PGMA, Palace cite achievements of 2009 National Artist awardees
August 11, 2009 10:04 pm
MANILA, Aug. 10 –- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Malacañang on Monday defended the nomination and subsequent award of the year 2009 National Artists, maintaining the finalists truly deserve the award.
National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) director Cecile Guidote Alvarez and Filipino comics novelist Carlo Caparas led the National Artist awardees this year, Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonde said.
Other awardees are Manuel Urbano (film); Lazaro Francisco (literature); Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (visual arts), Francisco Mañoza (architecture) and Jose Pitoy Moreno (fashion).
Alvarez is also the executive director of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) and co-host of “Radyo Balintataw," a radio program aired on AM radio station 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 father Mauricio Guidote, a United States Armed Forces of the Far East (USAFFE) guerilla captain during the World War II. and mother Caridad, a nurse who supported and nurtured her family after her husband's untimely demise.
After completing her high school at the St. Theresa's College where she graduated as valedictorian, the young Cecile Guidote-Alvarez took up her college studies at the St. Paul's College and in 1962 graduated AB-BSE – summa cum laude. She was also among 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.
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 artist and English teacher at St. Paul's College in Manila along with 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, and Pieta, among others.
He is also known as a director of numerous movies dealing with tabloid massacre stories such as Kuratong Baleleng and The Cory Quirino Kidnap: NBI Files. Caparas was awarded the 2008 Sagisag Balagtas Award.
Manuel Conde (born Manuel Urbano (1915-1985) 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 (a.k.a Mr. Shoolee).
Lazaro Francisco was a 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 at 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 in the international painting arena and reaped awards for his Art 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 3 sons: Christian, Andreas and Matthias.
Mañosa is a Filipino architect noted for his Filipino inspired architectural designs. He designed The Coconut Palace.
Mañosa, 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.
”Pitoy" Moreno is an internationally-renowned fashion designer in the Philippines. He has been 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, piña 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/
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