Guidote-Alvarez, Carlo Caparas lead National Artist awardees
July 29, 2009 9:32 am
NAIA, July 29 –- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Malacañang this afternoon announced the list of the 2009 National Artists who will be awarded at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in Pasay City at a date to be announced later.
At a press briefing before the departure of President Arroyo for the US, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Presidential Assistant for Culture and Arts Cecile Guidote-Alvarez and novelist Carlo J. Caparas are among the National Artist awardees.
Other awardees are Manuel Urbano (film); Lazaro Francisco (literature); Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (visual arts), Francisco Mañoza (architecture) and Jose Pitoy Moreno.
Alvarez is also the executive director the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) and co-host of “Radyo Balintataw” of DZRH.
Alvarez (born November 13, 1943) founded the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), a pioneering theater group that honed creative artists and audiences through children’s, college, and community theater.
Alvarez was born in Manila to Mauricio Guidote and to a mother who supported her family as a nurse after the death of her husband.
Mauricio Guidote is a USAFFE guerilla captain during the World War II. She was high school valedictorian in St. Theresa’s College, Quezon City.
Cecile Guidote Alvarez graduated AB-BSE – summa cum laude at St. Paul's College in 1962 and in the first select group of Ten Outstanding Students.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in Theater and took special Communications Arts Studies in the State University of New York in Albany, on a Fulbright-Hays and John D. Rockefeller III Fund Scholarship at the Dallas Theatre Center.
She then proceeded to Trinity College in Texas where she finished an M.A. with honors.
She is married to former senator and secretary of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Heherson Alvarez. <P>Her two children were named Hexilon and Herxila to relive the memory of their exile for 13 years-to elude arrest and a shoot-to-kill order during the imposition of Martial Law.
From her experiences as drama and English teacher at St. Paul's College in Manila and her broad background in the theater, Alvarez conceived a practical program for a national theater and organized it in 1967.
This became the Philippine Educational Theater Association, better known as PETA. For 38 years, PETA has depicted social issues through original Filipino plays, using the language of the masses and alternative theater spaces.
Today, as Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Alvarez has been described as a “cultural caregiver”.
Aside from being the chairperson of the Central Institute of Theater Arts in the Philippines (CITAP), Alvarez was also the producer-director of the Kalinangan Ensemble primarily devoted to the development and presentation of Filipino plays and the setting up of people's theater program popularized by peso tickets and even free performances.
She also produced Balintataw (Pupil of the Eye), a television drama which serves as a valuable laboratory and training ground for students and young talents in various areas of TV, stage, and movie production.
Alvarez is also the founder of Earthsavers DREAMS Ensemble, a performing group composed of disadvantaged youth recognized as UNESCO Artists for Peace
Caparas, on other hand, has written popular Filipino novels such as "Ang Babaeng Hinugot sa Aking Tadyang."
Caparas (born December 14, 1948, in Pampanga) is a Filipino comic strip creator/writer-turned director and producer, who is also best known for creating Filipino superheroes and comic book characters.
Caparas’ works include Panday, Bakekang, Totoy Bato, Joaquin Bordado, Kamagong, Kamandag, Angela Markado, and Tasya Fantasya Gagambino, Ang huling lalaki ng baluarte, Pieta and Ang Babaeng Hinugot Sa Aking Tadyang and amongst others.
He is also known as a director of numerous movies dealing with massacre such as Kuratong Baleleng and The Cory Quirino Kidnap: NBI Files. Caparas was awarded the 2008 Sagisag Balagtas Award.
Manuel Conde (born Manuel Urbano on August 11, 1915 and died in 1985) is a Filipino actor, director and producer.
Urbano made his first film, Mahiwagang Biyolin, in 1935 then later signed a contract for LVN Pictures, where he made almost three dozen films, both as an actor and director.
As an actor, he used the screen name Juan Urbano during the 1930s. He is the father of renowned television comedian Jun Urbano (alias Mr. Shoolee).
Lazaro Francisco was Filipino writer known for his novels such as Ama and Daluyong. He was awarded the National Artist for Filipino Literature. Francisco also received the "Republic Cultural Heritage Award" for Literature in 1970.
Born in Orani, Bataan, Philippines on February 22, 1898, Francisco was the fourth child of Eulogio Francisco and Clara Angeles. Between 1925 and 1960, Francisco wrote 12 novels which were serialized and eagerly read in Liwayway, the weekly Tagalog magazine.
Francisco’s novels tackled romance, class tensions, tenancy issues and agrarian unrest. His Tagalog novels include: "Singsing na Pangkasal," "Bayang Nagpatiwakal, Sa Paanan ng Krus, Ilaw sa Hilaga, Binhi at Bunga," "Cesar," "Sugat ng Alaala," "Ama, Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig," and "Daluyong."
Alcuaz is a multi-awarded Filipino painter. He has exhibited extensively Internationally and has reaped awards for his works abroad.
Alcuaz was born on June 6, 1932 in Santa Cruz, Manila. He is the 6th of 11 Children of Mariano Aguilar a lawyer and a Musician and Encarnacion Alcuaz. He finished early schooling at the Dr. Albert Elementary School and San Beda High School.
Alcuaz studied law at the Ateneo de Manila and finished his degree in 1955. In 1949-1950 he took up painting subjects at the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Fine Arts.
In 1955 he went to Madrid with a scholarship at the Academia de San Fernando which he got thru the help of the Jesuits at Ateneo. In 1956 he chose Barcelona as his career base.
Alcuaz also became a member of the La Punalada Group which counted among its members Tapies, Cuixart and Tharrats. In the same year he began signing his paintings with Aguilar Alcuaz to distinguish himself from two other Aguilars who are also members of the La Punalada Group.
In 1959 Alcuaz met Ute Schmitz, a German girl from Hamburg, whom he married 3 years later. They have three sons: Christian, Andreas and Matthias.
Manosa is a Filipino architect and national artist noted for his Filipino inspired architectural designs. He designed The Coconut Palace.
Manosa, on May, 2008 built his own Ayala-Alabang village Bahay Kubo mansion.
With only 3 posts or "haligi", Manosa’s house has 5 one-inch coconut shell doors, 2nd floor, a "silong", Muslim room, sala, and master's bedroom with a fish pond therein.
”Pitoy" Moreno is an internationally-renowned fashion designer in the Philippines. He is named "The Fashion Czar Of Asia". Pitoy Moreno is an artist, as shown by his achievement as a designer and his stature in Philippine fashion.
As a young and budding fashion artist, Pitoy designed costumes for the world-famous Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company.
Pitoy introduced the words jusi, pina and lepanto to world fashion on international fashion pages of the Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Holiday and Le Figaro. The Filipina bride in a Pitoy Moreno wedding ensemble became the centerspread in the pictorial history of Philippine fashion.
His collections have circled the globe: Paris, London, Rome, Madrid, Copenhagen, Athens, Barcelona, Sweden, Viennna, Moscow, New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles;
Teheran, Morocco, Honolulu, Tokyo, Hongkong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, China, and many more. Wherever his collections were shown, it was met with praise by critics and patrons alike.
First Ladies of the Philippines have always been dressed by Pitoy, in his trademark ternos. (PNA)/V3/JCA/
Why is there nothing in here who the original nominees were and why one was removed from the list to be proclaimed?
i’m ashamed enraged disgusted and filled with anger and hatred at how the arroyo government manipulates every facet of filipino society by shoving down our throats their crap, their will, their arrogance, and their bad taste AD NAUSEAM…SHAME ON YOU CARLO CAPARAS! THAT HONOR IS RESERVED FOR PERSONS MORE DESERVING THAN YOURSELF! IF YOU HAD ANY INTEGRITY, IF THERE WAS ANY TRUTH IN YOU, YOU WOULD NOT ACCEPT THIS SHAM! SHAME ON YOU GLORIA ARROYO!!! FOR PERPETRATING YET ANOTHER SHAM!!! VOX POPULI VOX DEI! NOT GLORIA ARROYOS!!! SIC SEMPER TYRANUS!!!