13 April 2016, 8:35 pm – TWO THOMASIANS are among nine artists
to be formally inducted to the Order of the National Artists (ONA)
on April 14 at Malacañan Palace.
Former Varsitarian literary editor
Cirilo Bautista and Architecture alumnus Jose Maria Zaragoza will be conferred
the National Artist award for literature and architecture, respectively.
Other recipients are Francisco Coching
for visual arts, Alice Reyes for dance and Ramon Santos and Francisco Feliciano
for music.
Manuel Conde (cinema), Federico Alcuaz
(visual arts) and Lazaro Francisco (literature), named National Artists by
former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2009 but were not inducted after a
controversy over other awardees that reached the Supreme Court, will also be
given the title. The 2009 National Artists did not obtain state benefits such
as monthly life pensions, medical support and insurance because they were not
officially given the title.
An ONA insignia or medal will be
granted to the awardees along with cash awards. Benefits of the posthumous
National Artists will be transferred to their families.
Bautista, who was honored in a
testimonial dinner at the University in October, is one of the greatest
contributors to the development of Philippine literature. A multi-awarded poet,
fictionist and essayist, Bautista was senior associate of the University’s
Center for Creative Writing and Studies.
Bautista received nine Carlos Palanca
awards for his works such as The Cave and Other Poems, 1968; The Archipelago,
1970; Ritual, 1971; The Man Who Made a Covenant with the Wind, 1975; Charts,
1973; Telex Moon, 1975; Crossworks, 1979; and Philippine Poetics: The Past
Eight Years, 1981.
Posthumous awardee Zaragoza, best
known for having built the Santo Domingo Church and National Shrine of La Naval
de Manila, was a distinguished architect. His masterpiece, the Meralco
Building in Ortigas, was recently declared by the Cultural Center of the
Philippines as an “Architectural Legacy.”
Bautista and Zaragoza join the roster of Thomasian National
Artists that include Nick Joaquín (1976), F. Sionil Jose (2001) and Bienvenido
Lumbera (2006) for literature and Juan Nakpil (1973), Leandro Locsin (1990) and
Ildefonso Santos Jr. (2006) for architecture. Others are Arturo Luz, J.
Elizalde Navarro, Victorio Edades and Ang Kiukok for the visual arts; Ernani
Cuenco and Antonino Buenaventura for music; Gerardo de Leon for film; Daisy
Avellana for theater; and Rolando Tinio for theater and literature. Amierielle
Anne A. Bulan
