Salvador Ponce Lopez (May 27, 1911 – October 18, 1993), born in

Currimao, Ilocos Norte Currimao, officially the Municipality of Currimao ( ilo, Ili ti Currimao; fil, Bayan ng Currimao), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 12,215 people. It i ...

, was a Filipino writer, journalist, educator, diplomat and statesman. He studied at the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...

(UP) and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1931 and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1933. At UP, he was drama critic for the

Philippine Collegian The ''Philippine Collegian'' is the official weekly student publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman. It is also commonly known to the university's students as ''Kulê'' (). It is known for its radical, national democratic, often ...

and member of

Upsilon Sigma Phi The Upsilon Sigma Phi () is the oldest Greek-letter organization and fraternity in Asia. Founded in 1918, it is also the oldest student organization in continuous existence in the University of the Philippines. It has two chapters — a single ch ...

. From 1933 to 1936, Lopez taught literature and journalism at the

University of Manila , mottoeng = ''Country Science and Virtue'' , type = Private Non-sectarian Research Coeducational Basic and Higher education institution , established = , founders = , academic_affili ...

. He also became a daily columnist and magazine editor of the Philippine Herald until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1940, Lopez's essay "Literature and Society" won the Commonwealth Literary Awards. His essay posited that art must have substance and that poet José García Villa's adherence to "art for art's sake" is decadent. The essay provoked debates, the discussion centering on

proletarian literature Proletarian literature refers here to the literature created by left-wing writers mainly for the class-consciousness, class-conscious proletariat. Though the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' states that because it "is essentially an intended device of ...

, i.e., engaged or committed literature versus the orientation of literature as an art for the sake of art itself. He was appointed by President Diosdado Macapagal as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and then became ambassador to the United Nations for six years before being reassigned to France for seven years. He would also serve as Chairperson of the

United Nations Commission on Human Rights The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of ...

. Lopez was the president of the University of the Philippines from 1969 to 1975. He established a system of democratic consultation wherein decisions such as promotions and appointments were made through greater participation by faculty and administrative personnel; he also reorganized UP into the UP System. It was during Lopez's presidency that UP students were politically radicalized, launching mass protests against the

Marcos Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélson Marcos, Portug ...

regime right from the so-called "

First Quarter Storm The First Quarter Storm ( fil, Sigwa ng Unang Sangkapat), often shortened into the acronym FQS, was a period of civil unrest in the Philippines which took place during the "first quarter of the year 1970". It included a series of demonstrations, ...

" in 1970 to the "

Diliman commune The Diliman Commune was an uprising led by the students, faculty members, and residents of the University of the Philippines Diliman, together with transport workers, on February 1–9, 1971, in protest of the three centavo increase in oil pri ...

" in 1971. During the latter, Lopez called on all UP students, faculty, and employees to defend the university and its autonomy from Marcos's militarization, as the military sought to occupy the campus in search of alleged leftists, activists, and other opponents of the regime. Due to his defense of UP's autonomy and democracy, many considered him a progressive and a militant member of the UP academe.

References

Media Museum Who's Who in Print Journalism - Salvador P. Lopez
Retrieved September 29, 2005. * Quindoza-Santiago, Dr. Lilia
Philippine Literature during the American Period
Retrieved September 29, 2005. * Godinez-Ortega, Christine F

Retrieved September 29, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Salvador Ponce 1911 births 1993 deaths Filipino educators Filipino writers People from Ilocos Norte University of the Philippines alumni Secretaries of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines University of the Philippines Permanent Representatives of the Philippines to the United Nations Ambassadors of the Philippines to France Macapagal administration cabinet members Presidents of universities and colleges in the Philippines