Organizers

PLENARY SPEAKERS:

Ambeth Ocampo, Chairman of the Philippine National Historical Institute

Ambeth R. Ocampo attended the Jesuit run Ateneo De Manila University from primary to tertiary levels. He obtained his BA and MA in Philippines studies from the rival De La Salle University and taught at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He served as President of the city college of Manila and co-chair if the Manila historical commission and President of the Philippine Historical Association. He read for a PhD in Southeast Asian History at the University of London School of oriental and African studies. Work on his dissertation was interrupted in 1993 when he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila. His simple vows expired in 1997 and while he chose not to renew them he remains open to the idea of returning to monastic life in the future.

A public historian he writes a widely read opinion page column for the Philippines daily inquired and has published 14 books mostly compilations of his historical essays among them: looking back, Rizal without the overcoat, Aguinaldo’s breakfast, Bonifacio’s bolo, Mabini’s ghost, and Luna’s Moustache. At the rate he has been going it is said that he will soon run out of heroes with which to entitle his books. His light touch made Philippine history popular and accessible to a general non-academic audience. His more academic works include: calendar of Rizaliana in the vault of the national library that won a National Book Award for Bibliography, and Makamisa: The search for Rizal’s third novel that won both a premio Manuel Bernabe and a National Book Award for literary history.

He has delivered papers at conferences in the Philippines and abroad and was the recipient of numerous awards and grants including: the distinguished professorial chair on Bonifacio at the city College of Manila, ten outstanding young men or toym in the field of history, a research grant from the fund for cultural cooperation of Spain, a Fulbright senior research fellowship and was visiting research fellow at the Kyoto University Center for Outheast Asian Studies.

In 2002 he was appointed chairman of the National Historical Institute by the government of the Republic of the Philippines. He was elected chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and served 2005-2007. He is presently an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Ateneo De Manila University, and Professorial Lecturen in the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Virgilio Almario, Philippine National artist for literature, 2003

National Artist VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO is Rio Alma as a poet. He prefers to be introduced a poet, literary critic, and teacher although he has very significant contributions to contemporary Filipino culture as translator, editor, researcher, journalist, cultural organizer and manager, and language activist. His first job was as a high school teacher after finishing A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman. He taught at his alma mater San Miguel High School, San Miguel, Bulacan for five years before he was invited to join the Department of Philippine Studies of Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, and later on became instruction specialist at the Philippine Science High School, and professor at the UP.

He started his career as poet and critic in the Dawn, school organ of the University of the East, Manila, where he also met Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio. Together they launched the second and successful Modernista poetry movement in Filipino. He is a very prolific writer and thus has the most number of books of poetry and criticism among the living writers in the Philippines. He is also recognized as the father of modern literature for children in the Philippines because of his Aklat Adarna, the first comprehensive publishing project for children’s books, aside from his writing stories now popular among children. He was a columnist in Filipino in national dailies in English and the publisher-editor of Diyaryo Filipino and Filipino Magazin.

Since the 1960s he has continuously held weekend workshop sessions for young poets thus influencing the development of poets in Filipino during the last four decades. He has served as director of the UP System Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, executive director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), first director of the UP Institute of Creative Writing, and is at present serving his second term as dean of the College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman. He was proclaimed National Artist for Literature in 2003.

Bienvenido Lumbera, Philippine National artist for literature, 2006

Bienvenido L. Lumbera was born on April 11, 1932. He spent most of his youth in Batangas until he entered the University of Santo Tomas in 1950 to pursue a degree in journalism. He completed his M.A. and then his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Indiana University in 1967. Lumbera writes in English and Filipino, and has produced works in both languages.
He has a poetry collection entitled Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (1993), and Balaybay: Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang, a collection of new poems in Filipino and those from Likhang Dila. He has several critical works, including Abot-Tanaw: Sulyap at Suri sa Nagbabagong Kultura at Lipunan (1987) and Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa (2000). He has also done several librettos, among them Tales of the Manuvu (1977) and Rama Hari (1980). Sa Sariling Bayan: Apat na Dulang May Musika (DLSU, 2003) collects the four historical musicals Nasa Puso ang Amerika, Bayani, Noli Me Tangere: The Musical, and Hibik at Himagsik Nina Victoria Laktaw.

Dr. Lumbera has been a recipient of numerous awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts in 1993, the Gawad CCP, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, Manila Critics' Circle and the Palanca. He has also gained Professor Emeritus status in the University of the Philippines. He also serves in the Board of Advisers of the UP Institute of Creative Writing. This 2006, for his creative and critical work directed towards a literature rooted in the search for nationhood, Dr. Lumbera received the much-coveted title of National Artist for Literature (2006).

VISITING ARTISTS:

Francis Tanglao-Aguas

Francis Taglao-Aguas is the author of the Palanca Award winning play, When The Purples Settles, (please italicize all titles), Where the Carabao Sleeps, and Abujo Woman, both winners of the Audrey Skirball Kenis Playwriting Award. He first visited UH in April 2007 for the premiere of the Philippine Literature Festival to perform his solo play, The Sarimanok Travels as a Freeman Foundation Initiative Artist in Residence. His newest work, Ramayana La'ar, a theatrical adaptation of the sacred Hindu epic, Ramayana, received wide acclaim including the Virginia Gazette Awards for Best Play, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. He is also co-editor of "Tibuk-Tibok Festival Anthology of Young Writers".

Educated at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television with a BA in Theater (Magna Cum Laude) and an MFA in Playwriting, Tanglao-Aguas is founding Artistic Director of the Ateneo de Manila Fine Arts Festival, Theater Underground at UCLA, and IPAX, International Performance Arts eXchange. He is assistant professor of Theater at the College of William and Mary where he was awarded Outstanding Professor for 2007. He has also taught at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Ateneo de Manila University, Kenyon College, and Georgetown University. He is a member of Asia Pacific Indigenous Plays Festival, Screen Actor's Guild and the Dramatists Guildi of America.

Ma. Josephine Barrios

Joi Barrios teaches at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (Department of Asian Languages and Cultures) while on leave as Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines. After obtaining her Ph.D. in Filipino (Philippine Literature), she served as Visiting Assistant Professor at University of California Irvine, UCLA, and the Osaka University of Foreign Studies.

Dr. Barrios has recently published two books: Savage Stage: Plays By Ma-Yi Theater Company, which she edited, 2006; and From the Theater Wings: the Grounding and Flight of Women Playwrights (Mula sa mga Pakpak ng Entablado: Pagyapak at Paglipad ng Kababaihang Mandudula) (UP Press), 2005. She has also published: two volumes of poetry, To Be a Woman is to Live at a Time of War (Ang Pagiging Babae ay Pamumuhay sa Panahon ng Digma), 1990 and Sweetened Fruit and Other Love Poems (Minatamis at Iba Pang Mga Tula ng Pag-ibig), 1998; a collection of plays, Bailaya, and a book of novelettes exploring the use of the conventions of the romance mode in articulating contemporary issues, My Prince Charming and Other Romance Novelettes (Ang Aking Prince Charming at Iba Pang Noveleta ng Pag-ibig). In 1999, she was among the 100 women of the 20th century honored as “Weavers of History” by the Philippine National Centennial Commission Women’s Sector. In 2004, she was chosen as one of “The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS).

WORKSHOP SPEAKERS:

Ma. Sheila Zamar is an instructor of Filipino at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a doctorate student of linguistics.

Carol Compton has her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan. She has served as Deputy Director of the Upper Great Lakes Multifunctional Resource Center for Bilingual Education (Title VII), Director of the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI), and SEASSI Heritage Language Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from which she is retired.

Elvira Fonacier is an Assistant Professor of Filipino and the Assessment Coordinator of the Department Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her academic work focuses on language teaching and learning with special attention on language assessment and program evaluation.

Dr. Aurora Batnag is a professor at the De La Salle University Department of Filipino Graduate Program. She is currently the president of SALIN, an organization of translators and works as an editor and coordinator of writers at the Rex Publishing Company. She has translated novels and short stories. Her translated works were published by the Toyota Foundation Know Your Neighbors Project. She also worked at the Commission on Filipino where she retired as a linguistic specialist.