Salvador Ponce Lopez born in
Currimao, Ilocos NorteCurrimao is a 5th class municipality in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 11,305 people in 2,126 households...
, was an
Ilokano writerThere are hundreds of published Ilokano writers from the time Ilokano literature emerged through the efforts of Ilokano ilustrados in the 18th century to the present. The following list of Ilokano writers is not extensive nor comprehensive enough to be considered a directory...
, journalist, educator, diplomat, and statesman.
He studied at the
University of the PhilippinesThe ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1931 and a Master of Arts degree, also in philosophy, in 1933. During his UP days, he became a drama critic for the Philippine Collegian and was a member of the
Upsilon Sigma Phi-History:The Upsilon Sigma Phi is the oldest Greek-letter fraternity in Asia . Nebulously formed in 1918.It was formally organized on November 19, 1920 in a meeting held at the Metropolitan Restaurant in Intramuros. Four months later, on March 24, 1921, the Greek letters ΥΣΦ standing for the...
. From 1933 to 1936, he taught literature and journalism at the
University of ManilaThe University of Manila is a university located in the heart of Sampaloc in Manila, Philippines, more commonly known as the University Belt area. It was founded in 1913 by five young college students, the three de Los santos siblings and two of their friends.-External links:*...
. He also became a daily columnist and magazine editor of the Philippine Herald until World War 2.
In 1940, Lopez' essay
"Literature and Society" won in the Commonwealth Literary Awards. This essay posited that art must have substance and that poet
Jose Garcia VillaJose Garcia Villa was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken...
's adherence to "art for art's sake" is decadent. The essay provoked debates, the discussion centered on proletarian literature, i.e., engaged or committed literature versus the art for art’s sake literary orientation.
He was appointed by President
Diosdado MacapagalDiosdado Pangan Macapagal was the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970...
as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and was ambassador to the United Nations for six years before reassigned to France for seven years.
Lopez was the president of the University of the Philippines from 1969 to 1975. And he established a system of democratic consultation in which decisions such as promotions and appointments were made through greater participation by the faculty and administrative personnel; he also reorganized U.P. into the U.P. System. It was during his presidency that U.P. students were politically radicalized, launching mass protests against the
MarcosFerdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...
regime, from the so-called "
First Quarter StormThe First Quarter Storm was a period of leftist unrest in the Philippines, composed of a series of heavy demonstrations, protests, and marches against the government from January to March 1970, or the first quarter of 1970...
" in 1970 to the "Diliman commune" in 1971. During the Diliman Commune, Lopez called the students, faculty, and employees to defend UP and its autonomy from militarization, since the military wanted to occupy the campus, searching for alleged leftists as well as activists opposing them. Many militants, out of his defense of UP's autonomy and democracy, considered him as a progressive and a militant member of the UP academe.