Leon Ma. Guerrero
León María Ignacio Agapito Guerrero y Francisco better known simply as Leon Ma. Guerrero III, was a Filipino diplomat and novelist, and was one of the foremost Filipino nationalists of his era. A partner in the law practice of senator Claro M. Recto, he became Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs during the Magsaysay administration. His then controversial advocacy of 'Asia for the Asians' and espousal of a realistic re-examination of relations with the United States are now commonly accepted as being ahead of their time.
"Leoni," as his family called him, was born on March 24, 1915 in Ermita, Manila to one of the nation's most prominent families. His father was the famed Dr. Alfredo Leon Maria Guerrero, and his mother was Filomena Francisco, the first Filipino woman pharmacist.
His paternal grandfather, for whom he was named, was Leon María Guerrero, the distinguished botanist, Malolos Congress delegate, and member of the first Philippine Assembly. His sister, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil would also be grow up to be a journalist and, later one of the pre-eminent figures of Philippine letters.
On retirement he was the country's senior career diplomat having served as Ambassador in London, Madrid, New Delhi, Mexico City and Belgrade. On June 19, 1982, only a fewdays before he died, he received the, Gawad Mabini, the highest award in the Philippine Foreign Service.
He held the rank of Knight Grand Cross of the Knights of Rizal. Among his many works are internationally acclaimed translations of José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo. He also wrote the biography of Rizal: The First Filipino.
His works are Twilight in Tokyo, Passion and Death of the USAFFE, Report from Europe, Alternatives for Asians,
An Asian on Asia, The First Filipino (Awarded first prize in the Rizal Biography Contest under the auspices of the José Rizal National Centennial Commission), El Si y El No. (Winner of the Premio Zobel), Las Dos Muertes de General Aguinaldo, Two Friars in Exodus (A Contribution to Studies in Philippine Church History), The Philippine Revolution by Apolinario Mabini, Today Began Yesterday, We Filipinos (Posthumous anthology of his writings), translations of: Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal and El Filibusterismo by José Rizal.
“It is safe to say that poetry cannot be translated.”
“But fidelity to language is often infidelity to thought.”
“For hero-worship often defeats its own ends; the boy who "cannot tell a lie," the boy who kept his finger in the hole in the dike, tend to become myths, admired perhaps but to be neither imitated nor equalled.”