Amor con amor se paga -Love begets Love

Sine qua non - something absolutely indispensable or essential.

Veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered

A Latin phrase popularly attributed to Julius Caesar who, according to Appian, used the
phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick
victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela

Qou Vadis - Where are you going?

Res ipsa loquitur is a Latin phrase that means "the thing speaks for itself." In personal
injury law, the concept of res ipsa loquitur (or just "res ipsa" for short) operates as an
evidentiary rule that allows plaintiffs to establish a rebuttable presumption
of negligence on the part of the defendant through the use of circumstantial evidence.

Lingua franca – 2nd language

in loco parentis- in the place of a parent

con·nois·seur - an expert judge in matters of taste

soi·réean evening party or gathering

chauf·feurdriver
Mes·damesplural form of Madam.
The Manila Times is the oldest existing English-language newspaper in the Philippines.
Panchatantra, oldest collection of Indian fables and the most popular work of literature.

Matsuo Basho greates Haiku poet

Haiku" is a traditional form of Japanese poetry. Haiku poems consist of 3 lines. The first
and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. The lines
rarely rhyme.
Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
Medieval Period -era of knights and castles
Rabindranath Tagore
1st Asian recipient of Nobel prize for Literature

William Shakespeare – best writer of all time

Book Burning of 1940 1st literary demonstration 10 May 1933, a crowd of some
40,000 people gathered in the Opernplatz – now the Bebelplatz – in the Mitte district of
Berlin
Renaissance, (French: “Rebirth”) period in European civilization immediately following
the Middle Ages and conventionally held to have been characterized by a surge of
interest in Classical scholarship and values

O Captain! My Captain! Poem by Walt Whitman is an extended metaphor poem

written in 1865 by Walt Whitman, about the death of American president Abraham
Lincoln

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe – believed t have triggered the American
Civil war

Euripides Greek dramatic author

Sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion
Morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language

Skimming – looking for most important information without reading the whole text
Scanning -Scan the page to find a particular piece of information
Extensive Reading- reading for joy/ leisurely
Intensive – slow reading, done with lots of concentration
Cockfighting – was the principal form of entertainment of the Filipino men
Confucius – not a religious leader
Black Death - Great Plague, the Black Plague, or the Plague, was one of the most
devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to
200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351
ISIS - Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, officially cited as Republic Act
No. 10963, is the initial package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP)
signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte on December 19, 2017
Gender and Development (GAD)
A laser/ LASER - light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation- is a device that
emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission
of electromagnetic radiation
Scuba - self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
Coron Palawan – Best scuba diving site
Stratification – grouping, layering stratifying society
Excise Tax special taxes on specific goods or activities—such as gasoline, tobacco or
gambling
Karim-al Makhdum, a noted Arab judge and scholar who arrived in Jolo around 1380
A.D.;

- Rajah Baginda, a prince of Menangkabau (Sumatra), who landed in Sulu in 1390 and
carried Makhdum’s work;
- Sarip Kabungsuwan of Jahore, who landed in Mindanao in 1475 and became the first
sultan of the island.
Tuan Masha’ika, supposedly an Arab religious leader or missionary, who landed on the
island of Jolo in what is today the Province of Sulu in the southern Philippines
- Sayyid Abu Bakr, also known as Sahrif ul-Hashim, who reached Jolo around 1450
A.D. and became its first sultan; and

Lope de Vega – established National theater in Spain

Fray Andres De Urdaneta – discovered the Galleon Trade route
Manila – distinguished and ever loyal city

Spain claimed the Philippines by 1) “right of discovery’ 2) Right of actual occupation or

conquest.

Mexican annual subsidy, "situado"

Ilustrado – wealthy and educated filipino

Primary objective of Katipunan – Civic, Political and Moral (CPM)

Newspaper of Katipuna – Kalayaan
Emilio Jacinto – brain and soul

Performed computation spreadsheet – excel

Order of National Artists Philippines

(Orden ng Pambansang Alagad ng Sining) is the highest national recognition given to
Filipino individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of
Philippine arts; namely, Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film, Broadcast
Arts, and Architecture and Allied Arts. The order is jointly administered by the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines
(CCP) and conferred by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation by both
institutions.

LITERATURE

1. Francisco Arcellana -National Artist for Literature (1990)

(September 6, 1916 – August 1, 2002)

Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher, 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. For
Arcellana, the pride of fiction is “that it is able to render truth, that is able to
present reality”. Arcellana kept alive the experimental tradition in fiction, and had
been most daring in exploring new literary forms to express the sensibility of the
Filipino people. A brilliant craftsman, his works are now an indispensable part of
a tertiary-level-syllabi all over the country. Arcellana’s published books
 are Selected Stories (1962), Poetry and Politics: The State of Original
Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977), The Francisco Arcellana
Sampler(1990).

“The names which were with infinite slowness revealed, seemed strange and
stranger still; the colors not bright but deathly dull; the separate letters spelling
out the names of the dead among them, did not seem to glow or shine with a
festive sheen as did the other living names.”

(from “The Mats”, Philippine Contemporary Literature, 1963)

Some of his short stories are Frankie, The Man Who Would Be Poe, Death in a
Factory, Lina, A Clown Remembers, Divided by Two, The Mats, and his
poems being The Other Woman, This Being the Third Poem This Poem is for
Mathilda, To Touch You and I Touched Her, among others.

Edith L. Tiempo,

National Artist for Literature (1999)

(April 22, 1919 – August 21, 2011)

poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic is one of the finest Filipino writers in English
whose 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”. 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.

Tiempo’s published works include the novel A Blade of Fern (1978), The Native
Coast (1979), and The Alien Corn(1992); the poetry collections, The Tracks of
Babylon and Other Poems (1966), and The Charmer’s Box and Other
Poems(1993); and the short story collection Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964).

Bienvenido Lumbera
Literature (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.

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.

National Artist for Literature (1997)

(September 8, 1915 – November 28, 1999)

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. 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.

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.

National Artist for Literature (2003)

Virgilio S. Almario, 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.

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. 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).

He headed the National Commission for Culture and the Arts as Executive Director,
(from 1998 to 2001) ably steering the Commission towards its goals.

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.

National Artist for Literature (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 spans more than four decades, he has 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.

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 has been holding regular
funded and unfunded workshops throughout the country. In his campus lecture circuits,
Bautista has updated students and student-writers on literary developments and
techniques.

As a teacher of literature, Bautista has 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.

Thus, Bautista continues to contribute 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 provide 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).
 National Artist for Literature (1976)
(May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004)

“Before 1521 we could have been anything and everything not Filipino; after 1565 we
can be nothing but Filipino.” ― Culture and History, 1988

Nick Joaquin, is regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino writer in English
writing so variedly and so well about so many aspects of the Filipino. Nick Joaquin 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.
Aside from his handling of language, Bienvenido Lumbera writes that Nick Joaquin’s
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. Nick Joaquin has written plays, novels,
poems, short stories and essays including reportage and journalism. As a journalist,
Nick Joaquin uses the nome de guerre 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.

Nick Joaquin died April 29, 2004.

Amado V. Hernandez, poet, playwright, and novelist, is among the Filipino writers who
practiced “committed art”. In his view, the function of the writer is to act as the
conscience of society and to affirm the greatness of the human spirit in the face of
inequity and oppression. Hernandez’s contribution to the development of Tagalog prose
is considerable — he stripped Tagalog of its ornate character and wrote in prose closer
to the colloquial than the “official” style permitted. His novel Mga Ibong Mandaragit,
first written by Hernandez while in prison, is the first Filipino socio-political novel that
exposes the ills of the society as evident in the agrarian problems of the 50s.

Hernandez’s other works include Bayang Malaya, Isang Dipang Langit, Luha ng
Buwaya, Amado V. Hernandez: Tudla at Tudling: Katipunan ng mga Nalathalang
Tula 1921-1970, Langaw sa Isang Basong Gatas at Iba Pang Kuwento ni Amado V.
Hernandez, Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol at Iba Pang Akda ni Amado V.
Hernandez.

National Artist for Literature (2009)

(February 22, 1898 – June 17, 1980)

Prize-winning writer Lazaro A. Francisco developed the social realist tradition in

Philippine fiction. His eleven novels, now acknowledged classics of Philippine literature,
embodies the author’s commitment to nationalism. Amadis Ma. Guerrero wrote,
“Francisco championed the cause of the common man, specifically the oppressed
peasants. His novels exposed the evils of the tenancy system, the exploitation of
farmers by unscrupulous landlords, and foreign domination.” Teodoro Valencia also
observed, “His pen dignifies the Filipino and accents all the positives about the Filipino
way of life. His writings have contributed much to the formation of a Filipino
nationalism.” Literary historian and critic Bienvenido Lumbera also wrote, “When the
history of the Filipino novel is written, Francisco is likely to occupy an eminent place in
it. Already in Tagalog literature, he ranks among the finest novelists since the beginning
of the 20th century. In addition to a deft hand at characterization, Francisco has a
supple prose style responsive to the subtlest nuances of ideas and the sternest stuff of
passions.”

Francisco gained prominence as a writer not only for his social conscience but also for
his “masterful handling of the Tagalog language” and “supple prose style”. With his
literary output in Tagalog, he contributed to the enrichment of the Filipino language and
literature for which he is a staunch advocate. He put up an arm to his advocacy of
Tagalog as a national language by establishing the Kapatiran ng mga Alagad ng
Wikang Pilipino (KAWIKA) in 1958.

His reputation as the “Master of the Tagalog Novel” is backed up by numerous awards
he received for his meritorious novels in particular, and for his contribution to Philippine
literature and culture in general. His masterpiece novels—Ama, Bayang
Nagpatiwakal, Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig and Daluyong—affirm his eminent place in
Philippine literature. In 1997, he was honored by the University of the Philippines with a
special convocation, where he was cited as the “foremost Filipino novelist of his
generation” and “champion of the Filipino writer’s struggle for national identity.”

National Artist for Literature (2001)

F. Sionil Jose’s writings since the late 60s, when taken collectively can best be
described as epic. Its 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.

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 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.

National Artist for Literature (2001)

F. Sionil Jose’s writings since the late 60s, when taken collectively can best be
described as epic. Its 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.

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 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.

National Artist for Literature (1982)

(January 14, 1899 – December 15, 1985)

Carlos P. Romulo‘s multifaceted career spanned 50 years of public service as 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. 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.

National Artist for Literature (1973)

(August 5, 1908 – February 7, 1997)
 “Art is a miraculous flirtation with Nothing!
Aiming for nothing, and landing on the Sun.”
― Doveglion: Collected Poems

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. 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.

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.

National Artist for Literature (2003)

(July 13, 1924 – May 23, 2011)

“You cannot be a great writer; first, you have to be a good person”

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 has received national and international awards.

Ever the champion of Filipino culture, Roces brought to public attention 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.

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.
 List of Awa

National Artist for Theater and Literature (1997)

(March 5, 1937 – July 7, 1997)

Rolando S. Tinio, playwright, thespian, poet, teacher, critic, and translator marked his
career with prolific artistic productions. Tinio’s chief distinction is as a stage director
whose original insights into the scripts he handled brought forth productions notable for
their visual impact and intellectual cogency. Subsequently, after staging productions for
the Ateneo Experimental Theater (its organizer and administrator as well), he took on
Teatro Pilipino. It was to Teatro Pilipino which he left a considerable amount of work
reviving traditional Filipino drama by re-staging old theater forms like the sarswela and
opening a treasure-house of contemporary Western drama. It was the excellence and
beauty of his practice that claimed for theater a place among the arts in the Philippines
in the 1960s.

Aside from his collections of poetry (Sitsit sa Kuliglig, Dunung – Dunungan, Kristal
na Uniberso, A Trick of Mirrors) among his works were the following: film scripts
for Now and Forever, Gamitin Mo Ako, Bayad Puri and Milagros; sarswelas Ang
Mestisa, Ako, Ang Kiri, Ana Maria; the komedya Orosman at Zafira; and Larawan,
the musical.

National Artist for Literature / Music (1997)

(April 30, 1910 – April 2, 2002)

Levi Celerio is a prolific lyricist and composer for decades. He effortlessly translated/wrote
anew the lyrics to traditional melodies: “O Maliwanag Na Buwan” (Iloko), “Ako ay May
Singsing” (Pampango), “Alibangbang” (Visaya) among others.

Born in Tondo, Celerio received his scholarship at the Academy of Music in Manila that
made it possible for him to join the Manila Symphony Orchestra, becoming its youngest
member. He made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the only person able to
make music using just a leaf.

A great number of his songs have been written for the local movies, which earned for him
the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines. Levi Celerio,
more importantly, has enriched the Philippine music for no less than two generations with
a treasury of more than 4,000 songs in an idiom that has proven to appeal to all social
classes.

FASHION DESIGN

National Artist for Fashion Design (2006)

(August 31, 1912 – May 25, 1972)
The contribution of Ramon Valera, whose family hails from Abra, lies in the tradition of
excellence of his works, and his commitment to his profession, performing his magical
seminal innovations on the Philippine terno.

Valera is said to have given the country its visual icon to the world via the terno. In the
early 40s, Valera produced a single piece of clothing from a four-piece ensemble
consisting of a blouse, skirt, overskirt, and long scarf. He unified the components of the
baro’t saya into a single dress with exaggerated bell sleeves, cinched at the waist, grazing
the ankle, and zipped up at the back. Using zipper in place of hooks was already a radical
change for the country’s elite then. Dropping the panuelo–the long folded scarf hanging
down the chest, thus serving as the Filipina’s gesture of modesty–from the entire
ensemble became a bigger shock for the women then. Valera constructed the terno’s
butterfly sleeves, giving them a solid, built-in but hidden support. To the world, the butterfly
sleeves became the terno’s defining feature.

Even today, Filipino fashion designers study Valera’s ternos: its construction, beadworks,
applique, etc. *Valera helped mold generations of artists and helped fashion to become
no less than a nation’s sense of aesthetics. But more important than these, he helped
form a sense of the Filipino nation by his pursuit of excellence.

THEATER DESIGN

DANCE

National Artist for Dance (1973)

(March 9, 1899 – November 21, 1983)

Francisca Reyes Aquino is acknowledged as the Folk Dance Pioneer. This Bulakeña
began her research on folk dances in the 1920’s making trips to remote barrios in
Central and Northern Luzon. Her research on the unrecorded forms of local celebration,
ritual and sport resulted into a 1926 thesis titled “Philippine Folk Dances and Games,”
and arranged specifically for use by teachers and playground instructors in public and
private schools.

In the 1940’s, she served as supervisor of physical education at the Bureau of

Education that distributed her work and adapted the teaching of folk dancing as a
medium of making young Filipinos aware of their cultural heritage. In 1954, she received
the Republic Award of Merit given by the late Pres. Ramon Magsaysay for “outstanding
contribution toward the advancement of Filipino culture”, one among the many awards
and recognition given to her.

Her books include the following: Philippine National Dances (1946); Gymnastics for
Girls (1947); Fundamental Dance Steps and Music (1948);Foreign Folk
Dances (1949); Dances for all Occasion (1950); Playground Demonstration (1951);
and Philippine Folk Dances, Volumes I to VI.

National Artist for Dance (2006)

(June 16, 1938 – December 21, 2006)

Ramon Obusan was a *dancer, choreographer, stage designer and artistic director. He
achieved phenomenal success in Philippine dance and cultural work. He was also
acknowledged as a researcher, archivist and documentary filmmaker who broadened
and deepened the Filipino understanding of his own cultural life and expressions.
Through the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Grop (ROFG), he had effected cultural and
diplomatic exchanges using the multifarious aspects and dimensions of the art of dance.

Among the full-length productions he choreographed are the following:

“Vamos a Belen! Series” (1998-2004) Philippine Dances Tradition

“Noon Po sa Amin,” tableaux of Philippine History in song, drama and dance
“Obra Maestra,” a collection of Ramon Obusan’s dance masterpieces
“Unpublished Dances of the Philippines,” Series I-IV
“Water, Fire and Life, Philippine Dances and Music–A Celebration of Life
Saludo sa Sentenyal”
“Glimpses of ASEAN, Dances and Music of the ASEAN-Member Countries”
“Saplot (Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group): Philippines Costumes in Dance”

Alice Reyes
National Artist for Dance (2014)

The name Alice Reyes has become a significant part of Philippine dance parlance. As
a dancer, choreographer, teacher and director, she has made a lasting impact on the
development and promotion of contemporary dance in the Philippines. Her dance
legacy is evident in the dance companies, teachers, choreographers and the exciting
Filipino modern dance repertoire of our country today.

Reyes’ dance training started at an early age with classical ballet under the tutelage of
Rosalia Merino Santos. She subsequently trained in folk dance under the Bayanihan
Philippine National Dance Company and pursued modern dance and jazz education
and training in the United States. Since then, during a professional dance career that
spanned over two decades, her innovative artistic vision, firm leadership and passion for
dance have made a lasting mark on Philippine dance.

Perhaps the biggest contribution of Alice Reyes to Philippine dance is the development
of a distinctly Filipino modern dance idiom. Utilizing inherently Filipino materials and
subject matters expressed through a combination of movements and styles from
Philippine indigenous dance, modern dance and classical ballet she has successfully
created a contemporary dance language that is uniquely Filipino. From her early
masterpiece Amada to the modern dance classic Itim-Asu, to her last major
work Bayanihan Remembered which she staged for Ballet Philippines, she utilized this
idiom to promote unique facets of Philippine arts, culture and heritage.

By introducing the first modern dance concert at the CCP Main Theater in February
1970 featuring an all contemporary dance repertoire and by promoting it successfully to
a wide audience, she initiated the popularization of modern dance in the country. She
followed this up by programs that developed modern dancers, teachers,
choreographers and audiences. By organizing outreach tours to many provinces,
lecture-demonstrations in schools, television promotions, a subscription season and
children’s matinee series, she slowly helped build an audience base for Ballet
Philippines and modern dance in the country.

Among her major works: Amada (1969), At a Maranaw Gathering (1970) Itim-
Asu (1971), Tales of the Manuvu(1977), Rama Hari (1980), Bayanihan Remembered
(1987).

Leonor Orosa Goquingco

National Artist for Dance

(July 24, 1917 – July 15, 2005)

Dubbed the “Trailblazer”, “Mother of Philippine Theater Dance” and “Dean of Filipino
Performing Arts Critics”, Leonor Orosa Goquingco, pioneer Filipino choreographer in
balletic folkloric and Asian styles, produced for over 50 years highly original, first-of-a-
kind choreographies, mostly to her own storylines. These include “TREND: Return to
Native,” “In a Javanese Garden,” “Sports,” “VINTA!,” “In a Concentration Camp,”
“The Magic Garden,” “The Clowns,” “Firebird,” “Noli Dance Suite,” “The Flagellant,”
“The Creation…” Seen as her most ambitious work is the dance epic “Filipinescas:
Philippine Life, Legend and Lore.” With it, Orosa brought native folk dance, mirroring
Philippine culture from pagan to modern times, to its highest stage of development.

She was the Honorary Chair of the Association of Ballet Academies of the Philippines
(ABAP), and was a founding member of the Philippine Ballet Theater.

Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula

National Artist for Dance (1988)

(June 29, 1929 – August 4, 1999)

Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula, choreographer, dance educator and researcher, spent almost

four decades in the discovery and study of Philippine folk and ethnic dances. She
applied her findings to project a new example of an ethnic dance culture that goes
beyond simple preservation and into creative growth. Over a period of thirty years, she
had choreographed suites of mountain dances, Spanish-influenced dances, Muslim
pageants and festivals, regional variations and dances of the countryside for the
Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company of which she was the dance director. These
dances have all earned critical acclaim and rave reviews from audiences in their world
tours in Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

Among the widely acclaimed dances she had staged were the following: Singkil, a
Bayanihan signature number based on a Maranao epic poem; Vinta, a dance honoring
Filipino sailing prowess; Tagabili, a tale of tribal conflict; Pagdiwata, a four-day harvest
festival condensed into a six-minute breath-taking spectacle; Salidsid, a mountain
wedding dance ; Idaw, Banga and Aires de Verbena.

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

National Artist for Historical Literature (1997)

(January 14, 1910 – May 20, 1999)

Carlos Quirino, 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. 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.

MUSIC

National Artist for Music (1988)

(May 4, 1904 – January 25, 1996)

Antonino R. Buenaventura vigorously pursued a musical career that spanned seven

decades of unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of Philippine music. In
1935, Buenaventura joined Francisca Reyes-Aquino to conduct research on folksongs
and dances that led to its popularization. Buenaventura composed songs, compositions,
for solo instruments as well as symphonic and orchestral works based on the folksongs
of various Philippine ethnic groups. He was also a conductor and restored the Philippine
Army Band to its former prestige as one of the finest military bands in the world making it
“the only band that can sound like a symphony orchestra”.

This once sickly boy who played the clarinet proficiently has written several marches such
as the “Triumphal March,” “Echoes of the Past,” “History Fantasy,” Second
Symphony in E-flat, “Echoes from the Philippines,” “Ode to Freedom.” His orchestral
music compositions include Concert Overture, Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, Philippines
Triumphant, Mindanao Sketches, Symphony in C Major, among others.

National Artist for Music (1997)

(January 31, 1917 – May 5, 2004)

Jose Maceda, composer, musicologist, teacher and performer, explored the musicality
of the Filipino deeply. Maceda embarked on a life-long dedication to the understanding
and popularization of Filipino traditional music. Maceda’s researches and fieldwork have
resulted in the collection of an immense number of recorded music taken from the
remotest mountain villages and farthest island communities. He wrote papers that
enlightened scholars, both Filipino and foreign, about the nature of Philippine traditional
and ethnic music. Maceda’s experimentation also freed Filipino musical expression from
a strictly Eurocentric mold.

Usually performed as a communal ritual, his compositions like Ugma-ugma(1963),

Pagsamba (1968), and Udlot-udlot (1975), are monuments to his unflagging
commitment to Philippine music. Other major works include Agungan, Kubing,
Pagsamba, Ugnayan, Ading, Aroding, Siasid, Suling-suling.

National Artist for Music (1989)

(August 31, 1918 – August 16, 2008)

Lucrecia R. Kasilag, an educator, composer, performing artist, administrator and

cultural entrepreneur of national and international caliber, had involved herself
wholly in sharpening the Filipino audience’s appreciation of music. Kasilag’s
pioneering task to discover the Filipino roots through ethnic music and fusing it
with Western influences has led many Filipino composers to experiment with
such an approach. She dared to incorporate indigenous Filipino instruments in
orchestral productions, such as the prize-winning “Toccata for Percussions and
Winds, Divertissement and Concertante,” and the scores of the Filiasiana,
Misang Pilipino, and De Profundis. “Tita King”, as she was fondly called, worked
closely as music director with colleagues Lucresia Reyes-Urtula, Isabel Santos,
Jose Lardizabal and Dr. Leticia P. de Guzman and made Bayanihan Philippine
Dance Company one of the premier artistic and cultural groups in the country.

Her orchestral music includes Love Songs, Legend of the Sarimanok, Ang
Pamana, Philippine Scenes, Her Son, Jose, Sisa and chamber music like Awit ng
mga Awit Psalms, Fantaisie on a 4-Note Theme, and East Meets Jazz Ethnika.

National Artist for Music (1999)

(May 10, 1936 – June 11, 1988)

Ernani J. Cuenco is a seasoned musician born in May 10, 1936 in Malolos,

Bulacan. A composer, film scorer, musical director and music teacher, he wrote
an outstanding and memorable body of works that resonate with the Filipino
sense of musicality and which embody an ingenious voice that raises the
aesthetic dimensions of contemporary Filipino music. Cuenco played with the
Filipino Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Manila Symphony Orchestra from
1960 to 1968, and the Manila Chamber Soloists from 1966 to 1970. He
completed a music degree in piano and cello from the University of Santo Tomas
where he also taught for decades until his death in 1988.

His songs and ballads include “Nahan, Kahit na Magtiis,” and “Diligin Mo ng
Hamog ang Uhaw na Lupa,” “Pilipinas,” “Inang Bayan,” “Isang Dalangin,”
“Kalesa,” “Bato sa Buhangin” and “Gaano Kita Kamahal.” The latter song shows
how Cuenco has enriched the Filipino love ballad by adding the elements of
kundiman to it.

National Artist for Music (1991)

(February 11, 1913 – March 31, 2002)

Lucio San Pedro is a master composer, conductor, and teacher whose music
evokes the folk elements of the Filipino heritage. Cousin to “Botong” Francisco,
San Pedro produced a wide-ranging body of works that includes band music,
concertos for violin and orchestra, choral works, cantatas, chamber music, music
for violin and piano, and songs for solo voice. He was the conductor of the much
acclaimed Peng Kong Grand Mason Concert Band, the San Pedro Band of
Angono, his father’s former band, and the Banda Angono Numero Uno. His civic
commitment and work with town bands have significantly contributed to the
development of a civic culture among Filipino communities and opened a
creative outlet for young Filipinos.

His orchestral music include The Devil’s Bridge, Malakas at Maganda

Overture,Prelude and Fugue in D minor, Hope and Ambition; choral music Easter
Cantata, Sa Mahal Kong Bayan, Rizal’s Valedictory Poem; vocal music Lulay,Sa
Ugoy ng Duyan, In the Silence of the Night; and band music Dance of the
Fairies, Triumphal March, Lahing Kayumanggi, Angononian March among
others.

National Artist for Music (1973)

(December 26, 1894 – January 29, 1980)

Antonio J. Molina, versatile musician, composer, music educator was the last of
the musical triumvirate, two of whom were Nicanor Abelardo and Francisco
Santiago, who elevated music beyond the realm of folk music. At an early age,
he took to playing the violoncello and played it so well it did not take long before
he was playing as orchestra soloist for the Manila Grand Opera House. Molina is
credited with introducing such innovations as the whole tone scale, pentatonic
scale, exuberance of dominant ninths and eleventh cords, and linear
counterpoints. As a member of the faculty of the UP Conservatory, he had taught
many of the country’s leading musical personalities and educators like Lucresia
Kasilag and Felipe de Leon.

Molina’s most familiar composition is Hatinggabi, a serenade for solo violin and
piano accompaniment. Other works are (orchestral music) Misa Antoniana Grand
Festival Mass, Ang Batingaw, Kundiman- Kundangan; (chamber music) Hating
Gabi, String Quartet, Kung sa Iyong Gunita, Pandangguhan; (vocal music)
Amihan, Awit ni Maria Clara, Larawan Nitong Pilipinas, among others.

Francisco Feliciano
National Artist for Music (2014)

Francisco Feliciano’s corpus of creative work attests to the exceptional talent of

the Filipino as an artist. His lifetime conscientiousness in bringing out the
“Asianness” in his music, whether as a composer, conductor, or educator,
contributed to bringing the awareness of people all over the world to view the
Asian culture as a rich source of inspiration and a celebration of our ethnicity,
particularly the Philippines. He brought out the unique sounds of our indigenous
music in compositions that have high technical demands equal to the
compositions of masters in the western world. By his numerous creative outputs,
he has elevated the Filipino artistry into one that is highly esteemed by the
people all over the world.

Many of his choral compositions have been performed by the best choirs in the
country, such as the world-renowned Philippines Madrigal Singers, UST Singers,
and the Novo Concertante Manila, and have won for them numerous awards in
international choral competitions. The technical requirement of his choral pieces
is almost at the tip of the scale that many who listen to their rendition are awed,
especially because he incorporates the many subtleties of rhythmic vitality and
intricate interweaving of lines inspired from the songs of our indigenous tribes.
He not only borrows these musical lines, albeit he quotes them and transforms
 them into completely energetic fusions of sound and culture that does nothing
less than celebrate our various ethnicities.

His operas and orchestral works also showcase the masterful treatment of a
musical language that is unique and carries with it a contemporary style that
allows for the use of modal scales, Feliciano’s preferred tonality. The influence of
bringing out the indigenous culture, particularly in sound, is strongly evident in La
Loba Negra, Ashen Wings, and Yerma. In his modest hymns, Feliciano was able
to bring out the Filipino mysticism in the simple harmonies that is able to
captivate and charm his audiences. It is his matchless genius in choosing to state
his ideas in their simplest state but producing a haunting and long-lasting impact
on the listening soul that makes his music extraordinarily sublime.

Major Works: Ashen Wings (1995), Sikhay sa Kabila ng Paalam (1993), La Loba
Negra (1983), Yerma (1982), Pamugun (1995), Pokpok Alimako (1981)

National Artist for Literature / Music (1997)

(April 30, 1910 – April 2, 2002)

Levi Celerio is a prolific lyricist and composer for decades. He effortlessly

translated/wrote anew the lyrics to traditional melodies: “O Maliwanag Na Buwan”
(Iloko), “Ako ay May Singsing” (Pampango), “Alibangbang” (Visaya) among
others.

Born in Tondo, Celerio received his scholarship at the Academy of Music in

Manila that made it possible for him to join the Manila Symphony Orchestra,
becoming its youngest member. He made it to the Guinness Book of World
Records as the only person able to make music using just a leaf.

A great number of his songs have been written for the local movies, which
earned for him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the
Philippines. Levi Celerio, more importantly, has enriched the Philippine music for
no less than two generations with a treasury of more than 4,000 songs in an
idiom that has proven to appeal to all social classes.

National Artist for Music (2014)

Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer, conductor and musicologist, is currently the

country’s foremost exponent of contemporary Filipino music. A prime figure in the second
generation of Filipino composers in the modern idiom, Santos has contributed greatly to
the quest for new directions in music, taking as basis non-Western traditions in the
Philippines and Southeast Asia.

He graduated in 1965 from the UP College of Music with a Teacher’s Diploma and a
Bachelor of Music degree in both Composition and Conducting. Higher studies in the
United States under a Fulbright Scholarship at Indiana University (for a Master’s degree,
1968) and at the State University of New York at Buffalo (for a Doctorate, 1972) exposed
him to the world of contemporary and avant-garde musical idioms: the rigorous processes
of serialism, electronic and contemporary music, indeterminacy, and new vocal and
improvisational techniques. He received further training in New Music in Darmstadt,
Germany and in Utrecht, the Netherlands. His initial interest in Mahler and Debussy while
still a student at UP waned as his compositional style shifted to Neo Classicism and finally
to a distinct merging of the varied influences that he had assimilated abroad.

His return to the Philippines marked a new path in his style. After immersing himself in
indigenous Philippine and Asian (Javanese music and dance, Chinese nan kuan music),
he became more interested in open-ended structures of time and space, function as a
compositional concept, environmental works, non-conventional instruments, the
dialectics of control and non-control, and the incorporation of natural forces in the
execution of sound-creating tasks. All these would lead to the forging of a new alternative
musical language founded on a profound understanding and a thriving and sensitive
awareness of Asian music aesthetics and culture.

Simultaneous with this was a reverting back to more orthodox performance modes:
chamber works and multimedia works for dance and theatre. Panaghoy (1984), for
reader, voices, gongs and bass drum, on the poetry of Benigno Aquino, Jr. was a powerful
musical discourse on the fallen leader’s assassination in 1983, which subsequently
brought on the victorious People Power uprising in 1986.

An active musicologist, Santos’ interest in traditional music cultures was heretofore

realized in 1976 by embarking on fieldwork to collect and document music from folk
religious groups in Quezon. He has also done research and fieldwork among the Ibaloi of
Northern Luzon. His ethnomusicological orientation has but richly enhanced his
compositional outlook. Embedded in the works of this period are the people-specific
concepts central to the ethnomusicological discipline, the translation of indigenous
musical systems into modern musical discourse, and the marriage of Western and non-
Western sound.

An intense and avid pedagogue, Santos, as Chair of the Department of Compositiion and
Theory (and formerly, as Dean) of the College of Music, UP, has remained instrumental
in espousing a modern Philippine music rooted in old Asian practices and life concepts.
With generation upon generation of students and teachers that have come under his wing,
he continues to shape a legacy of modernity anchored on the values of traditional Asian
music.

National Artist for Music (1976)

(February 15, 1895 – August 7, 1978)

Long before Lea Salonga’s break into Broadway, there was already Jovita Fuentes‘
portrayal of Cio-cio san in Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at Italy’s Teatro
Municipale di Piacenza. Her performance was hailed as the “most sublime interpretation
of the part”. This is all the more significant because it happened at a time when the
Philippines and its people were scarcely heard of in Europe. Prior to that, she was
teaching at the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music (1917) before
leaving for Milan in 1924 for further voice studies. After eight months of arduous
training, she made her stage debut at the Piacenza. She later embarked on a string of
music performances in Europe essaying the roles of Liu
Yu in Puccini’s Turandot, Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme, Iris in Pietro
Mascagni’s Iris, the title role of Salome (which composer Richard Strauss personally
offered to her including the special role of Princess Yang Gui Fe in Li Tai Pe). In
recognition of these achievements, she was given the unprecedented award of
“Embahadora de Filipinas a su Madre Patria” by Spain.

Her dream to develop the love for opera among her countrymen led her to found the
Artists’ Guild of the Philippines, which was responsible for the periodic “Tour of
Operaland” productions. Her life story has been documented in the biography Jovita
Fuentes: A Lifetime of Music (1978) written by Lilia H. Chung, and later translated into
Filipino by Virgilio Almario.

National Artist for Music (1997)

(May 1, 1912 – December 5, 1992)

Felipe Padilla de Leon, composer, conductor, and scholar, Filipinized western music
forms, a feat aspired for by Filipino composers who preceded him.The prodigious body
of De Leon’s musical compositions, notably the sonatas, marches, and concertos have
become the full expression of the sentiments and aspirations of the Filipino in times of
strife and of peace, making him the epitome of a people’s musician. He is the recipient of
various awards and distinctions: Republic Cultural Heritage Award, Doctor of Humanities
from UP, Rizal Pro-Patria Award, Presidential Award of Merit, Patnubay ng Kalinangan
Award, among others.

De Leon’s orchestral music include Mariang Makiling Overture (1939), Roca

Encantada, symphonic legend (1950), Maynila Overture (1976), Orchesterstuk(1981);
choral music like Payapang Daigdig, Ako’y Pilipino, Lupang Tinubuan, Ama Namin;
and songs Bulaklak, Alitaptap, and Mutya ng Lahi.

National Artist for Music (1999)

(July 11, 1928 – July 9, 2013)

Andrea Veneracion, is highly esteemed for her achievements as choirmaster and choral
arranger. Two of her indispensable contributions in culture and the arts include the
founding of the Philippine Madrigal Singers and the spearheading of the development of
Philippine choral music. A former faculty member of the UP College of Music and
honorary chair of the Philippine Federation of Choral Music, she also organized a cultural
outreach program to provide music education and exposure in several provinces. Born in
Manila on July 11, 1928, she is recognized as an authority on choral music and
performance and has served as adjudicator in international music competitions.

National Artist for Theater and Music (1987)

(January 11, 1902 – July 11, 1991)

Honorata “Atang” Dela Rama was formally honored as the Queen of Kundiman in
1979, then already 74 years old singing the same song (“Nabasag na Banga”) that she
sang as a 15-year old girl in the sarsuela Dalagang Bukid. Atang became the very first
actress in the very first locally produced Filipino film when she essayed the same role in
the sarsuela’s film version. As early as age seven, Atang was already being cast in
Spanish zarzuelas such as Mascota, Sueño de un Vals, and Marina. She counts the
role though of an orphan in Pangarap ni Rosa as her most rewarding and satisfying
role that she played with realism, the stage sparkling with silver coins tossed by a teary-
eyed audience. Atang firmly believes that the sarswela and the kundiman expresses
best the Filipino soul, and has even performed kundiman and other Filipino songs for
the Aetas or Negritos of Zambales and the Sierra Madre, the Bagobos of Davao and
other Lumad of Mindanao.

Atang firmly believes that the sarswela and the kundiman expresses best the Filipino
soul, and had even performed kundiman and other Filipino songs for the Aetas or
Negritos of Zambales and the Sierra Madre, the Bagobos of Davao and other Lumad of
Mindanao.

Among the kundiman and the other songs she premiered or popularized
were Pakiusap, Ay, Ay Kalisud, Kung Iibig Ka and Madaling Araw by Jose Corazon
de Jesus, and Mutya ng Pasig by Deogracias Rosario and Nicanor Abelardo. She also
wrote her own sarswelas: Anak ni Eba, Aking Ina, and Puri at Buhay.