Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero

Wilfrido Ma. Guerreo (1911-1995) was a Filipino playwright, teacher and theater artist.

He has written well over a hundred plays, 41 one which have been published. His unpublished plays have either been broadcast over the radio or staged in various parts of the Philippines.

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. [http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about_cultarts/cultprofile/natarts/theater/guerrero.php About Culture and Arts ] ]

=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. [http://upreplib.tripod.com/guerrero.htm Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero ] ]

In 1962, he organized and directed the U.P. Mobile Theater that goes on the road all over the Philippines to for performances. 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; "Three Rats and "Wanted: A Chaperon" at the University of Hawaii; and "Conflict" in Sydney, Australia.

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.

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 had a large two-storey wooden house facing Plaza Ferguson (now Virgen de Guia) and they also had two cars. They also had a taste of the latest gadgets from abroad, and the latest delicacies and foods from Europe and Spain. On Sundays, after Mass, they would usually have for breakfast his father’s close friends.

Days before Christmas, they were already literally deluged with gifts—whole rolls of linen and other expensive clothing material, silverware of all kinds, wines, chocolates, Piña hams by the dozen, everything in quantity and quality.

Every summer, they would rent a large nipa house in Antipolo, and they would spend their vacation there for two whole months.

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

His mother was a beautiful woman and was chosen Rosa de Quiapo in her teen years. According to Wilfrido, “She kept her beauty until she died at 73,” even though she was mourning due to her husband’s death. His mother proclaimed to the whole world that she was a grieving widow by wearing black until her death.

His mother’s parents were Martin Ocampo and Trinidad Barredo. Martin Ocampo was also the brother of Dr. Gervasio de Ocampo after whom the De Ocampo Memorial Center at Nagtahan was named. His grandparents lived in a two-storey adobe house on Barbosa Street which was already torn down. 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 minors, his mother could not spend one centavo without the permission of their attorney, Atty. Perfecto Gabriel. Once a month, he used to accompany his mother to the attorney’s office to render an account of efery centavo spent.

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.

One day, his aunt called up his first cousin, Evangelina, who at that time was already a well-known poet, as her father Fernando was. All Wilfrido wrote were scenes, dramatic scenes, tragic scenes. He used to write in Spanish.

So when Eva came, he gave her some of the scenes he had written. She came back days later and told his aunt, “Freddie has something.” What that something meant he could not decipher, he only suspected he had it. But because Eva was a poet and not a playwright, she had little experience with the essential nature of the theater which he calls actable theater. From the very beginning of his career, he always and constantly visualized his characters moving and acting on the stage.

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.

In June 1939, his aunt complained of pain in the throat. His brother Renato came to examine her and after that, he made no comment. Nights later, while they were taking supper, his aunt suddenly stopped sipping her soup and in a barely audible voice whispered, “I know what I have. Cancer.” Just like that, without any preliminaries.

This brought sadness to Wilfrido. His aunt’s death was a devastating experience for him. It took him about four or five months before he was able to sleep at night without crying, and even when he wrote his personal memoirs at the age of 47, he still, if he thought of his aunt deeply, burst into tears in the silence of his room.

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

Year’s 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. ] .

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).

In 1997, Guerrero was distinguished as a National Artist for Philippine Theatre. [Guerrero, Wilfrido Ma. "The Guerreros of Ermita: Family History and Personal Memoirs."Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1988.]

References

pecific

ee also

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