REGION VIII- EASTERN VISAYAS

1. Francisco Soc Rodrigo 

 (January 29, 1914 – January 4, 1998) was a Senator of the Third Congress (1955–1957), Fourth Congress (1958–1961), Fifth Congress (1962–1965), and Sixth Congress (1966–1969) of the Republic of the Philippines. He was also an accomplished playwright and broadcaster.Soc Rodrigo was born on 29 January 1914 in Bulacan, Bulacan, to food vendor Marcela Aldana and horse-carriage driver Melecio Rodrigo. He was a relative to the Filipino heroes Marcelo del Pilar and Gregorio del Pilar..

Rodrigo finished elementary at Bulacan Elementary School and secondary school at the University of the Philippines High School. He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Education degrees from Ateneo de Manila and University of Santo Tomas, graduating magna cum laude and valedictorian. While in college, he was captain of the Debating team.

In 1937, Rodrigo married his childhood sweetheart Remedios Enriquez. Prior to this, he took Law at the University of the Philippines, which he finished in 1938.

2. Carlos A. Angeles 

When in 1964 the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature included Poetry for the first time, the highest honor went to Carlos A. Angeles for a stun of jewels. In that year too, for the same book, Angeles received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Literature...Years afterwards in America, Angeles would ruefully shake his head over those honors. An immigrant there since 1978, his Muse had kept silent for twenty years, from 1958 when he served as public relations manager of PanAm Airways to 1978...But then, in 1984, he wrote again, "tried to go on an even keel." Memory was his Muse. "You know, I love this one image in Stones for Ibarra—a cork that had been taken out of the bottle. Like memories, the cork just won't slide back into the bottle's mouth easily."

                                 

3. Ramon Escoda 

was a journalist and the first Fil-Hispanic writer to convey the subject of love.His career in journalism started at La Defensa which was interrupted during the war. He then worked in the National Library after which he moved on to the House of Representatives. He later became the editor of El Debate.