2015 • Number 2 • Agung 13 ALEJANDRO R. ROCES (July 13, 1924May 23, 2011) was a short story writer and essayist, 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 had 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. Roces brought to public attention the aesthetics of the country’s fiestas. He was instrumental in popularizing several local fiestas, notably, the Moriones and the Ati-atihan. He personally led the campaign to change the country’s Independence Day from July 4 to June 12; 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. He was declared National Artist in 2003. EDITH L. TIEMPO (April 22, 1919- August 21, 2011) was a poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic, one of the finest Filipino writers in English whose works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style and substance, of craftsmanship and insight. Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences. As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has been described as “descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing.” She is an influential figure 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. Her 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). She was declared National Artist in 1999. ROLANDO S. TINIO (March 5, 1937July 7, 1997) was a playwright, thespian, poet, teacher, critic and translator, with a career marked by 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 restaging 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 screenplays Now and Forever, Gamitin Mo Ako, Bayad Puri and Milagros; sarswelas Ang Mestisa, Ako, Ang Kiri, Ana Maria; and Larawan, the musical. He was declared National Artist in 1997. JOSE GARCIA VILLA (August 5, 1908-February 7, 1997) is considered as one of the finest contemporary poets regardless of race or language. He 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. He used Doveglion (dove, eagle, lion) as penname, 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’s works have been collected in 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. He was declared National Artist in 1973. Reference: NCCA Web site (www.ncca.gov.ph)
GINAW BILOG Manlilikha ng Bayan Ginaw Bilog was a Hanunoo Mangyan poet who vigorously promoted the elegant poetic art of the surat Mangyan and the ambahan. He kept scores of ambahan poetry recorded for posterity. A common cultural aspect among cultural communities nationwide is the oral tradition characterized by poetic verses which are either sung or chanted. However, what distinguishes the rich Mangyan literary tradition from others is the ambahan, a poetic literary form composed of seven-syllable lines used to convey messages through metaphors and images. The ambahan is sung and its messages range from courtship, giving advice to the young, asking for a place to stay, saying goodbye to a dear friend and so on. Such an oral tradition is commonplace among indigenous cultural groups but the ambahan has remained in existence today chiefly because it is etched on bamboo tubes using ancient Southeast Asian, pre-colonial script called surat Mangyan. Ginaw Bilog from Kalaya, Bait, Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, grew up in such a cultural environment. Already steeped in the wisdom that the ambahan is a key to the understanding of the Mangyan soul, Ginaw took it upon himself to continually keep scores of ambahan poetry recorded, not only on bamboo tubes but on old notebooks passed on to him by friends. Most treasured of his collection are those inherited from his father and grandfather, sources of inspiration and guidance for his creative endeavors. Through the dedication of Ginaw, the ambahan poetry and other traditional art forms from our indigenous peoples will continue to live. Ginaw Bilog was conferred the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan in 1993. He passed away in 2003.