Amador T.

Daguio was a poet, novelist and a teacher during the pre-

war. He was best known for his fictions and poems. He had published two

volumes of poetry, "Bataan Harvest" and "The Flaming Lyre". He served as chief

editor for the Philippine House of Representatives before he died in 1966.

He was born on January 8, 1912 in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, but grew up in

Lubuagan, Mountain Province, where his father, an officer in the Philippine

Constabulary, was assigned. He was class valedictorian in 1924 at the Lubuagan

Elementary School. Then he stayed with his uncle at Fort William McKinley to

study at Rizal High School in Pasig. Those four years in high school were,

according to Daguio, the most critical in his life. "I spent them literally in poverty,

extreme loneliness, and adolescent pains…"

In 1952, he obtained his M.A. in English at Stanford U. as a Fulbright

scholar. His thesis was a study and translation of Hudhud hi Aliguyon (Ifugao

Harvest Song). In 1954, he obtained his Law degree from Romualdez Law College

in Leyte. Daguio was editor and public relations officer in various offices in

government and the military. He also taught for twenty-six years at the

University of the East, U.P., and Philippine Women’s University. In 1973, six

years after his death, Daguio was conferred the Republic Cultural Heritage

Award.