MADRID - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa were awarded Monday a top prize in Spain for their efforts to promote the Spanish language and culture, the jury said.

Arroyo was granted the Don Quixote of the Mancha Award for her government's decision to reintroduce Spanish language training at public schools in the Philippines, a former Spanish colony of around 100 million people.

The jury said Llosa, one of Latin America's best known authors, was awarded the prize for his "mastery and creative use" of the Spanish language.

Arroyo won the prize for "best institutional contribution" while Llosa won it for "outstanding individual career". They will officially receive the award at a ceremony held in Toledo, Spain's picturesque former capital, in October.

The award was given out last year for the first time and it carries a cash prize of 25,000 euros (35,000 dollars) for each winner. It is financed by the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha and the private Fundacion Santillana.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the award in 2008 for his decision to make Spanish language education mandatory in public schools in Brazil, the only Portuguese-speaking nation in Latin America, while Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes won it for boosting the heritage of Spanish.

In 1987 the Philippines abolished Spanish as one of its official languages as well as a requirement that college students had learn it.

The language has since largely vanished from everyday use in the Southeast Asian nation, with English and the local languages now commonly used.

Unlike in Madrid's colonies in Latin America, the Spanish language was never as widespread in the Philippines, mainly because of the small number of Spanish settlers in the archipelago.

English was introduced to the country when it passed from Spanish to American control after the Spanish-American war of 1898.