Maria Felisa H. Batacan
(a.k.a. F.H. Batacan)
She is a Filipino journalist and a writer of crime and mystery fiction. Her work has been published in the Philippines and abroad.
She was a fellow at the 1996 Dumaguete National Writers' Workshop. Her literary awards include two Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature – including the 1999 Grand Prize for the English Novel for her first novel, Smaller and Smaller Circles, published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2002. The same novel won the Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award in 2002, as well as the Madrigal-Gonzales Best First Book Award in 2003.
info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma._Felisa_H._Batacan
picture at :http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs50/i/2009/324/0/f/FH_Batacan_by_artistm0nk.jpg
Nicomedes Márquez Joaquín
(a.k.a Nick Joaquin)
He was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquin was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.
He was declared a National Artist in 1976 at the age of 59. The Ramon Magsaysay Award for journalism, literature and creative communication was granted to him in 1996, the award giving body also cited his large contribution for exploring the mysteries of the Filipino body and soul in sixty inspired years as a writer.
info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Joaquin
picture at:http://www.globalpinoy.com/ch/images/ch_nationalartists/NickJoaquin.jpg
Dr.Jose Rizal
José Rizal's most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El filibusterismo. These writings angered both the Spaniards and the hispanicized Filipinos due to their insulting symbolism. They are highly critical of Spanish friars and the atrocities committed in the name of the Church. Rizal's first critic was Ferdinand Blumentritt, a Czech professor and historian whose first reaction was of misgiving. Blumentritt was the grandson of the Imperial Treasurer at Vienna in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and a staunch defender of the Catholic faith. This did not dissuade him however from writing the preface of El filibusterismo after he had translated Noli me Tangere into German. Noli was published in Berlin (1887) and Fili in Ghent (1891) with funds borrowed largely from Rizal's friends. As Blumentritt had warned, these led to Rizal's prosecution as the inciter of revolution and eventually, to a military trial and execution. The intended consequence of teaching the natives where they stood brought about an adverse reaction, as the Philippine Revolution of 1896 took off virulently thereafter. As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, he contributed essays, allegories, poems, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona. The core of his writings centers on liberal and progressive ideas of individual rights and freedom; specifically, rights for the Filipino people. He shared the same sentiments with members of the movement: that the Philippines is battling, in Rizal's own words, "a double-faced Goliath"--corrupt friars and bad government. His commentaries reiterate the following agenda.
info at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal
picture at:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Jose_rizal_01.jpg/200px-Jose_rizal_01.jpg
