Gumil Chapter: Metro Manila

Adviser ti GUMIL Filipinas ken GUMIL Metro Manila

.

ABABA A PAKASARITAAN TI BIAG

JUAN S.P. HIDALGO, JR. (July 12, 1936 –   )  Born at St. Paul Hospital  in Intramuros, Manila, the eldest of three sons of Juan de Peralta Hidalgo, a businessman from Dingras, Ilocos Norte, and the former Felisa Alberto Sanchez, an educator from Tomana, Rosales, Pangasinan (the Sanchezes had their roots in Lapog-Cabugao, Ilocos Sur). During childhood, he was once a sweepstakes and a bocayo and tupig vendor in Carmen, a highway barrio in Rosales.

He attended the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, where he finished his Advanced ROTC Course and some AB units and later the University of the East in Manila for additional AB units.

On May 2, 1961, he joined the Liwayway Publications, Inc. (now Liwayway Publishing, Inc.) as a proofreader and poetry editor of Bannawag. He was promoted to literary editor in 1965, then became circulation manager of all the publications of Liwayway  Publishing Inc. from 1970 to 1973.  In 1978, he became managing editor of Bannawag, a position he held until his retirement in February 1998.

He taught Philippine Literature as a lecturer at the graduate and undergraduate levels in the U.P. in Diliman (1972-1973).

A master poet, short story writer, essayist, and novelist, his short stories are considered as modern classics of Iluko literature. He is also a biographer, anthologist, publisher, and a translator. But he will be most remembered as the one who initiated and inspired the formation since 1961 of different GUMIL (Gunglo dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano; Association of Ilokano Writers) chapters in the country and abroad, notably Hawaii, Guam, California, Greece and Hong Kong. The umbrella organization of these chapters, the GUMIL Filipinas, was founded in 1968.  The GUMIL Filipinas has recognized Hidalgo as its founder.

One of his children’s stories, Ti Puso A Balitok (The Golden Heart), with English parallel texts, won for the Regal Press an award, booklet division, in the 1978 Annual Book Exhibit.

In 1991, he was awarded the Gawad CCP Bilang Pambansang Alagad ng Sining sa Panitikan (Cultural Center of the Philippines Awards For The Arts, in Literature) by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

In the same year, he was awarded by the U.P. Vanguard, Inc. the Life Achievement Award in Literature at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. In 1992, he received the GUMIL Filipinas’ Don Cornelio N. Valdez Award; in 1995, the Gawad Pambansang Alagad Ni Balagtas, National Achievement Award for Literature, from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL)(Writers Union of the Philippines); in 1997, the Senator Heherson T. Alvarez Award for Literature from GUMIL Metro Manila; and in 2000, the Bucaneg Award from GUMIL Filipinas and National Fellow for Iluko Literature (2000 – 2001) from Likhaan: U.P. Creative Writing Center.

He was short-listed for the National Artist Award for Literature 2001 with Lazaro Francisco (Tagalog Literature), Ramon Muzones (Ilonggo Literature) and F. Sionil Jose (Philippine Literature in English). Sionil Jose got the Award.

Hidalgo is not only a writer but an artist as well. He began painting in 1979 and was co-founder of the U.P. Campus Sunday Group composed by poet Alejandrino G. Hufana, Dr. Zeus Salazar, Virgilio Enriquez, Alex Evangelista, and himself. Many of his paintings were bought by local and foreign art collectors.

He married the former Namnama Garma Prado of Tanggaoan, Piddig, Ilocos Norte and Alaminos, Pangasinan, a librarian at the U.P. Diliman. They have three children: Maria Bituen (b. 1970), Patricia Amor (b. 1971) and Marie-Sol (b. 1973). (Taken from Bilingual Pen)

 

KANGRUNAAN A GAPUANAN

Nobela ken Nobelitas
Tomana (1971)
Tarumamis (Sharp-Pointed) (1973),
Ti Obra Maestra (The Masterpiece) (1974),
Derraas Ken Pannakatnag (The Cliff And The Fall) (1976),
Apuy Iti Ubbog Ti Diro (Fire In The Honey Spring) (1977),
Dagiti Kulalanti (Fireflies) (1979) 
Saksi Ti Kaunggan (Inner Witness) (1986);
Dayta Langitmo A Kaibatogak (1968)
Bileg (Power)(1968)
Dagiti Annak Ti Init Nagsublidan Iti Daga (The Children Of The Sun Have Returned To Earth) (1978)