REGION XI - SOUTHERN MINDANAO

1. Leoncio P. Deriada 

was born in Iloilo but spent most of his life in Davao. He went to school at the Davao City High School and graduated in 1955. He earned his BA English degree at the Ateneo de Davao University where he graduated cum laude in 1959. He later received his MA in English from Xavier University in 1970 and went on to receive his PhD in English and Literature with a specialization in creative writing from Silliman University in 1981 where he later on served as professor and chairperson of the English Department.

He is a multi-lingual writer having produced works in English, Filipino, Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a and Cebuano. His thirteen Palanca awards include works in English, Filipino and Hiligaynon. Of these thirteen, five are first-prize winners, and these include "The Day of the Locusts" (Short Story, 1975), "Mutya ng Saging" (Dulaang May Isang Yugto, 1987), "The Man Who Hated Birds" (Short Story for Children, 1993), "Medea of Siquijor" (One-Act Play, 1999), and "Maragtas: How Kapinangan Tricked Sumakwel Twice" (Full-Length Play, 2001). He became a Palanca Hall of Famer on September 1, 2001. Aside from his Palanca awards, he has garnered other prestigious awards such as the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, Asiaweek, Gawad CCP, Graphic, Focus, Yuhum (Iloilo), and Blue Knight Award from Ateneo de Davao for Outstanding Achievement in Literature. In 2002, he was one of Metrobank's Outstanding Teachers.

He is currently a professor at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas - Iloilo. Dr. Deriada heads the Sentro ng Wikang Filipino at the U.P. Visayas. He is also an associate of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing.

                                        
2. Danny Sillada 

 (born April 27, 1963) is a Filipino surrealist painter, poet, philosopher, essayist, musician, performance artist, and literary, art & cultural critic from Mindanao. He was a recipient of 2003 "Pasidungog Centennial Awards" for literary and visual arts, a centennial event that was attended by the president of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in his hometown province in Davao Oriental.

In 2005, Sillada was controversial for his artwork Menstrual Period in Political History, “a satirical take on the recurring political crisis in the Philippines. This controversial mixed media piece (an attempt was made to destroy it at the height of the “Hello Garci” political scandal) reflects the artist’s critical stance toward the power struggles that “are putting our country into pit.””

As a multi-talented artist, Sillada also writes and publishes poetry and philosophical essays both on print and on-line, composes and performs ethnic songs, hip-hop and ethno-techno music at the local Metro Manila alternative venues. He was described in a research paper submitted to the University of Asia and the Pacific as “the embodiment of a Filipino who defies the existing trend. His multi-faceted attribute in the humanities, as a Renaissance man, is identical with those of well-rounded historical figures during the Renaissance period in Europe. Sillada is a visual artist recognized in the Philippine art scene for his paintings and installation artworks, a literary writer who is into prose and poetry, a philosopher, whose writings are akin with existentialism, a first-rate performance artist, and also an art-critic."

He studied priesthood (Roman Catholic) at The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas and San Carlos Seminary, Philippines, but left his vocation six months before his ordination to the Sacrament of Holy Orders to become a full-time artist.

Sillada obtained his BA Philosophy and Literature at the Queen of Apostles College Seminary, Davao (1986); his graduate and post graduate studies in Bachelor in Sacred Theology (1990) and Pastoral Theology (1991) at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, and his MBA (units) at the Ateneo de Manila University (1993), Philippines.