MANILA - Thousands of concerned artists from various branches of culture and the arts in the country staged an indignation rally in front of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Friday afternoon for what they perceived as the death of the National Artists Award, the highest national recognition conferred upon Filipinos who have made distinct contributions to arts and letters.

It was a collective mass action composed mostly of filmmakers, arts teachers and students, culture merchants, technocrats, National Artists, singers, dancers, sculptors, visual artists and many more who denounced the unfair, manipulative and politically motivated selection of the 2009 National Artist awardees.

Mostly in black, signifying the demise of the award, the participants planted thousands of black ribbons on sticks at the sprawling grass garden fronting the CCP in Roxas Boulevard. 

A facsimile of the National Artist emblem was placed in a coffin-like container dressed up with black cloth.

Demonstrators, led by National Artists Bienvenido Lumbera, F. Sionil Jose, Arturo Luz, Bencab, Eddie Romero and Napoleon Abueva, said the spirit of the award has died since the latest selection included four names that were not even chosen by the CCP and the NCCA.

The new National Artists are 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), Magno Jose Carlo Caparas (film and visual arts), Francisco “Bobby” Mañoza (architecture), and Jose “Pitoy” Moreno (fashion design).

UP College of Fine Arts professor and noted film, TV and stage production designer Leo Abaya said the protest was to remind our cultural leaders the importance of culture in the development of the nation.

“We have to be always on guard of the purity and credibility of awards especially if they are the most significant of them all. The National Artist Award is a sacred one. We have to respect it and no amount of suspicion should taint its dignity,” said Abaya very passionately.

Humorist Juana Change, a cultural and political character donned by theater artist Mae Paner, performed her satirist stand up show which criticized the irrelevant roles and selfish motives some of our culture leaders have been exercising in the name of public service.

Popular singer Bituin Escalante waxed her most inspiring song to the delight of the protestors.

'Shameless intervention'

The group denounced what they deemed as the shameless intervention of Malacañang in the conferment of the Order of National Artists whose recommendations and nominations come from the CCP and the NCCA while the official selection is done by the Honors Committee in the Palace. The results then are forwarded to the President for proclamation. While it is true that the President can add to the honor list, the law says, according some culture officials, he or she can’t veto any name or subtract from the NCCA-CCP list.

The collective questioned the proclamation of Cecille Guidote-Alvarez as National Artist for Theater.

“Cecille Guidote-Alvarez was not even nominated but she was handpicked by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as her prerogative to add to the list of National Artists this year. What we condemn is the way the process was railroaded. Ms. Alvarez is an Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Secretariat of the National Artist Awards. Why did she not resign before she was appointed the office so that she wouldn’t be accused of an absence of delicadeza on her part,” said Elmar Beltran Ingles, NCCA Commissioner for Cultural Dissemination.

Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino chairman Roland Tolentino and the UP College of Mass Communication faculty said in a statement that “a careful scrutiny of Caparas’s body of work in the fields of visual arts and film would show that his accomplishments do not fit that of a national artist.”

"Carlo Caparas does not deserve the award,” said Jose.

"Nakakalungkot ang nangyaring ito,” said Bencab.

Sisters Imee and Irene Marcos, whose mother former First Lady Imelda Marcos was a patroness of the arts and culture, also joined the protest.

Meanwhile, the protesters also questioned why Ramon Santos was dropped from the official list of the Order of National Artists when he had the biggest number of votes during the deliberation.

Caparas, Alvarez fire back

Earlier in the day, Caparas led his supporters in front the NCCA building to insist that he deserved the National Artist Award.

"Mga elitista, inaapi ang masa. May karapatan ba akong maging National Artist?” he asked his supporters. The answer, from the movie press, stuntmen and movie extras with their family in tow, was a resounding yes. 

Even newly awarded National Artist Guidote-Alvarez could not hide her anguish over the sentiments of her critics, who hammered her selection because she is the sitting NCCA executive director.

"Hindi ko po kasalanan na ako ay napili,” she said.

Meanwhile, NCCA Chairman Vilma Labrador admitted they only recommended four names to President Arroyo, which did not include Guidote-Alvarez, Caparas, Manoza and Moreno. She, however, said Malacañang can add names on their recommended list.

Labrador added that there was no “dagdag-bawas” in the Palace selection. She also defended Malacañang for choosing Guidote-Alvarez.

“Why accuse Cecille of not practicing delicadeza when she was proclaimed National Artist? In the first place, she was already tendering her resignation last year but I didn’t accept it. She deserves the award,” she said. Boy Villasanta and Julius Babao, ABS-CBN