National Artists Ben Cab, Virgilio Almario and Salvador Bernal.
The Necrological Service for the National Artist Awards (Pagdadalamhati ng Bayan para sa Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining), held Friday, August 7, 2 p.m. at the main ramp of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) turned out an unprecedented large gathering of the country's leading artists of music, dance, literature, cinema, theater, and the visual arts protesting Malacanang's subversion of the awards selection process for purposes of political accommodation of a preferred few. With sympathizers from the academe and media, patrons of the arts, supporters from militant and party-list organizations, student groups, the action numbered about 700 participants, mostly wearing black to signify mourning.
On the front lines of the necrological service sat eight previously awarded National Artists, all wearing their gold medallion-necklaces: Napoleon Abueva, Arturo Luz and Benedicto Cabrera, Celeste Legaspi representing her father Cesar Legaspi (visual arts), F. Sionil Jose, Virgilio Almario and Bienvenido Lumbera (literature), Eddie Romero (cinema), and Salvador Bernal (theater).
I saw writers Gilda Cordero-Fernando and Krip Yuson; musicians Renato Lucas, Armida Siguion-Reyna, Isay Alvarez, Jim Paredes and Danny Javier; sculptor Abba Dalena; from theater, designer Gino Gonzales, playwrights Rody Vera and Nick Pichay, directors Bart Guingona, Alex Cortez and Chris Millado, actors Nanding Josef, Raul Montesa and Mae Paner aka Juana Change; dance artists Myra Beltran, Edna Vida and Nonoy Froilan; cinematographer Romy Vitug ; screenwriters Raquel Villavicencio, Bibeth Orteza and Raymond Lee; and fellow film directors Joel Lamangan, Mark Meily, Joey Reyes, Raymond Red, Gil Portes, Chito Roño, Joey Romero, Adolf Alix, and Butch Perez.
I miss out on some names; the omission is not intentional. With media interviews conducted left and right, it was a tough choice between finding out who else was there and working to get the message across.
The protest was galvanized by the general perception that the awards selection process had been politically compromised. As nominated and selected by arts organizations and the joint boards of the CCP and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the legitimately chosen National Artist Awards honorees of 2009 were Manuel Conde (cinema), Lazaro Francisco (literature), Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (visual arts) and Ramon Santos (music). This list was forwarded to Malacañang for Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's signature, and that's when the massacre took place.
