Iluminado Lucente (May 14, 1883 - February 14, 1960) was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

writer, primarily writing poetry and drama in the Waray language. He is considered to be one of the finest writers in the Waray language. Lucente was a member of the '' Sanghiran san Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte'' (Academy of the Visayan Language of Samar and Leyte). His most famous work is the poem ''An Iroy Nga Tuna'' (The Motherland). Lucente was born on May 14, 1883 into a well-off family in Palo,

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

. His father was Curicoco Lucente and his mother was Aurora Garcia. His family's status allowed him to be tutored privately before he attended university in Manila. In 1906, Lucente established the periodical ''An Kaadlawon'' (The Day Break), becoming responsible for the proliferation of

Waray literature Earliest accounts of this literature date back to 1668 when a Spanish Jesuit by the name of Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alzina documented the poetic forms such as the ''candu'', ''haya'', ''ambahan'', ''canogon'', ''bical'', ''balac'', ''siday'' and '' a ...

in the years to come. Becoming mayor of

Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban ( war, Syudad han Tacloban; fil, Lungsod ng Tacloban), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, a ...

in 1912, he was elected to the Philippine Congress representing Leyte and later became Secretary to the Governor, then Secretary of the Senate, for Senate president Francisco Enage. He wrote about 30 plays, and was known for both

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

using character stereotypes and linguistic humor, which often took the form of plays on language, combining the sounds of Spanish, English and Waray.

Works

Poetry

*''An Iroy Nga Tuna'' (1945) *''Baga Durogas Ngan Baga Tinuod'' (1939) *''Hangin Gad La'' (1960) *''Pilipinas'' (1904) *''Gugma'' (1939) *''Panhayhay (Ginsa-aran)'' *''Bumangon Ka, Pepe!'' (1909) *''Debelopmental Nga Istorya'' *''It's Just the Wind''.

Drama

*''Abugho'' (1924) *''An Duha nga Sportsmen'' (1926) *''Diri Daraga, Diri Balo, Diri Inasaw-an'' ("Not a Maiden, Not a Widow, Not a Married Woman", 1929) *''Up Limit Pati An Gugma'' ("Even Love Is Off Limits", 1945)

References

1883 births 1960 deaths Filipino writers Visayan writers Waray-language writers {{Philippines-writer-stub