About A. O. Llaneta | Aniceto Llaneta

Samar's Poet Laureate:

Aniceto Obrero Llaneta

July 23, 1940 - November 16, 2021

Totoy, as he was fondly called, grew up in Burak in Catbalogan with his parents and siblings. He attended Catbalogan Elementary School and graduated in 1957 salutatorian in Samar High School, then the only high school in the island of Samar. In 1994, he was recognized by his alma mater as one of the most outstanding alumnus.

by Charo Cabardo

He pursued a course in agriculture at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos where he became the editor of the school's student paper, Aggie Green and Gold. He shifted to a course in Journalism at the MLQU. While he worked in several government agencies, he also began working as a freelance photojournalist. His photographs won for him two photography awards from the Federation of Filipino Photographers. He also served as a speech writer of Carlos Romula and San Juan Mayor Joseph Estrada.

He joined the UP Creative Writing Workshop in 1996. He started writing in the Samarnon language by translating works of Russian writers Boris Pasternak and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to Samarnon. He has written numerous and epic poems about his hometown Catbalogan, especially the degradation of the environment particularly Maqueda Bay. His house in Burak, Catbalogan faced Maqueda Bay. He took as his pen name the name, Estrella Maqueda (Star of Maqueda). His poems were published in several magazines in 1990. He co-edited with me the Samarnon Edition of Ani, the literary journal of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Two of his epic poems were published in this journal, "Catbalogan," an ode to his beloved hometown and "Haromamay Kon Hi Ako An Imo Ginhigugma" ("Just Imagine Had You Loved Me") which were translated into English by his daughter April, and more poems were published in local souvenir books and in the book, "O, Catbalogan."

Llaneta has emerged as the most important poet in Samar, writing in the local language of the Samarnons from the 50's to date. He succeeded a generation of Samarnon poets before him (Tomas Gomez, Jose Gomez, Filomeno Quimbo Singzon, Vicente Dira, and Vicente Panzo) who were versed in Spanish but began writing in the Samarnon language from the 20's to the 50's. Llaneta has captured the depth and rich metaphor of the local language, yet unparalleled among the young poets in the region.

His poems on the environment, especially about Maqueda Bay bring us back to the times when the bay was a paradise for fishermen harvesting the sea's bounty for his townmates. His poem, "Ha Panahon Han Tiktikbolan, Ngiya-Ngiya, Tamboboray, Kalompihig Og Sapi-sapi," gives a picture of the wealth of marine products no longer seen today. His poetry has become a rich mine of the Samarnon language but also a rich literary visual of the seas, the mangroves and forests of Samar of earlier generations.

Living in Diliman, he loved to plant trees and vegetables. He is survived by his wife Leticia Bautista Llaneta, with whom, he had six children, five are living: Jose, April, Tania, Yury, Yevgenii, Gabrielle (+).

He leaves us with his pure words, light, love in eternity:

"Ayaw igsubo, minayoyo, kon nahibilin nga hinumduman

Os la nga ba-ol hin darag, punyal, sista ug hungot nga irimnan

Pagtipigi gad gihapon, pagpotsa han akon lambong

Nga igsompa ha atbang hin harap nga tibaraw,

Binalighot nga mga tol-an

Nagkakanay nga tina-e nga mga samad nga gin-igsan.

Pag-abot han takna nga'n ba-ol imo na tutoksan:

Karawta an halad ko: Lus-ay nga mga polong, lamrag, gugma ug an kadayonan"

"Don't be sad, beloved, that the memory I am leaving you is only a trunk full of dead leaves. a dagger, a guitar and a drinking shell

Keep them just the same and wrap with my shadow

And swear on it before a blind spider, knotted bones, messy entrails and wounds with maggots

When the time comes for you to open the trunk---

Accept my offering: pure words, light, love and eternity."

(Last stanza of "Haromamay Kon Hi Ako An Imo Ginhigugma" and translation by April Llaneta.)