Florentino Collantes

Florentino Collantes (Oct. 16, 1896-July 15, 1951) was a Filipino poet who was among the writers who spearheaded a revival of interest in Tagalog literature in the Philippines in the 20th century.

Collantes was born in the village of Dampol in Pulilan, Bulacan to Toribio Collantes of Baliwag, Bulacan and Manuela Tancioco of Pulilan. He completed his primary and secondary schooling in Malolos, Bulacan.

As a teenager, Collantes displayed an avid interest in literature and memorized epic poems in Spanish ('corridos') and Tagalog ('awits'). He is known to have committed to memory long excerpts from versified stories on the passion of Jesus Christ, known as 'pasion', that are traditionally sung in public during Holy Week in the Philippines. He was also a skilled practitioner of 'duplo', or a dramatic poetical joust that was a popular form of entertainment in the Philippines until the 1950s. At the age of 15, he already read almost all ('awits'), ('dula') and corido. Due to poverty, he only manages to read books and journals by helping to sell some "awits" and "coridos" during fiestas and he uses the money he earns to borrow some journals from a nearby store.

As an adult, Collantes worked in the government's Bureau of Lands where he was given a number of provincial assignments that gave him the opportunity to learn the Kapampangan, Ilocano and Visayan languages.

His interest in poetry led him to write for the defunct Tagalog publications Buntot Pagi, Pagkakaisa and Watawat. He would later be an editor of the defunct publications Pakak, Balagtas, Lintik and Ang Bansa.

In 1925, he was asked to join a group of Tagalog writers to organize an event to mark the birth anniversary of the Tagalog poet Francisco Balagtas on April 2. The group included the writers Rosa Sevilla and Jose Corazon de Jesus.

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