Manuel Bernabé

Manuel Bernabé y Hernández (February 27, 1890 – November 29, 1960) was a Filipino journalist, politician, linguist, and poet in Spanish and Latin languages. He was given the title "King of Balagtasan" in Spanish.

Early life

Bernabé was born on February 17, 1890, in Parañaque to Timoteo Bernabé, who would later serve as the municipal president of Parañaque, and Emilia Hernandez. He was only nine years old when he began to write verses in Spanish and by the age of fourteen, he was already speaking Latin.

Bernabé earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Ateneo Municipal de Manila as a valedictorian. There, he translated Virgil's Aeneid from Latin to Spanish. He later took up law at University of Santo Tomas.

Career

Literature After graduating from law, Bernabé joined the newspaper La Democracia and then La Vanguardia before becoming a contributor to Excelsior. He taught Spanish at the University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University, Philippine Law School and Colegio de San Juan de Letran.

Bernabé was a lyric poet, and the usual subject of his poems are festivals and celebrations although he can cover any subject. The collection of poems written by him is titled Cantos del Tropico. Another book by Bernabé that also contains his writings is the Perfil de Cresta, which includes his translation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat and Claro M. Recto's portico. Bernabé's other poems are: No Mas Amor Que El Tuyo, El Imposible, Canta Poeta, Castidad, Mi Adios a Ilo-ilo and España en Filipinas.

Politics As a politician, Bernabé was elected as a representative from the 1st district of Rizal in 1928 and served for one term until 1931. He retired from politics and returned to La Vanguardia. He was appointed technical assistant for Filipino–Spanish Relations at Malacañang, serving from 1943 to 1947.

He was later appointed head of the National Library of the Philippines in the 1950s, where he translated Marcelo H. del Pilar's writings to Tagalog.