Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero

Wilfredo Ma. Guerrero (January 22, 1911 - April 28, 1995) was a Filipino playwright, director, teacher and theater artist. He has written well over a hundred plays, 41 of which have been published. His unpublished plays have either been broadcast over the radio or staged in various parts of the Philippines.

His publications include 13 Plays (first published in 1947), 8 Other Plays (1952), 7 More Plays (1962), 12 New Plays (1975), My Favorite 11 Plays (1976), 4 Latest Plays (1980), Retribution and eight other selected plays (1990) and The Guerreros of Ermita (1988).

He has been the teacher of some of the most famous people in the Performing Arts at present: Behn Cervantes, Celia Diaz-Laurel, Joy Virata, and Joonee Gamboa.^[1]

Biography

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero was born in Ermita, Manila. At the Age 14, he has already written his first play in Spanish, entitled, "No Todo Es Risa." This play was produced at the Ateneo de Manila University when he was 15.

Aside from becoming a reporter and a proofreader for La Vanguardia, a Spanish newspaper, and a drama critic for the Manila Tribune, he also worked for some time in Philippine Films as a scriptwriter. He also became the director Filipino Players from 1941-1947. In 1947 he was appointed as the University of the Philippines Dramatic Club director despite lacking a degree, a position he served for sixteen years.^[2]

In 1962, he organized and directed the U.P. Mobile Theater that goes on the road all over the Philippines to for performances.^[2]

Several Guerrero plays have been translated into and produced in Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano and Waray. Six of his plays have been produced abroad: "Half an Hour in a Convent" at the Pasadena Playhouse, California; "Three Rats" at the University of Kansas; "Condemned" in Oahu, Hawaii; "One, Two, Three" (premiere performance) at the University of Washington, Seattle; "Wanted: A Chaperon" at the University of Hawaii; and "Conflict" in Sydney, Australia.^[2]

He is the first Filipino to have a theater named after him within his lifetime: The Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater of the University of the Philippines.^[2]

His Life as a Child

Wilfrido grew up from a wealthy family. His father, Dr. Manuel, was considered the most renowned doctor of his time, his reputation based on his “clinical eye” which could diagnose a person’s illness by just studying that person’s outside appearance. Among his clients were some of Manila’s richest, like Brias Roxas, the Ayalas, Pardo de Taveras, Zobels, Roceses, Osmeñas, Alberts, etc. Thus, his father could afford to give them all the comforts of life.

They were not allowed to eat with their hands and they were forbidden to speak Tagalog. He had a totally comfortable life.

He was nearly seven when his father died. They were left with the big house at Plaza Ferguson, two cars (which his mother sold), and a Php10,000 life insurance. Five months after the funeral, they rented the first floor of his cousins the Mossesgelds’ house for Php50.00. His mother had their house rented to an American family and they lived on the monthly income. All of them being To be able to study high school in Ateneo in Intramuros, he and his brothers, Edmundo, Lorenzo, Manuel became choristers. They got free tuition which was Php60.00 a semester, but they had to buy their textbooks. When he reached third-year high school, being sick and fed up with having to hear daily Mass, he took the courage to go to Don Alejandro Roces, Sr., who had been one of his father’s patients and whose wife was a close friend of their mother. He went to Roces’ office at the Manila Tribune and stated his purpose. Don Alejandro readily agreed, and he paid for his tuition for his last two years in high school.

Why He Started Writing

His favorite aunt, Maria Araceli, discovered his writing ability. When he was around 12 or 13, she noticed him writing on scraps of paper, then hiding them inside his cabinet drawer.

He wrote his first complete one-act play, No Todo Es Risa, while in his second year high school. He showed it to the late Father Juan Trinidad, S.J. (who at that time was translating the Bible into Tagalog) and he liked it. The priest said his Spanish was idiomatic and decided to stage it for their Father Rector’s (Fr. O’Brien) birthday.

And yet soon after his aunts death, he wrote some of his most popular comedies, like Movie Artists, Basketball Fight, and Wanted: A Chaperon.

Years later, he made his aunt the principal character in Forever as Maria Teresa and later as Maria Araceli in Frustrations. “Both women are like my aunt: imperious, strong-willed, wise, but also humane,” he wrote.^[2]

Awards

He has received three national awards: the Rizal Pro-Patria Award in 1961, the Araw ng Maynila Award in 1969, and the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1972.

The U.P. Mobile Theater has been a recipient of two awards when he was its director: The Citizen's Council for Mass Media Trophy (1966) and the Balagtas Award (1969).^[2]

In 1997, Guerrero was posthumously distinguished as a National Artist for Philippine Theatre.^[3]

References

Specific

External links

• Full Text: Half an Hour in a Convent by Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero

See also

• Jose Y. Dalisay Jr.
• Severino Montano
• Rene Villanueva

v t e National Artists of the Philippines Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas Architecture 1973 Juan Nakpil 1976 Pablo Antonio 1990 Leandro Locsin 2003 Ildefonso Santos, Jr. Cinema 1982 Gerardo de León 1991 Ishmael Bernal 1997 Lino Brocka 2003 Eddie Romero 2006 Fernando Poe, Jr. 2009 Manuel Conde Dance 1973 Francisca R. Aquino 1976 Leonor Orosa 1988 Lucrecia Reyes 2006 Ramon Obusan Fashion 2006 Ramon Valera Historical literature 1997 Carlos Quirino Literature 1973 Jose Garcia Villa 1973 Amado V. Hernandez 1976 Nick Joaquin 1982 Carlos P. Romulo 1990 Francisco Arcellana 1990 N. V. M. Gonzalez 1992 Rolando Tinio 1999 Edith Tiempo 2001 F. Sionil José 2003 Virgilio S. Almario 2003 Alejandro Roces 2006 Bienvenido Lumbera 2009 Lazaro Francisco Music 1973 Antonio Molina 1976 Jovita Fuentes 1987 Atang de la Rama 1988 Antonio Buenaventura 1988 Lucrecia Kasilag 1991 Lucio D. San Pedro 1997 Levi Celerio 1997 Felipe de Leon 1997 José Maceda 1999 Ernani Cuenco 1999 Andrea Veneracion Theater and films 1976 Lamberto V. Avellana 1997 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero 1997 Rolando Tinio 1999 Daisy Avellana 2001 Severino Montano 2003 Salvador Bernal Visual arts 1972 Fernando Amorsolo 1973 Botong Francisco 1973 Guillermo Tolentino 1976 Napoleon Abueva 1976 Victorio C. Edades 1990 Cesar Legaspi 1981 Vicente Manansala 1991 Hernando R. Ocampo 1997 Arturo R. Luz 1999 J. Elizalde Navarro 2001 Ang Kiukok 2003 José T. Joya 2006 BenCab Cabrera 2006 Abdulmari Asia Imao 2009 Federico Aguilar Alcuaz National Commission for Culture and the Arts Cultural Center of the Philippines National Arts Center