Francisco Baltazar’s works help awaken the national sentiment of his countrymen. At a time when Philippine arts and culture were dominated by Spanish and European works, his Florante at Laura broke their strangehold on the Filipino people’s mind. Published in 1838, it revolutionized Philippine literature. It pioneered in using the Tagalog language to express native ideas against Spanish misrule of Filipino sufferings.

Filled with Tagalog sayings on upright living, patriotism and love of one’s country, Florante at Laura made the Filipino people aware of Spanish abuses and their sufferings. With his Florante at Laura, Baltazar raised the Tagalog language at par with the world’s major languages. He demonstrated that poetry could be used as a “weapon of the weak” against their oppressors.

Florante at Laura is distinguished from all the works during the Spanish period. It was the first epic poem written by a native Filipino.

Above all, this work was the first to advocate the idea of revolution and the right of the people to overthrow a ruler or government. To achieve this goal, he advised his countrymen to cultivate in them the virtues necessary to fulfill it.

The generation of Marcelo H. del Pilar, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, Emilio D. Jacinto and others, imbibed Baltazar’s message. The Florante at Laura became their bible. Del Pilar sharpened Baltazar’s liberation ideology while Dr. Rizal enshrined it. The “Generation of 1896” fulfilled Baltazar’s advocacy.

General Emilio F. Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine freedom on June 12, 1898 at Kawit, Cavite.

Francisco Baltazar was born in Bigaa, Bulacan on April 2, 1788. When he died on February 20, 1862, the task of concretizing and liberating the country from colonial rule had germinated.

In recognition of his many contributions to his country, Bigaa, Bulacan was renamed Balagtas. Balagtasan, the art of extemporaneous debating in verse, became a popular form of literary exercise. Balagtas Day has been celebrated in Orion, Bataan every year since April 2, 1959.