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Jesús "Batikuling" Balmori (January 10, 1887 – May 23, 1948) was a Filipino Spanish language journalist, playwright, and poet.
Jesús Balmori was born in Ermita, Manila on January 10, 1887. He studied at the Collegio de San Juan de Letran and the University of Santo Tomas, where he excelled in Literature. He was married to Dolores Rodríguez. Joaquín Balmori, a pioneer labor leader of the foremost organizer of Labor unions in their Philippines, was his brother.
In his early years, Balmori was already gathering literary honors and prizes for poetry. In a Rizal Day contest, his three poems, each bearing a different pen name, won the first, second, third prizes. Later, he figured in friendly poetical jousts, known as Balagtasan (in reference to Tagalog poet Francisco Balagtás), with other well-known poets in Spanish of his time, notably Manuel Bernabe of Parañaque and the Ilonggo Flavio Zaragosa Cano, emerging triumphant each time. Before the war, under the pseudonym "Batikuling", Balmori wrote a column called "Vida Manileña" for Vanguardia, a daily afternoon newspaper. It was a trenchant critique of society’s power elite, showcasing his gift for irony and satirical humor, as well as serious verses. After the war, he wrote a similar column, "Vida Filipina", for the Vo
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“Filipino Literature (or Philippine Literature, if you will) in Spanish” or Literatura Filipina en Español is a redundant term. Filipino/Philippine Literature should automatically be regarded as written in the Spanish language especially if we take into account its historico-etymological origin and connotation.
The word Filipino itself is creole/mestizo, forged from three centuries of cultural synthesis between Spanish and indigenous which blossomed —quite ironically— during the US occupation era. That is why when we talk of Filipino/Philippine Literature, we should, therefore, free ourselves from being boxed in the works of Carlos Bulosan, N. V. M. González, Edith Tiempo, Bienvenido Santos, José García Villa, and even my much vaunted favorite Nick Joaquín no matter how much he elucidated on the importance of our national identity against the backdrop of our Spanish past. Their works are considered as FILIPINO/PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH. On the other hand, their Spanish-language progenitor which is FILIPINO/PHILIPPINE LITERATURE should no longer be followed with the modifier “IN SPANISH”. The literary phase in our country’s history that gave birth to it —from Tomás Pinpín to Luis Rodríguez Varela to José Rizal to Federico Espino— nurtured it in the Spanish
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