 Prior to winning the Premio Zóbel, Gómez won second place in the Premio Manuel Bernabé for an essay on the historical and nationalistic value and importance of the Spanish language.Gómez Rivera, as editor of "Nueva era", a weekly and only remaining Spanish language newspaper in the Philippines, has used his editorials to attack government officials whom he accuses as "vile puppets of U.S. WASP neocolonialism," claiming proofs to bolster his accusations.Through his body of literary works, he has urged Filipino readers to "rediscover" their Spanish past in order for them to gain knowledge of their true national identity.