FRANCISCO ARCELLANA

1916-2002
Year of Conferment: 1990

• He studied in Tondo Intermediate School.

However, it was at the Manila West High School
(which was later named the Florentino Torres
High School) that he took up his writing seriously
and became a staff member of The Torres Torch,
the school organ. While still a student , he wrote
his story, “ The Man Who Would Be Poe”.
• He is considered as one of the pioneers of
modern Filipino short story in English. His short
stories are written in lyrical prose- poetic form.
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FRANCISCO ARCELLANA

• His exceptional works in fiction include “Death

in a Factory”, “A Clown Remembers”, and
“Divided by Two.”
• Some of his poem include “The Other Woman,”
“To Touch You,” and “I Touch Her,” which are
among others are now part of the secondary-
and tertiary-level syllabi in the country.

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N.V.M. GONZALEZ
1915-1999
Year of Conferment: 1997

• Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez, better known as

N.V.M. Gonzalez, fictionist, essayist, poet, and
teacher, articulated the Filipino spirit in rural,
urban landscapes.
• Among the many recognitions, he won the First
Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940,
received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in
1960 and the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1990.

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N.V.M. GONZALEZ

• The awards attest to his triumph in appropriating the English

language to express, reflect and shape Philippine culture and
Philippine sensibility. He became U.P.’s International-Writer-In-
Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers of the U.P.
Creative Writing Center.
• In 1987, U.P. conferred on him the Doctor of Humane Letters,
honoris causa, its highest academic recognition.
N.V.M. GONZALEZ

• Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez include the following: The Winds

of April, Seven Hills Away, Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and
Other Stories, The Bamboo Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island
Now, Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty -One Stories, The Bread of
Salt and Other Stories, Work on the Mountain, The Novel of
Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and
Other Stories.
NICK JOAQUIN
1917-2004
Year of Conferment: 1976

• He is regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino

writer in English writing. He has also enriched the English
language with critics coining “Joaquinesque” to describe
his baroque Spanish-flavored English or his reinventions of
English based on Filipinisms.
• His significance in Philippine literature involves his
exploration of the Philippine colonial past under Spain and
his probing into the psychology of social changes as seen
by the young, as exemplified in stories such as Doña
Jeronima, Candido’s Apocalypse and The Order of
Melchizedek.
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NICK JOAQUIN

• Nick Joaquin has written plays, novels, poems, short stories and essays
including reportage and journalism. As a journalist, Nick Joaquin uses
the nom de plume Quijano de Manila but whether he is writing
literature or journalism, fellow National Artist Francisco Arcellana
opines that “it is always of the highest skill and quality”.
• Among his voluminous works are The Woman Who Had Two Navels, A
Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, Manila, My Manila: A History for the
Young, The Ballad of the Five Battles, Rizal in Saga, Almanac for
Manileños, Cave and Shadows.
F. SIONIL JOSE
1924-
Year of Conferment: 2001

• F. Sionil Jose’s writings since the late 60s, when

taken collectively can best be described as epic.
• It’s sheer volume puts him on the forefront of
Philippine writing in English. But ultimately, it is
the consistent espousal of the aspirations of the
Filipino–for national sovereignty and social
justice that guarantees the value of his oeuvre.

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F. SIONIL JOSE

• In the five-novel masterpiece, the Rosales saga, consisting of The

Pretenders, Tree, My Brother, My Executioner, Mass, and Po-on,
he captures the sweep of Philippine history while simultaneously
narrating the lives of generations of the Samsons whose personal
lives intertwine with the social struggles of the nation. Because of
their international appeal, his works, including his many short
stories, have been published and translated into various
languages.
F. SIONIL JOSE

• F. Sionil Jose is also a publisher, lecturer on cultural

issues, and the founder of the Philippine chapter of the
international organization PEN. He was bestowed the CCP
Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999; the Outstanding
Fulbrighters Award for Literature in 1988; and the Ramon
Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative
Communication Arts in 1980.
JOSE GARCIA VILLA
1908-1997
Year of Conferment: 1973

• Jose Garcia Villa is considered as one of the

finest contemporary poets regardless of race or
language.
• Villa, who lived in Singalong, Manila, introduced
the reversed consonance rime scheme, including
the comma poems that made full use of the
punctuation mark in an innovative, poetic way.

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JOSE GARCIA VILLA

• The first of his poems “Have Come, Am Here” received critical

recognition when it appeared in New York in 1942 that, soon
enough, honors and fellowships were heaped on him:
Guggenheim, Bollingen, the American Academy of Arts and
Letters Awards. He used Doveglion (Dove, Eagle, Lion) as pen
name, the very characters he attributed to himself, and the same
ones explored by e.e. cummings in the poem he wrote for Villa
(Doveglion, Adventures in Value). Villa is also known for the
tartness of his tongue.
JOSE GARCIA VILLA

• Villa’s works have been collected into the following

books: Footnote to Youth,Many Voices, Poems by
Doveglion, Poems 55, Poems in Praise of Love: The Best Love
Poems of Jose Garcia Villa as Chosen By Himself, Selected
Stories,The Portable Villa, The Essential Villa, Mir-i-
nisa, Storymasters 3: Selected Stories from Footnote to
Youth, 55 Poems: Selected and Translated into Tagalog by
Hilario S. Francia.
EDITH L. TIEMPO
1919-2011
Year of Conferment: 1999

• A poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic,

Edith L. Tiempo is one of the finest Filipino
writers in English.
• Her works are characterized by a remarkable
fusion of style and substance, of craftsmanship
and insight. Born on April 22, 1919 in
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, her poems are
intricate verbal transfigurations of significant
experiences as revealed, in two of her much
anthologized pieces, “The Little Marmoset” and
“Bonsai”. https://images.app.goo.gl/69jrXG5GpWSmu2Ah7
EDITH L. TIEMPO

• 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, Edilberto K. Tiempo, she
founded and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in
Dumaguete City, which has produced some of the country’s best
writers.
VIRGILLO S. ALMARIO
1994-
Year of Conferment: 2003

• He is also known as Rio Alma, is a poet, literary

historian and critic, who has revived and reinvented
traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he championed
modernist poetics.
• In 34 years, he has published 12 books of poetry, which
include the seminal Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon, and
the landmark trilogy Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga
Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan ng Lupa.
In these works, his poetic voice soared from the lyrical
to the satirical to the epic, from the dramatic to the
incantatory, in his often severe examination of the self,
and the society.
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VIRGILLO S. ALMARIO

• He has also redefined how the Filipino poetry is viewed and paved
the way for the discussion of the same in his 10 books of
criticisms and anthologies, among which are Ang Makata sa
Panahon ng Makina, Balagtasismo versus
Modernismo, Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula
Pilipino, Mutyang Dilim and Barlaan at Josaphat.
• Many Filipino writers have come under his wing in the literary
workshops he founded –the Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) and the
Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA). He has also long
been involved with children’s literature through the Aklat Adarna
series, published by his Children’s Communication Center.
VIRGILLO S. ALMARIO

• He has been a constant presence as well in national writing

workshops and galvanizes member writers as chairman emeritus
of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL). But more
than anything else, what Almario accomplished was that he put a
face to the Filipino writer in the country, one strong face
determinedly wielding a pen into untruths, hypocrisy, injustice,
among others.
AMADO V. HERNANDEZ
1903-1970
Year of Conferment: 1973

• This courageous Filipino writer was well-known

for his disapproval of social injustices in the
country.
• He was later imprisoned for his participation in
the communist movement.
• He firmly believe that writers play an important
role in society acting “as the conscience of
society and to affirm the greatness of human
spirit in the face of inequities and oppression.”
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AMADO V. HERNANDEZ

• He wrote his novel Mga Ibong Mandaragit while in prison. Other

notable works by Amado V. Hernandez include the following:
Bayang Malaya, Isang Dipang Langit, Luha ng Buwaya, Tudla at
Tudling: Katipunan ng mga Nalathalang Tula 1921-1970, Langaw sa
Isang Basong Gatas at Iab Pang Kwento, and Magkabilang Mukha
ng Isang Bagol at Iba Pang Akda.
• He was married to another national artist, Filipino actress Atang
de la Rama.
CARLOS P. ROMULO
1998-1985
Year of Conferment: 1982

• His multifaceted career spanned 50 years of

public service as an educator, soldier, university
president, journalist, and diplomat.
• It is common knowledge that he was the first
Asian president of the United Nations General
Assembly, then Philippine Ambassador to
Washington, D.C., and later minister of foreign
affairs. Essentially though, Romulo was very
much into writing: he was a reporter at 16, a
newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a
publisher at 32. https://images.app.goo.gl/kXs3VSYBMcgM8QnbA
AMADO V. HERNANDEZ

• He was the only Asian to win America’s coveted Pulitzer Prize in

Journalism for a series of articles predicting the outbreak of
World War II. Romulo, in all, wrote and published 18 books, a
range of literary works which included The United (novel), I
Walked with Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the
Philippines, Mother America, I See the Philippines Rise (war-
time memoirs).
• His other books include his memoirs of his many years’ affiliations
with United Nations (UN), Forty Years: A Third World Soldier at
the UN, and The Philippine Presidents, his oral history of his
experiences serving all the Philippine presidents.
CARLOS L. QUIRINO
1910-1999
Year of Conferment: 1997

• Carlos Quirino, a biographer, has the distinction

of having written one of the earliest biographies
of Jose Rizal titled The Great Malayan.
• Quirino’s books and articles span the whole
gamut of Philippine history and culture –from
Bonifacio’s trial to Aguinaldo’s biography, from
Philippine cartography to culinary arts, from
cash crops to tycoons and president’s lives,
among so many subjects. In 1997, Pres.

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CARLOS L. QUIRINO

• Fidel Ramos created historical literature as a new category in the

National Artist Awards and Quirino was its first recipient. He
made a record earlier on when he became the very first Filipino
correspondent for the United Press Institute.
• His book Maps and Views of Old Manila is considered as the best
book on the subject. His other books include Quezon, Man of
Destiny, Magsaysay of the Philippines, Lives of the Philippine
Presidents, Philippine Cartography, The History of Philippine
Sugar Industry, Filipino Heritage: The Making of a
Nation, Filipinos at War: The Fight for Freedom from Mactan to
EDSA.
ALEJANDRO R. ROCES
1934-2011
Year of Conferment: 2003

• Alejandro Roces, is a short story writer and

essayist and considered as the country’s best
writer of comic short stories.
• He is known for his widely anthologized “My
Brother’s Peculiar Chicken.” In his innumerable
newspaper columns, he has always focused on
the neglected aspects of the Filipino cultural
heritage. His works have been published in
various international magazines and have
received national and international awards.
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CARLOS L. QUIRINO

• Ever the champion of Filipino culture, Roces brought to public

attention to the aesthetics of the country’s fiestas.
• He was instrumental in popularizing several local fiestas, notably,
Moriones and Ati-atihan.
• He personally led the campaign to change the country’s
Independence Day from July 4 to June 12, and caused the change
of language from English to Filipino in the country’s stamps,
currency, and passports, and recovered Jose Rizal’s manuscripts
when they were stolen from the National Archives.
CARLOS L. QUIRINO

• His unflinching love of country led him to become a guerilla

during the Second World War, to defy martial law and to found
the major opposition party under the dictatorship.
• His works have been published in various international magazines
and received numerous national and international awards,
including several decorations from various governments.
LAZARO FRANCISCO
1898-1980
Year of Conferment: 2009

• He is considered to be an icon in Tagalog

writing through his nationalist and social
criticism.
• In 1958, he founded the Kapatiran ng mga
Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino (KAWIKA).
• His works include the novels Binhi at
Bunga,Cesar, Ama, Bayang Nagpatiwakal,
Sa Paanan ng Krus, Ang Pamana ng Pulubi,
and Bago Lumubog ang Araw. https://images.app.goo.gl/XMGhyd479UaRaG1J7
LAZARO FRANCISCO

• He also wrote short stories including “Deo”, “Ang

Beterano”, “Ang Idolo”, and “Kapulunagn ng mga
pinagpala.”
• In 1979, the Ateneo de Manila University awarded
Francisco the Tanglaw ng Lahi Award for his works.
BIENVENIDO LUMBERA
1932-
Year of Conferment: 2006

• Bienvenido Lumbera, is a poet, librettist, and scholar.

• As a poet, he introduced to Tagalog literature what is
now known as Bagay poetry, a landmark aesthetic
tendency that has helped to change the vernacular
poetic tradition.
• He is the author of the following works: Likhang
Dila, Likhang Diwa (poems in Filipino and English),
1993; Balaybay, Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang,
2002; Sa Sariling Bayan, Apat na Dulang May Musika,
2004; “Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita,” Pakikiramay,
2004.
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BIENVENIDO LUMBERA

• As a librettist for the Tales of the Manuvu and Rama

Hari, he pioneered the creative fusion of fine arts and
popular imagination.
• As a scholar, his major books include the
following: Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition and
Influences in its Development; Philippine Literature: A
History and Anthology, Revaluation: Essays on
Philippine Literature, Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng
Bansa.
CIRILO F. BAUTISTA
1941-
Year of Conferment: 2014

• Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and essayist

with exceptional achievements and significant
contributions to the development of the country’s
literary arts. He is acknowledged by peers and
critics, and the nation at large as the foremost
writer of his generation.
• Throughout his career that spanned more than four
decades, he established a reputation for fine and
profound artistry; his books, lectures, poetry
readings and creative writing workshops continue to
influence his peers and generations of young
writers. https://images.app.goo.gl/W4pmqueVExUF11x8A
CIRILO F. BAUTISTA

• As a way of bringing poetry and fiction closer to the people who

otherwise would not have the opportunity to develop their creative
talent, Bautista held funded and unfunded workshops throughout the
country. In his campus lecture circuits, Bautista updated students and
student-writers on literary developments and techniques.
• As a teacher of literature, Bautista realized that the classroom is an
important training ground for Filipino writers. In De La Salle University,
he was instrumental in the formation of the Bienvenido Santos
Creative Writing Center. He was also the moving spirit behind the
founding of the Philippine Literary Arts Council in 1981, the Iligan
National Writers Workshop in 1993, and the Baguio Writers Group.
CIRILO F. BAUTISTA

• Thus, Bautista contributed to the development of Philippine

literature: as a writer, through his significant body of works; as a
teacher, through his discovery and encouragement of young
writers in workshops and lectures; and as a critic, through his
essays that provided insights into the craft of writing and
correctives to misconceptions about art.
• Major works: Summer Suns (1963), Words and
Battlefields (1998), The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus (2001), Galaw
ng Asoge (2003).
REFERENCES:

• https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-
profile/national-artists-of-the-philippines/
• Mendez, Jr. Mario “Em”. DIWA Senior High School Series:
Contemporary Philippine Arts from the Regions. Makati City: 2016.
DIWA Learning System Inc. pages 43-52