Jose Corazon de Jesus
| José Corazón de Jesús | |
|---|---|
| Born | José Cecilio de Jesús November 22, 1896 Santa Cruz, Manila, Captaincy General of the Philippines |
| Died | May 26, 1932 (aged 35) Santa Maria, Bulacan, Philippine Islands |
| Resting place | Manila North Cemetery |
| Pen name | Huseng Batute |
| Occupation | Poet, lyricist |
| Language | Tagalog |
| Citizenship | Filipino |
| Alma mater | Liceo de Manila |
| Notable works | Buhay Maynila |
| Spouse | Asunción Lacdan |
| Children | Teresa de Jesús José Corazón de Jesús, Jr. Rogelio de Jesús |
José Corazón de Jesús (November 22, 1896 – May 26, 1932), also known by his pen name Huseng Batute, was a Filipino poet who used Tagalog poetry to express the Filipinos' desire for independence during the American occupation of the Philippines, a period that lasted from 1901 to 1946. He is best known for being the lyricist of the Filipino song Bayan Ko.
Buhay Huseng Batute was born on November 22, 1896 in Santa Cruz, Manila to Vicente de Jesús, the first health bureau director of the American occupation government, and Susana Pangilinan of Pampanga. He was christened José Cecilio de Jesús but he later dropped Cecilio and replaced it with the Spanish name Corazón (heart) because he said it best described his character.
De Jesús spent his childhood in Santa Maria, Bulacan, his father's hometown. He completed his education at the defunct Liceo de Manila, where he graduated in 1916. His first published poem was Pangungulila (Yearning), which was published in the defunct Ang Mithi (The Ideal) in 1913 when he was 17 years old.
In 1920, de Jesús received his bachelor of laws degree from the defunct Academia de Leyes but he never practiced his legal profession because he was already busy writing a column in verse for the Tagalog newspaper Taliba. The column was called Buhay Maynila (Manila Life) which he wrote under the pseudonym Huseng Batute. Through his column, he satirized society under the American colonizers and espoused independence for the Philippines which was then a commonwealth under the United States.
De Jesús published some 4,000 poems in his Buhay Maynila column. He also wrote about 800 columns under the title Ang Lagot na Bagting (The Broken String). Although his favored pen name was Huseng Batute, he also wrote about 300 short poems and prose works under several pseudonyms, such as Pusong Hapis, Paruparu, Pepito Matimtiman, Mahirap, Dahong Kusa, Paruparong Luksa, Amado Viterbi, Elias, Anastacio Salagubang and Water Lily.
On March 28, 1924, de Jesús and other leading Tagalog writers met at a women's school in Tondo, Manila, under the auspices of Filipino educator Rosa Sevilla, to discuss how to celebrate the birth anniversary of Tagalog poet Francisco Balagtas on April 2. They decided to hold a traditional duplo, or a dramatic debate in verse that was in its waning days in the 1920s. They changed the format of the duplo and renamed it balagtasan in honor of Balagtas.
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