Professional Documents
Culture Documents
having
made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts. Such Filipinos are announced, by virtue of a
Presidential Proclamation, as National Artist or in Filipino, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining. They are then
conferred membership in the Order of National Artists, the regalia of which is an ornate, gilden collar of honor. In
addition to the collar, each newly proclaimed member of the Order is given a citation that is presented during the
awardees' conferment ceremonies. The Cultural Center of the Philippines then hosts a Memorabilia Exhibit and Gabi
ng Parangal (A Night of Tributes) for the National Artists at the Tanghalang Pambansa. More
here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Artist_of_the_Philippines
** Controversy marred the recognition of the following individuals as they were unilaterally awarded by Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo (in the exercise of "presidential prerogative") despite the rejection of the screening committee and
the artistic community.
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Nick Joaquin
National Artist for Literature (1976)
(May 4, 1917 April 29, 2004)
Before 1521 we could have been anything and everything not Filipino; after 1565 we
can be nothing but Filipino. Culture and History, 1988
Nick Joaquin, is regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino writer in English
writing so variedly and so well about so many aspects of the Filipino. Nick Joaquin has
also enriched the English language with critics coining Joaquinesque to describe his
baroque Spanish-flavored English or his reinventions of English based on Filipinisms.
Aside from his handling of language, Bienvenido Lumbera writes that Nick Joaquins
significance in Philippine literature involves his exploration of the Philippine colonial past
under Spain and his probing into the psychology of social changes as seen by the
young, as exemplified in stories such as Doa Jeronima,Candidos
Apocalypse and The Order of Melchizedek. Nick Joaquin has written plays, novels,
poems, short stories and essays including reportage and journalism. As a journalist,
Nick Joaquin uses the nome de guerre Quijano de Manila but whether he is writing
literature or journalism, fellow National Artist Francisco Arcellana opines that it is
always of the highest skill and quality.
Among his voluminous works are The Woman Who Had Two Navels, A Portrait of the
Artist as Filipino, Manila, My Manila: A History for the Young, The Ballad of the
Five Battles, Rizal in Saga, Almanac for Manileos, Cave and Shadows.
Nick Joaquin died April 29, 2004.
Carlos P. Romulo
Image credit: LIFE Photo Collection
National Artist for Literature (1982)
(January 14, 1899 December 15, 1985)
Carlos P. Romulos multifaceted career spanned 50 years of public service as
educator, soldier, university president, journalist and diplomat. It is common knowledge
that he was the first Asian president of the United Nations General Assembly, then
Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C., and later minister of foreign affairs.
Essentially though, Romulo was very much into writing: he was a reporter at 16, a
newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He was the only Asian to win
Americas coveted Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for a series of articles predicting the
outbreak of World War II. Romulo, in all, wrote and published 18 books, a range of
literary
works
which
included The
United (novel), I
Walked
with
Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, Mother America, I See the
Philippines Rise (war-time memoirs).
His other books include his memoirs of his many years affiliations with United Nations
(UN),Forty Years: A Third World Soldier at the UN, and The Philippine Presidents,
his oral history of his experiences serving all the Philippine presidents.
the Ateneo Experimental Theater (its organizer and administrator as well), he took on
Teatro Pilipino. It was to Teatro Pilipino which he left a considerable amount of work
reviving traditional Filipino drama by re-staging old theater forms like the sarswela and
opening a treasure-house of contemporary Western drama. It was the excellence and
beauty of his practice that claimed for theater a place among the arts in the Philippines
in the 1960s.
Aside from his collections of poetry (Sitsit sa Kuliglig, Dunung Dunungan, Kristal
na Uniberso, A Trick of Mirrors) among his works were the following: film scripts
for Now and Forever, Gamitin Mo Ako, Bayad Puri and Milagros; sarswelas Ang
Mestisa, Ako, Ang Kiri, Ana Maria; the komedya Orosman at Zafira; and Larawan,
the musical.
sa Sining in 1990. The awards attest to his triumph in appropriating the English
language to express, reflect and shape Philippine culture and Philippine sensibility. He
became U.P.s International-Writer-In-Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers
of the U.P. Creative Writing Center. In 1987, U.P. conferred on him the Doctor of
Humane Letters, honoris causa, its highest academic recognition.
Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez include the following: The Winds of April, Seven Hills
Away, Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories, The Bamboo
Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty -One
Stories, The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, Work on the Mountain, The Novel of
Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories.
Carlos Quirino
1st Filipino National Artist in Historical Literature
Philippine National Artist in Historical Literature (1997)
National Artist for Historical Literature (1997)
(January 14, 1910 May 20, 1999)
Carlos Quirino, biographer, has the distinction of having written one of the earliest
biographies of Jose Rizal titled The Great Malayan. Quirinos books and articles span
the whole gamut of Philippine history and culturefrom Bonifacios trial to Aguinaldos
biography, from Philippine cartography to culinary arts, from cash crops to tycoons and
presidents lives, among so many subjects. In 1997, Pres. Fidel Ramos created
historical literature as a new category in the National Artist Awards and Quirino was its
first recipient. He made a record earlier on when he became the very first Filipino
correspondent for the United Press Institute.
His book Maps and Views of Old Manila is considered as the best book on the
subject. His other books includeQuezon, Man of Destiny, Magsaysay of the
Philippines, Lives of the Philippine Presidents, Philippine Cartography, The
History of Philippine Sugar Industry, Filipino Heritage: The Making of a
Nation, Filipinos at War: The Fight for Freedom from Mactan to EDSA.
F. Sionil Jose
National Artist for Literature (2001)
F. Sionil Joses writings since the late 60s, when taken collectively can best be
described as epic. Its sheer volume puts him on the forefront of Philippine writing in
English. But ultimately, it is the consistent espousal of the aspirations of the Filipinofor
national sovereignty and social justicethat guarantees the value of his oeuvre.
In the five-novel masterpiece, the Rosales saga, consisting of The Pretenders, Tree,
My Brother, My Executioner, Mass, and Po-on, he captures the sweep of Philippine
history while simultaneously narrating the lives of generations of the Samsons whose
personal lives intertwine with the social struggles of the nation. Because of their
international appeal, his works, including his many short stories, have been published
and translated into various languages.
F. Sionil Jose is also a publisher, lecturer on cultural issues, and the founder of the
Philippine chapter of the international organization PEN. He was bestowed the CCP
Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999; the Outstanding Fulbrighters Award for
Literature in 1988; and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and
Creative Communication Arts in 1980.
Virgilio S. Almario
National Artist for Literature (2003)
Virgilio S. Almario, also known as Rio Alma, is a poet, literary historian and critic, who
has revived and reinvented traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he championed
modernist poetics. In 34 years, he has published 12 books of poetry, which include the
seminal Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon, and the landmark trilogy Doktrinang
Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan ng Lupa. In these
works, his poetic voice soared from the lyrical to the satirical to the epic, from the
dramatic to the incantatory, in his often severe examination of the self, and the society.
He has also redefined how the Filipino poetry is viewed and paved the way for the
discussion of the same in his 10 books of criticisms and anthologies, among which
are Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina, Balagtasismo versus
Modernismo,Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula Pilipino, Mutyang
Dilim and Barlaan at Josaphat.
Many Filipino writers have come under his wing in the literary workshops he founded
the Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) and the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA).
He has also long been involved with childrens literature through the Aklat Adarna
series, published by his Childrens Communication Center. He has been a constant
presence as well in national writing workshops and galvanizes member writers as
chairman emeritus of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL).
He headed the National Commission for Culture and the Arts as Executive Director,
(from 1998 to 2001) ably steering the Commission towards its goals.
But more than anything else, what Almario accomplished was that he put a face to the
Filipino writer in the country, one strong face determinedly wielding a pen into untruths,
hypocrisy, injustice, among others.
Bienvenido Lumbera
Literature (2006)
Bienvenido Lumbera, is a poet, librettist, and scholar.
*As a poet, he introduced to Tagalog literature what is now known as Bagay poetry, a
landmark aesthetic tendency that has helped to change the vernacular poetic tradition.
He is the author of the following works: Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (poems in Filipino
and English), 1993;Balaybay, Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang, 2002; Sa Sariling
President Aquino poses with (from left) National Artists Bienvenido Lumbera (literature), Benedicto
Cabrera (visual arts), Virgilio Almario (literature) and Order of National Artist awardees Manuel Jun
Urbano (son of Manuel Conde, film, posthumous), Alicia Reyes (dance), Rebecca Feliciano (wife of
Francisco Feliciano, music, posthumous), Filomena Coching (wife of Francisco Coching, visual arts,
posthumous), Cirilo Bautista (literature), Ramon Santos (music), Pilar Zaragoza (wife of Jose Maria
Zaragoza, architecture, posthumous), Raphael Francisco (son of Lazaro Francisco, literature,
posthumous) and Christian Alcuaz (son of Federico Alcuaz, visual arts, posthumous). KRIZJOHN
ROSALES
MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday conferred the National Artist award on nine Filipino
artists, six of them posthumously.
The National Artists awarded posthumously were Federico Alcuaz and Francisco Coching for visual arts,
Lazaro Francisco for literature, Jose Maria Zaragoza for architecture, Manuel Conde for film and
Francisco Feliciano for music.
Three other artists were also recipients of the Pambansang Alagad ng Sining: Ramon Santos for music,
Cirilo F. Bautista for literature and Alicia Reyes for dance.
The six awardees for National Artists for 2014 were Bautista, Coching, Feliciano, Reyes, Santos and
Zaragoza while the remaining three Alcuaz, Conde and Francisco were declared National Artists in
2009.
The names of the new National Artists were announced by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP),
which revealed that proclamations for such had been signed by Aquino in June 2014.
Aquino, in a simple ceremony, hailed the outstanding talent and skills of the artists.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/04/15/1573056/award-conferred-9-nationalartists
The Order of National Artists Award is one of the honors conferred by the Republic of the Philippines that
embodies the nations highest ideals in the humanities and aesthetic expression through the distinct
achievements of individual citizens. While the Republic bestows due recognition to these singular
achievements, it also honors its own cultural heritage, whose enrichment these achievements have
significantly effected, enhanced, and given direction.
These achievements are measured in terms of their vision, unusual insight, creativity and imagination,
technical proficiency of the highest order in expressing Filipino culture and traditions, history, way of life,
and aspirations.
http://culturalcenter.gov.ph/programs/the-national-artists-award/