PATERNO BALOLOY

In an obscure town in the province of Quezon,

a town where people believe was named after a turtle, Calauag, a town

obscure, yet overflowing with rich culture, was born a “makata”, Paterno ‘’pat’’

Baloloy.He finished MFA in Creative Writing in De La Salle University,

Manila on 2020. and is curenty taking the Indigenous Studies Program in the

University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio for his PhD. Hailed as the pride of

Calauag in literature, Sir Paterno Baloloy is a living example that even if you

are from an obscure part of the country, you can create works worthy of

awards and recognition. This is backed by the countless awards he has

received throughout the years one of which is the Carlos Palanca Award.

Hailed as the ‘’pulitzer prize of the philippines’’ it is the premiere award for

talented literary artists of the country, it is the gold standard of literary contests

and the longest running in the country, and award acquired by Sir Paterno

Baloloy on 2018, winning first place in the category “tula para sa mga bata” for

his piece “Paumanhin ng Kuting” a poem about a kitten waiting for his mother

to come back, a year before his first place win, he was third place on the

same category. On 2022 he was awarded the title “makata ng taon” by the

Kagawaran ng Wikang Pilipino, through his work titled “Hindi parisukat ang

Hugis ng Gubat” a collection of ten poems. Coincidentally the award was also

won by his teacher, Sir Niles Breis, in 1994 being one of the youngest to win

the award. The “makata ng taon” aims to make the field of poetry in the

philippines more lively and known by giving credit and recognition to poets

who have voiced out and written their works, whether new or veteran in the

field.
 More of his literary contributions are “Silip o Pasilip” ng Distrito

Supot: Isang Maikling Pananaliksik sa Naka-ugaliang Pagdakila sa mga Bata

at Nawaglit na Distrito sa Bayan ng Calauag,” which was included in the

Reading the Regions 2: A National Arts Month Celebration 2021 ng NCCA

National Committee for Literary Arts (NCLA), he is also author of the book,

“agam agam ng langgam” a book collection of childrens poems including

“matanda na si tandang”,”sa puno ng aratiles”, and “pangamba ni muning”. He

is also a writing fellow of the 14th Ateneo National Writers’ Workshop of the

Ateneo de Manila University in the year 2016. In 2018 he bacame a writing

fellow in the 18th IYAS National writers workshop of the De lasalle University,

and the eleventh Pahilang Rogelio Sicat. He also won the first place in the

very first Gender Awards of the Philippine Normal University(PNU) for his

work “halik ng itik at iba pang tulang pambata” a collection of poems for kids.

The awards were held in the University Center for Gender and Development.

He is also a High school teacher at Calauag National High school, perhaps

one of his greatest contributions to the community of Calauag. Apart from his

commendable works in literature, shaping minds of countless students

through the platform of teaching and possibly creating more who are “makata”

is worthy of praise and should be listed as part of his countless achievements.

His contribution in literature and teaching has made him one of the local

legends of Calauag, a “manunulat at estudyante” who created and contributed

a lot and is continuing to contribute more.