Ramon Magsaysay

(born Aug. 31, 1907, Iba, Phil. — died March 17, 1957, near Cebu)
President of the Philippines (1953 – 57). Son of a Malay artisan, he was a
schoolteacher before becoming a guerrilla leader during World War II. In
1950, as secretary of defense, he launched one of the most successful
antiguerrilla campaigns in modern history, against insurgents of the
Hukbalahap Rebellion. He deprived them of popular support by offering
peasants land and tools and insisting that the army treat them with respect.
By 1953 the Huks were no longer a threat, and Magsaysay was elected
president. His efforts at reform were frustrated by a conservative Congress.
He was killed in a plane crash before the end of his term.

Maria Ylagan Orosa

Maria Ylagan Orosa is remembered most for her patriotism during the
Japanese occupation (for which she was executed by enemy forces), but
Maria Y. Orosa was better known while she was alive for her culinary skills
and love for good food.

Maria Y. Orosa, war heroine, master of culinary arts ... Born in Taal,
Batangas on November 29, 1893, Maria Ylagan Orosa, pioneer food
technologiest, war heroine and humanitarian after whom a street in the city
of Manila has been named, may well have been the greatest boon to Filipino
housewives there ever was. Her mission in life was to make the Filipino
household self-sufficient in its food, health, and nutritional needs.

Among Maria Y. Orosa's many achievements are: pioneering in food

technology, nutrition and preservation; preparing soy bean milk, jam, jellies
and marmalades, agar from seaweed (gulaman-da-gat); the use of duhat and
other Philippine fruit in manufacturing wine, and coconut in preparing flour,
cassava, coco-honey, milk nata de coco, vinegar, soup, cheese, butter,
cooking and salad oil, and candy. She turned banana, manga and ripe rice
bran into food rich in Bitamin B1 or thiamine -- that which combats beri-
beri in nursing mothers.

She is credited for having developed the Orosa oven (palayok), a charcoal-
based clay oven. 700 recipes: canning, preserves, juices, wines, candies,
jellies, jams, marmalades, cakes, pickles, soy sauce, catsup, vinegar, soap,
and scientific studies. Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾"

Lea Salonga

TaLea Salonga-Chien (born Maria Ligaya Carmen Imutan Salonga on

February 22, 1971 in Angeles City, Philippines) is a Tony, Olivier, Drama
Desk, and Theatre World award-winning Filipino singer and actress who is
best known for her portrayal of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon. In the field
of musical theater, no other Filipino has achieved the same international
recognition as Salonga. She has been the first to win various international
awards for a single role.

She was the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on
Broadway, and is now starring as Fantine, as of March 2, 2007. On February
11, 2007, she performed at the Philippine International Convention Center
with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

Salonga recently released her first studio album in 7 years called "Inspired".
The carrier single is a remake of Beverly Craven's "Promise Me". The album
has just been certified platinum.

Early life
Lea Salonga was born to Feliciano Genuino Salonga and Ligaya Alcantara
Imutan. She was born in Angeles City and spent the first six years of her
childhood there.[1] She is a sister of composer Gerard Salonga[2][3] and
granddaughter of former Senate President Jovito Salonga.

Salonga became a successful child star in the Philippines. At the age of

seven, she made her professional debut performing in the musical The King
and I by Repertory Philippines.[4] She became the lead star of Annie and
joined other productions, such as Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Fiddler On The
Roof, The Rose Tattoo, The Sound of Music, The Goodbye Girl, Paper Moon
and The Fantasticks.[5]

She began her recording career at the age of ten with her first album, Small
Voice, which received a gold certification.[6][7] Her younger brother, Gerard
Salonga, performed a duet with her on the song Happiness. Since then, he
has collaborated with her many times as musical director or creative
director.[8][9]

As a child star, she also hosted her own musical television show, Love, Lea,
and won three Aliw Awards for Best Child Performer from 1981 to 1983.[10]
In 1988, her second album, "Lea" was released.[11] She also starred in
German Moreno's teen variety show That's Entertainment.[12] The young Lea
also appeared with Herbert Bautista in several popular family-oriented
Filipino films in the late-1980s such as Ninja Kids,[13] Captain Barbell[14] and
Pik Pak Boom.[15] Lea Salonga also received her first Filipino Academy of
Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) award nomination (equivalent of an
Oscar nomination) for Best Child Actress for the 1981 flick Tropang Bulilit,
though she lost to child star Sheryl Cruz for Mga Basang Sisiw.[16]

Lea also opened for international acts such as Menudo on their 1985 Manila
concert, and Stevie Wonder during his 1988 concert in Manila

Nicanor Abelardo (born February 7, 1893, date of death unknown) is a

Filipino composer who composed over a hundred of Kundiman songs,
especially before and during the Second World War.

Nicanor Abelardo

Abelardo was born in San Miguel de Mayumo (now San Miguel), Bulacan.
He was introduced to music when he was five years old, when his father
taught him the solfeggio and the banduria. At the age of 8, he was able to
compose his first work, a waltz entitled "Ang Unang Buko," which was
dedicated to his grandmother. At the age of 13, he was already playing at
saloons and cabarets in Manila. At age 15, he was already teaching in barrio
schools in San Ildefonso and San Miguel Bulacan. All of these happened
even before young Abelardo finally took up courses under Guy F. Harrison
and Robert Schofield at the UP Conservatory of Music in 1916. By 1924,
following a teacher’s certificate in science and composition received in
1921, he was appointed head of the composition department at the
Conservatory. Years later, he ran a boarding school for young musicians, and
among his students were National Artist Antonino Buenaventura, Alfredo
Lozano and Lucino Sacramento. In the field of composition he is known for
his redefinition of the kundiman, bringing the genre to art-song status.
Among his works were "Nasaan Ka Irog," "Magbalik Ka Hirang," and
"Himutok." He died in 1934 at the age of 41, leaving a prolific collection of
more than 140 works.[1]

As a composition major at the University of the Philippines, he also

composed the melody for the university's official anthem, U.P. Naming
Mahal.

The building housing the College of Music in UP Diliman (Abelardo Hall) is

named in his honor

Lydia de Vega

Lydia de Vega-Mercado (born December 12, 1964[1]) is a former track and

field athlete from the Philippines, was considered Asia's fastest woman in
the 1980s.[2] As Asia's sprint queen, she ran away with the gold medal in the
100-meter dash in the 1982 New Delhi Asiad[2] and duplicated the feat in the
1986 Seoul Asiad[2] where she was clocked 11.53 seconds.[citation needed] She also
brought home a silver medal in the 200-meter race from the 1986 Seoul
Asiad.[citation needed] De Vega now serves as a councilor of her native
Meycauayan town in Bulacan province

Juan Nakpil

Juan F. Nakpil (b. 1899, d. 1986) was a Filipino architect, teacher and a
community leader. In 1973, he was named one of the National Artists for
architecture.
Among Nakpil's works are the Geronimo de los Reyes Building, Magsaysay
Building, Rizal Theater, Capitol Theater, Captain Pepe Building, Manila
Jockey Club, Rufino Building, Philippine Village Hotel, University of the
Philippines Administration and University Library, and the Rizal Shrine in
Calamba, Laguna. He also designed the International Eucharistic Congress
altar and improved the Quiapo Church in 1930 by erecting a dome and a
second belfry.

Nick Joaquin

Joaquín was born in Paco District Paco, Manila. He dropped out of high
school and did odd-jobs on Manila's waterfront and elsewhere. He taught
himself by reading widely at the National Library of the Philippines
National Library and the library of his father Leocadio Joaquín, who had
been a lawyer and a colonel in the Philippine Revolution. This developed
further his interest in writing. His mother was named Salome Marquez
Joaquin. Joaquín was first published in the literary section of the Pre-World
War II Tribune under writer and editor Serafín Lanot.

After winning a Dominican Order-sponsored nationwide essay competition

for La Naval de Manila, the University of Santo Tomas University of Santo
Tomás awarded Joaquín an honorary Associate in Arts (A.A.) and a
scholarship to St. Albert's College, the Dominican monastery in Hong Kong.
However, he dropped out after only a year. Upon his return to the
Philippines, he joined the Philippines Free Press, starting as a proofreader.
Soon this two-time dropout was being noticed for his poems, stories and
plays, as well as his journalism under the pen name Quijano de Manila. His
journalism was markedly both intellectual and provocative, an unknown
genre in the Philippines at that time, raising the level of reportage in the
country.

Joaquín deeply admired José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines.
Joaquín paid tribute to Rizal by way of books such as The Storyteller's New
Medium - Rizal in Saga, The Complete Poems and Plays of Jose Rizal and A
Question of Heroes: Essays in Criticism on Ten Key Figures of Philippine
History. He also translated the hero's valedictory poem, "Land That I Love,
Farewell!"
Joaquín also served as a member of the Philippine Board of Censors for
Motion Pictures under President Diosdado Macapagal and President
Ferdinand E. Marcos. According to writer Marra PL. Lanot, Joaquín was
untouched by Marcos' iron fist. Joaqun's first move as National Artist was to
secure the release of imprisoned writer José F. Lacaba. Later, at a ceremony
on Mount Makiling attended by First Lady Imelda Marcos, Joaquín
delivered an invocation to Mariang Makiling, the mountain's mythical
maiden. Joaquín touched on the importance of freedom and the artist. As a
result, Joaquín no longer received invitation to address important cultural
events for the rest of the Marcos regime.

Joaquín died of cardiac arrest in the early morning of April 29 2004. He died
in his home in San Juan, Metro Manila|San Juan, Metro Manila. At the time
of his death, Nick Joaquín was editor of Philippine Graphic magazine and
publisher of its sister publication, Mirror Weekly, a women’s magazine. He
also wrote columns (“Small Beer”) for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and
Isyu, an opinion tabloid

Levi Celerio

Levi Celerio was born on April 19, 1910 in maynila, Manila. He received a
scholarship to the Academy of Music in Manila and became the youngest
member of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. He wrote a great number of
songs for local movies, which earned for him the Lifetime Achievement
Award of the Film Academy of the Philippines. Celerio has written lyrics for
more than 4,000 Filipino folk, Christmas, and love songs, including many
that became movie titles.

Known for being a lyricist, his songs cherish life, convey nationalistic
sentiments and utter grand philosophies. Celerio wrote more than 4,000
songs, among them are popular pieces, which many consider to be immortal.
At one time or another, no Filipino could miss the tune or lyrics of Levi's
Christmas songs: Pasko na Naman, Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong
Taon (Ang Pasko ay Sumapit), and Misa de Gallo.

His more popular love songs include: Saan Ka Man Naroroon?, Kahit
Konting Pagtingin, Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal, Kapag Puso'y Sinugatan, and
Ikaw, O Maliwanag na Buwan, Dahil Sa Isang Bulaklak, Sa Ugoy ng
Duyan, Bagong Pagsilang, and Sapagkat Kami'y Tao Lamang, while his folk
songs include Ang Pipit, Tinikling, Tunay na Tunay, Itik-Itik, Waray-Waray,
Pitong Gatang, Ako ay May Singsing, Alibangbang, Alembong, Galawgaw,
Caprichosa, Ang Tapis ni Inday, Dungawin Mo Hirang, Umaga na Neneng,
Ikaw Kasi, and Basta't Mahal Kita. Celerio also wrote nationalistic songs
such as Ang Bagong Lipunan, Lupang Pangarap, and Tinig ng Bayan.

Celerio, for a time, was also recognized by the Guinness Book of World
Records as the only man who could play music with a leaf. Because of his
talent, Celerio was invited to The Merv Griffin Show, where he played "All
the Things You Are" with 39 musicians. Using his leaf, Levi wowed the
crowd and got the attention of the Guinness Book of World Records. The
Book later listed the entry: "The only leaf player in the world is in the
Philippines". He would also later appear on That's Incredible!.[1]

On October 9, 1997, pursuant to Proclamation No. 1114, President Fidel V.

Ramos proclaimed him a National Artist for Music and Literature. His
citation read that his music "was a perfect embodiment of the heartfelt
sentiments and valued traditions of the Filipino."[2]

In his old age, Levi occasionally appeared in public, usually at a concert at

the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He was also playing at a Quezon City
bar from time to time. Levi was a poor man, so poor in fact that he could not
pay for his hospital bills. [3]

He died at the Delgado Clinic in Quezon City on April 2, 2002 at the age of
91, just two days after the death of a fellow National Artist, Lucio San Pedro
(who wrote the music for Sa Ugoy ng Duyan). But his death was
overshadowed by the death of Rico Yan, a popular matinee idol thus, his
death was received with little attention. He was buried with full military
honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (National Heroes' Cemetery)

Eddie Jose
Edward José was born in Antwerp but raised in the U.S. He got his start in
films as an actor during the early 'teens with his most famous role as "The
Fool" in the 1915 film that made Theda Bara a star. Soon afterward José
became a director (most noted for his ambitious 1915 six-reel film Beloved
Vagabond) and worked on a few of the first Pearl White adventures. He
continued directing assorted Hollywood films through 1922 when he began
directing French films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Fernando Amorsolo

Fernando Amorsolo was born May 30, 1892, in the Paco district of Manila.
At 13 he was apprenticed to the noted Philippine artist Fabian de la Rosa, his
mother's first cousin. In 1909 Amorsolo enrolled at the Liceo de Manila and
then attended the fine-arts school at the University of the Philippines,
graduating in 1914. After working three years as a commercial artist and
part-time instructor at the university, he studied at the Escuela de San
Fernando in Madrid. For seven months he sketched at the museums and on
the streets of Madrid, experimenting with the use of light and color. That
winter he went to New York and discovered the works of the postwar
impressionists and cubists, who became the major influence on his works.
On his return to Manila, he set up his own studio.

During this period, Amorsolo developed the use of light - actually, backlight
- which is his greatest contribution to Philippine painting. Characteristically,
an Amorsolo painting contains a glow against which the figures are outlined,
and at one point of the canvas there is generally a burst of light that
highlights the smallest detail.

During the 1920s and 1930s Amorsolo's output of paintings was prodigious.
In 1939 his oil Afternoon Meal of the Workers won first prize at the New
York World's Fair. During World War II Amorsolo continued to paint. The
Philippine collector Don Alfonso Ongpin commissioned him to execute a
portrait in absentia of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, which he did at great
personal risk. He also painted Japanese occupation soldiers and self-
portraits. His wartime paintings were exhibited at the Malacanang
presidential palace in 1948. After the war Amorsolo served as director of the
college of fine arts of the University of the Philippines, retiring in 1950.
Married twice, he had 13 children, five of whom became painters.

Amorsolo was noted for his portraits. He made oils of all the Philippine
presidents, including the revolutionary leader Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, and
other noted Philippine figures. He also painted many wartime scenes,
including Bataan, Corner of Hell, and One Casualty.

Amorsolo, who died in 1972, is said to have painted more than 10,000
pieces. He continued to paint even in his late 70s, despite arthritis in his
hands. Even his late works feature the classic Amorsolo tropical sunlight. He
said he hated "sad and gloomy" paintings, and he executed only one painting
in which rain appears.

Juan Nakpil

Juan F. Nakpil (b. 1899, d. 1986) was a Filipino architect, teacher and a
community leader. In 1973, he was named one of the National Artists for
architecture.

Among Nakpil's works are the Geronimo de los Reyes Building, Magsaysay
Building, Rizal Theater, Capitol Theater, Captain Pepe Building, Manila
Jockey Club, Rufino Building, Philippine Village Hotel, University of the
Philippines Administration and University Library, and the Rizal Shrine in
Calamba, Laguna. He also designed the International Eucharistic Congress
altar and improved the Quiapo Church in 1930 by erecting a dome and a
second belfry.