THREE Thomasians took home plums in the 2025 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the longest-running literary contest in the Philippines.
Jan Dennis Destajo, an architecture alumnus and former president of Thomasian Writer’s Guild, won first prize in the poetry category for his poem titled “Translocation.”
Destajo said his background in architecture shaped his winning poetry collection.
“The corporate world kind of would drag [me] down a bit. But it’s an added motivation to still do what I want, which is [to] express myself in poetry, express what poetry can do on a page and outside the page,” Destajo told the Varsitarian.
Destajo said his “creative dissatisfaction” and “intellectual insecurity” prompted him to join the Palanca, following his stint at the UST National Writers Fellowship in June.
One of the key pieces from the collection is “Over Design,” which he described as a tendency to overbuild emotional defenses.
“The line is, ‘I have built this grief more than what was necessary.’ It’s about forming these protections for myself,” Destajo said.
For Destajo, winning the Palanca also serves as a door to several opportunities.
“I think it’s proof that works that try to experiment, try to at least resist what we know as the literary canon, can still be recognized on [a national] scale,” he said.
Destajo won first prize for poetry in the Varsitarian’s 32nd Gawad Ustetika for his work, “Constellations in Between.” He was also a poetry fellow in the 12th Creative Writing Workshop.
Destajo plans to expand his award-winning poetry collection “Translocation” and develop it into a full-length book.
Euna Oraiz, a UST Education High School Grade 10 student, won in the Kabataan Sanaysay category for her essay titled, “Suki ako ng Pagod.”
The 15-year-old winner said her work drew inspiration from the struggles of a nursing student who once took a break at their small sari-sari store in her hometown of Bacoor, Cavite.
For Oraiz, the recognition fuelled her passion for writing and exploring more literary genres and styles.
“It’s literally a stepping stone because I know [in] the next years, I [will] be able to join more writing contests or rejoin Palanca,” Oraiz told the Varsitarian.
Oraiz said her work touched on the theme of taking care of oneself.
“‘Yong suki ako ng pagod and then ‘yong ending line ko na nagiging suki na ako ng pahinga, really connected. Kasi, you know, I truly started to learn how to take care of myself with a lot of things that I struggle [with],” she said.
Christopher Eric Cabahug, who graduated in 1988 from UST High School, bagged first prize in the Dulang Pampelikula category for his work titled, “Ang Birheng Ipinagkanulo.”
Cabahug’s work tackles the alleged Marian apparitions in Lipa, Batangas in 1948.
“[I had the] desire for more people to know about this piece of our nation’s history that has been erased literally and figuratively,” Cabahug told the Varsitarian.
Assoc. Prof. Nerisa Guevara of the Department of Creative Writing served as judge in the essay category.
Guevara said reading 200 unpublished essays gave her a renewed love for literature.
“It is surprising that there are 200 beautiful essays. And I read 200 beautiful essays and it took some time to read 200 beautiful essays. And I’m talking about not skimming. I’m talking about ‘[I] really have to read all of these essays,’” she said.
The awarding ceremony of the 73rd Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature was held on Nov. 27 in Makati. It awarded 54 winners across 20 categories. With reports from Jamiebeth P. Ortega
