Flashing a wide smile, newly crowned storytelling champion Edward Batac of the School of St. Anthony dedicated his win to his school, his parents and his grandmother, a cancer survivor.

Batac beat four other finalists to emerge as this year’s Inquirer Read-Along Festival King in the 5th Festival Storytelling Competition held yesterday at Silangan Hall of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The finalists read “Ang Bertdey ni Ray” written by Eline Santos and illustrated by Mok Pusung, a short story based on the life of geologist and former director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Raymundo Punongbayan. The late Philvocs chief was the Inquirer’s first Filipino of the Year and the story is part of the Inquirer Guyito Reader series which will be launched as part of the newspaper’s 30th anniversary celebration in December.

“I am so happy, and I didn’t expect to win,” Batac said, adding that he learned the value of perseverance from Punongbayan’s story. “I learned that when you study hard at a young age, you’ll go places,” he said.

To other aspiring young storytellers, Batac had this to say: “Just be natural and never forget to have fun. I always tell myself: I will never win by luck but I will always win by faith.”

The other finalists were Noah Roa and Michael Stephen Maglente of Optimus Center for Development, Christine Joy Liwanag of Comembo Elementary School and Aki Bukuhan of John Dewey School for Children. They bested more than 60 contestants in the elimination round on Oct. 17 before moving on to make it to the top 10, and later, to the top 5 during the semifinals on Oct. 24.

Judges included veteran Read-Along partners Sophia School principal Ann Abacan, Adarna House storyteller Dyali Justo and Ang Pinoy Storytellers’ Rich Rodriguez.

Festival’s 2nd day 

The storytelling competition highlighted the second day of the festival, which also featured storytelling sessions led by Read-Along Ambassador Bianca Umali, GMA-7 actor Miggy Jimenez, professional storytellers Justo, Sophia School teachers and students led by Abacan, pioneer members of the Read-Along storytelling club from Antonio Regidor Elementary School and Chiang Kai Shek College, and young volunteer storytellers Luntian Justo and Gio Bacani.

Yesterday’s session also featured a special reading of an excerpt of the Maranao epic song “Darangen” by Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) English professor Christine Godinez-Ortega, accompanied by Almira T. Basmala, AB English graduate and teacher, Datu Esma Mikee P. Maruhum, a graduating AB English student and the Student Regent of MSU-IIT, and Lominambos Dimatunday, an Onor or chanter from Lanao del Sur.

This year’s festival was part of the CCP’s Performatura Festival. A total of 30 children’s stories were read in six sessions as part of the Inquirer’s 30th anniversary celebration. Apart from being a festival of stories, this year’s festival was also a festival of song and dance, courtesy of Sophia School students. Umali sang her version of Carancal’s song. Inquirer mascot Guyito also danced at every session, to the delight of the kids.

Hundreds of students from Nasah Center for Learning, Antonio Regidor Elementary School, Mandaluyong Elementary School, Centex Manila, Chiang Kai Shek College, John Dewey School for Children, Optimus Center for Development, F. Ma. Guerrero Elementary School and School and School of Saint Anthony joined the sessions.

Ortega said she was “amazed” by the reception of the children to their storytelling. Ortega first narrated the tale of the warrior prince Sayana with the aid of comics (manga). Ortega said she hopes there would be more chances to share epics with young audiences.

Learn about heritage 

“There are so many stories from Mindanao that are not known. Only the scholars know about them. What about the rest of the Filipinos? This is part of my advocacy,” Ortega said.

Ortega said it was important for children to hear stories like Darangen “because they learn about their heritage.”

“This is one way of popularizing epics from Mindanao. After all, the Darangen is on the list of Unesco’s national heritage for humanity. In 2005, Unesco declared that it a very important epic,” she added.

Ortega, who described Darangen as a story filled with cultural values, is a teacher of literature and creative writing, and a reading advocate. “It’s a challenge now, but the Inquirer has done a lot to promote reading and I commend the newspaper for that,” she said.

“The onor was almost in tears while chanting in front of the kids earlier,” said Maruhum. “She was really moved.”

Jimenez, who read “Filemon Mamon” by Christine Bellen, said he could relate to the protagonist of the story, as he also used to be quite chubby, and thus had difficulty getting acting roles. “I had to have discipline, especially in my diet,” he said.

Umali, the newest Read-Along ambassador, read “Si Carancal, ang Bayaning Isang Dangkal” by Rene Villanueva. “I think the Read-Along does a lot to encourage kids to pick up a book and start reading,” she said.

Nine-year-old Yescha of Mandaluyong Elementary School shared her dream of reading a story in front of her friends. “I also want to read in front of people because I was inspired by today’s readers,” she said, adding that she wants to read the story “Langgam at Kalapati.”

This year’s festival, co-presented with the CCP and in cooperation with Metrobank Foundation, McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, Rebisco, Points of Light and Read Across the Globe, is an annual major event staged by the Inquirer Read-Along team to mark National Reading Month. It also featured a book fair supported by Adarna House and Anvil Publishing.

Yesterday’s sessions were hosted by Junior Inquirer editor Ruth Navarra-Mayo, Libre editor in chief Chito de la Vega and Inquirer Marketing’s Edna Garcia, together with Marian Domingo-Antonio, Lendl Fabella and Will Villaruel of GMA. With reports from Marielle Medina, Rafael Antonio and Kate Pedroso, Inquirer Research, and Louie Rivera, Vinz Lamorena, Yara Lukman and Eline Santos