Tito Valiente leaves lasting legacy

By Paulo DS. Papa

THE Bicol’s cultural community is mourning the death of cultural advocate, writer and film scholar Tito Valiente, who passed away at the age of 70 on Saturday, August 22.

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) announced Valiente’s death and honored his contributions to the promotion and preservation of Bicol’s culture. He served as director of the Institute of Bikol History and Culture at Ateneo de Naga University.

Born on December 11, 1955 on Ticao Island in Masbate and raised in Naga City, Valiente was known for advancing the study and appreciation of Bicol’s local histories, languages and traditions.

The NCCA said Valiente’s scholarship and literary skills kept him closely connected to the region’s cultural life. He was also active in various artistic communities, including a group that helped establish the Savage Mind cultural hub and bookstore on Peninsula Street in Barangay Tinago, Naga City.

The cultural hub is managed by filmmaker and author Kristian Cordero of Nabua, Camarines Sur, one of Valiente’s close partners in promoting Bicol through the arts, literature, film and education.

Valiente also made significant contributions to Philippine literature, cultural anthropology and film scholarship. The NCCA described him as bringing an anthropologist’s perspective to media criticism and viewing cinema as a “record of society,” rather than merely a medium for entertainment and artistic expression.

Valiente was also a long-time columnist of the Bicol Mail, where he used his column to share his insights on Bicol’s culture, history, literature, arts and the people of the region. Through his writings, he helped deepen public appreciation of Bicolano identity and contributed to the newspaper’s tradition of promoting regional culture and perspectives.

Through this perspective, Valiente examined society, its values and contradictions, rituals and myths, as well as its histories and silences. This also fueled his advocacy for regional and decentralized storytelling.

As an author, Valiente wrote several books published by the Ateneo de Naga University Press, including The Last Sacristan Mayor and the Most Expensive Mass of the Dead: Tales from Ticao, published in 2017.

Valiente also served as a member of the NCCA’s National Committee on Cinema, where he represented film critics and journalists and shared his extensive knowledge and insights on cinema and culture.

In extending its condolences to Valiente’s bereaved family, friends and colleagues, the NCCA said it honored a life devoted to helping Filipinos understand and appreciate the richness of their own culture.

His death leaves a significant void in Bicol’s cultural and intellectual community, where his work helped strengthen the region’s voice in Philippine literature, film and cultural studies.