Virgilio Senadrin Almario (born March 9, 1944), better known by his pen name Rio Alma, is a Filipino artist,

poet,
critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines and currently serves
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
A prolific writer, he spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry together with
Mangahas and Antonio. His earliest pieces of literary criticism were collected in Ang Makata sa Panahon ng
Makina (1972), now considered the first book of literary criticism in Filipino. Later, in the years of martial law, he set
aside modernism and formalism and took interest in nationalism, politics and activist movement. As critic, his critical
works deal with the issue of national language.

Cirilo F. Bautista (July 9, 1941 – May 6, 2018) was a Filipino poet, critic and writer of nonfiction. He was conferred
with the National Artist of the Philippines award in 2014

Bautista taught creative writing and literature at St. Louis University (1963–1968) and the University of Santo
Tomas (1969–1970) before moving to De La Salle University-Manila in 1970. He is also a co-founding member of
the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) and a member of the Manila Critics Circle, Philippine Center
of International PEN and the Philippine Writers Academy.
Bautista has also received Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards (for poetry, fiction and essay in English and Filipino) as
well as Philippines Free Press Awards for Fiction, Manila Critics' Circle National Book Awards,
Gawad Balagtas from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas, the Pablo Roman Prize for the Novel, and the
highest accolades from the City of Manila, Quezon City and Iligan City. Bautista was hailed in 1993 as Makata ng
Taon by the Komisyon ng mga Wika ng Pilipinas for winning the poetry contest sponsored by the government. The
last part of his epic trilogy The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus, entitled Sunlight on Broken Stones, won the Centennial
Prize for the epic in 1998. He was an exchange professor in Waseda University and Ohio University. He became an
Honorary Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa in 1969, and was the first recipient of a British
Council fellowship as a creative writer at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1987.

Bienvenido Lumbera is a Filipino poet, critic and dramatist. He is a National Artist of the Philippines and a recipient
of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications. He won numerous literary
awards, including the National Book Awards from the National Book Foundation, and the Carlos Palanca Memorial
Awards.
Lumbera is now widely acknowledged as one of the pillars of contemporary Philippine literature, cultural
studies and film, having written and edited numerous books on literary history, literary criticism, and film. He also
received several awards citing his contribution to Philippine letters, most notably the 1975 Palanca Award for
Literature; the 1993 Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts;
several National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle; the 1998 Philippine Centennial Literary Prize for
Drama; and the 1999 Cultural Center of the Philippines Centennial Honors for the Arts. He is currently the editor
of Sanghaya (National Commission on Culture and the Arts), Professor at the Department of English in the School
of Humanities of the Ateneo de Manila University, Emeritus Professor at the Department of Filipino and Philippine
Literature, College of Arts and Letters, U.P. Diliman, and Professor of Literature at De La Salle University. For a
time, he also served as president of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), a national organization of more than
40,000 teachers and employees in the education sector.
Francisco Sionil José (born 3 December 1924) is one of the most widely read Filipino writers in the English
language. His novelsand short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino
society.
He is best known for his epic work, The Rosales Saga – five novels encompassing a hundred years
of Philippine history, painting a vivid documentary of Filipino life.

Since starting his writing career in 1949, José has written more than 35 books, translated into more
than 20 languages and published worldwide. He has also been involved with international cultural
organizations, notably International P.E.N., the world association of poets, playwrights, essayists and
novelists, whose Philippine Center he founded in 1958.

Alejandro Reyes Roces was a Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of the Philippines for
literature. He served as Secretary of Education from 1961 to 1965, during the term of Philippine President Diosdado
Macapagal.

Noted for his short stories, 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.