through local literary pieces from Dalaguete, Cebu used as springboard materials for creating more masterpieces, to enhance modern youth writing with nature, symbolism, and metaphors; positioning creative writing as a transformative process turning daily observations into “stunning, imaginative writing” while addressing hurdles like self-doubt, vernacular narrative construction, and reflecting social milieus; and recognizing youth as history custodians whose “individual voices” form “national history” via workshops and zine-making for “alternative creative communities”.
CTU Argao Graduate School will provide technical expertise, facilitators, and oversight, possibly coordinating with creative writing experts from UP Cebu and UP Diliman, while Dalaguete LGU offers logistics, participant identification, and archive access.
Next steps encompass participant selection, heritage mapping for “imaginative prompts,” workshop series poetry and creative fiction, plus planning an anthology. Future directions include exploring digitization and enhanced accessibility of literary outputs through the local tourism office to promote Dalaguetnon heritage more widely. (Prepared by: CTU Argao Graduate School / Project Coordination Team)