Poet Rogelio Mangahas, 79
AWARD-WINNING poet and essayist Rogelio G. Mangahas, whose poems in the 1960s and 1970s made him a major force in Filipino modernist poetry and influenced generations of writers, passed away on Wednesday. He was 79.
Mangahas died at 6:14 a.m. in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital in Manila, where he had been confined after suffering a massive stroke on Monday, according to his widow, historian and professor Fe Mangahas, and poet Vim Nadera.
Fellow writers expressed sympathies and paid tributes on Facebook after news of Mangahas’ death broke.
In a Facebook post, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF, or the Commission on the Filipino Language) said in Filipino that Mangahas was a promoter of Filipino modernist poetry, together with Lamberto E. Antonio and National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario.
“Siya ay [isang]premyadong makata, manunulat, kritiko, guro, aktibista, makabayan, at nagapagsulong ng panitikan at wikang Filipino (He is a prize-winning poet, writer, critic, teacher, activist, nationalist, and promoter of Filipino literature and language),” it added.
Alma Cruz-Miclat, wife of author Mario Miclat, described him as a “dearest friend,” “people’s poet,” and “staunch nationalist and activist.”
Essayist-critic Roland Tolentino regarded Mangahas as one of his first writing mentors when he studied at De La Salle University (DLSU), calling him “mabait (kind), gentlemanly, malumanay magsalita, matipid ngumiti at mas matipid tumawa (softspoken, and smiled and laughed sparingly).”
“Isa sa pinakamalalim na minamahal at iginagalang na makata at kapwa tao (one of the most deeply loved and respected poets and fellow human beings),” poet and professor Rebecca Añonuevo wrote of Mangahas.
Other writers, including Perfecto Martin and Michael Coroza, posted Mangahas’ poems on their respective Facebook accounts in his honor.
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