NATIONAL ARTIST IN THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL ARTIST
IN PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE

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Zacarias Eugene Francisco Quino Arcellana
(September 6, 1916 August 1, 2002)

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 Zacarias Eugene Francisco Quino Arcellana
(September 6, 1916 August 1, 2002)
He was a writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist, and
teacher and one of the most important progenitors of
Filipino short stories in English. In 1990, he was declared
National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.
Francisco Arcellana was born September 6, 1916 in Sta.
Cruz, Manila to parents Jose Cabaneiro Arcellana and
Epifania Quino. He was the fourth of the 18 children.
Arcellana bloomed early in his craft and prospered from his
first schooling in Tondo until he entered the University of the
Philippines (UP) as a pre-medical student in 1932.

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 He developed an interest in writing while he
was studying at the Manila West High School (now
Torres High School) as an active staff of the the
school organ The Torres Torch .
He graduated with a degree in philosophy in
1939 and later went into medical school. He
married Emerenciana Yuvencio with whom he had
six children: Francisco Jr., Elizabeth, Jose Esteban,
Maria Epifania, Juan Eugenio , Emerenciana Jr.
Arcellana died from renal failure and pneumonia on
August 1, 2002 at the age of 85.