Christine Jane Asmod

St. Catherine

Jose Garcia Villa

Poet, critic, short story writer, and painter, Jose Garcia Villa was a consummate artist in poetry and in person as
well. At parties given him by friends and admirers whenever he came home for a brief visit, things memorable
usually happened. Take that scene many years ago at the home of the late Federico Mangahas, a close friend of
Villa's. The poet, resplendent in his shiny attire, his belt an ordinary knotted cow's rope, stood at a corner
talking with a young woman. Someone in the crowd remarked: "What's the idea wearing a belt like that?" No
answer. Only the faint laughter of a woman was heard. Or was it a giggle perhaps? Then there was one evening,
with few people around, when he sat down Buddha-like on a semi-marble bench under Dalupan Hall at UE
waiting for somebody. That was the year he came home from America to receive a doctor's degree, honoris
causa, from FEU. Somebody asked: "What are you doing?" He looked up slowly and answered bemused: "I am
just catching up trying to be immoral." Sounded something like that. There was only murmuring among the
crowd. They were not sure whether the man was joking or serious. They were awed to learn that he was the
famed Jose Garcia Villa. What did the people remember? The Buddha-like posture? Or what he said?

That was Villa the artist. There's something about his person or what he does or says that makes people
gravitate toward him. Stare at him or listen to him.

Villa is the undisputed Filipino supremo of the practitioners of the "artsakists." His followers have diminished
in number but are still considerable.

Villa was born in Singalong, Manila, on 05 August 1908. His parents were Simeon Villa, personal physician of
revolutionary general Emilio Aguinaldo, and Guia Garcia. He graduated from the UP High School in 1925 and
enrolled in the pre-med course. He didn't enjoy working on cadavers and so he switched to pre-law, which he
didn't like either. A short biography prepared by the Foreign Service Institute said Villa was first interested in
painting but turned to writing after reading Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio."

Meanwhile, he devoted a good part of his time writing short stories and poems. Soon he started exerting his
leadership among the UP writers.

His ideas on literature were provocative. He stirred strong feelings. He was thought too individualistic. He
published his series of erotic poems, "Man Songs" in 1929. It was too bold for the staid UP administrators, who
summarily suspended Villa from the university. He was even fined P70 for "obscenity" by the Manila Court of
First Instance.

With the P1,000 he won as a prize from the Philippines Free Press for his "Mir-i-Nisa," adjudged the best short
story that year (1929), he migrated to the United States. He enrolled at the University of New Mexico where he
edited and published a mimeographed literary magazine he founded: Clay. Several young American writers
who eventually became famous contributed. Villa wrote several short stories published in prestigious American
magazines and anthologies.

Here is a partial list of his published books:

 Philippine Short Stories, best 25 stories of 1928 (1929)

 Footnote to Youth, short stories (1933)
  Many Voices, poems (1939)
 Poems (1941)
 Have Come Am Here, poems ((1941)
 Selected Poems and New (1942)
 A Doveglion Book of Philippine Poetry (1962)

Through the sponsorship of Conrad Aiken, noted American poet and critic, Villa was granted the Guggenheim
Fellowship in creative writing. He was also awarded $1,000 for "outstanding work in American literature." He
won first prize in poetry at the UP Golden Jubilee Literary Contests (1958) and was conferred the degree Doctor
of Literature, honoris causa, by FEU (1959); the Pro Patria Award for literature (1961); Heritage Awards for
literature, for poetry and short stories (1962); and National Artist Award for Literature (1973).

On 07 February 1997, Jose Garcia Villa died at a New York hospital, two days after he was found unconscious
in his apartment. He was 88.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Villa, popularly known as the "comma poet," died at 12:37 a.m. (New
York time) of "cerebral stroke and multilobar pneumonia" at the St. Vincent Hospital in Greenwich.

He is survived by his two sons, Randy and Lance, and three grandchildren.

Interment was scheduled on Feb. 10 in New York, the DFA said. It added that Villa had expressed the wish to
be buried wearing a barong. Though he lived in New York for 67 years, he remained happily a Filipino citizen.

Carlos Peña Romulo, QSC, CLH, NA (14 January 1898 – 15 December 1985) was a Filipino diplomat,
statesman, soldier, journalist and author. He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a
publisher at 32. He was a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, a general in the US Army and the
Philippine Army, university president, President of the UN General Assembly, was eventually named one of the
Philippines' National Artists in Literature, and was the recipient of many other honors and honorary degrees.
His hometown is Camiling, Tarlac and he studied at the Camiling Central Elementary School during his basic
education.Romulo, in all, wrote and published 22 books, which includes The United (novel), I Walked with
Heroes(autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, Mother America and I See the Philippines Rise (war-
time memoirs).

Francisco "Franz" Arcellana (September 6, 1916 – August 1, 2002) was a Filipino writer, poet, essayist,
critic, journalist and teacher. He was born on September 6, 1916. Arcellana already had ambitions of becoming
a writer early in his childhood. His actual writing, however, started when he became a member of The Torres
Torch Organization during his high school years. Arcellana continued writing in various school papers at the
University of the Philippines Diliman. Later on he received a Rockefeller Grant and became a fellow in
Creative Writing at the University of Iowa and at the Breadloaf Writers' Conference from 1956– 1957.[2][3]
He is considered an important progenitor of the modern Filipino short story in English. Arcellana pioneered the
development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form within Filipino literature. His works are now often
taught in tertiary-level syllabi in the Philippines. Many of his works were translated into Tagalog, Malaysian,
Russian, Italian, and German. Arcellana won 2nd place in the 1951 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature, with his short story, The Flowers of May. Fourteen of his short stories were also included in Jose
Garcia Villa's Honor Roll from 1928 to 1939. His major achievements included the first award in art criticism
from the Art Association of the Philippines in 1954, the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan award from the city
government of Manila in 1981, and the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas for English fiction from the
Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipino (UMPIL) in 1988.
The University of the Philippines conferred upon Arcellana a doctorate in humane letters, honoris causa in
1989. Francisco Arcellana was proclaimed National Artist of the Philippines in Literature on June 23, 1990 by
then Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino.[4]
In 2009, or seven years after his death, his family came out with a book to pay tribute to National Artist for
Literature Arcellana. The book entitled Franz is a collection of essays gathered by the Arcellana family from
colleagues, friends, students and family members, including fellow National Artist Nick Joaquin, Butch
Dalisay, Recah Trinidad, Jing Hidalgo, Gemino Abad, Romina Gonzalez, Edwin Cordevilla, Divina Aromin,
Doreen Yu, Danton Remoto, Jose Esteban Arcellana and others.[5]
Arcellana is buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Arcellana died in 2002. As a National Artist, he received a state funeral at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
His grandson Liam Hertzsprung performed a piano concert in 2006 dedicated to him.
Arcellana's published books include:
 Selected Stories (1962)
 Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977)
 The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990).

Néstor Vicente Madali González (September 8, 1915 – November 28, 1999) was a Filipino novelist, short
story writer, essayist and poet. Conferred as the National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 1997.
He was born on 8 September 1915 in Romblon, Philippines.[1] González, however, was raised in Mansalay, a
southern town of the Philippine province of Oriental Mindoro. González was a son of a school supervisor and a
teacher. As a teenager, he helped his father by delivering meat door-to-door across provincial villages and
municipalities. González was also a musician. He played the violin and even made four guitars by hand. He
earned his first peso by playing the violin during a Chinese funeral in Romblon. González attended Mindoro
High School (now Jose J. Leido Jr. Memorial National High School) from 1927 to 1930. González attended
college at National University (Manila) but he was unable to finish his undergraduate degree. While in Manila,
González wrote for the Philippine Graphic and later edited for the Evening News Magazine and Manila
Chronicle. His first published essay appeared in the Philippine Graphic and his first poem in Poetryin 1934.
González made his mark in the Philippine writing community as a member of the Board of Advisers
of Likhaan: the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center, founding editor of The Diliman
Review and as the first president of the Philippine Writers' Association. González attended creative writing
classes under Wallace Stegner and Katherine Anne Porter at Stanford University. In 1950, González returned to
the Philippines and taught at the University of Santo Tomas, the Philippine Women's University and
the University of the Philippines (U.P.). At U.P., González was only one of two faculty members accepted to
teach in the university without holding a degree. On the basis of his literary publications and distinctions,
González later taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, California State University, Hayward,
the University of Washington, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California,
Berkeley
The works of Gonzalez have been published in Filipino, English, Chinese, German, Russian and Indonesian.
Novels
 The Winds of April (1941)
 A Season of Grace (1956)
  The Bamboo Dancers (1988)
 The Land And The Rain
 The Happiest Boy in The World
 Bread of Salt
Short fiction
 "The Tomato Game".1992
 A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories. University of the Philippines Press, 1997
 The Bread of Salt and Other Stories. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993; University of the
Philippines Press, 1993
 Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty-one Stories. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1981; New
Day, 1989
 Selected Stories. Denver, Colorado: Alan Swallow, 1964
 Look, Stranger, on this Island Now. Manila: Benipayo, 1963
 Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories. Manila: Benipayo, 1954; Bookmark Filipino
Literary Classic, 1992
 Seven Hills Away. Denver, Colorado: Alan Swallow, 1947
Essays
 A Novel of Justice: Selected Essays 1968–1994. Manila: National Commission for Culture and the
Arts and Anvil (popular edition), 1996
 Work on the Mountain (Includes The Father and the Maid, Essays on Filipino Life and Letters and
Kalutang: A Filipino in the World), University of the Philippines Press, 1996

Edith L. Tiempo (April 22, 1919 – August 21, 2011),[1]poet, fiction writer, teacher and literary critic was
a Filipino writer in the English language.
Tiempo was born in Quezon City, but later became a resident of Kawit, Cavite.
Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences as revealed, in two of her much
anthologized pieces, "Halaman" and "Bonsai."As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has
been marked as "descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing." She is an influential tradition
in Philippine Literature in English. Together with her late husband, writer and critic Edilberto K. Tiempo, they
founded (in 1962) and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has
produced some of the Philippines' best writers.
She was conferred the National Artist Award for Literature in 1999.
Works
Novels
 A Blade of Fern (1978)
 His Native Coast (1979)
 The Alien Corn (1992)
 One, Tilting Leaves (1995)
 The Builder (2004)
 The Jumong (2006)
Short story collections
 Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964)
Poetry collection
 The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems (1966)
 The Charmer's Box and Other Poet (1993)
 Marginal Annotations and Other Poems

F. Sionil Jos or in full Francisco Sionil Jos (born December 3, 1924) is one of the most widely-read Filipino
writers in the English language. His novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles
and colonialism in Filipino society. Jos's works - written in English - have been translated into 22 languages,
including Korean, Indonesian, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch.
Biography
Childhood
Jos was born in Rosales, Pangasinan, the setting of many of his stories. He spent his childhood in Barrio
Cabugawan, Rosales, where he first began to write. Jos was of Ilocano descent whose family had migrated to
Pangasinan before his birth. Fleeing poverty, his forefathers traveled from Ilocos towards Cagayan Valley
through the Santa Fe Trail. Like many migrant families, they brought their lifetime possessions with them,
including uprooted molaveposts of their old houses and their alsong, a stone mortar for pounding rice.

One of the greatest influences to Jos was his industrious mother who went out of her way to get him the books
he loved to read, while making sure her family did not go hungry despite of poverty and landlessness. Jos
started writing in grade school, at the time he started reading. In the fifth grade, one of Jos’s teachers opened the
school library to her students, which is how Jos managed to read the novels of Jos Rizal, Willa Cather’s My
Antonia, Faulkner and Steinbeck. Reading about Basilio and Crispinin Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere made the
young Jos cry, because injustice was not an alien thing to him. When Jos was five years old, his grandfather
who was a soldier during the Philippine revolution, had once tearfully showed him the land their family had
once tilled but was taken away by rich mestizo landlords who knew how to work the system against illiterates
like his grandfather.
Life as a writer
Jos attended the University of Santo Tomas after World War II, but dropped out and plunged into writing and
journalism in Manila. In subsequent years, he edited various literary and journalistic publications, started a
publishing house, and founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international organization for writers. Jos
received numerous awards for his work. The Pretenders is his most popular novel, which is the story of one
man's alienation from his poor background and the decadence of his wife's wealthy family.

Jose Rizal's life and writings profoundly influenced Jos's work. The five volume Rosales Saga, in particular,
employs and interrogates themes and characters from Rizal's work. Scalice, Joseph. "Articulating Revolution:
Rizal in F. Sionil Jos's Rosales Saga"

Throughout his career, Jos's writings espouse social justice and change to better the lives of average Filipino
families. He is one of the most critically acclaimed Filipino authors internationally, although much underrated
in his own country because of his authentic Filipino English and his anti-elite views.

Sionil Jos also owns Solidaridad Bookshop, which is on Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila. The bookshop
offers mostly hard-to-find books and Filipiniana reading materials. It is said to be one of the favorite haunts of
many local writers.
Works
Rosales Saga novels
A five-novel series that spans three centuries of Philippine history, widely read around the world and translated
into 22 languages
 Po-on (Dusk) (1984) ISBN 9718845100
 The Pretenders (1962) ISBN 9718845003
 My Brother, My Executioner (1973) ISBN 971884516X
 Mass (December 31, 1974) ISBN 0868615722
 Tree (1978) ISBN 9718845143
Original novels containing the Rosales Saga
 Dusk (Po-on) (1993) ISBN 0375751440
 Don Vicente (1980) ISBN 0375752439 - Tree and My Brother, My Executioner combined in one book
 The Samsons ISBN 0375752447- The Pretenders and Masscombined in one book
Other novels
 Gagamba (1991) ISBN 971536105645
 Viajero (1993) ISBN 971884504689
 Sin (1994) ISBN 0517284464
 Ben Singkol (2001) ISBN 9718845321
 Ermita ISBN 9718845127
 Vibora! (2007)
 Sherds (2008)
  Muse and Balikbayan: Two Plays (2008)
 Short Stories (with Introduction and Teaching Guide by Thelma B. Kintanar) (2008)
Short story collection
 The God Stealer and Other Short Stories (2001) ISBN 9718845356
 Puppy Love and Other Short Stories (March 15, 1998) ISBN 9718845267 and ISBN 978-9718845264
 Olvidon and Other Stories (1988) ISBN 9718845186
 Platinum: Ten Filipino Stories (1983) ISBN 9718845224 (now out of print, its stories are added to the
new version of Olvidon and Other Stories)
 Waywaya: Eleven Filipino Short Stories (1980) ISBN 999228840X
 Asian PEN Anthology (as editor) (1966)
 Short Story International (SSI): Tales by the World's Great Contemporary Writers (Unabridged,
Volume 13, Number 75) (co-author, 1989) ISBN 1555730426
Children's books
 The Molave and The Orchid (November 2004)
Verses
 Questions (1988)
Essays and non-fiction
 In Search of the Word (De La Salle University Press, March 15, 1998) ISBN 9715552641 and ISBN
978-9715552646
 We Filipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our Heroic Heritage
 Soba, Senbei and Shibuya: A Memoir of Post-War Japan ISBN 9718845313 and ISBN 978-9718845318
 Heroes in the Attic, Termites in the Sala: Why We are Poor(2005)
 This I Believe: Gleanings from a Life in Literature (2006)
 Literature and Liberation (co-author) (1988)
In translation
 Po-on (Tagalog language, De La Salle University Press, 1998) ISBN 9715552676 and ISBN 978-
9715552677
 Anochecer (Littera) (Spanish language, Maeva, October 2003) ISBN 8495354950 and ISBN 978-
8495354952
In anthologies
 Tong (a short story from Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Philippine
Literature in Englishby Luis Francia, Rutgers University Press, August 1993) ISBN 0813519993 and
ISBN 978-0813519999
In film documentaries

 Francisco Sionil Jos� - A Filipino Odyssey by Art Makosinski, 1996

Virgilio S. Almario (born March 9, 1944), better known by his pen name Rio Alma, is
a Filipino artist, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager.[1] He is a National
Artist of the Philippines and currently serves as the chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang
Filipino (KWF), the government agency mandated to promote and standardize the use of
the Filipino language. On January 5, 2017, Almario was also elected as the chairman of
the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.[2]
Growing up in Bulacan among peasants, Almario sought his education at the City of Manila and
completed his degree in A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
His life as a poet started when he took master’s units in education at the University of the
East where he became associated with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio. He did
not finish the program.
A prolific writer, he spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry
together with Mangahas and Antonio. His earliest pieces of literary criticism were collected in
Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina (1972), now considered the first book of literary criticism
in Filipino. Later, in the years of martial law, he set aside modernism and formalism and took
interest in nationalism, politics and activist movement. As critic, his critical works deal with the
issue of national language.
Aside from being a critic, Almario engaged in translating and editing. He has translated the best
contemporary poets of the world. He has also translated for theater production the plays of Nick
Joaquin, Bertolt Brecht, Euripides and Maxim Gorki. Other important translations include the
famous works of the Philippines' national hero, José Rizal, namely Noli Me Tangere and El
filibusterismo. For these two, he was awarded the 1999 award for translation by the Manila
Critics Circle.[3][4]
Almario has been a recipient of numerous awards such as several Palanca Awards, two grand
prizes from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Makata ng Taon of the Komisyon sa
Wikang Filipino, the TOYM for literature, and the Southeast Asia Write Award of Bangkok.
He was an instructor at the Lagao Central Elementary School from 1969-1972. He only took his
M.A. in Filipino in 1974 at the University of the Philippines Diliman. In 2003, he was
appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Letters in the said university. On June 25 of the same
year, he was proclaimed National Artist for Literature.[5]
Almario is also the founder and workshop director of the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at
Anyo (LIRA), an organization of poets who write in Filipino. Award-winning writers and poets
such as Roberto and Rebecca Añonuevo, Romulo Baquiran Jr., Michael Coroza, Jerry Gracio,
and Vim Nadera are but some of the products of the LIRA workshop.
He was a founding member of the Gallan sa Arte at Tula (GAT), along with fellow poets Teo
Antonio and Mike Bigornia.

"Magdangal", a poem by Virgilio S. Almario.

Sculpture by Napoleon V. Abueva (Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center).
Works
Poetry Collections

 Palipad-Hangin. (1985)
 Katon Para sa Limang Pandama. (1987)
 Sentimental. (2004)
 Estremelenggoles. (2004)
 Memo Mulang Gimokudan. (2005)
 Dust Devils. (2005)
 Sonetos Postumos, book of poems with translation by Marne Kilates and paintings by
National Artist Ang Kiukok. (2006)
 Tatlong Pasyon sa Ating Panahon, poems for children with illustrations by Mark
Justiniani, Neil Doloricon, Ferdinand Doctolero. (2006)
 Buwan, Buwang, Bulawan. (2009)
 UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino
 Doktrinang Anak Pawis

Alejandro "Anding" Reyes Roces (13 July, 1924 - 23 May 2011)

Mr. Roces was a Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of the Philippines for
literature. He served as Secretary of Education from 1961 to 1965, during the term of Philippine
President Diosdado Macapagal.

The Manila-born Roces was married to Irene Yorston Viola (granddaughter of Maximo Viola)
with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth Roces-Pedrosa. He attended elementary and high
school at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), before moving to the University of
Arizona and then Arizona State University for his tertiary education. He graduated with a B.A.
in Fine Arts and, not long after, attained his M.A. from Far Eastern University (FEU) back in
the Philippines. He has since received honorary doctorates from Tokyo University, Baguio's St.
Louis University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), and the Ateneo de Manila
University (ADMU). He was also a captain in the Marking's Guerilla during World War II and
a columnist in Philippine dailies such as the Manila Chronicle and the Manila Times. He was
also previously the President of the Manila Bulletin and of the CAP College Foundation.

In 2001, Anding was appointed as Chairman of the Movie and Television Review and
Classification Board (MTRCB). He also became a member of the Board of Trustees of
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and maintained a column in the Philippine Star
called Roces and Thorns.

Roces became a writer by accident. While an undergraduate at Arizona he kept telling stories to
his American roommate, who happened to be a writer, in the hope that the latter might use them
as material for his stories, but the American told him one day to write them up himself. Roces
did. His first attempt, We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers, won a literary award from the University
of Arizona. SInce then he has won five other awards from his alma mater. His stories have been
published in several American magazines: The Arizona Quarterly, Southwest Review, New
Mexico Quarterly and the Pacific Spectator, being the first Filipino writer to break into the
pages of the last mentioned magazine.

So much about his life, I will now go on with his literary works.

We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers won as Best Short Story during his freshman year in the
University of Arizona. My Brother's Peculiar Chicken was listed as Martha Foley's Best
American Stories among the most distinctive for years 1948 and 1951. Published books, Of
Cocks and Kites (1959), Fiesta (1980), andSomething To Crow (2005).
Through the years, Roces has won numerous awards, inluding the Patnubay ng Sining at
Kalinangan Award, the Diwa ng Lahi Award, the Tanging Parangal of the Gawad CCP Para sa
Sining, and the Rizal Pro Patia Award. He was finally bestowed the honor as National Artist of
Literature on the 25th of June 2003.
When once asked for a piece of advice on becoming a famous literary figure, Roces said,
"You cannot be a great writer, first, you have to be a good person."

Bienvenido Lumbera is a Filipino poet, critic and dramatist. He is a National Artist of the
Philippinesand a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and
Creative Communications. He won numerous literary awards, including the National Book
Awards from the National Book Foundation, and the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards.
Personal life
Lumbera was born in Lipa on April 11, 1932.[1] He was barely a year old when his father,
Christian Lumbera (a Shooting Guard with a local basketball team), fell from a fruit tree, broke
his back, and died. Carmen Lumbera, his mother, suffered from cancer and died a few years
later. By the age of five he was an orphan. He and his older sister were cared for by their
paternal grandmother, Eusebia Teru.
When the war ended, Lumbera and his grandmother returned to their home in Lipa. Eusebia,
however, soon succumbed to old age and he was once again orphaned. For his new guardians,
he was asked to choose between his maiden aunts with whom his sister had stayed or Enrique
and Amanda Lumbera, his godparents. The latter had no children of their own and Bienvenido,
who was barely fourteen at the time, says he chose them mainly because "they could send me to
school."
Works
Poetry
 Ka Bel
 The Yaya’s Lullaby
 Servant
 Sadness
 Eulogy of Roaches
 'Jamborzkie Light
Literary criticism
 Revaluation: Essays on Literature, Cinema, and Popular Culture, 1984
 Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition and Influences on Its Development, 1986
 Abot-Tanaw: Sulyap at Suri sa Nagbabagong Kultura at Lipunan, 1987
Textbooks
 Pedagogy
 Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology