Amando Osório

He was born in Dalaguete, Cebu, Philippines on February 8, 1890[1] to Ricardo Osório and Filomena Navarrete, and acquired education in Dalaguete, Argao, Cebu High School (presently Abellana National School) and Philippine School of Arts and Trades.[2] He later attended in Colegio-Seminario de San Carlos (presently University of San Carlos),[3] Liceo de Manila, and the Colegia Mercantil. His marriage to Honorata Buenconsejo on July 9, 1918 bore six children namely Antonia, Carmen, Corazon, Inocencia, Ricardo, and Rodolfo.[2]

A bilingual writer (Cebuano and Spanish)[3] and using the pen names Gerundio Amar and Omanad[3] (after the hero in Daylinda),[4] Osório wrote a book of poetry,[3] a 133-page novel entitled Daylinda, Ang Walay Palad (Daylinda, the Unfortunate),[4] and 12 plays.[3] was also called the Visayan Horace on the preface of his collection of poems[4] and one of the outstanding pre-World War II poets.[5][6]

He wrote for Cebuano prewar periodicals including Vicente Sotto's Ang Suga and the magazine Babaye, where his poem Bitoon sa akong Yuta (Star of my Hometown) was published in 1931.[3] On that same year, he was awarded the Ranudo Gold medal for poetry,[4] a recognition that was named after the father of Cebuano poetry, Vicente Ranudo.[3]

Additionally, he edited the four-page trilingual periodical La Revolucion (The Revolution) that saw print from 1910 until 1941.[7][8] Other written works included Gramatikay, Binisaya, Bansay bansay sa Binisaya, and Pamalak sa Binisaya.[2]

The novel Daylinda, published in 1913, became a bestseller. It sold 3,000 copies and Bisaya magazine serialized it in 1947. It was the third novel written in Cebuano language after Juan Villagonzalo's Walay Igsoon (Without a Brother) and Uldarico Alviola's Felicitas, and the first historical fiction in Cebuano literature. Set in pre-Spanish period, it is a romantic story where the hero perished in the Battle of Mactan.[4] It is characterized as a written work that exhibited the conventions of costumbrismo,[9] and literary critic Erlinda Alburo commented that it depicted patriotic pride on its focus on the battle where Ferdinand Magellan was defeated and slain.[4]

Osório later on wrote plays and even translated Daylinda into a play that was staged in Bohol in 1914 and in the town of Ronda in 1917. Patria Amada (Beloved Homeland), a historical play and considered to be his dramatic masterpiece, was performed in 1916.[4]

He was the municipal president (present-day equivalent of mayor) of the town of Dalaguete for two terms[2] and served as Cebu Deputy Governor.[10][11] He was also elected as head of Nacionalista Party's Dalaguete chapter, and as president of Cebu's assembly of municipal presidents.[2]

• The A. Osorio Street in the town of Dalaguete, Cebu was named after him.[3]

• Alburo, Erlinda Kintanar, History and the Prewar Cebuano Novel, Philippine Studies: Ateneo de Manila University vol 55 no. 4 (2007): 479–508
• Lozada. Mision, Nenita, A study and evaluation of the dramatic works of Amando Osorio y Navarette

• Cebuano Studies Center: Amando Osorio