Virgilio Almario | |
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Born | Virgilio Senadrin Almario March 9, 1944 San Miguel, Bulacan, Philippine Commonwealth |
Pen name | Rio Alma |
Occupation |
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Nationality | Filipino |
Alma mater | University of the Philippines Diliman (BA, MA) University of the East (MA) |
Literary movement | Philippine Modernism |
Notable awards | Order of National Artists of the Philippines University of the Philippines Centennial Award, Amado V. Hernandez Award, Balagtas Award for Poetry and Essay |
Spouse | Emelina B. Soriano |
Children | Asa Victoria, Ani Rosa, Agno Virgilio, Alan Ortiz |
Literatureportal |
Virgilio Senadren Almario (born March 9, 1944), better known by his pen name Rio Alma, is a Filipino author, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. [1] He is a National Artist of the Philippines. He formerly served as the chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the government agency mandated to promote and standardize the use of the Filipino language. On January 5, 2017, Almario was also elected as the chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). [2]
Growing up in Bulacan, Almario sought his education at the City of Manila and completed his degree in A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
His life as a poet started when he took master's units in education at the University of the East where he became associated with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio. He did not finish the program. [3]
He only took his M.A. in Filipino in 1974 at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
A prolific writer, he spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry together with Mangahas and Antonio. His earliest pieces of literary criticism were collected in Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina (1972), now considered the first book of literary criticism in Filipino. Later, in the years of martial law, he set aside modernism and formalism and took interest in nationalism, politics and activist movement. As a critic, his critical works deal with the issue of national language.
Almario campaigned against the usage and proliferation of siyokoy words in the Filipino language, which according to him were improperly derived from English and Spanish. [4] He also advocated the use of Filipinas as the Philippines official name in both Filipino and English languages. [5]
Aside from being a critic, Almario engaged in translating and editing. He has translated the best contemporary poets of the world. He has also translated for theater production the plays of Nick Joaquin, Bertolt Brecht, Euripides and Maxim Gorki. Other important translations include the famous works of the Philippines' national hero, José Rizal, namely Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo . For these two, he was awarded the 1999 award for translation by the Manila Critics Circle. [6] [7]
Almario has been a recipient of numerous awards such as several Palanca Awards, two grand prizes from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Makata ng Taon of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, the TOYM for literature, and the Southeast Asia Write Award of Bangkok.
He was an instructor at the Lagao Central Elementary School from 1969 to 1972. In 2003, he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of the Philippines Diliman. On June 25 of the same year, he was proclaimed National Artist for Literature. [8]
Almario is also the founder and workshop director of the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA), an organization of poets who write in Filipino. [9] Award-winning writers and poets such as Roberto and Rebecca Añonuevo, Romulo Baquiran Jr., Michael Coroza, Jerry Gracio, and Vim Nadera are but some of the products of the LIRA workshop.
He was a founding member of the Gallan sa Arte at Tula (GAT), along with fellow poets Teo Antonio and Mike Bigornia.
The UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino is a series of monolingual Filipino dictionaries. The dictionaries were created by the Sentro ng Wikang Filipino of the University of the Philippines, with Virgilio S. Almario, National Artist for Literature and a professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman, as editor-in-chief.
The 36th Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature was held to commemorate the memory of Don Carlos Palanca Sr. through an endeavor that would promote education and culture in the country.
Florentino Collantes was a Filipino poet who was among the writers who spearheaded a revival of interest in Tagalog literature in the Philippines in the 20th century.
Louie Jon Agustin Sanchez, a poet, fiction writer, critic, and journalist, hails from Flora, Apayao, Philippines. He lives in Novaliches, Caloocan, in Metro Manila.
Domingo Goan Landicho, was a Filipino writer and academician.
Lamberto E. Antonio was a Filipino writer from Cabiao, Nueva Ecija.
Edgar Calabia Samar is a poet and novelist from San Pablo City, Philippines. He has received the Philippine National Book Awards for his novels and book of criticism, and the Palanca Awards for his poetry collections and short fiction. His novels Sa Kasunod ng 909, Si Janus Silang at ang Tiyanak ng Tabon and Si Janus Silang at ang Labanang Manananggal-Mambabarang all won the Philippine National Book Awards for Best Novel in a Philippine Language in 2012, 2015, and 2016, respectively. He has been awarded the PBBY-Salanga Writer's Prize, the NCCA Writer's Prize for the Novel, the Gantimpalang Collantes sa Sanaysay and the Gawad Surian sa Tula.
The 2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy refers to the controversial proclamation as National Artists of the Philippines of four individuals via the Presidential prerogative of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when the four had not been nominated by the selection committee, composed of representatives from National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
Alejandro G. Abadilla, commonly known as AGA, was a Filipino poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Critic Pedro Ricarte referred to Abadilla as the father of modern Philippine poetry, and was known for challenging established forms and literature's "excessive romanticism and emphasis on rhyme and meter". Abadilla helped found the Kapisanang Panitikan in 1935 and edited a magazine called Panitikan. His Ako ang Daigdig collection of poems is one of his better-known works.
Francisco "Soc" Aldana Rodrigo was a Filipino playwright, lawyer, broadcaster, and a Senator of the Philippines from 1955 to 1967.
The Talaang Ginto, formerly known as the “Talaang Ginto: Gawad Surian sa Tula-Gantimpalang Tamayo”, is a sought-after annual literary award in Philippine poetry. The Talaang Ginto is perhaps the longest-running state-run literary contest that began in 1963 by the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa. The Surian was later replaced by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino in 1991. The Commission organizes the contest at present.
Ildefonso Santiago Santos was a Filipino educator, poet, and linguist. Recognized as one of the finest poets in Tagalog, Santos was also renowned with his translations of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam and of the Philippine National Anthem, and for his use of the ancient Filipino form of poetry known as Tanaga.
Merlie M. Alunan is a multi-awarded Filipina poet, teacher and mentor, and cultural worker in the Visayas.
Rogelio Mangahas was a Filipino artist and poet.
Michael M. Coroza is a Filipino poet, educator, and S.E.A. Write Award laureate.
David Michael M. San Juan is a Filipino Marxist writer, activist, and professor. He was awarded the title of Mananaysay ng Taon in 2009 and Makata ng Taon in 2010 by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino.
The Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, also known the Sentro, is a language academy, research center, and university-based publishing house that is part of the University of the Philippines System (UP). It has offices in various autonomous universities of UP System, the most notable of which is the one housed at the University of the Philippines Diliman that won the Philippine National Book Award for Publisher of the Year by the Manila Critics' Circle. The Sentro is active not just within the UP system due to its mission of "developing and disseminating" the Filipino language according to the provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Nemesio “Totoy” S. Baldesco Sr. is a Filipino poet and pedicab driver from Calbayog, Samar who primarily does literary works in Waray. He is a recipient of Gawad Parangal of UMPIL. He is known as the “Father of Waray Poetry”.
Carmelita Yboa Carnacite-Abdurahman is a Filipino academic in the field of linguistics.
Siyokoy is a term coined by Virgilio Almario that refers to Filipino-language hybrid words seemingly derived from both English and Spanish. The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino under the administration of Almario has considered siyokoy words to be improper and therefore its use discouraged.