Aglipay as a revolutionary priest? : A semiotic reading of Alfredo Navarro Salanga\u27s Fragments from the journal of Obispo Gregorio Aglipay

As a writer Alfredo Navarro Salanga is undoubtedly distinguished not only for his works in journalism but also with his creative writings, particularly poetry and novels. Distinct in Salanga\u27s literary works is his interest with the leading figure of the Independent Church of the Philippines, Gregorio Aglipay. His rendition of Aglipay as a poetic persona covers a thorough consideration of the historical accounts about the conception of the schismatic church, an offshoot of the turbulent period of the Revolutionary Movement. The poem Fragments from the Journal of Obispo Gregorio Aglipay is the longest religious verse penned by Salanga which hitherto a study has not been made. Thus taking this vacuum as an opportunity for a critical study, the analysis of the poem is made within the framework of Riffaterre\u27s poetic semiotics, a sign-oriented approach to criticism which proposes the discovery in the poem of the different signifying units and their central focus in order to satisfy an end goal of the analysis. In the study, a collection of signs is analyzed to serve as a basis in comparatively determining whether Aglipay, as written by Salanga, is a revolutionary priest or a religious reformer