From a New York Times obit by Seth Mydans headlined “F. Sionil Jose, 97, Novelist Who Saw Heroism in Ordinary Filipinos, Dies”:

MANILA — F. Sionil Jose, the author of a dozen socially engaged novels and countless short stories and essays who was sometimes called the grand old man of Philippine letters and even the conscience of his nation, died here on Thursday. His family said he died at Makati Medical Center, where he had been awaiting an angioplasty operation.

Passionately committed to social justice, Mr. Jose often wrote of his anguish over what he saw as his country’s failure to overcome centuries of Spanish colonization, followed by further domination by the United States.