Arts & Culture
2018 National Artists with
President Rodrigo Duterte
(Photo by NCCA)
Credits : culturalcenter.gov.ph
Seven Filipino individuals
named National Artists
P
RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has conferred the National Artist
Awards to seven exemplar individuals for their significant
contributions to the development of Philippine arts and
culture on October 24, 2018, at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall of
Malacañang Palace.
Upon recommendation by the Cultural Center of the
Philippines (CCP) and the National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (NCCA), after the rigid evaluation and selection
process conducted by panels of artists, cultural workers,
scholars and experts, visual artist Lauro “Larry” Alcala, theater
advocate Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio, music master Raymund "Ryan" Cayabyab,
filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik, architect Francisco Mañosa, literary writers Resil Mojares
and Ramon L. Muzones were declared National Artists, joining the league of Filipi-
no artists who have received the highest recognition bestowed by the nation.
Throughout his 56 years of cartooning, Alcala utilized his comic strips to spice
up the Filipino lives with witty illustrations, featuring over 500 characters in about
20 comic strips serialized in various publications. His iconic work Slice of Life,
which had been circulated for decades, helped his avid readers and followers to
find their sense of self amid the not-so-good environment and situations Filipinos
experience. He also made two murals, and inspired the production of six motion
pictures based on his cartoon creations.
“The cartoon is meant to entertain, record events and capture local color. It is
also a self-correcting medium because it can humorously expose society’s ills and
serve as a mirror in which people can see themselves. It can also project the best
in a people and a country,” Alcala once remarked. His wife Guadalupe received the
70
posthumous award.
Lapeña-Bonifacio established the Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas, which helped
place the Philippines on the world theater map. She wrote plays based on materi-
als culled from painstaking researches, and had been involved in the production
and design of puppets. She was instrumental in the surge of children's theater in
the Philippines, through the magic of puppetry.
Drawing upon the untapped wealth of Philippine and Asian folklore and exper-
imenting with various forms and techniques of Asian theater arts and puppetry,
she enriched the Philippine cultural heritage in drama. She successfully synthe-
sized a myriad of rich puppet traditions from Southeast Asia, earning for herself
the title "Grand Dame of Southeast Asian Children’s Theatre."
Cayabyab’s diverse compositions, which exhibit both mastery of composition
technique and spontaneity, has made a great impact in the Philippine music
industry. His music reflects the exuberance of life and human happiness, thus
capturing the very essence of our Filipino soul. It embodies the Filipino values and
social experiences. His learned, skillful, and versatile musical style spans a wide
range of genres: from conservatory or art compositions such as concert religious
music, symphonic work, art song, opera, and concerto to mainstream popular
idioms in the music industry and in live contemporary multimedia shows (musical
theater, dance, and film).
Mr. C, as he is fondly called, is distinctively a cosmopolitan nationalist. He is
open to foreign influences but transforms these into expressions that are near to
his experience as an urbanized Filipino. All throughout his career, Cayabyab never
effaced his Filipino identity as he confronted the constant threat of making the
Philippines a market for global expressions.
Kidlat Tahimik strongly believes that the films and the filmmaker are one. He
has continually invented himself through his cinema, and so his cinema is as
singular as the man. Kidlat has epitomized the possibilities of alternative modes
of filmmaking and the artisanal form of production. The mode of making the film
exhibited Kidlat Tahimik’s intense independence as an artist and, at the same time,
the film itself called for Filipinos to actively live out their independence and not
allow their culture to be imperialized by the west.
His debut film, Mababangong Bangungot (1977), was praised by critics and
filmmakers from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa and is still considered