David Michael M. San Juan is a Filipino Marxist writer, researcher, activist and professor. He was chosen Mananaysay ng Taon (Essayist of the Year) 2009 and Makata ng Taon (Poet of the Year) 2010 by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF or Commission on the Filipino Language).
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Career
He is an associate professor at the Filipino/Philippine Studies Department of De La Salle University and is the 4th congressional nominee of ACT Teachers Partylist in the 2016 elections, which will have two seats in the incoming Philippine Congress.
San Juan is among the founders of the language advocacy group Tanggol Wika that successfully led initiatives to stop the implementation of a government order that abolishes Filipino language subject in Philippine colleges and universities. He is also the current public information officer of Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Private Schools (ACT-Private Schools) and president of the Pambansang Samahan sa Linggwistika at Literaturang Filipino (PSLLF/National Organization for Filipino Linguistics and Literature).
Awards
As a writer, he won various competitions and was chosen Mananaysay ng Taon (Essayist of the Year) 2009 and Makata ng Taon (Poet of the Year) 2010 by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF or Commission on the Filipino Language). He was also a finalist in a 2009 climate change-themed essay writing contest organized by the World Bank
Research
As a researcher, he is a staunch critic of the Philippine government's Labor Export Policy and K to 12 scheme. He also wrote a popular essay on "Noynoying" (Filipino coined term which means "government inaction" on social ills) which was translated in French. In 2012, he presented a paper on "wang-wang" (literally: "siren" or "alarm", figuratively "call to action" for citizens and government) which was declared the Philippines' "Salita ng Taon" (Word of the Year) in a conference organized by the Filipinas Institute of Translation. In 2014, he co-presented a paper on "endo" (end of contract; Filipino colloqual term for labor contractualization/flexibilization) with John Kelvin R. Briones, which was declared as the Philippines' 2nd Word of the Year then.