HERMINIO SOTELO BELTRAN JR.

Bayani ka.
Ikaw na dakilang paksain
Ng mga pulitiko,
Kuwento ng milyong sine, awitin ng pahayagan.
Salamat, di tulad ng mga padala mo’t liham
Na naiwaglit sa kung saan,
Matiwasay kang dumating sa amin,
Ayos na ayos, parang regalo,
Kasinlamig, kasintigas
Ng estatwa sa kahong selyado

(Excerpt from the poem Bayani, published in the book Lemlunay)

“HIS poetry throbs in unison with the voice of the people that portrays the heroism and dignity of the ordinary person while denouncing those who oppress and exploit. His work goes direct to the reader’s heart while advocating the modern and newest mode and artistry in Filipino poetry, apart from his own extraordinary style of weaving the strands of the regional and the national imagination.”

This was the citation given to Herminio Sotelo Beltran Jr. when he was awarded the 2011 Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas (Tula sa Filipino category) in the 37th Umpil (Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas) Congress held at Bulwagang Rizal, University of the Philippines (UP). The main event of the Writers Union Congress every year is the awards ceremony for Filipino writers who have produced outstanding works and have dedicated their lives and talents to the development, propagation and promotion of Philippine literature.

Beltran’s poetry in Filipino was given the highest award by his colleagues but there’s more to this man of letters.

Not only a poet in Filipino, Beltran transcended language barriers and created works that have come out as books of poems written in Filipino, English and Ilocano. The titles are Lemlunay, Mga Tula sa Tatlong Wika published by The University of the Philippines Press in 2003 and Bayambang (Tula, Daniw, Poems) published by Kalikasan Press in l991.

He is also an award-winning essayist and playwright. His essay Revolt as Spectacle won a prize in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 1986 and his play Prosperidad Inkorporada won in the Palihang Aurelio V. Tolentino in 1977.

In 2002, his column Panitikero in Kabayan newspaper, was given Gawad Alab ng Haraya by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for outstanding articles on culture and the arts.

Language is not an issue
For Beltran, who is now the director of the Literary Arts department of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), language should not be an issue in expressing thoughts in writing.

“For me, the more language you master, the better. I grew up speaking in Ilocano, I learned English from my mother Lorenza Sotelo-Beltran, an English teacher. I decided to study and master the Filipino language because it is the national language. My ultimate aim is to be understood by and to influence readers to think critically to help them decide intelligently; so why should I stick to only one language? The more readers I influence, the better,” Beltran explains.

Father’s influence
Beltran’s passion for writing was greatly influenced by his father, Herminio M. Beltran Sr., a poet, essayist, feature writer and municipal judge in their hometown, Infanta, Pangasinan.

Beltran was born on August 15, 1953.

“I was in Grade III when I decided that I wanted to be a writer. My father wrote every day of his life. He documented everyday life in our hometown.  In fact, every year he compiled all his writings into a book. Most of his poems, essays and feature articles were published in the Philippines Free Press. He is also an avid reader of The Manila Times and Graphic magazine,” Beltran says.

Beltran fondly remembers how his father typed his poems and other writings in his Remington typewriter every day. That inspired the young Beltran to do the same. He read all the books, journals, magazines and manuscripts that his father read and wrote. Beltran Jr. also compiled all his own writings and became a prized contributor to the Free Press, Graphic and other publications.

At the age of 14, his first article titled Teachers in Miniskirts was published in the Free Press. That began his quest for more opportunities to write, which led him to leave the province, continue his studies in the metropolis as a University of the Philippines student.

Beyond Infanta
Beltran was a consistent no. 1 student in his elementary and high school years. He also represented his school in writing, spelling and general information contests in their province. But at first his father was not quite sure if he should be allowed to venture into Metro Manila.

When the names of successful applicants for admission to the state university was published in The Manila Times in the summer of 1970, finding his son’s name convinced Beltran’s father that he should pursue his studies in tumultuous Metro Manila.

His father, a journalism and law graduate of the University of Santo Tomas was discouraging him from, studying and living in Manila.

“My father wanted me to study in the province because he never liked city life. After pursuing his law studies, he chose to practice in our hometown even if he’s one of the promising lawyers at that time. City life corrupts, he said. Besides, those were the times when activism was at its peak and he feared that I might be involved in rallies and protests actions,” Beltran explains.

“Everything changed when I studied journalism in college. That was 1970, after the so-called First Quarter Storm and activism was the “in” thing. I attended a DG [discussion group] where they talked about miseducation of the Filipino people. Popoy Lagman was one of my groupmates in the DGs where I got introduced to a lot of “isms,” ideologies and pursuits that eventually influenced my writing in subsequent years of my life,” recalls Beltran.

Beltran became news and literary editor of the Philippine Collegian, after its revival during the martial law years, and the president of the UP Journalism Club and the UP Writers’ Club.

Writing life after college
A writer by heart, Beltran pursued his literary career after graduating. He grabbed every opportunity that would hone him in his craft. He received fellowships, grants and scholarships as a writer here and abroad.

He also served as the editor of Literary Apprentice, a literary journal published by the UP Writers Club in 1983, and eventually became the associate editor of the Diliman Review, an academic journal published by the UP College of Arts and Sciences.

He also tried working in a corporate setting as a writer for a pharmaceutical company, a TV network and a government agency promoting irrigation and agriculture. But he eventually returned to the academe and taught Philippine Literature at UP until he served as deputy coordinator for publication and co-editor of Kamao, an anthology of protest writings published by the Cultural Center of the Philippines after the EDSA Uno People Power uprising.

Since 1989, he has been serving CCP as division chief of Literary Arts.

Notable projects in CCP
Beltran has spearheaded a number of projects at the CCP aimed at helping the cause of Philippine literature. Among them is Ani, the literary journal of which he is editor-in-chief.

The office he heads was given the Dangal ng Wikang Filipino in 2009 award by the Commission on the National Language for its projects promoting the use and development of Filipino.

His project Batang Sining Creative Expression Workshop was given a special citation by the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) in 2008 and the National Council for Children’s Television in 2010.

Batang Sining’s objective is to provide venues to form young minds in different cities and provinces of the country to love reading and writing. Among its activities are those that nudge the young writers into using both traditional and new artistic forms to express their creativity. This way young Filipinos develop pride in their native languages and culture and write with self-confidence.

Beltran dreams that “someday our writers, and Philippine writing, will have a vast readership, both in the local and international fields, where they are appreciated and patronized. To realize that dream, we have to develop love for reading among the young. Also, we have to train translators who are able to translate Philippine literary works to the different languages in and outside the country.”

Beltran has been involved in many other projects to promote the plight of Filipino creative artists. He edited The National Artists of the Philippines Volumes 1 & 2, published by the CCP, NCCA and Anvil Publishing in 1989 and 2003.

He was also an associate area editor of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art in 1994 where he, together with his father, was included among writers of note in the Literature volume.

Literature liberates
Beltran believes that literature is a means to make people truly free.

“Love for reading literature develops a better-informed and a more sensible people who believe in themselves and can realize their creative potentials, pursue dreams to enrich their culture and extend the confines of their civilization. Reading literature sharpens critical faculties and thus enables the citizenry to be more responsible in exercising their democratic rights and participating in social transformation,” explains Beltran.

Recalling the early influence of his father on him, he says, “My father loved his hometown so much that he chose to serve his townmates not only as a judge but as a local writer, teacher and historian. He believed that by being so, he could help educate his people.”

Beltran’s father was the co-founder of the first high schools in Infanta, Pangasinan, called the Infanta Cosmopolitan Academy, which is now defunct, and the Saint John’s Institute. He and all his seven siblings graduated from Saint John’s. Their mother was an an English teacher there.

Beltran vividly remembers how his father and mother valued education and how they taught him and his siblings to aim for excellence not only in academic pursuits but also in acts of serviced for fellow Filipinos.

Father’s legacy
“Whatever achievement I have accomplished, I owe them to my father and mother who taught me how to value love for reading and writing,” Beltran explains.

In return, Beltran and his siblings established the Harvest Awards in their hometown. It gives recogniton to parents who support their children in completing higher education from 1978 to 1999. He hopes to pursue this undertaking again when he retires.

Beltran’s father wrote sonnets for his loved ones on their birthdays. Here’s one of the favorite birthday sonnets that Beltran cherished on his 30th birthday in 1983, a year before his father died in 1984.

On Hermie’s Thirtieth Year

God has been kind to all of us! —You are
Now ten and twenty with your star
Oozing brilliance o’er yon beauteous skies!
We cannot help but raise our yearning eyes
And breathe a prayer on this wondrous day
Of the Assumption when you first beheld
The Light of Day.—Behold the fertile field
Ready for raising Literature’s flowers!
Keep your appointment…make use of the powers
Bestowed by Heaven for the Destiny
To bring forth Light and Sweetness for the Free!
We are all here, all members of the Clan
To give Thanksgiving!—May God’s Super Plan
For Heaven and for Earth be done!—O, Lord
Strengthen our hearts that we wouldst keep the Word!