Fransisco Balagtas

Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz (April 2, 1788 – February 20, 1862), commonly known as Francisco Balagtas and also as Francisco Baltazar, was a prominent Filipino poet during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is widely considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. The famous epic Florante at Laura is regarded as his defining work. The surname "Baltazar", sometimes misconstrued as a pen name, was a legal surname Balagtas adopted after the 1849 edict of Governor-General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua, which mandated that the native population adopt standard Spanish surnames instead of native ones. His surname is also sometimes given as "Balagtas Baltazar" when instead he used one or the other but not both at the same time. His mentor was José de la Cruz, otherwise known as Huseng Sisiw.