A Life in the Theater

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued a resolution stopping Malacañang from conferring the Order of National Artists to seven individuals pending a petition filed before it. The high court issued a status quo order while it resolves a petition seeking to disqualify four of the seven National Artists, including movie director Carlo J. Caparas, selected by President Arroyo. "The court saw the urgency to issue the status quo order and stop the conferment of the awards. It has the same affect as a temporary restraining order," SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said in a press conference. Aside from the status quo order, the SC also directed the respondents to comment on the petition filed by several National Artists and cultural workers on August 19. Marquez said SC en banc came up with the resolution during its regular session Tuesday. Named respondents in the case were Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Cultural Center of the...

Follow Artist selection process, Palace told - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos Shared via AddThis

The Editor PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER Dear Sir: This is a reaction to the column of Ms. Belinda Olivares Cunanan, Political Tidbits, which was published today with the title “Artist Protesters Should Work to Revoke EO 236.” Ms. Cunanan is correct in stating that the Committee on Honors was created by Executive Order No. 236 issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Sept. 19, 2003 and in identifying its members. In all other respects, she seems to be misinformed about the provisions of this Order (which was actually meant to rationalize all civil awards and decorations of the Philippines, not only the Order of the National Artists) and the specific function of the Committee. (It may be important to point out that in certain parts of EO 236, conferment is not a task that only the President is authorized to do, since the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and National Defense are also allowed to do so, in the name of the President, for certain honors.) First, EO 236 does not give the Comm...

In a show of unity, the artistic community led by National Artists Napoleon Abueva, Virgilio Almario, Salvador Bernal, Ben Cabrera, Bienvenido Lumbera, Arturo Luz, Eddie Romero, and F. Sionil Jose, together with Celeste Legaspi representing her father Cesar Legaspi, held “memorial services” for what they describe as “the demise of a meaningful National Artist Awards.”  In the program held on Friday, 07 August 2009 at the ramp of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City attended by hundreds of artists, cultural workers, students, professionals and civil society, National Artists Bernal, Cabrera, Almario and Lumbera delivered eulogies, offered prayers and read statements decrying the “subversion of the National Artists Awards process,” denouncing the insertion of four names that did not undergo the deliberative process and the removal of one that passed it. “It’s a mockery of the system,” according to Cabrera. “The awards have been debased.”  Lumbera read a manifesto stating ...

“Tanyag,” a production of award-winning plays about contemporary Philippine society, will be staged at the Philamlife Theater on August 28 (7 pm) and August 29-30 (3 pm), 2009. Performing the Palanca winning plays “Our Lady of Arlegui” by Chris Martinez (First Prize, 2007) J. Dennis Teodosio’s “Baka Sakali” (Second Prize, 2007) and “Ang Kalungkutan ng Mga Reyna” by Floy Quintos (First Prize, 2008) are 2009 Gawad Buháy Outstanding Actress Shamaine Buencamino, 2009 Cinemalaya Best Actor Lou Veloso, veteran actor Bodgie Pascua and actor/director/designer Tuxqs Rutaquio, together with Acey Aguilar, Abner Delina, Jerald Napoles, Martha Nikko Comia and Anna Deroca. The plays will be directed by Dennis Marasigan and Floy Quintos with set and costume design by Tuxqs Rutaquio. “Our Lady of Arlegui” is a rollicking comedy about a student who finds himself trapped with a Muslim woman who runs a DVD stall when authorities raid the premises in search of pirated discs. Their reluctant efforts to ove...