Virgilio S. Almario

Aside from being a critic, Almario engaged in translating and editing. He has translated the best contemporary poets of the world. He has also translated for theater production the plays of Nick Joaquin, Bertolt Brecht, Euripides and Maxim Gorki. Other important translations include the famous works of the Philippines' national hero, José Rizal, namely Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo. For these two, he was awarded the 1999 award for translation by the Manila Critics Circle.

He only took his M.A. in Filipino in 1974 at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

A prolific writer, he spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry together with Mangahas and Antonio. His earliest pieces of literary criticism were collected in Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina (1972), now considered the first book of literary criticism in Filipino. Later, in the years of martial law, he set aside modernism and formalism and took interest in nationalism, politics and activist movement. As a critic, his critical works deal with the issue of national language.

He was an instructor at the Lagao Central Elementary School from 1969 to 1972. In 2003, he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of the Philippines Diliman. On June 25 of the same year, he was proclaimed National Artist for Literature.

Virgilio Senadrin Almario (born March 9, 1944), better known by his pen name Rio Alma, is a Filipino visual artist, author, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines. He formerly served as the chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the government agency mandated to promote and standardize the use of the Filipino language. On January 5, 2017, Almario was also elected as the chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).