The Magdalena Jalandoni house is a landmark and museum in Jaro. Apart from being a memorial to the feminist writer, the house reveals the owner’s love for and pride in Filipino lowland culture and arts, particularly folk arts. Dioramas and paintings are among Magdalena’s collections.
This nostalgic painting of a party in Spanish colonial Philippines is among the memorabilia in the Magdalena Jalandoni Museum.
Magdalena Jalandoni
The poems of Magdalena Jalandoni were also fair material for a tertulia. Born in 1891 to an affluent family in Jaro, Magdalena Jalandoni y Gonzaga was one of the most prolific writers in Hiligaynon. She was a published poet at age 12. In her lifetime, she wrote 36 novels, 122 short stories, 7 novelettes, 7 long plays, 24 short plays and diálogos in verse, 7 volumes of essays and translations from Spanish, and 2 autobiographies. Her most popular works are the poems, “Ang Guitara (The Guitar),” “Anabella, Sa Kapaang Sang Inaway (In the Heart of War)” and “Ang Dalaga sa Tindahan (The Maiden in the Market).”
In pursuing her vocation, she endured her mother’s disapproval of her craft and society’s lack of regard for female writers. This may explain why her feminist sentiments surfaced in her works.
As a scholar of Philippine history, Jalandoni, in Ang Kahapon ng Panay (Panay’s Past), outlines the history of Panay and the evolution of Ilonggo culture. In 1977, a year before her death, she received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for her contribution to Philippine literature.
Other Important Ilonggo Writers
1. Ramón Muzones
2. José Nava
2. Vince Grayon
3. Nicky Gólez
4. Francis Ng
5. Esteban Javellana
Source: Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro and Vicente Roman Santos in Estilo Ilonggo: Philippine Southern Lifestyle published by KCC Innovations in cooperation with DOT (2009).
Read also: List of Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Sites
