Severino Reyes

Severino Reyes y Rivera (February 11, 1861 – September 15, 1942) was a Filipino writer and playwright. He used the pen name Lola Basyang. He was nicknamed "Don Binoy".

Early life and education Severino Reyes was born on February 11, 1861, in Santa Cruz, Manila during the Spanish colonial era to Rufino Reyes and Andrea Rivera. He pursued his early education in an institution owned by Catalino Sanchez and acquired a bachelor's degree at the Escuela de Segunda Enseñanza of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. He also attended the University of Santo Tomas to pursue a degree in Philosophy.

Career Reyes wrote 26 zarzuelas and 22 dramas in his career. He is known as the "Father of Tagalog Plays" and as the "Father of the Tagalog Zarzuela".

He took a clerical job at the Tesoreria General de Hacienda as a means to avoid getting enlisted into the Spanish Army to fight against the Moros in Mindanao and Sulu. However he quit the job and decided to set up a store at Calle Ascarraga after he struggled supporting his family with low income he got from his old job.

Reyes helped found the Liwayway magazine in 1922, where he published Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang a series of short stories. He used the titular character Lola Basyang as his pen name and the work became the magazine's most widely read feature.

Legacy

The National Historical Commission granted him a historical marker on September 1969, installed at the front of his house in Santa Cruz in the street renamed after him. On February 11, 2022, Reyes was honored with a Google Doodle in commemoration of his 161st birthday.