ELMAR BELTRAN INGLES, September 28, 1964-July 9, 2013

Elmar (far left) along with other artists in Congress for a hearing on the National Artists Awards.

With his tall and lanky frame, he could not be missed as he entered a meeting room or walked along the corridors of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He worked in the Visual Arts Division; I was with the Theater Operations Department. Occasionally, we would find ourselves together in the Coordinators Meetings attended by representatives from the CCP Artistic Units.

Next thing I heard, he taken a position in Thailand to work for an international agency promoting arts in the Southeast Region. In that position, he managed to organize an international conference on the role and problem of arts audiences in the region, hosted by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Returning to Manila, he took the job of Executive Director of the Organisasyon ng mga Pilipinong Mang-aawit. When the Philippine Legitimate Artists Group was organized, he also became its Executive Director. Both jobs were practically pro-bono, with only modest allowances paid to him.

He became more involved in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, especially the Cultural Education Committee. He was elected Committee Chairman and then became the Head of the Subcommission for Cultural Heritage, elevating him to be a Commissioner of the NCCA.

Throughout all these, he still managed a steady writing output that included essays and plays.

In 2007, I was elected President of Philstage and had to rely very much on his institutional memory and managerial savvy. When my proposal for the creation of the Gawad Buhay was approved by the Philstage Board, it was he who served as jury coordinator and nursed the project to its fruition, even after I had left the organization.

Elmar and I along with the jury we put together for the first Gawad Buhay Awards.

At about the same time, he encouraged me to join the NCCA Cultural Education Committee as well, as Philstage representative. I ended up becoming Committee Vice-Chair, When I had to forego this position upon leaving Philstage, he worked to have me continue to serve the Committee as Project Director for the Philippine Cultural Education Project. For almost three years, we went around the country undertaking consultative meetings, seminars and workshops, and lecture tours while promoting for greater inclusion of culture and arts into the general education curriculum.

Recent contact with him had largely been the occasional meeting at performing arts events or the regular meetings of the Artists Welfare Project, Inc,, where we both serve as Board Members.

In a couple of months, he would have turned 49 years old.

But it will not have to be. On Tuesday, July 9, 2013, "complications brought about by diabetes" ended his all too short life.

Elmar Beltran Ingles, we mourn for you. We know fully well that you have left us with shoes too big to fill. We can only hope and pray that your life will be enough inspiration for us to carry on.