Ramon Muzones’s Followers (3)

Ramon Muzones

Born

in Iloilo City, Philippines

March 20, 1913

Died

August 17, 1992

edit data

Atty. RAMON L. MUZONES, a native of Lambunao, Iloilo and Iloilo City, is a National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.

Posthumous though the honor, it was a source of great joy and pride for all Ilonggos, as the literary works of Muzones were written in the native tongue, Hiligaynon. The sheer volume of 61 novels in the Ilonggo dialect pulled him through the tough and meticulous vetting by the committee on the selection of National Artists of the Philippines.

For our awardee, the early beginnings were dire and uncertain. His father was a kutsero, horse rig driver; the mother, totally blind, and there were 10 children in the family.

Atty. Ramon L. Muzones was a lawyer by profession, a newspaper man and was elected to public office as co Atty. RAMON L. MUZONES, a native of Lambunao, Iloilo and Iloilo City, is a National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.

Posthumous though the honor, it was a source of great joy and pride for all Ilonggos, as the literary works of Muzones were written in the native tongue, Hiligaynon. The sheer volume of 61 novels in the Ilonggo dialect pulled him through the tough and meticulous vetting by the committee on the selection of National Artists of the Philippines.

For our awardee, the early beginnings were dire and uncertain. His father was a kutsero, horse rig driver; the mother, totally blind, and there were 10 children in the family.

Atty. Ramon L. Muzones was a lawyer by profession, a newspaper man and was elected to public office as councilor of Iloilo City from 1963 to 1971. But it was writing in the vernacular that he excelled most. He first wrote “The Ten Bornean Datus” which was published in the Philippine Free Press when he was 19 years old.

He was well-established and respected among his peers, having founded in 1948 Sumakwelan (Guild of Ilonggo Writers) which still subsists to date with retired MTC Judge Nilo Pamonag as its present head. The select group has membership from all Ilonggo-speaking regions, Negros, Cebu, Mindanao, and will be celebrating its 70th Foundation Day this December.

A man of letters, the awardee was editor of Shin Bun, a Japanese newspaper during the war; and immediately after the war when the Iloilo Provincial High School opened for enrollment, he was the first editor of its school organ and later on editor of the popular weekly Hiligaynon and Yuhum magazines. He had also served as head of the United States Information Service (U.S.I.S.).

His novels written in pure Ilonggo attracted national acclaim and he was cited as an Outstanding Awardee of the Writers’ Union of the Philippines and received its Literary Achievement Award in 1988.

He received the Cultural Artist of the Philippines Award in 1989 and chosen as a Gawad Bonifacio – Centennial Artist of the Philippines in 1997 in the company of illustrious regional writers as Amado Hernandez, Tagalog; Iluminado Lucente, Waray; Mariano Perfecto, Bicolano; Leon Pechay, Ilocano and Vicente Sotto, Cebuano.

He was a consultant of public schools in the vernacular; authored an Ilonggo-English dictionary; and compiled a collection of Ilonggo proverbs; short stories; poems and proclamation speeches, driven by a passion to preserve the purity of the Ilonggo dialect.

He was hailed as the greatest Ilonggo Writer of the Century and upon his death on Aug. 17, 1992, after having been elected as an Outstanding Ilonggo, the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Iloilo, thru its Ordinance No. 00-121 enacted on Sept. 6, 2000, renamed in his honor what was formerly General Hughes Street, Iloilo City as Ramon L. Muzones Street.

It bears special mention that in regard the coveted award, as much praise and accolade is due Dr. Ma. Cecilia Locsin-Nava, retired De La Salle University professor of Literature who, launched the quest in the 1970s when she chose as her thesis the novels of Atty. Ramon L. Muzones for her masteral degree at the University of the Philippines. She believed in his works and translated the epic “Margosatubig” and “Shri-Bishaya” into English; persisting thru the years for its inclusion in the National Artists list. It appears with the awarding of the National Artist of the Philippine Award upon her subject that she is a good judge of literary works of quality.

Leoncio Deriada, professor emeritus, University of the Philippines in the Visayas, should also be mentioned in the same breath as Muzones. He vouched for him as “the greatest Hiligaynon writer and his competence as a writer of epic proportions.” ...more

Combine Editions
Ramon Muzones’s books

Average rating: 4.2 · 50 ratings · 9 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Margosatubig: The Story of Salagunting by Ramon Muzones, Ma. Cecilia Locsin-Nava (Translator), Virgilio S. Almario (Foreword) 4.10 avg rating — 40 ratings — published 1946	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shri-Bishaya by Ramon Muzones, Ma. Cecilia Locsin-Nava (Translator) 4.60 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 1969	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Ramon Muzones’s Followers (3)

Ramon Muzones

Combine EditionsRamon Muzones’s books

Combine Editions
Ramon Muzones’s books