The First Filipino Academician: Epifanio de los Santos

First Filipino of native parentage to be admitted in the Spanish Royal Academy of Language on the basis of a single work: "Literatura Tagala, " a brief survey of Tagalog literature. Even before he wrote history, he was already a member of Spanish Royal Academy of History upon the recommendation of Marcelino Menendez Pelayo, the great Spanish historian-philosoper. The academicos of Madrid greatly admired reading his early works also have elected him as member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Literature. This  versatile and talented scholar was also a bibliophile reputed to have a collection in his private library of  old  books with movable types published in the Philippines  as early as 1602 and a holographic pamphlet that saw  print in 1593.