MANILA - The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on Monday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss a petition seeking to stop Malacañang from awarding this year’s Order of National Artists to director Carlo J. Caparas and three other individuals.

In its comment submitted to the SC en banc, the CCP, one of the respondents in the case, maintained that, contrary to the arguments raised by the petitioners, it did not commit a grave abuse of discretion because it “strictly followed the procedures” in choosing this year’s awardees.

"The CCP did not commit any grave abuse of discretion as it strictly followed the procedure in the guidelines adopted by the joint boards of the CCP and NCCA (National Commission on Cultural and the Arts) for the selection of National Artists," it said.

The CCP and NCCA are the two agencies tasked to select those who will be conferred the Order of the National Artists.

In its comment, the CCP also asked the SC to define the powers of the CCP and NCCA’s joint boards tasked to come up with the awardees to determine if their list “is merely recommendatory or if the selection is final."

It also said that the high court should allow the confirmation and proclamation of all the awardees.

Named this year’s National Artists were Manuel P. Urbano, or Manuel Conde, (posthumous award for film and broadcast media); Lazaro Francisco (posthumous award for literature); Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (visual arts, paintings, sculpture and mixed media); Cecille Guidote-Alvarez (theater); Caparas (film and visual arts); Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa (architecture); and Jose “Pitoy” Moreno (fashion design).

The petitioners, led by National Artists for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera and Virgilio Almario, filed an appeal to prevent the Palace from conferring the title to respondents Guidote-Alvarez, Caparas, Mañosa, and Moreno.

The 38-page petition for prohibition, certiorari and injunction with a prayer for restraining order was filed before the SC on August 19. On August 25, the high court issued a status quo order stopping the conferment until it resolves the petition.

Aside from Lumbera and Almario, other petitioners include Benedicto Cabrera (painting), Napoleon Abueva (sculpture), Antonio Luz (painting and sculpture), the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, cultural workers, members of the faculty of various Arts disciplines, and the University of the Philippines College of Law.