When we celebrated the centennial of our independence in 1998, the Cultural Center of the Philippines launched a coffetable book that recognized the Top 100 Filipinos in Culture. Three are Boholanos. One of them is Napoleon "Billy" Veloso Abueva, National Artist in Sculpture. The other two are Loonanon brothers Jose "Pete" F. Lacaba Jr. and Emmanuel Agapito F. Lacaba. Both are top-calibre writers of poetry, prose and film scripts. They are described below:
Jose ‘Pete’ F. Lacaba Jr. - brother of Emmanuel ‘Eman’ Agapito F. Lacaba and former member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. Pete is a poet, editor and scriptwriter of some of Lino Brocka’s memorable films. He is currently the executive editor of Yes! magazine. He has authored six poetry collections in Filipino and a collection of journalistic reportage entitled Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage. He has also written screenplays for award-winning films including Jaguar, Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim, Orapronobis, Sister Stella L, Eskapo, Segurista and Rizal sa Dapitan. The 10th Osian's - Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema honored him with the Aruna Vasudev Lifetime Achievement Award for his writings on cinema.
Emmanuel ‘Eman’ Agapito F. Lacaba + - considered the only poet warrior of the Philippines and a genius while studying at the Ateneo de Manila University. The book Six Young Filipino Martyrs states, “Not many poets are given the honor of becoming martyrs for their country. In the Philippines there are only two: Jose Rizal and a disciple he never knew." That disciple is Eman, son of Jose Monreal Lacaba, a Loonanon. The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) confers the Gawad Eman Lacaba to young poets. Eman wrote the lyrics of “Awit ni Kualaâ€, the song sung by Lolita Rodriguez in the classic Lino Brocka film masterpiece "Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang". He also composed new revolutionary lyrics in Cebuano for some well–known folk songs.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=9018.0