Literary heavyweight Lualhati Bautista, who tore through family complexities in “Bata, Bata, Pa’no Ka Ginawa?” and then spat out socio-political commentary in “Dekada ‘70” with equal panache, died Sunday at 77.
A relative confirmed it via Facebook. “Sad news for our Torres Clan. Our first cousin Lualhati Bautista died at 77 years old this morning,” her first cousin Sonny Ross Samonte wrote.
She had been battling Stage 4 lung cancer, according to sources. Her demise saddened local literary world and the cultural sector.
“Nawala na ang isang babaeng manunulat na makabayan! Malaking kawalan sa larangan ng pagsusulat!,” movie director Joel Lamangan said via text message.
Gawad Balagtas winner Bibeth Orteza shared via DM: “Hindi na iyan ang pangalan mo, pagka’t nariyan ka na sa tunay na luwalhati. Salamat sa iyong panulat, mahal na kaibigan.”
Critically acclaimed author Aida F. Santos offered these words: “Dear ‘Hati/Neng/Ine — I just lost another dear friend who was a great writer-storyteller. I have in my visual memory all our private conversations about Life, Love and being Women. Rest in eternal peace. No more pain, no more fear — till we meet again. Mahal kita.”
Born in 1945 in Tondo, Manila, Bautista was one of six children of composer, singer and poet Esteban Bautista and Gloria Torres.
The fictionist and screenwriter had an enduring career, garnering five Palanca awards, three for novels (1980, 1983, and 1984), such as ‘Gapô (complete title: ‘Gapô at Isang Puting Pilipino, sa Mundo ng mga Amerikanong Kulay Brown); the landmark novel Dekada ’70; and Bata, Bata, Pa’no ka Ginawa?.
She tackled injustices and chronicled women’s activism during the Marcos era. She got two more Palancas for short stories “Tatlong Kuwento ng Buhay ni Juan Candelabra” and “Buwan, Buwan, Hulugan mo ko ng Sundang.”
In 1999, she was conferred the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas for fiction in Filipino by the Unyon ng Manunulat sa Pilipinas. She was included in a book that features international women writers, such as Isabel Allende, Isaak Dinesen, Alice Walker, and Margaret Atwood, published in Japan, 1991. In 2020, Bautista was awarded the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining for Literature.