Almario Reacts

With regard to my post last December 31, Jema lent me a copy of Bulawan 10: Journal of Philippine Arts & Culture, which Virgilio S. Almario edits. In his editorial, Almario (Sir Rio, on more personal occasions) was obviously reacting to Garcia's arguments against him, and called the latter "anghel ng katarungan sa pagsusuring pampanitikan." In effect, Almario wanted to justify his being "nativist," especially because he believed that Garcia misread him. In several instances in his book, Garcia was asking for Almario to be ironic in his position on language and Philippine literature for it could be the older critic's final refuge. I'm wondering if Almario's sarcasm with the way he ended his article was irony enough:

E, "self-righteous" din nga siguro ako dahil hindi naghihintay ng biyaya mula sa sinumang banyaga. Maaari pang idagdag na isa akong "oportunista" dahil hindi naghahanap ng kaganapan sa pamamagitan ng basbas mulang Kanluran. Karapat-dapat lamang akong isumpa bilang nakadidiring "Nativist" ng mga Hybridist.