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• dimensionsThe Official Student Magazine of West Visayas State University Salamangka | Vol. XLIII No.1 December 2024-October 2025
• dimensionsThe Official of West Visayas State University Forum-Dimensions is the official student publication of West Visayas State University in Iloilo City. It was founded in March 1939 and remains as one of the top bearers of truth in progressive journalism.
• Page 3about the cover hans cling to what they believe in. Some to dreams, others to the ghosts of what once For Helen Balajadia, 67, "Sea Warden" of Pan de Azucar, it is the hope that a better d awaits beyond the horizon. ecember 2024, the Supreme Court Regional Trial Court granted Mercidar Fishing poration permission for large commercial vessels to enter municipal waters-within the ilometer zone once meant for small fishers.
• First InkAng mga nagdaang buwan ang ilan sa pinakamabigat na pinagdaanan ng Forum-Dimensions (FD) sa mga nakalipas na taon. May mga taong umalis, mga ugnayang nagbago, at mga tradisyong unti-unting nabiyak sa ilalim ng mga tanong na hindi na namin maaaring ipagsawalangbahala. Tulad ng isang salamangkero, sa ilang pagkakataon, tila mas madaling bumaba sa entablado kaysa manatili sa ilalim ng mga ilaw.
• Page 5dimensions v
• vi dimensionsCOZEDZES
• Page 7FAITH 1-2
• Page 8The fevers always came at night. SAMONO
• Page 9H The circle that never breaks
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• Page 12Folklore has always been our way of naming the things we feared, especially when meaning was beyond our reach. In the absence of answers, we created stories. We made creatures out of shadows. And sometimes, we made monsters out of people. On Panay Island, the "aswang label became that monster. It clung to families, passed down as rumor and shame, long before science would ever explain their pain. For decades, men living with a rare illness were treated as something unnatural, not because they were, but because the world didn't know how else to understand them.
• Page 13Oral medication, therapy, and surgery remain the only available interventions to ease the pain for those who can afford them. For many who cannot, they become reliant on others for daily routines, often forced to leave their professions as their bodies no longer obey them. Patients who returned home to seek comfort were instead met with fear. Some communities saw them through the lens of folklore, cruelly tied to the "aswang." Isolation, rather than care, became their only remedy amid the waning state of their illness.
• CULTURESA PULA, PUTI KAG ASUL NGA HIGOT
• Nagapabilin nga presensyaSuno kay Mary, "Ang kalag nagapanilag lang, kag wala sila nagahalin." Sang una nga tion, ang mga manugbulong kag babaylan amo ang nagapanguna sa pamutang-butang. Ginapatihan nila nga kon indi mahatagan ang mga kalag, magadala sila sang balatian ukon malain nga kapalaran.
• BREATHERWHAT TO DO IF THE WORLD ENDS 1. Wrap yourself in something soft.
• CALLINGSYMON PETERNEIL VACUNAWA CARINNA TORREDA
• Page 18Ang hirap mawalan ng lugar sa mundong patuloy na nagbabago, lalo na kung dito mo na inialay ang buong buhay mo. Para kay Esteleta "Tiya Tiling" Artates ng Barangay Pondol, President Roxas, Capiz, ang unti-unting pagkupas ng tradisyon ay isang anyo ng paglimot ng mga paniniwala at kasanayan na ipinasa mula sa isang henerasyon patungo sa susunod.
• Page 19minsa'y pagsunog ng halaman upang maitakwil ang masamang espiritu. Isa sa mga natatanging aspeto sa paraan ng paggamot ni Tiya Tiling ay ang pakikipag-ugnayan sa mga nilalang na tinatawag niyang "salaguron."
• TRAGEDYTHE 66 Samtang nagaturok ako kananda nga naga-pangayo kang bulig, nagturo akon nga luha kay naluoy takon. LONGEST STOPOVER:
• SIGNS ALONG THE WAYTrauma often leaves either amnesia or an unshakable memory. Christopher lived through the latter. Out of all the people in the bus, this one family piqued his interest the most. A family of five, with three children traveled to Antique from Mindanao. Christopher could remember a toddler who was seated in front of him as he made her laugh with funny facial expressions. During one of the stopovers, he recalled how the inspectors and conductor had expressed concern about the bus' defective tires. They inspected the insides and mechanical parts, eventually giving it a go signal. He overheard them downplay the risks and proceed with the trip, even knowing the mechanisms might not survive the perilous terrains of Antique.
• FIRST-PERSON POVGRIEF'S DAUGHTER 15 dimensions
• Page 23The rambutan tree was gone. The soil where Mama once knelt now lies under someone else's floor. But sometimes, in dreams, I still see her there-kneeling by the tree, her hands pressed against the earth, whispering to something only she could hear. In those dreams, I realize something I never did as a child. The curse wasn't only on my mother, but also on me.
• Page 24Gugma ang nagapadaba-daba sa tagipusuon sang mga maestro kag maestra kada sila magtudlo sa mga kabataan nga ila ginatatap kag gina-atipan. Kag bisan sila nagtaliwan na, ang ila man gugma kag mga ginbilin nga leksyon sa aton kabuhi ang pinakaulihi nga magapalong. Amo ini ang ginsigurado sang mag-asawa nga Julius kag Louelyn Reyes, lunsay mga maestro sang Iloilo City National High School, sang sila gakabuhi pa.
• DEPARTURESMitsa sang kabuhi HANNAH MESHA CARTERA, STEVEN KEITH CATOTAL, KAG LAWRENCE CHRISTIAN MONTIAGUE
• Page 26The dead still wait for the stories that the living have abandoned. A culture built on selective remembrance has made the Philippine national memory structurally fragile. We raise monuments, publish commemorations, and inscribe names-but often only the ones that fit the narratives we prefer. Everything else is allowed to dissolve.
• 1 Lasse Banery of Bour Asia 1. 1985 Boeit SeptREMNANTS A nation of forgetting
• COVER STORYKUMANDER 21 dimensions
• Page 29TIMOTHY JAMES SAMPANG & VERNA CRISSA VILLORENTETIMOTHY JAMES SAMPANG & VERNA CRISSA VILLORENTE VERNA CRISSA VILLORENTEVERNA CRISSA VILLORENTE dimensions 22
• Since childhood, Helen Balajadia always knewPan de Azucar was alive in a way most people feared to admit. The island held forces far older than any law or corporate capital that would claim jurisdiction over it. When she grew older, this understanding never left her. It only grew sharper as the world became more extractive, violent, and hungry for what the sea and mountain could give.
• Page 31She took her paddle, looked toward the east, and headed back to shore. Kumander still has a world to win. The single spark
• 25 dimensionsWhen rain falls softly through the sun, I'll find you where the wild paths run. Only then beneath the bright sky, May I call your heart only mine.
• Page 33www Sunshowers
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• TRAJECTORIESTsupernanays Tigbauan ASHLEY DENISE FELICIANO
• Driven by loveLong before the rise of motor-powered, rechargeable e-bikes, 44-year-old Anabelle had been driving a traditional sikad for years-pedaling under the heat and rain to move passengers through the streets of her hometown. The old-fashioned bicycle with a hand-welded sidecar has supported her family since 2016. She takes passengers from the market to their homes, from school to the next corner, wherever their coins can take them. Although fares were as small as ten pesos back then, each trip added up was enough for rice and something for the kids.
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• Page 40OATH Sa Tigayon may panata ang isang tibak
• Page 41Dito ko iiwan ang mga pangalan na tinangay mula sa aking dibdib, kasama ang mga dasal na hindi tinanggap ng langit. Saksi ang burol na ito sa aking pagkapako at sa muling pagbangon ng noong tumangging yumuko.
• 35 dimensionsORIGINS We inherit the magic of what came before.
• Photography by Bryan RallosDesign & layout by Justin Kyle Quinesio Wardrobe by Niel Blancaver
• 37 dimensionsPhotography by Bryan Rallos Design & layout by Justin Kyle Quiesio
• AFTERMATHWe live with the shadows it leaves behind. dimensions 38
• AfterwordMagic has always existed, carved into the very hollows of Philippine society. Our mythology, beliefs, and way of life were shaped by our need to understand forces greater than ourselves—to find meaning in what we could not control, and power in what we could. When powerful colonizers took our lands, our ancestors turned stones into weapons to defend what was theirs. They held on to their faith, their communities, and their will to resist. They knew that greed could conquer land, but never fully conquer a people who refused to bow.
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• Page 48FD