State of the art

Art isn't easy, goes a song from the American musical ‘Sunday In the Park With George'.

Art has always struggled for recognition and relevance in the Philippines. With Imelda Marcos's quest for "the good, the true, and the beautiful," the late '60s and '70s saw a revived interest in the arts. In that time the Cultural Center of the Philippines was built, along with several institutions and programs that survived the People Power Revolution and still exist today.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's alleged "tampering" of the National Artist choices elicited fierce reaction from the moment the announcements were made. For the first time, the governing bodies of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) were at odds with the decision from the Palace.

The CCP and NCCA claim that Arroyo added four names to the list (Pitoy Moreno for Fashion Design, Cecile Guidote-Alvarez for Theater, Francisco Mañosa for Architecture, and Carlo J. Caparas for Visual Arts and Film) while subtracting a name (Ramon Santos for Music) from the final list of awardees without consulting them.

Only three out of the seven awardees were chosen by CCP and NCCA. The rest were added by the Arroyo administration, who also dropped Ramon Santos, even though he had the most number of votes from the panel.

Failure of the process

Among the most controversial of the additions is Carlo J. Caparas, best known for B-grade chop-chop movies such as the Vizconde Massacre series in the '90s. Caparas was named a National Artist for Visual Arts, purportedly for his work in Philippine comics. Yet these works were all illustrated by other artists; Caparas did not draw any of his comic book titles.

Caparas has defended his body of work as justice stories, and his status of National Artist through masa recognition. "A National Artist is someone whose art is known nationwide. If we are only going to get artists from one sector or from the elite, then they should call it ‘Sectoral National Artist' or ‘Elitist National Artist,'" he said.

For those closer to the industry, the bigger concern is the appointment of Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, who currently heads the NCCA. On NCCA's website, it states "NCCA and CCP Board members and consultants and NCCA and CCP officers and staff are automatically disqualified from being nominated as National Artist."

History and beginnings

The Order of the National Artists was formed by virtue of Proclamation 1001 on April 27, 1972, in the interest of developing and preserving Philippine art. It was first given posthumously to painter Fernando Amorsolo.

The title is awarded to those who have contributed to and developed the local art scene in the fields of visual art, theatre, architecture, allied arts, literature, film, and broadcast arts. The CCP Board of Trustees was first tasked to choose who would receive the award, and to manage the privileges that came with it. In those days, it was accepted that the final word on the awardees rested with the president, Ferdinand Marcos.

In 1992, with the founding of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts under the Aquino administration, the responsibility for deliberating on the National Artist nominees were shared by both bodies. Nominations are gathered from foundations or institutions then sent to the National Artist Secretariat.

The Secretariat prepares a list of nominees with experts in different art fields. After undergoing a screening process by another team of experts, the list is sent to the NCCA and the CCP for the final selection before being sent to the President.

In the eye of the beholder

No awarding body is ever immune from controversy. There have often been complaints of bias and deserving nominees being are ignored. Levi Celerio for instance, known for Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit, was said to have been overlooked in his first few nominations and did not receive the award until 1997. Repertory Philippines founder Zenaida Amador was nominated for National Artist but is rumored to have been rejected because she worked with imported and foreign material. Icons of the local komiks industry, such as Mars Ravelo, Francisco Coching, and Larry Alcala, have yet to be honored.

Ricky Abad, head of Ateneo de Manila University's Theater Arts Program, observed that the naming of National Artists is far from objective. According to him, artists from the centers of power like Metro Manila have numerous opportunities to show their works and get known so they are more likely to be chosen. "In which case, the novelist or poet who writes, say, in Kankanay, no matter how good he or she is, may not have national impact because few read his or her works."

Tension between what is considered considered "high art" and "pop culture" (movie stars, for example) complicate the discussions. Abad stated, however, "All awards have biases of one sort or the other. The question is, can we live with those biases at the moment?"

Guidote-Alvarez defended herself in the press, saying that she was in the process long before she joined NCCA, and that she has tried to resign from the NCCA since 2007. She also told GMA News.TV, ""Before you make a judgment, read my achievements first as an artist. Was I an idiot before I became a national artist?"

"It's a clear conflict of interest," said Isabelle Martinez, an actress with Philippine High School for the Arts alumni group, Sipat Lawin Ensemble. Martinez pointed out that even though President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not a connoisseur of the arts and is not known to frequent art-related events, she still has power as president over who shall be awarded.

Even in the rules of the NCCA, it is not clearly stated how much involvement the president has in the process. The Ramos and Estrada administrations added categories and awardees, but never subtracted or deviated from the recommendations of the committees.

Arroyo defended her additions to the list as being endorsed by a Malacañang Honors Committee, formed under Executive Order 236 signed by Arroyo on September 19, 2003. The committee's sole purpose is to oversee government and national awards including the awarding for National Artist.

The Honors Committee consists of the Executive Secretary, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Head of the Presidential Management Staff, the Presidential Assistant for Historical Affairs, Chief of Presidential Protocol and Chief of Protocol and State Visits.

According to EO 236, the NCCA and CCP merely recommend eligible nominees. The order was issued in 2003, but only in the face of this uproar has it been contested and challenged.

"Death of the National Artist Award"

The country's artists gathered to protest these events at a rally held at the CCP Complex on Friday, August 7. The rally was styled as a "necrological service" mourning the death of the National Artist Title. The central issue at the protest seemed to be the need to limit how much influence and control the executive body has over the nominations.

This issue has also become the tipping point for many of Arroyo's other unsolved issues, from "Hello Garci" to the ZTE-NBN Scandal, and has been likened to the practice of electoral cheating known as dagdag-bawas.

Those awarded the Order of National Artist, contrary to the title, remain obscure to most of the Filipino people. The most recognizable are the likes of Fernando Amorsolo and action star Fernando Poe Jr., but the rest are barely known. Less people are likely to recognize the work done by National Artists in the archiving of Philippine literature (Bienvenido Lumbera), and folk dances (Francisca Reyes Aquino). As art fights for its significance in the country, in this issue it also fights for its dignity.

The Order of National Artist, no matter how obscure, was still a mark of prestige. Since Arroyo's involvement, anyone can be a national artist.

Photo: “National Artist award protest at CCP” by Ofelia Sta. Maria for Vibal Foundation, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved

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