Retired UP Professor of English Vivencio R. Jose passed on at around 3:00 p.m of December 6 in his ancestral house in San Nicolas, Gapan, Nueva Ecija. He is the founding Director of UP’s PhD Philippine Studies Program (reorganized years later as the UP Diliman Tri-College PhD Philippine Studies program). He also served as Director, UP Press. Later, he served as Chair, Department of English and Comparative Literature (UP Diliman, 1986-1988), Dean, College of Arts and Letters (UP Diliman, 1988-1991), and Secretary of the University and of the Board of Regents (UP System, August 1993-December 1995).
He is the author of The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna (Philippine Social Sciences and Humanities Review 36, 1972 and Solar Publishing, 1991) and Heneral Luna: The Story Behind the Movie (Anvil, 2018). The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna became the basis for the well-regarded film “Heneral Luna”, directed by Jerrold Tarog and produced by Artikulo Uno Productions (2015). Dr. Jose also worked as a consultant for the United Nations University (Tokyo) and UNESCO (Paris).
Of The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna, says John N. Schumacher: “…it is welcome as the first scholarly full-length biography of this major figure of the Revolutionary period, the most prominent Filipino to play a role both in the Propaganda Movement and the Revolution itself. For a study of the life of Antonio Luna is one of the most important keys to clarifying the relation between the two phases of the nationalist struggle. Though Vivencio Jose is a professor of literature rather than of history, his command of the historical sources and bibliography on Luna is impressive, and his biography provides ample information on most of the facts of Luna’s life. Jose has likewise made a commendable effort not to limit the scope of his biography to the subject himself, but to place him within the wider context of the Revolution as a whole.” (Schumacher, John N., Philippine Studies vol. 24, no. 1, 1976: 122–125).
Paalam at maraming salamat, Sir Ven 🙏
Update: The remains of Dr. Vivencio R. Jose lie in state at St. Peter Chapels, in Sto Nino, Gapan, Nueva Ecija.