Carmen Guerrero

Nakpil
Carmen Guerrero Nakpil (born July 19, 1922) is a
Filipino journalist, author, historian and public servant.
She was born in Ermita, Manila, into the Guerrero clan of
that town, who were painters and poets, as well as
scientists and doctors.
Her paternal grandfather was Leon Maria Guerrero,
who was likewise born in Ermita, Manila. He was the
younger brother of Lorenzo Guerrero, the painter and
mentor to Juan Luna. Dr. Jose P. Bantug referred to Leon
Ma. Guerrero as the "Father of Philippine Botany", having
classified and described hundreds of Filipino medicinal
plants.[1]
Her maternal grandfather was Gabriel Beato
Francisco (b. March 18, 1850), Tagalog writer, journalist,
novelist, playwright, born in Sampalok, then a town independent of Manila. Francisco's
contribution to the development of Tagalog literature lies in the novel. Chronologically considered
his Cababalaghan ni P. Bravo might be regarded as the first novel to be published in Tagalog
literature. (This fact appears to be unknown to students and historians of Tagalog literature, not
mentioned in Inigo Ed. Regalado's Ang Pagkaunlad ng Nobelang Tagalog (1939). Secondly,
Francisco was responsible for introducing the historical genre in the beginning and early
development of the Tagalog novel.[2]
Parents were the prominent doctor Alfredo Guerrero and Filomena Francisco, who was
celebrated as one of the Philippines' first female pharmacists.
She studied at St. Theresa's College, Manila and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in 1942. Between 1946 and 2006, she worked as either staff member, editor or editorial
columnist at the Evening News, The Philippines Herald, the Manila Chronicle (where she had a
daily column for 12 years), the Manila Times, Asia magazine, and Malaya, in addition to
contributing lectures, essays, short stories to other publications in the Philippines and the rest of
the world. She has published a total of ten books : Woman Enough, A Question of Identity,
History Today, The Philippines and the Filipinos, The Rice Conspiracy (a novel), the Centennial
Reader and Whatever; as well as a wildly successful autobiographical trilogy Myself, Elsewhere;
Legends & Adventures; and Exeunt.
In the 1960s, she served as Chairman of the Philippine National Historical Commission and
in the 1990s, the Manila Historical Commission, and director-general of the Technology Resource
Center from 1975 to 1985. She was elected to the Executive Board of the UNESCO, Paris in 1983
by popular vote of the international assembly.[3]
Mrs. Nakpil was married to Lt. Ismael A. Cruz in 1942 and to architect and city planner
Angel E. Nakpil in 1950 and was widowed twice. She has five children, Gemma Cruz Araneta,
Ismael G. Cruz, Ramon Guerrero Nakpil, Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, and Luis Guerrero Nakpil, two stepdaughters Nina Nakpil Campos and Carmina Nakpil Dualan, numerous grandchildren and a few
great-grandchildren.[4]

Her family includes her brother, lawyer and diplomat, Len Mara Guerrero, best known for
his translations of Rizal's two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as well as the prizewinning work on Jose Rizal, The First Filipino: her second brother Mario X. Guerrero, was one of
the country's first foreign-trained cardiologists. Other well-known Guerreros include the poet and
revolutionary Fernando Mara Guerrero and Dr. Manuel Guerrero and Dr. Luis Guerrero, both
eminent physicians. Cousin Wilfrido Mara Guerrero was a playwright and stage director.

Source: Wikipedia.org

Carmen Guerrero Nakpil is one of the most preeminent writers of the Philippines. She was
born on 19 July 1922 in Ermita, Manila, in what then the epicenter of the Hispano-Filipino
community. Her parents were Doctor Alfredo Leon Guerrero and Filomena Francisco, the first
Filipino pharmacist.
She was born into a distinguished family. Her brother Leon Maria Guerrero was an essayist
and diplomat. Her father's only sibling was the Bishop of Lingayen Cesar Ma. Guerrero. Other
uncles were noted physicians Luis Ma. Guerrero and Manuel S. Guerrero and poet Fernando Maria
Guerrero. Her cousins were Wilfrido Maria Guerrero, the playwright and the poets Nilda GuerreroBarranco and Evangelina Guerrero-Zacarias. Grandfather Leon Ma. Guerrero was a pharmacistbotanist who was a member of the cabinet of the First Philippine Republic (under President
Aguinaldo). Lorenzo Guerrero, the painter and mentor of Juan Luna was her paternal granduncle
and firebrand and playwrite Gabriel Beato Francisco, her maternal grandfather.
Carmen married Ismael Cruz. Gemma Cruz, the beauty queen and writer, was their
daughter. Carmen was widowed in World War II. She re-married thereafter Harvard-trained,
modernist architect Angel E. Nakpil with whom she had three children. These are Ramon G.
Nakpil, Lizza G. Nakpil, and Luis G. Nakpil.
She took up her undergraduate studies at St. Theresas College (STC), where she edited
the campus paper, The Orion. She taught journalism at STC and then went into journalism. She
was a columnist of Manila Chronicle, Sunday Times Magazine, Evening News Saturday Magazine,
Weekly Womens Magazine, and Malaya. She was appointed chairwoman of the National
Historical Commission and the cultural committee of the Philippine commission for UNESCO. In
1983-1986 she worked as a representative elected by the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris. In
1984-1986 she was managing director of the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center.
Among her publications are: Woman Enough and Other Essays, 1963; Question of Identity,
1973; The Philippines and the Filipino, 1977; The Philippines: The Land of the People, 1989; and a
novel, The Rice Conspiracy, 1990.
She received the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas Award for English fiction in 1988
from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) and the Southeast Asian Writers
(SEAWRITE) Award in 1990. That same year her book "The Philippines: The Land and the People"
was given the National Book Award for anthology from the Manila Critics Circle. On July 7, 2005
she was conferred by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with a Lifetime Achievement Award for
her outstanding achivement in history.
In January 2007 she published her autobiography "Myself, Elsewhere," an intimate retelling
of the 1920s and 30s when the new American culture collided with the old Spanish past.
Source: WikiPilipinas.org