Manuel Bernabé

Bernabé died on November 29, 1960. The Manuel Bernabé Research Writing Contest, which existed until the mid-1990s, was named after him.

As early as 1913, Bernabé had already won three awards from three different organizations for his works Himno al Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, El Zapote, and España en Filipinas. In 1926, he and Balmori were awarded the Premio Zóbel for their work Hombre y mujer. Because of his efforts to use the Spanish language as a medium of writing, he was conferred the award El Yugo y las Flechas in 1940 and Order of Isabella the Catholic in 1953. He was honored at the University of Santo Tomas as the best poet in Spanish in 1950.

After graduating from law, Bernabé joined the newspaper La Democracia and then La Vanguardia before becoming a contributor to Excelsior. He taught Spanish at the University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University, Philippine Law School and Colegio de San Juan de Letran. Bernabé was a lyric poet, and the usual subject of his poems are festivals and celebrations although he can cover any subject. The collection of poems written by him is titled Cantos del Tropico. Another book by Bernabé that also contains his writings is the Perfil de Cresta, which includes his translation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat and Claro M. Recto's portico. Bernabé's other poems are: No Mas Amor Que El Tuyo, El Imposible, Canta Poeta, Castidad, Mi Adios a Ilo-ilo and España en Filipinas. In a balagtasan where he and Jesus Balmori fought on the subject of El Recuerdo y el Olvido, no winner was revealed because they were both good but in the sound of applause after the balagtasan, it appeared that Bernabé attracted the audience.