ORION, Bataan -- Great Filipino poet and orator Francisco Balagtas Baltazar was honored on Monday in this province on his 230th birthday.
Virgilio Almario, chair of the Komisyon sa Wikang Pilipino (KWP), and Governor Albert Garcia led in the ceremony that started with the parade of the urn of the ashes of the poet.
The hearse with a horse-driven carriage carried the urn of Balagtas that was later placed at his tomb below his statue at the Hardin ni Balagtas in Barangay Wawa here.
The statue made by world-renowned sculptor Julie Lluch was installed in Wawa in 2014. It shows Balagtas sitting as if he is writing while looking at the sea.
Almario and two KWP commissioners, together with Garcia and other officials, offered a wreath of flowers on the monument near a library that shows that Balagtas and his wife from Orion, Juana Tiambeng, had 11 children.
Balagtas was born in Bigaa, Bulacan on April 2, 1788, but transferred to Orion and started to work as clerk of court in 1840. He married Tiambeng in 1842. He died in Orion on February 20, 1862 at age 74.
“Balagtas’ biggest contribution in our nation was the 'Florante at Laura.' He was the first Filipino who created a book that awaken the feelings of our countrymen,” said Almario.
“He was the inspiration of our heroes like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio,” he added.
Almario said Rizal, while travelling abroad, carried a copy of Florante at Laura and used in his novels some phrases in the book.
Bonifacio copied the way Balagtas delivered poems, he said.
Almario said it was only this year that Malacanang has declared April 2 as a special non-working holiday in Bataan.
“This occasion is important which could create awareness to our youth the importance of the Filipino cultures and to remember the deeds of the noble people,” Sofia Abaquita, 13, of General Santos City, said.
She was among 150 young girls and boys from different areas in the country who camped in this town and participated in literary activities.
“This is indeed a very important occasion because for the first time, April 2 was declared as the day of Balagtas who lived and died in Bataan,” Vice-Governor Cris Garcia said.
Records showed that the eldest grandson of the poet, Primitivo Baltazar, became the parish priest of Orion while two other grandsons, Luis and Jose Baltazar, were the first and 13th mayors of the town.
A great-great-grandson, Efren Pascual Jr., was former governor of Bataan and presently mayor of Orani town, (PNA)
