Controversy Surrounds National Artist Nominations

Artists are protesting President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s decision to confer the national artist award to an official of the agency that screens the nominees for the prestigious title, and a movie director whose nomination had been rejected twice.

Critics said Cecille Guidote Alvarez should have had the delicadeza to refuse because she is the executive director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), which administers the award together with the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Alvarez heads the NCAA secretariat that receives nominations for national artists.

Mrs. Arroyo recently conferred the award to seven individuals: Manuel Conde for cinema; Federico Aguilar Alcuaz for visual arts; Lazaro Francisco for literature; Francisco “Bobby" Mañoza for architecture; Jose "Pitoy" Moreno for fashion; Magno Jose Carlo Caparas for visual arts and film; and Alvarez for theater.

Caparas’ nomination was twice rejected by two NCAA panels. Caparas was first proposed as a nominee for literature, but the committee rejected him. He was again proposed as nominee for visual artist but the panel again turned him down. The title conferred to Caparas “appeared to have duplicated" that of Conde.

Film Academy of the Philippines director general Leo Martinez was also surprised how Caparas landed on the elite list. "He was obviously added by Malacañang," Martinez said on Spot.ph. Caparas, a comics writer who later turned to film making, is known to be a vocal supporter of Mrs. Arroyo.


The NCAA and CCP panel only submitted four names to Mrs. Arroyo: Conde, Alcuaz, Lazaro, and Ramon Santos, who was nominated as national artist for music. Santos was not included in Mrs. Arroyo’s list of awardees.

National artist for visual arts Benedicto Reyes Cabrera said “There used to be prestige. Well, since the presidency of Ramos there has been an understanding that the President can add one choice … there was Carlos Quirino (historical literature) , Alejandro " Anding ‘ Roces (literature) , Abdulmari Asia Imao (visual arts). But this time (Mrs. Arroyo) added four."

“They might as well just appoint (their own choices) and not go through the whole process. I will boycott the awards. I will not march. I will not mention any names but we heard that there was one very influential person who helped manipulate the results," Cabrera said.