Nature of the National Artist Award for Literature

• National Artist or Pambansang Alagad ng Sining is a distinction given to a Filipino who excellently
contributed to the enrichment of national art. These fields of art vary from music, dance, theater,
visual arts, literature, film, broadcast arts, to architecture and allied arts. (NCAA)
• This distinction is given through a Presidential Proclamation and honored through a ceremony
administered by the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the
Philippines (CCP). In the ceremony, they are given collars symbolizing their status and a citation by
the incumbent president of the Philippines.
• The National Artists are given benefits such as monthly pension, state funeral and burial, and
acknowledgement in cultural events.
• This is given as the nation’s expression of gratitude for the artist’s contribution to the cultural
heritage of the country.
• The categories for the field of literature are poetry, fiction, essay, playwriting, journalism, and/or
literary criticism.
I. Life and Works of Jose Garcia Villa
• CHILDHOOD
« On August 5, 1908, Jose Garcia Villas was born in Malate, Manila.
« He is one of the six children of Dr. Simeon Villa and Guia Garcia.
« At the age of 15, Villa was able to publish his first story in the Manila Times, the oldest existing
newspaper in the country.

• EDUCATION
« In 1925, he was enrolled in the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines.
« In 1927, he was affiliated with the UP College of Liberal Arts.
« In 1928, he transferred to the College of Law. Although part of the college, he was still taking classes in
fine arts.
« During his college years, he became a charter member of the writers’ club of the university.
« In his second year of law school, he wrote Man Songs, a series of erotic poems, under his nom de
plume O. Sevilla.
« He also held private poetry workshops at his Greenwich Village apartment where he was named “Pope
of Greenwich Village.”
« His pen name was Doveglion (dove, eagle, lion), the characters that he associated with himself. E.E.
Cummings explored these characters in the poem “Doveglion, Adventures in Value.”
« He died on July 7, 1997.

• ACHIEVEMENTS
« He was nominated for the Bollingen prize for a collection of poetry.
« He received the American Academy of Arts and Letter’s Poetry Award.
« He was a recipient of the Shelley Memorial Award as well as the Guggenheim and Rockefeller
fellowships for poetry.
« In 1940, Villa received an honorable mention in the Commonwealth Literary Awards.
« He won first prize in the UP Golden Jubilee Literary Contest in1958.
« In 1959, he was an honorary doctorate of literature in Far Eastern University.
« He was awarded with the Rizal Pro Patria Award in1961.
« He was granted the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for poetry and short story in1962.
« In 1973, he received an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of the Philippines.
« In 1973, Jose Garcia Villa was named as National Artist for Literature.

• WRITING STYLE

« Today, Villa is known and remembered as the man who transformed Philippine poetry. This is because
he challenged the literary conventions and crafted styles and subjects that became the subjects of study
 and imitation, such as the reversed consonance rhyme scheme and the comma poems. These two made
use of punctuation marks in an innovative and poetic way.
ƒ Reversed consonance thyme scheme – In this rhyme scheme, the last sounded consonants of the last
syllable are reversed to form the corresponding rhyme.
Examples: » near and run » light and tell
ƒ Comma poems – These are poems in which a comma is placed after every word. Villa said, “The
commas are an integral and essential part of the medium; regulating the poem’s verbal density and time
movement: enabling each word to attain a fuller tonal value, and the line movement to become more
measured.”

• LITERARY WORKS
ƒ “God Said, ‘I Made a Man’”
ƒ “The Way My Ideas Think Me”
ƒ “Lyric 17”
ƒ “And If the Heart Can Not Love”
ƒ “Be Beautiful, Noble, Like an Antique Ant”

II. Life and Works of Bienvenido Lumbera

• CHILDHOOD
« He was born in Lipa on April 11, 1932.
« His parents are Timoteo Lumbera, who was the pitcher of a local baseball team, and Carmen Lumbera.
« By the age of five, he was an orphan. He was not yet a year old when his father fell and broke his back,
while his mother, who suffered from cancer, died years after.
« Eusebia Teru, his paternal grandmother, took care of him and his older sister.
« He spent most of his childhood in Batangas.
« He attended Padre Valerio Malabanan Elementary School.
« At an early age, his teachers discovered his blossoming potential in writing using the English language.

• EDUCATION
« He was very determined to be a writer and wanted to go to the University of the Philippines. However,
because of some circumstances, his guardians told him to go to the University of Santo Tomas instead.
« Lumbera entered University of Santo Tomas in 1950 and embarked upon a degree in journalism in the
university’s Faculty of Philosophy and Letters.
« He studied Spanish but made English his major preoccupation. Also, he met his lifelong friends in the
university, with whom he participated actively in the student government.
« He graduated cum laude in 1954 but failed to obtain a job in the city, so he went back to Lipa and
became an English high school teacher in his alma mater.
« He went back to Manila to study education at the Far Eastern University. He also applied for a Fulbright
grant to study literature at an American university in the United States, which was what he really wanted
to do.

• ACHIEVEMENTS
« Lumbera was a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communications in
1993.
« He was awarded the National Artist for Literature in 2006.

• LITERARY WORKS
« Bienvenido Lumbera, as a poet, introduced to Tagalog literature what is now known as Bagay poetry, a
landmark aesthetic tendency that has helped change the vernacular poetic tradition.
« In 1953, Manual Viray arranged his poem “Frigid Moon” to appear in the Sunday Magazine of the
Manila Chronicle. It was his first published book.
« He has long been a socially engaged writer and academic, and an ardent advocate of Filipino as
national and literary language.
 « He created famous musical plays such as the Tales of the Manuvu, Rama Hari, and Hibik at Himagsik
nina Victoria Laktaw.
« Here are some of his works:
ƒ “A Eulogy of Roaches” This analogous poem depicts the roaches of the general public. Itshows that
people would do anything to survive.
ƒ “Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita” This is a poem that commemorates the massacre of farmers in Tarlac.
ƒ “Ang Ating Bagong Panatang Makabayan” It sardonically condemns corruption which was pledged by
protestors in 2008.
ƒ “Paggunita sa Pamamaslang” This is a poem about the massacre executed by the Ampatuan family in
2009.
ƒ “Ka Bel” Lumbera wrote this poem for Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, urging for his freedom in 2006. It is
about Ka Bel’s life and struggles.
ƒ “The Yaya’s Lullaby” This poem is written for all the mothers who work as “yayas” and take care of the
children of others just to support the needs of their own kids.

III. Life and Works of Edith L. Tiempo

• BACKGROUND
« She was born in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, on April 22, 1919.
« Her mother was from Cagayan, and her father, a mining engineer, was from Ilocos.
« She grew up in various parts of the Philippines and used these places in her stories.
« She married Edilberto K. Tiempo, a Philippine novelist. They have a daughter and a son.

• EDUCATION
« She obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Silliman University in Dumaguete City in 1947.
« She received an international writing fellowship from the University of Iowa and finished her master’s
degree in the said university as well.
« In 1958, she earned her doctorate degree from the University of Denver.

• ACHIEVEMENTS
« She was a recipient of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.
« She won first prize from the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1979 for the novel His Native Coast.
« In 1988, she was honored with Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas.
« In 1999, she was awarded the National Artist Award for Literature.

• LITERARY WORKS
« Here are some of her works:
ƒ “The Return” This poem is about an old soldier, reminiscing his glorious past, his eventful adventures,
and reminding us that all experiences are preserved in our memory, allowing us to go back in time to
view the brightest moments of our past.
ƒ “Bonsai” This poem is about love. It talks about how a person could compact a big thing to a small one
to be able to share it or give it to others. The poem particularly talks about the love of mothers.

« Among her other works are:

ƒ The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems, written in 1966
ƒ The Charmer’s Box and Other Poems, written in 1993

IV. Life and Works of Virgilio S. Almario (a.k.a. Rio Alma)

• He 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
«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.
• Poetry:
- Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina ∙ Mutya ng Dilim
- Balagtasismo versus Modernismo ∙ Barlaan at Josephat
- Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula Pilipino
• He founded literary workshops : 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.
• He was the chairman emeritus of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL).

V. Life and Works of Nick Joaquin

• CHILDHOOD
« Nick Joaquin was born in the old district of Paco in Manila on September 15, 1917. He was named after
Saint Nicomedes, a protomartyr of Rome, whose feast day falls on the same day of his birth.
« He was born to a Catholic, educated, and prosperous home.
« At the time of the revolution, his father, Leocadio Joaquin, an attorney in Laguna, met and married his
first wife.
« Nick Joaquin’s mother, Salome, had studied in a teacher-training institute during the Spanish period.
During the American occupation, she was among the first to receive training in the English language
from the Americans. Afterward, she taught the language in a public school in Manila.
« When Nick was around ten, his father got him a borrower’s card at the National Library, and it was that
time when he fell in love with books and with the writing styles of numerous authors.
« Nick had a happy childhood in their two-storey Paco home, which was the first residential-commercial
building at that time.
« His father, Leocadio, lost his fortune to an investment in a pioneering oil exploration project in the
Visayas in the late 1920s. This caused the family to leave their home in Paco for a rented house in Pasay.
« He was twelve at the time of his father’s death.

• EDUCATION
« The young Joaquin was too intellectually restless to be confined in a classroom. He dropped out of
school after attending Paco Elementary School and attending three years of secondary education in
Mapa High School.
« His strictly Catholic family wanted him to pursue a religious vocation, but he was unable to do so. He
would have entered a seminary if it were not for his father’s death.
« After he quit school, Joaquin worked as a mozo (boy apprentice) in a bakery in Pasay.
« He then worked as a printer’s devil in the composing department of the Tribune, of the Tribune-
Vanguardia-Taliba (TVT) publishing company.
« Joaquin, as well as the other writers of his generation who were raised in the American era, discovered
Dostoyevsky and Hemingway before they came to know Tagalog writers such as Lope K. Santos and
Rosauro Almario.
« However, even after being acquainted with the works of writers of different nationalities, Nick did not
forget his roots. He incorporated in his writings his great sense of place, which will later on be the
trademark of his writings.

• ACHIEVEMENTS
« He was a celebrated and decorated writer who remained shy and uncomfortable of attention despite
all the awards he received.
« He joined José Garcia Villa’s Honor Roll in 1940.
« He won the Philippines Free Press Short Story Contest in 1949.
« He was one of the Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM), Awardee for Literature
in 1955.
« He won in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Literary Awards in 1957–1958; 1965; and 1976.
« He landed a Harper Publishing Company writing fellowship in New York, United States.
« He received a Stonehill Award for the Novel in 1960.
« He received a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1961.
« In 1964, the City of Manila granted him a Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award.
« In 1976, he received a National Artist Award for Literature.
« He received a Southeast Asian or S.E.A. Write Award in 1980.
« He received a Ramon Magsaysay Award for Literature Journalism, Literature, and Creative
Communication Arts, the highest honor for a writer in Asia, in 1996.
« He received a Tanglaw ng Lahi Award from the Ateneo de Manila University (1997).
« He received several ESSO Journalism awards, including the highly coveted Journalist of the Year Award.
« He received several National Book Awards from the Manila Critics’ Circle.

• LITERARY WORKS
« He wrote in every category of literature. A master of all trades, Quijano de Manila shone in every
genre he wrote in.
« Here are some of his short stories:
a. “May Day Eve”
» A pioneer of magical realism, the story features a mirror that looks into the future and the past, which
was a key in unraveling the narration.
» This short story is about Badoy and Agueda and how their ideas of each other ruined their marriage
since it began in 1987.
» Their tragic love story began on a May night when they first met. They were two opposing characters:
Agueda is a nonconformist, a woman very much ahead of her time, while Badoy is a stereotypical man
trying to prove his machismo, a person who is used to getting his way.
» Despite their unpleasant first meeting, Badoy fell hard for Agueda, and his passion burns like the
summer heat.
» The real tragedy in the story is when he forgets how much he loves his wife, Agueda, as the years
passed.
» An excerpt from the story reveals the tragedy in this manner, “But alas, the heart forgets; the heart is
distracted, and May-time passes; summer ends; the storms break over the hot-ripe orchards and the
heart grows old; while the hours, the days, the months and the years pile up and pile up till the mind
becomes too crowded, too confused: dust gathers in it; cobwebs multiply; the walls darken and fall into
ruin and decay; the memory perishes” (par. 81).
» When his grandson asked him about a witch, he described his wife, and when Agueda told their
daughter about the devil, she described her husband. This revealed how they viewed each other after
their many years of marriage.
» The story reveals that their marriage was born of a raging passion and gives the message that love and
marriage do not thrive on passion alone.

b. “Summer Solstice”
» This is a short story about a three-day ritual performed by women during St. John’s festival set in 1850s
Philippines. The festival celebrates man’s masculinity and fertility.
» The Tatarin festival celebrates women as they are the ones who carry the child. This is also the ritual of
fertility performed by women.
» The story garnered much attention since it was published in 1972.
» Paeng and his wife Lupeng are the main characters of the story. The story started when the family of
Paeng and Lupeng was enjoying St. John’s festival. Guido, Paeng’s cousin, returned from Europe and
narrated his travels to Lupeng. He made suggestive comments to Lupeng that “women should ravish and
men should adore them,” which was contrary to how her husband thinks. As Paeng’s wife, Lupeng felt
deprived of expressing herself. She had been pondering about Guido’s words that women should be
 adored. This caused Lupeng to participate in the ritual during the last night of the festival. Paeng went
with her and tried to drag her back home. Lupeng ran toward the group of women in the festival. Her
husband ran after her to drag her home once more. Paeng was not able to drag his wife since the
women beat him up, making him helpless. When they reached home, Paeng decided to whip Lupeng to
put her in her place. Lupeng retorted that she should be adored and ordered her husband to kiss her
feet.
VI. Life and Works of Francisco Sionil José
• CHILDHOOD
« Francisco or Frankie Sionil Jose was born on December 3, 1924.
« He was a native of Rosales, Pangasinan.
« His parents are Antonio Sionil and Sofia Sionil.
« His father, an Aglipayan minister, left Sofia and their three children for another woman.
« Their family had a plot of land that served as a means of supporting the family. It was claimed by a
wealthy landowner who forced them to become tenants in their own land.
« His mother sold rice cakes and Frankie, as his family fondly called him, raised hogs and worked as a
farm laborer.

• EDUCATION
« Despite their poverty, Frankie and his siblings were able to attend school.
« He studied in Rosales Elementary School from 1931 to 1937. Soledad Oriel, one of his teachers,
inculcated in him his lifelong love of books.
« Frankie went to live in Manila with his maternal uncle who paid for his tuition at Far Eastern University
High School from 1939 to 1941 in exchange for doing housework.
« He was in his senior year when the Second World War broke out. Schools were closed in December
1941 when the Japanese attacked Manila. Frankie was said to have finished high school as all students
were given full credit even though that school year was three months short.
« When the schools reopened, he enrolled at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. In that same year,
Frankie and his mother returned to Rosales because of the American air raids. As the American forces
neared Rosales, Frankie and a young cousin joined them. They were sent to cover by the Japanese sentry
fire.
« When the Americans finally took the town, Frankie became part of the U.S. medical corps as a paid
civilian technician. He was able to qualify for this position since he had experience in assisting in his
cousin’s clinic. At that time, he dreamed of becoming a doctor someday.
« When the war was over, Frankie returned to Manila and enrolled in premedical courses at the Manila
College of Pharmacy and Dentistry, which he attended for a semester. When the University of Santo
Tomas reopened, he transferred to still pursue his premedical courses. Realizing that sciences were not
for him, he transferred to the faculty of liberal arts in the same university.
« His English teacher, Paz Latorena, encouraged his writing. She also taught him how to dramatize his
stories rather than tell simple narratives.
« In March 1949, Frankie was supposed to graduate from college, but he left the University in December
for a job offer in the United States Information Service or USIS as an assistant editor.

• ACHIEVEMENTS
« He received the U.S. Department of State Smith-Mundt grant in 1955.
« He received the Asia Foundation grant in 1960.
« He was also a recipient of the National Press Club award for journalism thrice.
« He received the British Council grant in 1967.
« He received the Palanca award for journalism three times, and for novel in 1981.
« In 1979, he received the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio award, the Cultural Center of the Philippines
award, and the City of Manila award.
« He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Arts in 1980.
« He received the Outstanding Fulbrighters award for literature in 1988.
« He received the Cultural Center of the Philippines Award for literature in 1989.
 « He became a Philippine National Artist in 2001.
« He received the Pablo Neruda Centennial Award in 2004.
« He became an Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters in 2014.

• LITERARY WORKS
« He focused on uncovering the Filipino identity in his stories and dreams of a Philippines that is free
from the influences of its colonizers.
« Here are some of works:
a. “The God Stealer”
» The story “The God Stealer,” similar to F. Sionil Jose’s other works, focuses on the debilitating
effect of the colonial rule in the formation of the Filipino identity.
» The story is about officemates Philip Latak, a native of Ifugao who was currently working in Manila,
and Sam Christie, an American colleague who was returning to Boston. Philip and Sam were bound
for Baguio. Sam wanted to buy a bulol, an Ifugao god figurine, as a souvenir. Since Philip was a
native, he agreed to help Sam to buy one through his connections. When they reached Baguio,
everyone seemed happy to see Philip once again, particularly his grandfather, even though Philip
had forgotten their cultural beliefs, identity, and values. Philip was thrown a party to celebrate his
comeback. On the day of the party, Philip and Sam learned that no Ifugao agreed to sell their god
figurine. As a last resort, Philip stole the god figurine of his grandfather, which caused his
grandfather’s death when he found out that it was stolen by his grandson. Philip resolved to stay in
the Mountain Province because of his guilt.
» Philip is a symbolism of the Philippines trying to please the Americans, which is symbolized by Sam
(Uncle Sam).
» Phillip also reflects the many Filipinos trying to cut their Filipino roots and losing their national
identity.
b. “Waywaya”
» “Waywaya” should also be read as allegory as it reimagines pre-Hispanic Philippine society. In
Sionil José’s language, Ilokano, “Waywaya” means freedom.
» “Waywaya” is about two rival tribes, the Laud and the Daya. The Laud evolved with time and
explored innovations, while the Daya stayed tied down to their old way of living.
» Dayaw, the lead female character of the story, said, “The past could also be a prison, father” to the
tribe chief who said, “We know our past, we don’t repeat its mistake, that too, is a tradition.”
» The story tells its readers to be free from their past and be accepting of change because things will
not stay as they were before.
VII. Life and Works of Alejandro Roces
• CHILDHOOD
« Alejandro R. Roces was born in Manila on July 13, 1924.
« He is the son of Rafael Roces and Inocencia Reyes.
« He is from a family that has been prominent in the newspaper and magazine industry for many
decades.
« He was the sixth of nine brothers.

• EDUCATION
« Anding, as he was called by family and friends, was educated at the Ateneo de Manila through high
school.
« He won Best Short Story for “We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers” during his freshman year in the University
of Arizona. This is also the university where he received his undergraduate degree in Fine Arts.
« He finished his master’s degree from Far Eastern University.
« He received a Doctor of Arts and Letters degree from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
« He received a doctorate in Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) from Ateneo de Manila University and a
doctorate in Humanities (Honoris Causa) from St. Louis University, Baguio City.
« He attained a Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) degree from Toyo University in Japan.
 • ACHIEVEMENTS
« In 2003, he became a National Artist for Literature.
« He received the Rizal Pro-Patria Award from the Knights of Rizal.
« He received the Diwa ng Lahi (Spirit of the Race) award in 1988.
« In 1970, he received the Patnubay ng Kalinangan (Vanguard of Culture) award.
« In 1990, he also received the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining award.
« He received the Zobel Award for Literature in 1995. « He received the Green & Gold Award from Far
Eastern University.
« He also received the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts from the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

• LITERARY WORKS
« Roces incorporated in his writing humor and fleshed out characters. What made him different was his
ability to recreate Filipino culture as a vivid world setting for his stories or a stage if you will for his
characters. The stories of Roces revolve around the cockpit, which he regarded as the center of Filipino
culture. It also serves as a bridge to people of other cultures, who also knew cockfighting as a sport. In
his stories, Roces wanted to save the hearts and minds of Filipinos against three types of oppression:
colonial mentality, censorship, and literary prejudice.
« Here are some of his works:
a. “My Brother’s Peculiar Chicken”
» This is a short story about two brothers who argued all morning about whether the chicken was a
rooster or a hen. » The brothers were unable to settle the issue on their own. They asked their
parents as well as the people in the village to decide for them. When no one could determine its sex,
they decided to enter the chicken in a cockfight.
» In the middle of the fight, the chicken started to act strange, and an egg came out of it.
b. “We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers”
» This is a funny short story set during World War II about a Filipino farmer and an American soldier.
» The war is never a funny story to tell, but this story is successful in injecting laughter with the war
as its background.
» The American soldier boasting about his ability to drink many kinds of alcoholic drinks was offered
lambanog or fermented coconut juice by the farmer.
» The American soldier quickly got drunk, and when the farmer was asked to drink with the soldiers
again, he refused and said, “We Filipinos are mild drinkers.”
» The sarcasm can be seen from the title alone, but it also shows the humility of Filipinos. The
farmer, instead of boasting about his ability to drink alcoholic beverages, refused the offer of an
alcoholic drink.
» In the story, we can tell that “one man’s drink is another man’s poison.” People are different from
one another, as their culture varies. The Filipino farmer is used to lambanog, while the American
found it overwhelming.

VIII. Life and Works of Amado V. Hernandez

• CHILDHOOD
« Amado V. Hernandez was born on September 13, 1903 in Tondo, Manila
« His parents are Juan Hernandez and Clara Vera.

• EDUCATION AND CAREER

« He studied in the Manila High School in Gagalangin, Tondo.
« He studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines making him directed to journalism.
« In 1934, he started his literary career. He served as the editor of Mabuhay, the city Tagalog daily.

• ACHIEVEMENTS
« In 1939, he won the Philippine Commonwealth Award for a historical epic entitled “Pilipinas”
(Philippines). The same award was given to him in 1940 because of his collection of poems,
“Kayumanggi”.
 « He organized the pioneering union, The Philippines Newspaper Guild.
« He edited “Makabayan”in 1956-1958, a fighting newspaper.
« In 1958, he received a certificate of merit from the National Press Club for his service to the Philippine
journalism.
« He won the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1962.
« He received Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, first prize, in 1958 and 1961 and
second prize in 1959 and 1960
« He received the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan award from the city government of Manila in 1964
« He received the first Balagtas Memorial Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines for Bayang
Malaya in 1969;
« He received the Tanglaw ng Lahi Award from the Ateneo de Manila in 1970.
« He was proclaimed National Artist for Literature posthumously in 1973 for his contribution to the
development of Tagalog prose.

• LITERARY WORKS
a. Mga Ibong Mandaragit (Birds of Prey)
It is the first socio-political novel that tackled the agrarian problems of the 1950’s. It also dared to
serve as a sequel to Dr. Jose Rizal’s El Filibusterismo. It begins with the fulfillment of the prophecy of
Fr. Florentino. The prophecy he uttered when Simon died. He took the jewels from Simon and threw
them it into the sea. In this novel, the jewels were retrieved by Mando Plaridel.
b. Luha Ng Buwaya (Crocodile’s Tears)
This novel was based on the experiences of Amado V. Hernandez while in prison. It was inspired by
the socio-political problems in the Philippines from 1930 to 1950. Crocodiles are a Filipino symbolism
for the corrupt officials that the poor farmers and labor leaders are fighting against. This novel, like
Noli Me Tangere, shows the violation of celibacy of priests, friar’s forgery of deeds, and the
unadmirable figures of the priests.

IX. Life and Works of Lazaro Francisco

• CHILDHOOD
« He was born in Orani, Bataan on February 22, 1898.
« He was born to Eulogio Francisco and Clara Angeles.

• EDUCATION
« He had his elementary and secondary education in Bataan and Nueva Ecija.
« He acquired his college education at the Central Luzon Agricultural college and the International
Correspondence School.

• ACHIEVEMENTS
« He was dubbed as the “Master of the Tagalog Novel” and that was backed up by his numerous
achievements.
« He received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1970.
« He received the Patnubay ng Kalinangan from the City of Manila in 1975.
« He received the Dangal ng Lahi, Lungsod ng Quezon in 1976.
« He received the Tanglaw ng Lahi from Ateneo de Manila in 1979.
« He received the Presidential Award of Merit for Literature.
« He received the Gawad Plaridel and Pingkain Award, both from the Bayanihan Foundation.
« He was conferred as a National Artist posthumously in 2009.

• LITERARY WORKS
« His essay, “Tatsulok” became the basis of his major social novels.
« “Ilaw sa Hilaga” earned him acclaim as it was considered the best novel ever written in the first decade
of the Third Philippine Republic.
« Here are some of his literary works:
 a. Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig
This is a novel about the festering problem of tenancy. It calls out for more equitable distribution of
land.
b. Sugat Ng Alaala
This novel is about romance and war. It portrayed the realities of war during the World War II as well
as the nationalism of the Filipinos. The novel won the 1982 Gintong Aklat Award, for Literature.
c. Daluyong
“Daluyong” means wave or a tidal wave. The novel that tackled the “waves of forces” that prevents
changes and hopes from being realized. It serves as a sequel to his novel, Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig.

X. Life and Works of Carlos P. Romulo

«His multifaceted career spanned 50 years of public service as an educator, soldier, university president,
journalist and a diplomat.
«He was the first Asian president of the United Nations General Assembly
Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C. and minister of foreign affairs
«He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. Essentially though,
Romulo was very much into writing.
«He was the only Asian to win America’s coveted Pulitzer Prize in Journalism.
«Romulo, in all, wrote and published 18 books, a range of literary works which included:
o The United (novel)
o I walked with Heroes (Autobiography)
o I Saw the Fall of the Philippines
o Mother America
o I see the Philippines Rise (war-time memoirs)
«His other books:
o Forty Years: A Third World Soldier at the UN
o The Philippine Presidents
XI. Life and Works of Francisco Arcellana
• He is a writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher.
• He is one of the most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English.
• He pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form.

PUBLISHED BOOKS:

• Selected Stories (1962)

• Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977)
• The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990)

Some of his short stories are:

• Frankie
• Lina
• The Man Who Would Be Poe
• Death in a Factory
• A Clown Remembers
• Divided by Two
POEMS:
• The other Woman
• This Being the Third Poem
• This Poem is for Mathilda
• To Touch You and I Touch Her

XII. Life and Works of NVM Gonzales

NESTOR VICENTE MADALI GONZALEZ (a.k.a N. V. M. Gonzales) is a fictionist, essayist, poet, and teacher,
articulated the Filipino spirit in rural, urban landscapes.
Among his many recognitions:
• won the First Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940
• received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1960
• Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1990
• 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.
• The award attest to his triumph in appropriating the English language to express, reflect and
shape Philippine culture and Philippine sensibility.

Major works of Gonzales 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