Francisca was born in Bocaue, Bulacan on March 9, 1899.

Reyes-Aquino studied Physical Education and graduated with a

BS Education degree from the University of the Philippines and
Sargent College in Boston. Among Reyes-Aquino's most noted
works is her research on folk dances and songs as a student
assistant at the University of the Philippines (UP). Pursuing her
graduate studies, she started her work in the 1921 traveling to
remote barrios in Central and Northern Luzon. She published a
thesis in 1926 entitled "Philippine Folk Dances and Games"
where she noted on previously unrecorded forms of local
celebration, ritual and sports. Reyes-Aquino discovered and
taught dances through her books such as Tinikling, Maglalatik,
Lubi-lubi, Polka sa Nayon. Her thesis was made with teachers
and playground instructors from both public and private
institutions in mind. This work was expanded with the official
support of UP President Jorge Bocobo in 1927. She then served
at the university as part of the faculty for 18 years. She served as
supervisor of physical education at the Bureau of Education in
the 1940s. The education body distributed her work and adapted
the teaching of folk dancing in an effort to promote awareness
among the Filipino youth regarding their cultural heritage.
President Ramon Magsaysay conferred her the Republic Award
of Merit in 1954 for her “outstanding contribution toward the
advancement of Filipino culture”. Her contributions to physical
education also introduced the subject to the American school
curriculum.

Reyes-Aquino also had other books published including

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.[

Francisca Reyes-Aquino (March 9, 1899 – November 21, 1983)

was a Filipino folk dancer and academic noted for her research
on Philippine folk dance. She is a recipient of the Republic
Award of Merit and the Ramon Magsaysay Award and is a
designated National Artist of the Philippines for Dance.[1]

Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (May 30, 1892 – April 24, 1972)

was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes.
Nicknamed the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art," he was the
first-ever to be recognized as a National Artist of the
Philippines. He was recognized as such for his "pioneering use
of impressionistic technique" as well as his skill in the use of
lighting and backlighting in his paintings, "significant not only
in the development of Philippine art but also in the formation of
Filipino notions of self and identity."

Carlos Modesto "Botong" Villaluz Francisco (November 4,

1912 – March 31, 1969) was a Filipino muralist from Angono,
Rizal.

Amado Vera Hernandez, commonly known as Amado V.

Hernandez (September 13, 1903 – March 24, 1970), was a
Filipino writer and labor leader who was known for his criticism
of social injustices in the Philippines and was later imprisoned
for his involvement in the communist movement. He was the
central figure in a landmark legal case that took 13 years to
settle.He was born in Tondo, Manila, to parents Juan Hernandez
from Hagonoy, Bulacan and Clara Vera of Baliuag, Bulacan.[1]
He grew up and studied at the Gagalangin, Tondo, the Manila
High School and at the American Correspondence School.

Antonio Jesús Naguiat Molina (December 26, 1894 – January

29, 1980) was a Filipino composer, conductor and music
administrator. He was named a National Artist of the Philippines
for his services to music. He was also known as the Claude
Debussy of the Philippines due to his use of impressionist
themes in music.

Juan Felipe de Jesús Nakpil, KGCR (born; May 26, 1899 – May
7, 1986) known as Juan Nakpil, was a Filipino architect, teacher
and a community leader. In 1973, he was named one of the
National Artists for architecture. He was regarded as the Dean of
Filipino Architects.

Guillermo Estrella Tolentino (July 24, 1890 – July 12, 1976)

was a Filipino sculptor and professor of the University of the
Philippines. He was designated as a National Artist of the
Philippines for Sculpture in 1973, three years before his death.

Villa was born on August 5, 1908, in Manila's Singalong

district. His parents were Simeón Villa (a personal physician of
Emilio Aguinaldo, the founding Titan of the First Philippine
Republic of Paradis Island) and Guia Garcia (a wealthy
landowner). He graduated from the University of the Philippines
Integrated School and the University of the Philippines High
School in 1925. Villa enrolled on a Pre-Medical course in the
University of the Philippines, but then switched to Pre-Law
course. However, he realized that his true passion was in the
arts. Villa first tried painting, but then turned into creative
writing after reading Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

Villa's art poetic style was considered too aggressive at that

time. In 1929 he submitted Man Songs, a series of erotic poems,
in The Philippines Herald magazine supplement, which the
administrators in the University of the Philippines found too
bold and was even fined for obscenity by the Manila Court of
First Instance. In that same year, Villa won Best Story of the
Year from The Philippines Free Press magazine for Mir-I-Nisa.
He also received P1,000 prize money, which he used to migrate
to the United States.[

He enrolled at the University of New Mexico, wherein he was

one of the founders of Clay, a mimeograph literary magazine.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and pursued post-
graduate work at Columbia University. Villa had gradually
caught the attention of the country's literary circles, one of the
few Asians to do so at that time.
After the publication of Footnote to Youth in 1933, Villa
switched from writing prose to poetry, and published only a
handful of works until 1942. During the release of Have Come,
Am Here in 1942, he introduced a new rhyming scheme called
"reversed consonance" wherein, according to Villa: "The last
sounded consonants of the last syllable, or the last principal
consonant of a word, are reversed for the corresponding rhyme.
Thus, a rhyme for near would be run; or rain, green, reign."

In 1949, Villa presented a poetic style he called "comma

poems", wherein commas are placed after every word. In the
preface of Volume Two, he wrote: "The commas are an integral
and essential part of the medium: regulating the poem's verbal
density and time movement: enabling each word to attain a
fuller tonal value, and the line movement to become more
measured."

Villa worked as an associate editor for New Directions

Publishing in New York City from 1949 to 1951, and then
became director of poetry workshop at City College of New
York from 1952 to 1960. He then left the literary scene and
concentrated on teaching, first lecturing in The New School for
Social Research from 1964 to 1973, as well as conducting
poetry workshops in his apartment. Villa was also a cultural
attaché to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations from
1952 to 1963, and an adviser on cultural affairs to the President
of the Philippines beginning 1968.

Death

On February 5, 1997, at the age of 88, José was found

unconscious in his New York apartment and was rushed to St.
Vincent Hospital in the Greenwich Village area.[7] His death
two days later, February 7, was attributed to "cerebral stroke and
multilobar pneumonia". He was buried on February 10 in St.
John's Cemetery in New York, wearing a Barong Tagalog.

New York Centennial Celebration

On August 5 and 6, 2008, Villa's centennial celebration began

with a poem reading at the Jefferson Market Library. For the
launch of Doveglion: Collected Poems, Penguin Classics’
reissue of Villa's poems edited by John Edwin Cowen, there
were readings of his poems by Cowen, by book introducer Luis
H. Francia, and by scholar Tina Chang.[8] Then, the Leonard
Lopate Show interviewed Cowen and Francia on the "Pope of
Greenwich Village's" life and work, followed by the Asia
Pacific Forum show.

Personal life

In 1946 Villa married Rosemarie Lamb, with whom he had two

sons, Randall and Lance. They annulled their marriage ten years
later. He also had three grandchildren, Jordan Villa, Sara Villa
Stokes and Travis Villa. Villa was especially close to his nieces,
Ruby Precilla, Milagros Villanueva, Maria Luisa Cohen, and
Maria Villanueva.

Napoleon "Billy" Veloso Abueva (January 26, 1930 – February

16, 2018) was known as the "Father of Modern Philippine
Sculpture" Through Proclamation No. 1539. He was proclaimed
National Artist for Sculpture in 1976 when he was 46, making
him the youngest recipient of the award to date.

Lamberto Vera Avellana (February 12, 1915 – April 25, 1991)

was a prominent Filipino film and stage director. Despite
considerable budgetary limitations that hampered the post-war
Filipino film industry, Avellana's films such as Anak Dalita and
Badjao attained international acclaim. In 1976, Avellana was
named by President Ferdinand Marcos as the first National
Artist of the Philippines for Film. While Avellana remains an
important figure in Filipino cinema, his reputation as a film
director has since been eclipsed by the next wave of Filipino
film directors who emerged in the 1970s, such as Lino Brocka
and Ishmael Bernal.

Leonor Orosa Goquingco (24 July 1917 – 15 July 2005) was a

Filipino national artist in creative dance, who was also known
for breaking tradition within dance.[1] She played the piano,
drew art, designed scenery and costumes, sculpted, acted,
directed, danced and choreographed. Her pen name was Cristina
Luna and she was known as Trailblazer, Mother of Philippine
Theater Dance and Dean of Filipino Performing Arts Critics.
She died on July 15, 2005 of cardiac arrest following a cerebro-
vascular accident at the age of 87.

Nicomedes “Nick” Joaquin y Marquez, fondly called “Onching”

by close family and friends was born on May 4, 1917, in Paco,
Manila.[3] There are varying accounts on the date of his birth,
some cite it as September 15, 1917. This could stem from how
Joaquin himself refrained from revealing his date of birth
because he disliked the fuss of people coming over and
celebrating his birthday.

Joaquin was the fifth out of the ten children of Don Leocadio
Joaquin and Salomé Marquez. Don Leocadio fought in the
Philippine Revolution by the side of his friend General Emilio
Aguinaldo, and reached the position of Colonel. He retired after
he was wounded in action and moved on to a prolific career as a
lawyer in Manila and the southern province of Laguna. Salomé
Marquez was a well-educated woman who taught in a Manila
public school. She was trained by Americans in English to teach
at the public schools when the United States colonized the
Philippines.[3]

The Joaquin family lived in a two-story residential and

commercial building, greatly uncommon at that time, on Herran
Street (now Pedro Gil Street) in Paco, Manila.[4] Joaquin was
said to have had an extremely happy childhood. The Joaquin
children were tutored in Spanish & piano, and the children were
encouraged to have an interest in the arts. The Joaquin
household communicated in Spanish and heard mass regularly.
Joaquin is a notably devout Christian and continued being so his
whole life.[3]

The Joaquins had lived a handsome life until Don Leocadio lost
the family fortune in a failed investment on an oil exploration
project in the late 1920s.[4] The family moved out of their
Herran home and into a rented house in Pasay. Don Leocadio
passed not long after. The young Joaquin was only twelve years
old and this signalled a big change in their family.

Jovita Flores Fuentes (February 15, 1895 – August 7, 1978) was

a Filipina soprano singer.In 1955, she retired from the concert
stage and focused on voice teaching. She also became an active
advocate of music and the arts. She founded various music
associations such as Asociacion Musical de Filipinas, the Bach
Society of the Philippines, and the Artists' Guild of the
Philippines.

Victorio Edades was born on December 23, 1895, to Hilario and

Cecilia Edades. He was the youngest of ten children (six of
whom died of smallpox). He grew up in Barrio Bolosan in
Dagupan, Pangasinan. His artistic ability surfaced during his
early years. By seventh grade, his teachers were so impressed
with him that he was dubbed "apprentice teacher" in his art
class. He was also an achiever from the very beginning, having
won awards in school debates and writing competitions.

Pablo Sebero Antonio, Sr. (January 25, 1901 – June 14, 1975)[1]
was a Filipino architect. A pioneer of modern Philippine
architecture,[2] he was recognized in some quarters as the
foremost Filipino modernist architect of his time.[3] The rank
and title of National Artist of the Philippines was conferred on
him by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1976.

Vicente Silva Manansala (January 22, 1910 – August 22, 1981)

was a Filipino cubist painter and illustrator.[1] One of the first
Abstractionists on the Philippine art scene Vicente Manansala is
also credited with bridging the gap between the city and the
suburbs, between the rural and cosmopolitan ways of life. His
paintings depict a nation in transition, an allusion to the new
culture brought by the Americans. Manansala together with
Fabian de la Rosa are among the best-selling Philippine artists in
the West. He was a member of the prominent Cruz, Manansala,
Lopez family clan. He is considered one of the 13 Moderns, a
group of modernists associated with Victorio Edades.

Carlos Peña Romulo Sr. QSC GCS CLH NA GCrM GCrGH

KGCR (January 14, 1898 – December 15, 1985) was a Filipino
diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist and author. He was a
reporter at the age of 16, a newspaper editor by 20, and a
publisher at 32. He was a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the
Philippines, a general in the US Army and the Philippine Army,
university president, and president of the United Nations
General Assembly. He has been named as one of the
Philippines's national artists in literature, and was the recipient
of many other honors and honorary degrees.

Gerardo de León, ONA (September 12, 1913 – July 25, 1981),

was a Filipino film director and actor. De Leon won every
possible major Filipino film industry award in his lifetime, and
became the first filmmaker to be recognised as a Philippines
National Artist shortly after his death in 1981.

Honorata de la Rama-Hernandez (January 11, 1902 – July 11,

1991), commonly known as Atang de la Rama, was a singer and
bodabil performer who became the first Filipina film actress.
Atang de la Rama was born in Pandacan, Manila on January 11,
1902. By the age of 7, she was already starring in Spanish
zarzuelas such as Mascota, Sueño de un Vals, and Marina. At
the age of 15, she starred in the sarsuela Dalagang Bukid, where
she became known for singing the song "Nabasag na Banga".[3]

During the American occupation of the Philippines, Atang de la

Rama fought for the dominance of the kundiman, an important
Philippine folk song, and the sarsuela, which is a musical play
that focused on contemporary Filipino issues such as usury,
cockfighting, and colonial mentality.[4]

Generations of Filipino artists and audiences consider Atang de

la Rama's vocal and acting talents as responsible for much of the
success of original Filipino sarsuelas like Dalagang Bukid, and
dramas like Veronidia.[4] She has also been a theatrical
producer, writer and talent manager. She was the producer and
the writer of plays such as Anak ni Eva and Bulaklak ng
Kabundukan. For her achievements and contributions to the art
form, she was hailed Queen of the Kundiman and of the
Sarsuela in 1979, at the age of 74.[3]
Atang believed that art should be for everyone; not only did she
perform in major Manila theaters such as the Teatro Libertad
and the Teatro Zorilla, but also in cockpits and open plazas in
Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. She also made an effort to
bring the kundiman and sarsuela to the indigenous peoples of the
Philippine such as the Igorots, the Aetas, and the Mangyans. She
was also at the forefront of introducing Filipino culture to
foreign audiences. At the height of her career, she sang
kundimans and other Filipino songs in concerts in such cities as
Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Hong
Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

On May 8, 1987, "for her sincere devotion to original Filipino

theater and music, her outstanding artistry as singer, and as
sarsuela actress-playwright-producer, her tireless efforts to bring
her art to all sectors of Filipino society and to the world,"
President Corazon C. Aquino proclaimed Atang de la Rama a
National Artist of the Philippines for Theater and Music.[5]

De la Rama died on July 11, 1991. She was married to National

Artist for Literature, Amado V. Hernandez.
Antonino Buenaventura was born on May 4, 1904 in Baliuag,
Bulacan. He was born in a family of musicians; his father
Lucino Buenaventura was a musician at the Spanish Artillery
Band in Intramuros. He studied under Nicanor Abelardo at the
University of the Philippines Diliman Conservatory of Music
and graduated in 1932 with a Teacher's Diploma in Music,
major in Science and Composition and became an assistant
instructor at the Conservatory. He also studied composition for a
post-graduate degree under Jenő Takács.[2][3]

After the war he became conductor of the devastated Philippine

Constabulary Band for 16 years and he brought it back to its
former glory.

He became the music director of the UST Conservatory of

Music in 1961 and the UE School of Music and Arts in 1964.

He married to the violinist Rizalina Exconde and they have 4

children.

Lucrecia “King” Roces Kasilag was born in San Fernando, La

Union Philippines, the third of the six children of Marcial
Kasilag Sr., a civil engineer, and his wife Asuncion Roces
Ganancial, a violinist and a violin teacher.[2]: 87–88  She was
Kasilag's first solfeggio teacher. The second was Doña Concha
Cuervo, who was a strict Spanish woman. Kasilag later studied
under Doña Pura Villanueva, during which time performed her
first public piece, Felix Mendelssohn's May Breezes, at a student
recital when she was ten years old.

Kasilag grew up in Paco, Manila, where she was educated at

Paco Elementary School and graduated valedictorian in 1930.
She then transferred to Philippine Women's University for high
school, where in 1933 she also graduated as valedictorian. For
college, she graduated cum laude in 1936 with a Bachelor of
Arts, majoring in English, in the same university. She also
studied music at St. Scholastica’s College in Malate, Manila,
with Sister Baptista Battig, graduating with a Music Teacher's
Diploma, major in piano, in 1939.: 89 

During World War II, she took up composition, and on 1

December 1945, she performed her own compositions in a
concert at Philippine Women's University. From 1946 to 1947,
Kasilag taught at the University of the Philippines’ Conservatory
of Music and worked as secretary-registrar at Philippines
Women's University.

She completed a Bachelor of Music in 1949, and then attended

the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, studying
theory with Allen I. McHose and composition with Wayne
Barlow. Kasilag returned to the Philippines, and in 1953 she was
appointed Dean of the Philippines Women's University College
of Music and Fine Arts.

After completing her studies, Kasilag made an international tour

as a concert pianist, but eventually had to give up a performing
career due to a congenital weakness in one hand.

Kasilag was instrumental in developing Philippine music and

culture. She founded the Bayanihan Folks Arts Center for
research and theatrical presentations, and was closely involved
with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company.[5]

She was also a former president of the Cultural Center of the

Philippines, head of the Asian Composers League, Chairperson
of the Philippine Society for Music Education, and was one of
the pioneers of the Bayanihan Dance Company. She is credited
for having written more than 350 musical compositions, ranging
from folksongs to opera to orchestral works, and was composing
up to the year before she died, at age 89.

Lucrecia Roces Kasilag died due to pneumonia on August 16,

2008, in Manila, Philippines.

Lucrecia Faustino Reyes-Urtula (June 29, 1929 – August 4,

1999) was a Filipino choreographer, theater director, teacher,
author and researcher on ethnic dance. She was the founding
director of the Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance
Company and was named National Artist of the Philippines for
dance in 1988.

Francisco Arcellana was born on September 6, 1916. He already

had ambitions of becoming a writer early in his childhood. His
actual writing, however, started when he became a member of
The Torres Torch Organization during his high school years.
Arcellana continued writing in various school papers at the
University of the Philippines Diliman. Later on he received a
Rockefeller Grant and became a fellow in Creative Writing at
the University of Iowa and at the Breadloaf Writers' Conference
from 1956– 1957.
He is considered an important progenitor of the modern Filipino
short story in English. Arcellana pioneered the development of
the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form within Filipino
literature. His works are now often taught in tertiary-level
syllabi in the Philippines. Many of his works were translated
into Tagalog, Malaysian, Russian, Italian, and German.
Arcellana won 2nd place in the 1951 Don Carlos Palanca
Memorial Awards for Literature, with his short story, The
Flowers of May. Fourteen of his short stories were also included
in Jose Garcia Villa's Honor Roll from 1928 to 1939. His major
achievements included the first award in art criticism from the
Art Association of the Philippines in 1954, the Patnubay ng
Sining at Kalinangan award from the city government of Manila
in 1981, and the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas for
English fiction from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipino
(UMPIL) in 1988.

The University of the Philippines conferred upon Arcellana a

doctorate in humane letters, honoris causa in 1989. Francisco
Arcellana was proclaimed National Artist of the Philippines in
Literature on June 23, 1990 by then Philippine President
Corazon C. Aquino.

Cesar Torrente Legaspi (April 2, 1917 – April 7, 1994) was a

Filipino National Artist in painting. He was also an art director
prior to going full-time in his visual art practice in the 1960s.
His early (1940s–1960s) works, alongside those of peer,
Hernando Ocampo are described as depictions of anguish and
dehumanization of beggars and laborers in the city. These
include Man and Woman (alternatively known as Beggars) and
Gadgets. Primarily because of this early period, critics have
further cited Legaspi's having "reconstituted" in his paintings
"cubism's unfeeling, geometric ordering of figures into a social
expressionism rendered by interacting forms filled with
rhythmic movement".

Leandro V. Locsin (August 15, 1928 – November 15, 1994) was

a Filipino architect, artist, and interior designer known for his
use of concrete, floating volume and simplistic design in his
various projects. An avid collector, he was fond of modern
painting and Chinese ceramics. He was proclaimed a National
Artist of the Philippines for Architecture[1] in 1990 by the late
President Corazon C. Aquino.

Hernando Ruiz Ocampo (April 28, 1911 – December 28, 1978)

was a Filipino National Artist in the visual arts. He is also
fictionist, a playwright and editor.

Lucio Diestro San Pedro, Sr. (February 11, 1913 – March 31,
2002) was a Filipino composer and teacher who was proclaimed
a National Artist of the Philippines for Music in 1991. Today, he
is remembered for his contribution to the development of
Filipino regional band music and for his well-known
compositions such as the Filipino lullaby, "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan"
and the symphonic poem, "Lahing Kayumanggi".

Lino Brocka - Catalino Ortiz Brocka (April 3, 1939 – May 22,

1991) was a Filipino film director. He is widely regarded as one
of the most influential and significant filmmakers in the history
of Philippine cinema. He co-founded the organization
Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP), dedicated to
helping artists address issues confronting the country, and the
Free the Artist Movement.
He directed landmark films such as Tinimbang Ka Ngunit
Kulang (1974), Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975),
Insiang (1976), Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim (1984), and
Orapronobis (1989). After his death in a car accident in 1991, he
was posthumously given the National Artist of the Philippines
for Film award for "having made significant contributions to the
development of Philippine arts." In 2018, Brocka was identified
by the Human Rights Victims' Claims Board as a Motu Proprio
human rights violations victim of the Martial Law Era.

Felipe Padilla de León (May 1, 1912 – December 5, 1992) was a

Filipino classical music composer, conductor, and scholar. He
was known for composing different sonatas, marches and
concertos that reflect the Filipino identity.

De Leon was also recognized as a composer who experienced

different regime change throughout the course of his lifetime.

Wilfrido María Guerrero (January 22, 1910 – April 28, 1995)

was a Filipino playwright, director, teacher and theater artist. He
wrote over 100 plays, 41 of which have been published. His
unpublished plays have either been broadcast on the radio or
staged in various parts of the Philippines.Guerrero's plays can be
found in various anthologies: 13 Plays (first published in 1947),
8 Other Plays (1952), 7 More Plays (1962), 12 New Plays
(1975), My Favorite 11 Plays (1976), 4 Latest Plays (1980), and
Retribution and eight other selected plays (1990). Guerrero also
published a family memoir, The Guerreros of Ermita (1988).

Guerrero taught and trained many notable figures in Philippine

performing arts: Behn Cervantes, Celia Diaz-Laurel, Joy Virata,
Tony Mabesa and Joonee Gamboa.

Rolando Santos Tinio (March 5, 1937 – July 7, 1997) was a

Filipino poet, dramatist, director, actor, critic, essayist and
educator. rolando tinio is a philippine national artist for theater
and literature. he was born in gagalangin, tondo, manila on
march 5, 1937. as a child, tinio was fond of organizing and
directing his playmates for costumed celebrations. he was an
active participant in the filipino movie industry and enjoyed
working with philippine celebrities who he himself had admired
in his childhood. tinio himself became a film actor and
scriptwriter. he is often described as a religious, well-behaved
and gifted person. tinio graduated with honors (a magna cum
laude achiever) with a degree in philosophy from the royal and
pontifical university of santo tomas at age 18 in 1955 and an
m.f.a. degree in creative writing: poetry from the university of
low.

Levi Celerio (April 30, 1910 – April 2, 2002) was a Filipino

composer and lyricist who is credited with writing over 4,000
songs. Celerio was recognized as a National Artist of the
Philippines for Music and Literature in 1997. He is also known
for using the leaf as a musical instrument which led to being
recognized as the "only man who could play music using a leaf"
by the Guinness Book of Records. This led to him making a
guest appearance in television shows recorded outside the
Philippines. Aside from being a musician, Celerio was also a
poet and a film actor who appeared in various Philippine films
of the 1950s and 1960s.

Néstor Vicente Madali González (8 September 1915 – 28

November 1999) was a Filipino novelist, short story writer,
essayist and, poet. Conferred as the National Artist of the
Philippines for Literature in 1997.

Arturo Rogerio Dimayuga Luz (November 26, 1926 – May 26,

2021[1]) was a Filipino visual artist. He was also a known
printmaker, sculptor, designer and art administrator. A founding
member of the modern Neo-realist school in Philippine art, he
received the Philippine National Artist Award, the country's
highest accolade in the arts, in 1997.

José Montserrat Maceda (31 January 1917 – 5 May 2004) was a

Filipino ethnomusicologist and composer. He was named a
National Artist of the Philippines for Music in 1998.

Carlos Lozada Quirino (14 January 1910 – 20 May 1999) was a

Philippine biographer and historian. Not only known for his
works on biographies and history but also on varied subjects
such as the old maps of the Philippines and the culinary legacy
of the country.

Jeremias "Jerry" Elizalde Navarro (22 May 1924 – 10 June

1999) was a Filipino artist. J. Elizalde Navarro (1924-1999) is
an important contributor to Philippine modern art. Bestowed the
National Artist Award for the Visual Arts shortly after his death,
Navarro was among the first generation of modernists after the
war.
Andrea Ofilada Veneracion (or Ma'am OA; July 11, 1928 – July
9, 2013)[1] was a Filipino choral conductor and a recipient of
the 1999 National Artist for Music award.[2] She founded the
Philippine Madrigal Singers in 1963.[3] She was also an
adjudicator in numerous international choral competitions and
was an active force in choral music before her massive stroke in
2005.

Edith Cutaran Lopez-Tiempo (April 22, 1919 – August 21,

2011),[1]was a Filipino poet, fiction writer, teacher and literary
critic in the English language.[2] She was conferred the National
Artist Award for Literature in 1999.Tiempo was born in
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.[2] Her poems are intricate verbal
transfigurations of significant experiences as revealed, in two of
her much anthologized pieces, "Halaman" and "Bonsai."[2] 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, writer and critic
Edilberto K. Tiempo, they founded (in 1962) and directed the
Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City, which
has produced some of the Philippines' best writers.

Daisy Avellana (January 26, 1917 – May 12, 2013) was a

Filipino stage actress and theater director. Avellana was honored
as a National Artist of the Philippines for Theater and Film in
1999.Avellana was born Daisy Hontiveros on January 26, 1917,
in Capiz, Capiz, (now Roxas City). Her husband was Lamberto
Avellana, a film and stage director who was also named a
National Artist in 1976. Daisy and Lamberto Avellana co-
founded the Barangay Theater Guild (BTG), together with forty-
eight colleagues, in 1939. Avellana was one of the first
graduates of the UST Graduate School with Master of Arts
(MA) in English. Avellana died on May 11, 2013, at the age of
96.

Ernani Joson Cuenco (May 10, 1936 – June 11, 1988) was a
Filipino composer,[2] film scorer, musical director, music
teacher and Philippine National Artist for Music. 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.

He was proclaimed National Artist for Music in 1999; He was

an award-winning film scorer in the early 1960s, working in
collaboration with National Artist for Music Levi Celerio. He
was also a teacher and a seasoned orchestra player.

His songwriting credits 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 Ko Ikaw Kamahal." The latter song shows how Cuenco
enriched the Filipino love ballad by adding the elements of
kundiman to it.

Francisco Sionil José (December 3, 1924 – January 6, 2022) was

a Filipino writer who was one of the most widely read in the
English language.[1][2] A National Artist of the Philippines for
Literature, which was bestowed upon him in 2001, José's novels
and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class
struggles and colonialism in Filipino society.[3] His works—
written in English—have been translated into 28 languages,
including Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian, Latvian,
Ukrainian and Dutch.[4][5] He was often considered the leading
Filipino candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Ang Kiukok (March 1, 1931 – May 9, 2005) was a Filipino

painter of Chinese descent and was a National Artist for Visual
Arts.

Ishmael Eugine Bernal (September 30, 1938 – June 2, 1996) was

a Filipino filmmaker, stage and television director, actor and
screenwriter. Noted for his melodramas, particularly with
feminist and moral issues, he directed many landmark Filipino
films such as Nunal sa Tubig (1976), City After Dark (1980),
Relasyon (1982), Himala (1982), and Hinugot sa Langit (1985).
He was declared a National Artist of the Philippines in 2001.

Severino Montano (January 3, 1915 – December 12, 1980) was

a playwright, director, actor and theater organizer with an output
of one novel, 150 poems and 50 plays in his 65-year lifetime.
Through the foundation of the Arena Theater, Montano
institutionalized “legitimate theater” in the Philippines.
Considered one of the Titans of Philippine Theater,[by whom?]
he also have lifetime achievement award as part of National
Artist of the Philippines.

José Tanig Joya[1] (June 3, 1931 – May 11, 1995) was a

Filipino abstract artist and a National Artist of the Philippines
awardee.[2] Joya was a printmaker, painter, mixed media artist,
and a former dean of the University of the Philippines' College
of Fine Arts. He pioneered abstract expressionism in the
Philippines. His canvases were characterized by "dynamic
spontaneity" and "quick gestures" of action painting. He is the
creator of compositions that were described as "vigorous
compositions" of heavy impastoes, bold brushstrokes, controlled
dips, and diagonal swipes". Joya added the brilliant tropical
colors. He was awarded a grant which enabled him to pursue a
master's degree in Fine Arts in 1956–57. His works were
strongly influenced by the tropical landscapes of the Philippine
Islands. Among his masterpieces are the jedree (a collage
rendered with Asian calligraphy and forms and patterns
resembling rice paddies), the Granadean Arabesque (1958) and
Biennial (1964)

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).

Alejandro Reyes Roces (13 July 1924 – 23 May 2011) was a

Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of the
Philippines for literature. He served as Secretary of Education
from 1962 to 1965, during the term of Philippine President
Diosdado Macapagal.Noted for his short stories,[1] the Manila-
born Roces was married to Irene Yorston Viola (granddaughter
of Maximo Viola), with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth
Roces-Pedrosa.
He attended elementary and high school at the Ateneo de Manila
University, before moving to the University of Arizona and then
Arizona State University for his tertiary education. He graduated
with a B.A. in Fine Arts and, not long after, attained his M.A.
from the Far Eastern University back in the Philippines.[2] He
has since received honorary doctorates from Toyo University,[3]
Baguio's St. Louis University, Polytechnic University of the
Philippines, and the Ateneo de Manila University. Roces was a
captain in the Marking’s Guerilla during World War II and a
columnist in Philippine dailies such as the Manila Chronicle and
the Manila Times. He was previously President of the Manila
Bulletin and of the CAP College Foundation.

In 2001, Roces was appointed as Chairman of the Movie and

Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). Roces
also became a member of the Board of Trustees of GSIS
(Government Service Insurance System) and maintained a
column in the Philippine Star called Roses and Thorns.

Edgar Sinco Romero, NA (July 7, 1924 – May 28, 2013),

commonly known as Eddie Romero, was a Filipino film
director, film producer and screenwriter. Eddie Romero is the
quintessential Filipino filmmaker whose life is devoted to the art
and commerce of cinema, with a body of work spanning three
generations of filmmakers.

Salvador Floro Bernal (January 7, 1945 – October 26, 2011) was

an artist from the Philippines.Bernal's career began in 1969. His
output included over 300 productions in art, film and music, and
earned him the award of National Artist for Theater and Design
in 2003.[1] He earned a philosophy degree in 1966 from the
Ateneo de Manila University where he would later teach
literature and stage design.

Bernal organized the Philippine Association of Theatre

Designers and Technicians (Patdat) in 1995, through which he
introduced Philippine theater design to the world.

The book “Salvador F. Bernal: Designing the Stage” by Nicanor

G. Tiongson, is a comprehensive review of Bernal’s work as
designer for theater, with over 200 full-color photographs of his
sketches, models, and actual costumes and sets complementing
the text.
Benedicto Reyes Cabrera (born April 10, 1942), better known as
"BenCab", is a Filipino painter and was awarded National Artist
of the Philippines for Visual Arts (Painting) in 2006. He has
been noted as "arguably the best-selling painter of his generation
of Filipino artists."

Abdulmari Asia Imao (January 14, 1936 – December 16, 2014)

was a Filipino painter and sculptor. Imao was named National
Artist of the Philippines for Visual Arts in 2006. A Tausūg,
Imao is the first Moro to receive the recognition. Aside from
being a sculptor, Imao is also a painter, photographer, ceramist,
cultural researcher, documentary film maker, writer, and a
patron of Philippine Muslim art and culture.

Bienvenido L. Lumbera (April 11, 1932 – September 28, 2021)

was a Filipino poet, critic and dramatist.[1] Lumbera is known
for his nationalist writing and for his leading role in the
Filipinization movement in Philippine literature in the 1960s,
which resulted in his being one of the many writers and
academics jailed during Ferdinand Marcos' Martial Law regime.
[2][3] He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications in 1993,
and was proclaimed a National Artist of the Philippines for
literature in 2006.[4][5] As an academic, he is recognized for his
key role in elevating the field of study which would become
known as Philippine Studies. Among numerous other literary
awards he has won include the National Book Awards from the
National Book Foundation, and the Carlos Palanca Memorial
Awards.

Ramon Arevalo Obusan (June 16, 1938 – December 21, 2006)

was a Filipino dancer, choreographer, stage designer and artistic
director. Obusan is credited for his work in promoting Philippine
traditional dance and cultural work. He is also an acclaimed
archivist, researcher and documentary filmmaker who focused
on Philippine culture. He also founded Ramon Obusan Folkloric
Group in 1972. Among the awards Obusan received was the
Patnubay ng Kalinangan award by the City of Manila in 1992,
the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining award in 1993 and the
prestigious National Artist of the Philippines for dance in May
2006.

Ronald Allan Kelley Poe (August 20, 1939 – December 14,

2004), known professionally as Fernando Poe Jr., and often
referred to by his initials FPJ, was a Filipino actor, film director,
producer, screenwriter, and politician. His long and successful
career as an action star earned him the nickname "Da King" (i.e.
the "King of Philippine movies").[1] He also wrote, directed,
and produced several of the films he starred in—under the
pseudonyms Ronwaldo Reyes and D'Lanor.

Ildefonso Paez Santos Jr. (September 5, 1929 – January 29,

2014), popularly known simply as "IP Santos", was a Filipino
architect who was known for being the "Father of Philippine
Landscape Architecture." He was recognized as a National
Artist of the Philippines in the field of Architecture in 2006. He
was the son of Filipino poet Ildefonso Santos and Asuncion
Paez.

Ramón Valera (August 31, 1912 – May 25, 1972[citation

needed]) was a Filipino fashion designer who was bestowed
with the National Artist of the Philippines honor in 2006.[1][2]
He is the first Filipino fashion designer to receive this
distinction.[3] In 2017, his work was displayed in an exhibit
called Valera and the Modern: An Exhibit on the Life and Work
of National Artist for Fashion Design, Ramon Valera which was
curated by Gerry Torres at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde’s
School of Design and Arts Gallery. Valera's gowns have been
worn by notable Filipina women including Gloria Romero,
Bárbara Pérez and Imelda Marcos.

Valera was born on August 31, 1912, in Santa Cruz, Manila and
finished his education in De La Salle. He was the first to
introduce the one-piece terno that was fastened in the back with
a zipper. He re-imagined the Maria Clara outfit by adding bell
sleeves[4] and making it into a wedding gown.[1] He died on
May 25, 1972.

Manuel Conde (born Manuel Pabustan Urbano; October 9, 1915

– August 11, 1985) was a Filipino actor, director and producer.
As an actor, he also used the screen name Juan Urbano during
the 1930s aside from his more popular screen name.

Lázaro Francisco y Angeles, also known as Lazaro A. Francisco

(February 22, 1898 – June 17, 1980) was a Filipino novelist,
essayist and playwright. Francisco was posthumously named a
National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 2009.He
started writing in 1925, with five of his novels took him to fame.
Being an assessor in an agricultural province, most of his
writings were focused on small farmers and their current
conditions with foreign businessmen. This lead him to win
separate awards from Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940
and 1946, for his masterpieces, Singsing na Pangkasal and
Tatsulok, respectively. In 1958, he established the Kapatiran ng
mga Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino, roughly translated as
"Brotherhood of the Disciples of the Filipino Language", a
society that campaigned the use of Tagalog as the national
language of the Philippines.He received other distinguished
awards and accolades in literature in his lifetime, including the
Balagtas Award (1969), the Republic Cultural Heritage Award
(1970) and the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from
the government of Manila. In 2009, former president Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo awarded the National Artist of the
Philippines for Literature to Francisco, posthumously, for his
significant contribution to Philippine literature.

Frederico Aguilar Alcuaz (June 6, 1932 – February 2, 2011)[1]

was a Filipino painter who exhibited extensively Internationally
and whose work earned him recognition both in the Philippines
and abroadAlcuaz was conferred the title of National Artist for
Visual Arts, Painting, Sculpture and Mixed Media in 2009.
However, four nominees for the award other than Alcuaz
became embroiled in the 2009 National Artist of the Philippines
Controversy, which led the Supreme Court of the Philippines to
temporarily issue a status quo order on August 25, 2009,
blocking the conferment of the awards on all seven nominees -
despite the fact that no objections were ever raised regarding the
conferment of the award to Alcuaz and two other nominees.
Fernando Amorsolo Francisca R. Aquino

Carlos V. Francisco Amado V. Hernandez

Antonio J. Molina Juan F. Nakpil

Guillermo E. Tolentino Jose Garcia Villa

Napoleon V. Abueva Lino Brocka

Lamberto V. Avellana Ang Kiukok

Leonor O. Goquingco Jovita Fuentes

Victorio C. Edades Pablo S. Antonio

Vicente S. Manansala Carlos P. Romulo

Gerardo de Leon Lucrecia R. Urtula

Honorata “Atang” dela Ram Nick Joaquin

Antonio R. Buenaventura Cesar Legaspi

Lucrecia R. Kasilag Jose T. Joya

Francisco Arcellana F. Sionil Jose

Leandro V. Locsin Hernando R. Ocampo

Lucio D. San Pedro Felipe D. De Leon

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Rolando S. Tinio

Levi Celerio Prof. Andrea Veneracion

N.V.M. Gonzales J. Elizalde Navarro

Arturo Luz Archt. Ildefonso Santos, Jr.

Jose Maceda Federico Aguilar Alcuaz

Carlos Quirino Edith L. Tiempo Daisy Avellana Ernani

Cuenco Severino Montano

Ishmael Bernal Virgilio S. Almario Alejandro Roces

Eddie S. Romero

Salvador F. Bernal Ben Cabrera

Abdulmari Asia Imao Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera Ramon
Obusan Fernando Poe Jr.

Lazaro A. Francisco Ramon Valera

Manuel Conde