8 - Life and Works of Alejandro R. Roces

Alejandro "Anding" Reyes Roces (13 July, 1924 - 23 May 2011)

Mr. Roces was a Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of the Philippines for literature. He served as Secretary of Education from 1961 to 1965, during the term of Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal.

The Manila-born Roces was married to Irene Yorston Viola (granddaughter of Maximo Viola) with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth Roces-Pedrosa. He attended elementary and high school at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), before moving to the University of Arizona and then Arizona State University for his tertiary education. He graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts and, not long after, attained his M.A. from Far Eastern University (FEU) back in the Philippines. He has since received honorary doctorates from Tokyo University, Baguio's St. Louis University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), and the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU). He was also a captain in the Marking's Guerilla during World War II and a columnist in Philippine dailies such as the Manila Chronicle and the Manila Times. He was also previously the President of the Manila Bulletin and of the CAP College Foundation.

In 2001, Anding was appointed as Chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). He also became a member of the Board of Trustees of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and maintained a column in the Philippine Star called Roces and Thorns.

Roces became a writer by accident. While an undergraduate at Arizona he kept telling stories to his American roommate, who happened to be a writer, in the hope that the latter might use them as material for his stories, but the American told him one day to write them up himself. Roces did. His first attempt, We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers, won a literary award from the University of Arizona. SInce then he has won five other awards from his alma mater. His stories have been published in several American magazines: The Arizona Quarterly, Southwest Review, New Mexico Quarterly and the Pacific Spectator, being the first Filipino writer to break into the pages of the last mentioned magazine.

So much about his life, I will now go on with his literary works.

We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers won as Best Short Story during his freshman year in the University of Arizona. My Brother's Peculiar Chicken was listed as Martha Foley's Best American Stories among the most distinctive for years 1948 and 1951. Published books, Of Cocks and Kites (1959), Fiesta (1980), and Something To Crow (2005).




Through the years, Roces has won numerous awards, inluding the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award, the Diwa ng Lahi Award, the Tanging Parangal of the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining, and the Rizal Pro Patia Award. He was finally bestowed the honor as National Artist of Literature on the 25th of June 2003.

When once asked for a piece of advice on becoming a famous literary figure, Roces said,

"You cannot be a great writer, first, you have to be a good person."

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