Norberto Romuáldez
Encyclopedia
Norberto Romuáldez y López (June 6, 1875 - November 4, 1941) (often referred to as Norberto Romuáldez, Sr. to distinguish him from his son with the same name) was a Philippine
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 writer, politician, jurist, and statesman. He was the first Lopez-Romuáldez to attain national prominence, and is deemed the "Father of the Law on the National Language
Filipino language
This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...

". He was the eldest son of Doña Trinidad Lopez- Romualdez, the Romualdez grand matriarch, and uncle of Imelda Romualdez Marcos, the daughter of his youngest brother Vicente Orestes Lopez Romualdez.

Born to the prominent Lopez clan of Leyete (originally from Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

 in the Andalusian region of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

), he is the grand son of Spanish friar and silversmith Don Francisco Lopez. Romuáldez grew up in Leyte, where the Lopez family owned vast coconut and abaca plantations, and first achieved status as a writer in the Waray-Waray language
Waray-Waray language
Wáray-Wáray or Samarnon is a language spoken in the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, and in some parts of the Leyte and Biliran in the Philippines...

. His first Waray zarzuela was An Pagtabang ni San Miguel (The Aid of Saint Michael).

In 1908, Romuáldez wrote Bisayan Grammar and Notes on Bisayan Rhetoric and Poetic and Filipino Dialectology, a treatise on the grammar of the Waray-Waray language
Waray-Waray language
Wáray-Wáray or Samarnon is a language spoken in the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, and in some parts of the Leyte and Biliran in the Philippines...

. The following year (1909) he founded the Sanghiran san Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte (Academy of the Visayan Language of Samar and Leyte) for the purpose of promoting and intellectualizing Waray-Waray. Romuáldez was also fluent in other languages like Spanish
Spanish in the Philippines
Spanish was imposed as an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish rule since the times of Miguel López de Legazpi in the late 16th century, through American rule and independence, until the change of Constitution in 1973...

, English
Philippine English
Philippine English is the variety of English used in the Philippines by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos. English is taught in schools as one of the two official languages of the country, the other being Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog.English is used in education,...

, and Cebuano
Cebuano language
Cebuano, referred to by most of its speakers as Bisaya , is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people mostly in the Central Visayas. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Bisayan subgroup and is closely related to other Filipino...

.

Romuáldez served as an Associate Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
An Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines is one of 15 members of the Philippine Supreme Court, the highest court in the Philippines. The Chief Justice presides over the High Court, but carries only 1 of the 15 votes in the court...

 of the Philippine Supreme Court during the American Period. He was also a participant in the 1934-1935 Constitutional Convention which resulted in the 1935 Constitution for the Philippine Commonwealth.

Romuáldez died in 1941 after an undisclosed illness.

Drama

  • An Pagtabang ni San Miguel (The Aid of Saint Michael)
  • An Anak han Manaranggot (The Tuba Gatherer's Child)

See also

  • Lope K. Santos
    Lope K. Santos
    Lope K. Santos was a Tagalog language writer from the Philippines. Aside from being a writer, he was also a lawyer, politician, critic, labor leader and considered as "Father of the Filipino Grammar". He was a freemason....

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