REUEL MOLINA AGUILA

Reuel Molina Aguila is the complete writer who has gone the rounds of all literary genres including poems, song lyrics, essays, and screenplays. He also writes scripts for film, television, radio, documentaries and concerts. Some of his published works include “Ligalig at Iba Pang Dula,” “Ampalaya, Bonsai, Atbp;” “Magdaragat ng Pag-ibig” and “Iba Pang Tula ng Pagnanasa.” His screenplays, “Sakada,” “Bawal na Pag-ibig,” and “In This Corner” have been made into full-length films by premier directors, including Lino Brocka and Behn Cervantes. For all his contributions to the literary world, Aguila garnered such distinguished awards as “Dangal ng Wikang Filipino” and “Makata ng Taon” for the year 2008, and “Mananalaysay ng Taon” for the year 2007 from the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. He was also awarded a “Life-time Achievement-Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas” in 2004 by the Unyon ng Manunulat sa Pilipinas. Over the years, Aguila has also bagged 10 Palancas in Dula, Maikling Kuwento, and Sanaysay, among many other recognitions. Since the 1980s, Aguila has been mentoring young writers as professor at the University of the Philippines where he finished Undergraduate and Masteral degrees in Filipino, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in the same field.

2004

ISAGANI R. CRUZ
Essayist, playwright, teacher. Cruz was Undersecretary of Education in 2001. He is a Full Professor and a University Fellow at the De La Salle University. He writes plays, essays, and short stories in English and Filipino for which has won numerous awards including 13 Palanca Awards, a SEAWRITE award, a Centennial Literary Contest award, and a Gawad Balagtas award. He has written and edited more than 30 books. He holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of the Philippines, an M.A. in English from the Ateneo de Manila University, and a PhD. in English from the University of Maryland, U.S.A. He has been a professor or a visiting fellow at the Ateneo de Manila Uniersity, Jundi Shapur University of Iran, Soochow University in Taiwan, Waseda University in Japan, and the University of Oxford in England. He heads the Technical Panel on the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Communication of CHED and the Graduate Commission of Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). He is a Senior Bibliographer of the Modern Language Association of America. He has been decorated by the Government of France as Chevalier dans I’Ordre National du Merite (Knight of the National Order of Merit) and by the Ramain family as Honorary Sultan of Iligan City. He writes weekly columns on books, culture, and education for The Philippine Star and BizNews Asia.

 

2003

REYNALDO A. DUQUE
Fictionist, playwright, poet. Duque writes in Ilocano, Filipino, and English and has produced works in almost all literary forms. His novels were published in Bannawag. He has also written novels and short stories in comics form published in various weekly magazines. His works have been included in anthologies and textbooks for high school and college students. Has also written scripts for radio programs. Has translated novels by Filipino, Japanese, and Malaysian writers into Ilocano and Filipino and Ilocano works in Filipino. Duque has published “Bagani Ubbog,” and “No Agsuratka,” collections of his prizewinning stories. In 1990 he was named “The Most Outstanding Son of Candon” in the filed of literature and journalism. He was elected president of GUMIL Filipinas (1991-1993) and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Liwayway Magazine.

 

2001

LEONCIO P. DERIADA
Holder of Ph.D. in English and Literature from Silliman University. A full professor of Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, Miag-ao, Iloilo. Obtained his Master of Arts degree in English at Xavier University and graduated cum laude and class valedictorian with Bachelor of Arts degree, major in English at Ateneo de Davao.

He has authored four books and his plays have been presented in many parts of the country.

 

ALFRED A. YUSON
More popularly known as “Krip.” Has authored four poetry collections, two novels, three essay compilations, two children’s stories and short fiction collection. Received various literary distinctions among which is the SEAWRITE (South East Asian Writers) awarded by the Thai Royalty in Bangkok in 1992. Was a fellow at the International Writing Program in Iowa City, U.S.A., in 1978; the International Poetry Conference at the University of Hawaii in 1979; the Cambridge Seminar, University of Cambridge, in 1989 and the International Writers Retreat at Hawthornden Castle in Midlothian, Scotland in 1990. Has participated in various literary conferences, seminars and festivals in Asia and Europe.

 

2000

ROBERTO T. AÑONUEVO
Si Roberto T. Añonuevo ay isinilang sa Maynila ngunit lumaki sa Pasig at kung saan-saang panig ng bansa ipinadpad ng mga lagalag na paa. Iginawad sa kanya ang Hall of Fame Award ng Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards para sa kanyang kalipunan ng mga tula . Sumungkit ng mga gantimpala ang kanyang mga tula sa Talaang Ginto: Gawad Collantes (1990, 1993, 1999) Panorama Poetry Contest (1993) at Diyaryo Filipino (1990). Kabilang siyang kumatawan sa Filipinas noong Second ASEAN Poetry Conference Workshop (1995). Inilathala ng DLSU ang kanyang unang aklat ng tula , ang Paghipo sa Matang-tubig (1994) at ng ADMU ang Pagsiping sa Lupain . Naging pangulo siya ng Linangan sa Imahen sa Retorika at Anyo (LIRA) noong 1994; at kasaping tagapagtatag ng ORAGON, ang samahan ng mga premyadong makata ng bansa. Kasalukuyan siyang Vice Chairman ng UMPIL, ang pinakamalaking unyon ng mga manunulat sa Pilipinas. (NOTE: For translation in English)

 

JOSE Y. DALISAY, JR.
As of January 2006, he had published 15 books of his stories, plays, and essays, with five of those books receiving the National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle. In 1998, he was named to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors List for his work as a playwright and fictionist. He graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1984 (AB English, cum laude ), the University of Michigan (MFA, 1988) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (PhD English, 1991). He teaches English and Creative Writing as a full professor at the University of the Philippines, where he also serves as coordinator of the creative writing program and as an Associate of the UP Institute of Creative Writing. After serving as chairman of the English Department, he became Vice President for Public Affairs of the UP System from May 2003 to February 2005. Among his distinctions, he has won 16 Palanca Awards in five genres (entering the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000), five Cultural Center of the Philippines awards for playwriting, and Famas, Urian, Star and Catholic Film awards and citations for his screenplays. He was named one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of 1993 for his creative writing. He has been a Fulbright, Hawthornden, David TK Wong, Rockefeller, and British Council fellow.

 

EDGARDO B. MARANAN
A poet, essayist, fictionist, playwright, writer of children’s stories, and translator. He was the Philippine fellow at the Iowa International Writing Program in 1985, National Fellow for Poetry of the UP Creative Writing Center in 1988, and participant in the International Writers Residence at Lavigny, Switzerland in 2006. He has won a total of thirty prizes for his works in English and Filipino, in the Philippines’ most prestigious literary competition, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. He was inducted into the Carlos Palanca Hall of Fame (for multiple-First Prize winners), in 2000. He has also won in other literary competitions such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines Annual Literary Contest, Amado V. Hernandez Playwriting Competition, Institute of National Language poetry competition, and the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY)-Alfrredo Navarro Salanga Writers Prize, which he won three years in a row, from 1989 to 1991.

From 1993 to 2006, Ed worked as information officer of the Philippine Embassy in London, and edited The Philippine Newsletter. While living and working in London, he wrote for various Filipino publications, contributing articles, news features, short stories and poems. He co-edited, and contributed to the book Hinabing Gunita (Woven Memories: The Story of Filipinos in the UK) published in London in May 2004 by the Centre for Filipinos, a UK charity. He also became active as an adviser of a writers group, UMPUK, composed of Filipinos who have been long-time residents in the United Kingdom but continue to propagate their national language, Filipino, while honing their literary skills in English. Ed’s haikus also appeared in The Guardian’s weekly online haiku competition, which encourages terse, poetic reflections on themes of topical importance and relevance.

Before his stint in the Philippine diplomatic service, Ed taught graduate courses in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines Asian Center in Diliman, Quezon City. He finished his bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service in 1967 at the state university, studied for his master’s degree in political science, at the same time that he taught undergraduate courses in political theory and international relations, also at the UP. In 1992, he won a British Council fellowship which enabled him to participate in the International Summer Programme of Birkbeck College and Oxford University, taking courses in contemporary British poetry and modern literary theory.

Ed came back to the Philippines in December 2006. That year, his short story Luna’s Land – about the oppression of Filipino peasants during the colonial period – won a prize in the annual Nick Joaquin literary competition of the Philippine Graphic magazine. In 2007, he won second place in the Filamore Tabios Sr. Memorial Prize for Poetry sponsored by Meritage Press in the United States, with his retrospective collection of works entitled Star Maps & other poems.

His current literary projects include a full-length play on the martial law period in the Philippines, during which he was a political prisoner of the Marcos regime for more than two years; a series of works for children focusing on the theme of environmental awareness; and more poetry and fiction. Bookmark Inc. will be putting out several children’s titles by him sometime this year. Ed has also ventured into art writing, and has produced brochures for Filipino visual artists such as finger-painter and sculptor Rafael Pacheco, leading expressionist Prudencio Lamarroza, and marine naturalist Neil Caral. Back in his homeland after years of experiencing first hand the Filipino diaspora, he now makes a living as a freelance writer.

 

1999

ELSA M. COSCOLLUELA
She finished her AB and MA for Creative Writing at the Siliman University, a school noted for training writers in the Philippines, and also a doctorate in Language and Literature from the De La Salle University. Her career as a poet lasted between 1965 and 1973 and these poems are published in a book entitled "Katipunera and Other Poems" published in 1998. In 1973 she focused her writing efforts to writing plays and also to pursue an academic career. Her best known play that earned her great acclaim as a playwright is "In My Father's House" which staged production both in the University of the Philippines and the Cultural Center of the Philippines in the year 1988. This play was also the official Philippine entry to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Drama Festival held in Singapore in 1989. In My Father's House was also staged in New York, San Francisco, Kyoto, and the Philippines. As an academician she held the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod and also manages annual Negros Summer Workshops for artists and writers with Peque Gallaga since 1991. She is also a multi-awarded writer. Her achievements include winning the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for more than twenty times,the prestigious Cultural Center Award in playwrighting, as well as the Philippine Free Press Award. In 1996 she was named National Fellow for Drama by the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center.

 

1996

MA. LUISA AGUILAR-IGLORIA
Was a finalist in the 1999 Rainer Maria Rilke International Poetry Competition. Has received numerous grants and honors including the 1998 George Kent Prize for Poetry, and a 1998 Illinois Arts Council Award. She has also been the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, three National Book Awards form the Manila Critics’ Circle, the 1997 Leo Benesa Award for art Criticism from the Arts Association of the Philippines, a 1997 cambridge Summer Fellowship, and a spring 1998 writing residency at the Hawthornden Castle Interantional Retreat for Writers in Scotland.

The National Centennial Commission of the Philippines recently conferred on her, together with a select number of outstanding Filipino women nominated for their national and international contributions to Philippine art and culture, the Kababaihang Makasaysayan (Historic Women) Centennial Award in June 1999.

 

1995

CIRILO F. BAUTISTA
Teaches poetry and creative writing at De La Salle University, Manila where he is full professor and writer-in-residence. His books on poetry, fiction, and essays have won many literary awards. He has taught at Waseda University in Japan and Ohio University in the United States. He was also visiting writer at Cambridge University, England. Mr. Bautista holds an honorary fellowship in creative writing form the State University of Iowa, United States, and a doctorate in language and literature from De La Salle University.

 

GREGORIO C. BRILLANTES
A multiawarded fictionist and essayist, Brillantes has received numerous literary awards including the Catholic Mass Media Award of Merit for Best Book for The Apollo Centennial in 1981, the Southeast Asian Writers (SEAWRITE) Award in 1982, and the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the city government of Manila and the Tawid Award for Achievement in Literature from the Ilocano Heritage Awards Foundation, both in 1983. His feature article, “Nik Joaquin/Quijano de Manila and Other Anomalies,” was a second prize winner in the CMMA. He won three first prizes in the Philippine Free Press literary contest for “The Living and the Dead,” “A Wind Over the Earth,” and “The Distance to Andromeda,” and two second prizes in the same contest for “The Light and Shadow of Leaves,” and Faith, Love, Time and Dr. Lazaro.”

 

RUTH ELYNIA S. MABANGLO
Mabanglo is coordinator of Filipino and Philippine Literature Program, Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies in Hawaii. She obtained her M.A. at the Philippine Normal University in 1980 and her Ph.D., with honors, at the Manuel L. Quezon University in 1985. In June 2006, she was awarded the Gawad Patnubay sa Sining (for Literary Arts) on the occasion of the 434th anniversary of the City of Manila. She became the president of the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian Languages (COTSEAL) from 1999 to 2001. She was also the president of the Hawaii Association of Language Teachers (HALT) from 1998 to 1999. She is currently a Board Member of the Honolulu International Film Festival.

 

BUENAVENTURA S. MEDINA, JR.
Critic, essayist and fiction writer. He obtained his BA and MA in English from the Far Eastern University and his Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies from the Centro Escolar University in 1975. He was professor at the FEU, Ateneo and De La Salle universities as well as editor in such magazines as the Free Press. A Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas awardee for literary criticism, Medina also garnered several awards for his essays and short stories. His published works include Pintig (1969), Gantimpala (1972), Confrontations, Past and Present in Philippine Literature (1974), The Primal Passion, Tagalog Literature in the Nineteenth Century (1976), Francisco Baltazar’s Orosman at Zafira (1991) and Moog and Alaga (1993).

 

JESUS T. PERALTA
A Bachelor of Philosophy graduate from the University of Sto. Tomas, with a Master of Arts in Anthropology from the University of the Philippines, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology from the University of California, Davis Campus, Jesus T. Peralta was Director III of the National Museum until he retired in 1997. Presently, he is a Consultant of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). He is the Program Director of the UNESCO project in conserving the Ifugao Epic Chant, the hudhud, which was declared an Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and member of the Intangible Heritage Committee of the NCCA (IHC/NCCA). Among the recognition he has earned are: the 1967 Leader and Specialist from the State Department of USA in the field of Theatre; a Ford Foundation grant for graduate studies in 1872; the 1965 Golden Sto. Nino Award for Cultural Contributions in the country; Outstanding Alumnus in the field of Literature from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran; 1964; Award of Merit in the field of Literature from the University of Sto. Tomas; Meritorious Honor Award from the National Museum, and Civil Service Commission; and a 1985 Outstanding Professional Award in the field of Literature and Anthropology from Letran College. He is a Gawad Bantayog ng Museo awardee in 1993 and in 2001, received the Dangal ng Haraya award for lifetime achievements in cultural conservation from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He was awarded the Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas by the Union ng Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL- Writers Union of the Philippines) in 31 August 2001 and four days later in September 3, he was awarded by the Manila Critics Circle as editor of the Best Anthology for the book, “Reflections on Philippine Culture and Society”; Rubi Awards for Arts and Culture, by the University of Sto. Tomas, 2004; and Most Distinguished Alumnus, Colegio Awards, by Colegio de San Juan the Letran, 2005. On 24 June he was awarded the Úlirang Ama Award by the Ulirang Ina/Ama Foundation.

 

ROLANDO S. TINIO +
Playwright, thespian, poet, teacher, critic and translator, marked his career with prolific artistic productions. His chief distinction was 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.

 

RENE O. VILLANUEVA
Isa sa pinakamasigasig na manunulat na Filipino si Rene O. Villanueva. Nagsimula siyang kumatha ng mga dula, kuwentong-pambata at sanaysay noong magtatapos ang dekada ’70. Noong 2004, ginawaran siya ng Gawad CCP Para sa Sining (Literatura); nahirang siyang Pinakamahusay na Alagad ng Sining sa 2005 Gawad Chanselor sa UP. Kabilang siya sa unang batch ng manunulat na iniluklok sa Hall of Fame ng Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature; bukod sa may hawak ng dalawampu’t siyam, pinakamaraming bilang ng natamong karangalan mula sa Palanca sa buong kasaysayan ng timpalak. Sa kasalukuyan, naglilingkod siya bilang assistant professor sa Departamento ng Filipino at Philippine Literature sa University of the Philippines. (NOTE: For translation in English, can’t find bio in English)