Rafael Zulueta da Costa was a Filipino poet who won the 1940 Commonwealth Literary Award for Poetry. He graduated from De La Salle College with a specialization in business administration and worked as an executive at San Miguel Brewery. Some of his notable published works include his first collection of poems titled "First Leaves" and "Like the Molave and Other Poems," in which the poem "Like the Molave" won first prize in the 1940 Commonwealth Literary Contest. The poem calls upon the spirit of Jose Rizal to inspire the Filipino people to continue fighting for freedom and become resilient like the molave tree.