Guillermo Gómez Rivera
| Guillermo Gómez Rivera | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 12, 1936 Dingle, Iloilo, Philippines |
| Occupation | Writer, journalist, poet, playwright, historian, linguist |
| Language |
Filipino Spanish English Hiligaynon |
| Citizenship | Filipino |
| Alma mater |
University of San Agustin Colegio de San Juan de Letran |
Guillermo Gómez Rivera (Spanish: [ɡiˈʎeɾmo ˈɣomes riˈβeɾa]; born 12 September 1936) is a Spanish Filipino multilingual author, historian, educator and linguistic scholar whose lifelong work has been devoted to the often controversial movement to preserve Spanish culture as an important element of the Filipino identity.
He is the most senior academic director of the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española of the Real Academia Española. In 1975, he was awarded the Premio Zóbel, the Philippines' highest literary honor bestowed on the best works in Spanish. Due to his expertise in the Spanish language as well as his knowledge of various Philippine languages, including Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Tagalog and Chabacano, he was appointed secretary of the Commission on the Filipino Language Committee of the Philippine Constitutional Convention (1971–73).
As a Spanish professor at Adamson University he authored textbooks on Spanish grammar, speech and composition while working for San Miguel Corporation, a food conglomerate. He used his academic position to try to influence national debates on the question of whether or not Spanish should be retained as a compulsory subject in Philippine high schools and universities, a battle that many pro-Spanish advocates believe they had lost with the passage of the 1987 Constitution but which some Hispanists say started with the 1973 Constitution.
Having done extensive research on Spanish dances, including flamenco and Sevillanas, he formed a dance school to teach students of all ages an appreciation of Spanish culture through the dance art. He traveled to Spain to improve his skills, learning from Spanish masters of these dance forms. He is considered a maestro de flamenco in the Philippines.
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