Author's Background
JOSE MARIA FLORES LACABA
Lacaba was born in Misamis Oriental in 1945 to Jose Monreal Lacaba of Loon, Bohol and Fe Flores from Pateros, Rizal, and is now one of the leading figures in Philippine literature. He is the brother of writer and activist Eman Lacaba, who was murdered in March 1976 and later honored at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani memorial as a martyr who fought the Marcos dictatorship.
Through his works, he rebelled against the injustices of the Marcos administration, and in his films echoed the sentiments of the Filipino working class.
popularly known as Pete Lacaba, a Filipino screenwriter, editor, poet, journalist, and translator
In 1973, under the pen name Ruben Cuevas, Lacaba published his poem Prometheus Unbound at Focus magazine. His other poetry collections include Ang Mga Kagilagilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni Juan de la Cruz (1979), Sa Daigdig ng Kontradiksyon (1991) and Sa Panahon ng Ligalig (1991). A new edition of his important, highly charged Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage (1982), a reportage on the First Quarter Storm and the subsequent times, has also been released. You can check his other works, awards and achievements, interview, and experience during Martial Law below:
Jose Lacaba's Interview with CNN
Analysis:
Parallelism of Prometheus Unbound to the Author's Life
The poem’s main character, Prometheus, is also observed to share parallels to that of the experiences of the author, may it be after the publication of the piece. Both are conceived as clever tricksters, with Prometheus and his sly operations, and Lacaba with the acrostic poem. The two of them were also detained and tortured for acts of rebellion against authority, for the benefit of the many. At some point, they were reduced to breathing meat; existing, but devoid of life, a state interpreted from their experiences. Examples of which would be Prometheus’ trial, and Lacaba’s detainment to which upon his freedom, he fell hard after receiving news of the death of his brother (Melendez 2018).
