National Artists ask Supreme Court to stop 2009 awards rites

MANILA, Philippines - Groups of artists and concerned citizens yesterday trooped to the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the government from conferring the National Artist award on film director Carlo J. Caparas and three others over alleged violations of rules and the Constitution.

The petitioners, led by former recipients of the prestigious award, asked the High Court to issue a temporary restraining order enjoining the Palace from awarding Caparas, Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, Jose “Pitoy” Moreno and Francisco Mañosa, whose names were reportedly added by President Arroyo in the shortlist submitted by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the two bodies tasked by law to select National Artists.

The petitioners also wanted to stop the “release of the monetary benefits, entitlements and emoluments by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to private respondents arising from such conferment.”

Under the law, a National Artist is given a cash award of P100,000 (for living awardees) and P75,000 (for posthumous awardees), a monthly pension, medical and hospitalization benefits, life insurance coverage for awardees who are still insurable, arrangements and expenses for a state funeral, a place of honor at state functions, and recognition at cultural events.

In a 38-page petition for prohibition and injunction, the groups accused the Palace of grave abuse of discretion when it disregarded the results of the selection process in adding the names of the four and dropping from the shortlist the name of Dr. Ramon Santos, the only nominee for the music category.

There was an alleged violation of rules on the selection of national artists since “none of them (four awardees) have been chosen by their peers or recommended by the CCP and NCCA Boards.”

Self-serving

They added that the mandates of the CCP and NCCA as bodies tasked to select the national artist awardees have been violated, stressing that Alvarez is not qualified for the award because she is executive director of the NCCA and also concurrent presidential adviser on culture and the arts.

They argued that the selection of Alvarez was an obvious “preferential treatment” and “clearly illegal and unethical” on the part of the Palace.

“What is notable is that she even sat as a member of the final deliberation panel. This makes her inclusion in the final list all the more irregular and patently illegal,” the petitioners added.

They also believe that naming Alvarez to the award was a violation of Article III Section 1 of the Constitution, which provides equal protection guarantee, simply because she had not undergone the same selection process conducted by National Artist Award Experts Panel and which reportedly took two years.

Although the appointment to the Order of National Artists is a discretionary power on the part of the President, the petitioners argued that this is not absolute or unlimited, insisting that the President has no discretion to appoint one who has not been recommended by the CCP and NCCA Boards.

They asked the Court to issue a definitive definition of the discretion given to the President in the matter of naming awardees to the Order of National Artists for guidance in future selections and for the instruction of all stakeholders concerned.

Petitioners asked the Court to set oral arguments on the case.

Selection process gone awry

In reaction, the NCCA said it would respect whatever ruling the SC would hand down on the petition.

“In elevating this issue to the highest judicial body of the Philippines, we are sincerely hoping for a fair and justified resolution to finally clear any misunderstanding and opposition. We can accept and we will respect the final decision of the court whatever it may be,” the NCCA said in a statement.

Among those who filed the petition were national artists Virgilio Almario (literature), Bienvenido Lumbera (literature), Benedicto

Cabrera (visual arts - painting), Napoleon Abueva (visual arts - sculpture) and Arturo Luz (visual arts - painting and sculpture).

They were joined by the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, several professors and private persons.

Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, DBM, CCP, NCCA and the four awardees.

From the original list of 87 nominees, where respondents Caparas, Mañosa and Moreno were included, the list was shortened to 32, with Caparas’ and Mañosa’s names now removed and with Moreno’s name still in the list.

The 32-person list was further shortened to 13, this time with Moreno’s name no longer on it.

On May 6, 2009, the final deliberation was conducted by the CCP and NCCA Boards and from the 13, a list of four names was arrived at and subsequently submitted to the President.

The boards recommended to be named as 2009 National Artists Manuel Conde (posthumous) for film and broadcast arts; Dr. Santos for music; Lazaro Francisco (posthumous) for literature; and Federico Aguilar Alcuaz for visual arts-painting.

On July 29, 2009, however, Ermita announced that the Order of the National Artist would be conferred on seven persons, three from the final list submitted by the CCP and NCCA, with Santos bumped off, and the names of Caparas, Moreno, Mañosa and Alvarez added to it.

Caparas was named national artist for visual arts and film, Alvarez for theater, Moreno for fashion design and Mañosa for architecture.

The petitioners said there was no explanation given for the dropping of Santos from the final list despite his having passed the rigorous screening and selection process under the guidelines.

Palace: Let’s sit and talk

Malacañang did not make any justification for the inclusion of the four in the shortlist, but Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said yesterday that it will hold a dialogue with the artists complaining about President Arroyo’s choices.

Remonde said the meeting would take place “very soon” and that he would represent the President, but did not give more details.

He also welcomed the move of the petitioners to stop Mrs. Arroyo from conferring the National Artist title.

“This is welcome so finally this can be settled by a court of law. There are certain sectors involved with this seeking a dialogue. In fact some of them are seeing me very soon. There are still ongoing dialogues on this matter, as we said we welcome the move of certain sectors to go to court so that once and for all, the issue would be put to a close,” Remonde said in a news briefing.

He refused to identify the group or individuals who sought the meeting, and declined to respond to questions on whether the Palace would accommodate the gripes of some National Artists.

“In a situation like this, everybody has to be open. I will listen and be open about it,” Remonde said. – Paolo Romero