Tomás Pinpin

The exact dates of birth and death as well as his parentage are unknown, because in 1646, Dutch looters raided his home town of Abucay and burned the parish records.

In 1610 he printed the book Arte y Reglas de la Lengua Tagala, by his mentor Father Francisco Blancas de San Jose, and in the same year his famous Librong Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang Uicang Castilla was printed by his assistant, Diego Talaghay.

The prologue read: "Let us therefore study, my country men, for although the art of learning is somewhat difficult, yet if we are persevering, we shall soon improve our knowledge.

[2]Although the Librong Pagaaralan was the first printed book written by a Filipino in the local Tagalog language, it was not the first one in history, as it had been preceded by Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Espanola y Tagala, that had been printed in Tagalog, in both Latin script and the commonly used Baybayin script of the natives of the time, in the year 1593.

In 1637 he published and printed what is thought to be the first newspaper in the Philippines, the 14-page Sucesos Felices, that reported mainly on Spanish military victories.