One Of My Childhood Heroes
Back when I was a child, about 3 to 7 years of age, almost every week my mother would bring me home a story book. I had a lot of books when I still young but the books that my mother brought home for me were special, they had clever, interesting titles and stories that were also accompanied with wonderful illustrations, but most of all I found out that all these books were made by one publishing house, Adarna Books. And the founder of Adarna Books; the organization that was essentially part of my childhood, is none other than Virgilio S. Almario.
So in his honor, I wrote this short biography of the man who filled my childhood with wonderful and imaginative stories.
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| Virgilio S. Almario |
At a young age, Virgilio had already displayed a proficiency in the literary arts, in an interview he recalled that he was only 5 years old when he wrote and recited his first poem. But his young age was a slight hindrance as all of his other classmates were older than him, so in most activities he was counted as "saling-pusa." His teacher then had to pass a letter of recommendation to the Department of Education in the Bulacan Capitol for him to qualify to study at a much younger age.
Despite his youth, he topped his class. And in 1950 he was tasked to deliver a piece for his first grade graduation ceremony as valedictorian at the Camias Elementary School in Bulacan, something he did with great ease as he was already able to read and recite verses at this young age.
Together with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio, they spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry.
He finished elementary from Camias Elementary School in 1955 and secondary from San Miguel High School in 1959. Growing up in Bulacan among peasants, Almario sought his education at Manila and completed his degree in A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines in 1963. His life as a poet started when he took master’s course in education at the University of the East where he became associated with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio. He then attained a M.A. in Filipino in 1974 from the University of the Philippines.
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| Rogelio G. Mangahas |
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| Lamberto E. Antonio |
Together with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio, they spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry.
In the years of martial law, he set aside modernism and formalism and took interest in nationalism, politics and activist movement.
Over the years, he has become a prolific artist in multiple areas of the literary arts. As a critic, he critics dealt with issues of national language and the severe self examination of self and society. Aside from being a critic, Almario also engaged in translating and editing, translating contemporary poetry and novels from the likes of Nick Joaquin, Euripides, Lope K. Santos, and Jose Rizal to name a few. And as a writer he has written more than a hundred poems and stories as well as numerous essays on literature and history published in national and international publications.
His works have garnered local and international attention, earning him multiple awards like Centennial Award for Literature by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1998 and ultimately the National Artist for Literature award on June 2003, there are many more but it'll just be a huge wall of text.
Virgilio S. Almario is still one of my childhood heroes, his body of work has instilled the minds of Filipinos with the sense of nationalism, something that we lack nowadays. He is an artist that has gone beyond the perfection of his craft, and at 71 years old, he still fulfills his responsibility and role in Philippine culture, a moving force of the Philippine literary arts. And as an aspiring artist, I look up to him as a model, a teacher, and as an inspiration.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgilio_Senadren-Almario
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Virgilio_S._Almario
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