Pablo Reyna Libiran

Komiks Writer/Editor/Poet 

Pablo Reyna Libiran - was born on January 15, 1952 in Balagtas, Bulacan, which was also the birthplace of a great poet, Francisco Balagtas.  He is a multi-talented and multi-awarded poet, broadcaster and writer.

                                           

From humble beginnings during his younger years, he strives to become one of the best in “Balagtasan”.  He was regarded as the “new breed of poet, and together with Elena Sunpongco and Rodolfo Milan, were able to popularize more the Balagtasan through  “Bagong Oras ng Balagtasan”, a popular  radio program during his time.   He also wrote a book about balagtasan, ”Balagtasan, Noon at Ngayon” in 1985 , and  “Gintong Kawikaan Sa Daigdig” which were published by National Bookstore.

Balagtasan, named after Francisco Balagtas, is a form of a rhymed  poetry competition which is delivered through a debate of two competitors,  with a moderator and  the audiences as judges.

Pablo Reyna Libiran, joined the comics industry in 1971 as a proofreader of Kislap Magazine, and after a couple of years, he became an associate editor of News Parade Magazine and from 1975, he was already an editor of several other popular comics and magazines.

By 1982, he was honored as Writer of the Year for his work “Kung Tawagin Siya’y Baliw”.  He was also awarded as the Best Editor, during the first ever KOMOPEB Awards, an association of comics magazine writers and editors, as editor of Lovelife Komiks, which eventually won also the Best Short Story Komiks. 

Libiran became vice president of SGP (Screenwriters Guild of the Philippines) despite having written only 1 screenplay in 1988, a comedy film, Jacky Tyan which was starred by Herbert Bautista.

Other awards he had garnered are:

The Pio Valenzuela Memorial Award in 2000
Parangal ng Komisyon Ng Wikang Pilipino in 2003
Outstanding Citizen of Balagtas, Bulacan in 2005
Dangal Ng Lipi Sa Sining At Kultura – Bulacan in 2005