BACOLOR, Pampanga – Poet. Dramatist. Grammarian. Revolutionary. Journalist. Municipal leader. Yet underrecognized even in his own province of Pampanga, Gat Felix N. Galura (1866-1919) takes the long overdue spotlight in the eponymous book subtitled “His Fiery Pen and the Revolutionary Spirit of Bacolor” authored by Prof. Joel Pabustan Mallari.
Bearing the main title “FLAUXGIALER,” Galura’s anagrammatic nom de plume, the book is the most comprehensive cultural biography to date of the man “who stood at the crossroads of literature and revolution, where words became weapons and the vernacular became a tool of national awakening.”
In his message during the book launch at the Executive Building of the Municipality of Bacolor on July 21, Mayor Eduardo “Diman” Datu hailed Galura as one who gives full meaning to the axiom “Dangalan ta mu Anac ta Baculud” (It is our pride to be a child of Bacolor), drawing on the town’s rich cultural, political, and religious heritage embodied in its official title “Villa de Bacolor” bestowed by the King Carlos III through a royal decree on Nov. 9, 1765.
The greatness of Bacolor, poet laureate Tang Frank Guintu cited in the ode he wrote for the occasion, as grounded in the town’s towering literary giants, thus:
“…king uli da reng atlu: Galura, Crissot, Pabalan
mibansagan ya’ng Baculud, ing Atenas Capampangan
at kanita ya siniro – ing panaun nang ginintuan
ning mal ta’ng literatura, keting labuad tamung tibuan
luid ka! Luid ka! O Baculud – a Parnasong sari leguan
ing tenakan nang Flauxgialer, e kulilim kapilan man.”
(… because of the three: Galura, Crissot, Pabalan
Bacolod earned the title “Athens of Pampanga”
there flourished the golden age
of our dear literature, in the land of our birth
hail! hail! o Bacolor – fairest Parnassus
Flauxgialer’s greatness will never dim).
“More than a biography, this is a work of historical recovery and cultural justice, restoring Galura’s fiery pen to its rightful place in Philippine intellectual history,” said of the opus that none but the author — on account of his multidiscipline as artist, ethnographer, social science educator, Kapampangan cultural advocate – could have possibly crafted.
FLAUXGIALER is published by the Holy Angel University. Inc. and Alisus Publishing.
