{"id":158063,"date":"2018-03-24T22:35:15","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T02:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=158063"},"modified":"2018-03-24T22:35:15","modified_gmt":"2018-03-25T02:35:15","slug":"francisco-balagtas-to-be-buried-on-his-230th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/24\/francisco-balagtas-to-be-buried-on-his-230th-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Francisco Balagtas to be ‘buried’ on his 230th birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the government agency tasked to promote the Philippines’ national language, will mark Philippine literary giant Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar’s 230th birth anniversary next month by leading the interment of his “remains” in Bataan province. (Photo By Regenerate – Own work by <\/a>uploader, ISBN 971-8591-15-X, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA —\u00a0The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the government agency tasked to promote the Philippines’ national language, will mark\u00a0Philippine literary giant Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar’s 230th birth\u00a0anniversary next month by leading the interment\u00a0of his “remains” in Bataan province.<\/p>\n

The symbolic interment on Monday morning (April 2) in Orion town in Bataan province was part of the celebration of Baltazar’s life and works, aside from\u00a0highlighting his writings’ relevance to the modern times, said KWF senior\u00a0language researcher Roy Rene Cagalingan.<\/p>\n

Baltazar’s work includes “Florante at Laura”, the epic that champions nationalism and is among the Philippines’ literary masterpieces, Cagalingan said.<\/p>\n

“We believe Baltazar truly deserves being recognized as a national\u00a0hero of our country,” he said, stressing that heroes need not always express their nationalism through armed struggles.<\/p>\n

Available information shows the late politician, writer, and acknowledged father of Filipino grammar, Lope K. Santos, also believed that Baltazar should have received recognition as a national hero long before others did.<\/p>\n

Citing “Florante at Laura” as an example, Santos said Baltazar\u00a0harnessed the pen’s might to advocate nationalism.<\/p>\n

Baltazar was born on April 2, 1788 in Bigaa town in Bulacan province. He was the youngest of four children of Juan Balagtas and Juana de la Cruz.<\/p>\n

Baltazar attended school and eventually learned to write poetry under\u00a0the guidance of Tondo’s famous poet, Jose de la Cruz, whose “nom de\u00a0plume” or pen name was “Huseng Sisiw.”<\/p>\n

Philippine literary pieces were mostly written in Spanish then, but\u00a0this didn’t dissuade Baltazar from writing his poems in Tagalog, a\u00a0local language.<\/p>\n

“Francisco Balagtas” was the pen name Baltazar chose for his work.\u00a0He then moved to Bataan, married Juana Tiambeng in July 1842,\u00a0and continued writing poetry until his death there on Feb. 20, 1862.<\/p>\n

Cagalingan said Baltazar’s symbolic interment would also kick off the annual\u00a0young writers’ conference called “Pambansang Kampong Balagtas”, which the KWF will hold from April 2 to 4 this year in Orion, Bataan.<\/p>\n

Orion was chosen for the “interment”, since Baltazar died there, Cagalingan said.\u00a0He said the agency would inter, as Baltazar’s “remains” soil that it would gather from the cemetery behind Orion’s San Miguel Church.<\/p>\n

The KWF will bury the “remains” at the pedestal of Baltazar’s statue,\u00a0which it had put up in Orion with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).<\/p>\n

Proclamation 964 series of 1997 declared April 2 of every year as\u00a0Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar Day.<\/p>\n

The proclamation directs the KWF and the Department of Education (DepEd( to conduct activities and programs for its yearly commemoration.<\/p>\n

Cagalingan said records at the San Miguel Church and the cemetery behind\u00a0it were destroyed during World War II.
\nAccounts that several relatives of Baltazar were buried in that cemetery had reinforced the assumption that Baltazar was buried there, too, he said.<\/p>\n

Cagalingan added that Hermenegildo Cruz’s book about Balagtas also cites a document\u00a0saying an elderly man named Francisco Baltazar and married to Juana\u00a0Tiambeng of Orion was buried there on Feb. 21, 1862.<\/p>\n

In modern-day Philippines, Baltazar remains a popular literary figure. His “Florante at Laura” continues to be discussed in schools and performed onstage.<\/p>\n

“Balagtasan” is still the local term for debates done in verses.<\/p>\n

Authorities also renamed Baltazar’s birthplace as Balagtas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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