MARIANO “Marne” Kilates, a Bicolano poet and translator who was also a prize-winning UST Publishing House author, passed away on July 20. He was 71.
His death was announced by the Philippine Center of International PEN (Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists), a writers’ group where Kilates had served as a board member.
“Kilates was a tireless poet, producing several volumes of poems since 1987’s “Children of the Snarl & Other Poems,” the Facebook post read. “He was very much a man of the times, regularly publishing his poems on social media, as well as on his own website.”
Born in Daraga, Albay, on Nov. 5, 1952, Kilates studied English at Divine Word College in Legazpi before moving to Manila to work in 1978.
He later joined various writing workshops and worked as a copywriter and creative director in advertising. Eventually, he became a communications consultant, book editor, and speech writer.
Among his accolades were the Southeast Asian Writers (S.E.A. Write) Award from the Thai royalty in 1998 and the 1985 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature for his poem “Finders of the Image.”
Kilates was feted with the 2016 Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, a lifetime achievement award, and the Manila Critics Circle’s National Book Award for poetry and translation.
Kilates translated into English the works of renowned Filipino poets including National Artists Bienvenido Lumbera and Virgilio Almario, Rebecca Añonuevo, and Rogelio Mangahas.
Almario paid tribute to Kilates in a poem posted on Facebook. He had described the late poet as a “creative and patriotic literary voice” who was an “outstanding son of Bicol.”
As a UST Publishing House author, Kilates produced several collections of poetry such as “Poems en Route,” “Lyrical Objects,” and “Pictures as Poems and Other (Re)visions,” which was recognized in the 32nd National Book Awards in 2013.
He had also served as secretary general and board director of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas.
Kilates was a senior guest panelist at the 2016 National Writers’ Workshop organized by the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies and a judge for poetry at the Varsitarian’s 37th Gawad Ustetika.
His remains will be open for viewing until July 23 at Chapel 7 of Heritage Park in Taguig. A Mass will be offered at 3 p.m. on July 23. Ella Mae A. Sison
