The Order of National Artist: Contemporary Philippine Arts From The Regions
The Order of National Artist: Contemporary Philippine Arts From The Regions
The Order of National Artist: Contemporary Philippine Arts From The Regions
National Artist
Contemporary Philippine
Arts from the Regions
2
Artists who, through the content and form of
their works, have contributed in building a
Filipino sense of nationhood;
Criteria for the Order of the National
Artists
Artists who have pioneered in a mode of creative
Nick Joaquin, is regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino writer in English writing
so variedly and so well about so many aspects of the Filipino. Nick Joaquin has also enriched the English
language with critics coining ―Joaquinesque‖ to describe his baroque Spanish-flavored English or his
reinventions of English based on Filipinisms. Aside from his handling of language, Bienvenido Lumbera
writes that Nick Joaquin‘s significance in Philippine literature involves his exploration of the Philippine
colonial past under Spain and his probing into the psychology of social changes as seen by the young, as
exemplified in stories such as Doña Jeronima, Candido’s Apocalypse and The Order of Melchizedek.
Nick Joaquin has written plays, novels, poems, short stories and essays including reportage and journalism.
As a journalist, Nick Joaquin uses the nom de plume Quijano de Manila but whether he is writing literature
or journalism, fellow National Artist Francisco Arcellana opines that ―it is always of the highest skill and
quality‖.
Among his voluminous works are The Woman Who Had Two Navels, A Portrait of the
Artist as Filipino, Manila, My Manila: A History for the Young, The Ballad of the Five Battles, Rizal
in Saga, Almanac for Manileños, Cave and Shadows.
Nick Joaquin died on April 29, 2004.
Carlos P. Romulo
Carlos P. Romulo‗s multifaceted career spanned 50 years of public service as an
educator, soldier, university president, journalist, and diplomat. It is common knowledge
that he was the first Asian president of the United Nations General Assembly, then
Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C., and later minister of foreign affairs. Essentially
though, Romulo was very much into writing: he was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor
by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He was the only Asian to win America‘s coveted
Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for a series of articles predicting the outbreak of World War II.
Romulo, in all, wrote and published 18 books, a range of literary works which included The
United (novel), I Walked with Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the
Philippines, Mother America, I See the Philippines Rise (war-time memoirs).
His other books include his memoirs of his many years‘ affiliations with United
Nations (UN), Forty Years: A Third World Soldier at the UN, and The Philippine
Presidents, his oral history of his experiences serving all the Philippine presidents.
Francisco Arcellana
Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist, and teacher, is one of the most
important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English. He pioneered the development of the
short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form. For Arcellana, the pride of fiction is ―that it is able to render truth,
that is able to present reality‖. Arcellana kept alive the experimental tradition in fiction, and had been most
daring in exploring new literary forms to express the sensibility of the Filipino people. A brilliant craftsman,
his works are now an indispensable part of a tertiary-level-syllabi all over the country. Arcellana‘s
published books are Selected Stories (1962), Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in
English in the Philippines Today (1977), The Francisco Arcellana Sampler(1990).
“The names which were with infinite slowness revealed, seemed strange and stranger still; the
colors not bright but deathly dull; the separate letters spelling out the names of the dead among them, did
not seem to glow or shine with a festive sheen as did the other living names.” (from ―The Mats‖, Philippine
Contemporary Literature, 1963)
Some of his short stories are Frankie, The Man Who Would Be Poe, Death in a
Factory, Lina, A Clown Remembers, Divided by Two, The Mats, and his poems being The Other
Woman, This Being the Third Poem This Poem is for Mathilda, To Touch You and I Touched Her,
among others.
Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez
Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez, better known as N.V.M. Gonzalez, fictionist,
essayist, poet, and teacher, articulated the Filipino spirit in rural, urban landscapes. Among
the many recognitions, he won the First Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940, received
the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1960 and the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1990.
The awards attest to his triumph in appropriating the English language to express, reflect
and shape Philippine culture and Philippine sensibility. He became U.P.‘s International-
Writer-In-Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers of the U.P. Creative Writing
Center. In 1987, U.P. conferred on him the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, its
highest academic recognition.
Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez include the following: The Winds of April, Seven
Hills Away, Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories, The Bamboo
Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty -One
Stories, The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, Work on the Mountain, The Novel of
Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories.
Carlos Quirino
Carlos Quirino, a biographer, has the distinction of having written one of the
earliest biographies of Jose Rizal titled The Great Malayan. Quirino‘s books and articles
span the whole gamut of Philippine history and culture–from Bonifacio‘s trial to
Aguinaldo‘s biography, from Philippine cartography to culinary arts, from cash crops to
tycoons and president‘s lives, among so many subjects. In 1997, Pres. Fidel Ramos created
historical literature as a new category in the National Artist Awards and Quirino was its
first recipient. He made a record earlier on when he became the very first Filipino
correspondent for the United Press Institute.
His book Maps and Views of Old Manila is considered as the best book on the
subject. His other books include Quezon, Man of Destiny, Magsaysay of the
Philippines, Lives of the Philippine Presidents, Philippine Cartography, The History of
Philippine Sugar Industry, Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation, Filipinos at War:
The Fight for Freedom from Mactan to EDSA.
Edith L. Tiempo
A poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic, Edith L. Tiempo is one of the finest
Filipino writers in English. Her works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style and
substance, of craftsmanship and insight. Born on April 22, 1919 in Bayombong, Nueva
Vizcaya, her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences as
revealed, in two of her much anthologized pieces, ―The Little Marmoset‖ and ―Bonsai‖. As
fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has been marked as ―descriptive
but unburdened by scrupulous detailing.‖ She is an influential tradition in Philippine
literature in English. Together with her late husband, Edilberto K. Tiempo, she founded and
directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced
some of the country‘s best writers.
Tiempo‘s published works include the novel A Blade of Fern (1978), The Native
Coast (1979), and The Alien Corn (1992); the poetry collections, The Tracks of Babylon
and Other Poems (1966), and The Charmer’s Box and Other Poems(1993); and the
short story collection Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964).
F. Sionil Jose
F. Sionil Jose‘s writings since the late 60s, when taken collectively can best be
described as epic. Its sheer volume puts him on the forefront of Philippine writing in English.
But ultimately, it is the consistent espousal of the aspirations of the Filipino–for national
sovereignty and social justice–that guarantees the value of his oeuvre.
In the five-novel masterpiece, the Rosales saga, consisting of The Pretenders,
Tree, My Brother, My Executioner, Mass, and Po-on, he captures the sweep of Philippine
history while simultaneously narrating the lives of generations of the Samsons whose
personal lives intertwine with the social struggles of the nation. Because of their
international appeal, his works, including his many short stories, have been published and
translated into various languages.
F. Sionil Jose is also a publisher, lecturer on cultural issues, and the founder of the
Philippine chapter of the international organization PEN. He was bestowed the CCP
Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999; the Outstanding Fulbrighters Award for Literature
in 1988; and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative
Communication Arts in 1980.
Virgilio S. Almario
Virgilio S. Almario, also known as Rio Alma, is a poet, literary historian and critic, who has
revived and reinvented traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he championed modernist poetics. In 34
years, he has published 12 books of poetry, which include the seminal Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon,
and the landmark trilogy Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan
ng Lupa. In these works, his poetic voice soared from the lyrical to the satirical to the epic, from the
dramatic to the incantatory, in his often severe examination of the self, and the society.
He has also redefined how the Filipino poetry is viewed and paved the way for the discussion of
the same in his 10 books of criticisms and anthologies, among which are Ang Makata sa Panahon ng
Makina, Balagtasismo versus Modernismo, Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula
Pilipino, Mutyang Dilim and Barlaan at Josaphat.
Many Filipino writers have come under his wing in the literary workshops he founded –the
Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) and the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA). He has also long been
involved with children‘s literature through the Aklat Adarna series, published by his Children‘s
Communication Center. He has been a constant presence as well in national writing workshops and
galvanizes member writers as chairman emeritus of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL).
But more than anything else, what Almario accomplished was that he put a face to the Filipino
writer in the country, one strong face determinedly wielding a pen into untruths, hypocrisy, injustice,
among others.
Alejandro Roces
“You cannot be a great writer; first, you have to be a good person”
Alejandro Roces, is a short story writer and essayist and considered as the
country‘s best writer of comic short stories. He is known for his widely anthologized ―My
Brother‘s Peculiar Chicken.‖ In his innumerable newspaper columns, he has always focused
on the neglected aspects of the Filipino cultural heritage. His works have been published in
various international magazines and have received national and international awards.
Ever the champion of Filipino culture, Roces brought to public attention to the
aesthetics of the country‘s fiestas. He was instrumental in popularizing several local
fiestas, notably, Moriones and Ati-atihan. He personally led the campaign to change the
country‘s Independence Day from July 4 to June 12, and caused the change of language
from English to Filipino in the country‘s stamps, currency, and passports, and recovered
Jose Rizal‘s manuscripts when they were stolen from the National Archives.
His unflinching love of country led him to become a guerilla during the Second
World War, to defy martial law and to found the major opposition party under the
dictatorship. His works have been published in various international magazines and
received numerous national and international awards, including several decorations from
various governments.
Bienvenido Lumbera
Bienvenido Lumbera, is a poet, librettist, and scholar.
*As a poet, he introduced to Tagalog literature what is now known as Bagay
poetry, a landmark aesthetic tendency that has helped to change the vernacular poetic
tradition. He is the author of the following works: Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (poems in
Filipino and English), 1993; Balaybay, Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang, 2002; Sa
Sariling Bayan, Apat na Dulang May Musika, 2004; ―Agunyas sa Hacienda
Luisita,‖ Pakikiramay, 2004.
As a librettist for the Tales of the Manuvu and Rama Hari, he pioneered the
creative fusion of fine arts and popular imagination. As a scholar, his major books include
the following: Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition and Influences in its
Development; Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology, Revaluation: Essays
on Philippine Literature, Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa.
Lazaro A. Francisco
Prize-winning writer Lazaro A. Francisco developed the social realist tradition in
Philippine fiction. His eleven novels, now acknowledged classics of Philippine literature,
embodies the author‘s commitment to nationalism. Amadis Ma. Guerrero wrote,
―Francisco championed the cause of the common man, specifically the oppressed
peasants. His novels exposed the evils of the tenancy system, the exploitation of farmers
by unscrupulous landlords, and foreign domination.‖ Teodoro Valencia also observed, ―His
pen dignifies the Filipino and accents all the positives about the Filipino way of life. His
writings have contributed much to the formation of a Filipino nationalism.‖ Literary
historian and critic Bienvenido Lumbera also wrote, ―When the history of the Filipino novel
is written, Francisco is likely to occupy an eminent place in it. Already in Tagalog literature,
he ranks among the finest novelists since the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to a
deft hand at characterization, Francisco has a supple prose style responsive to the subtlest
nuances of ideas and the sternest stuff of passions.‖
Lazaro A. Francisco
Francisco gained prominence as a writer not only for his social conscience but
also for his ―masterful handling of the Tagalog language‖ and ―supple prose style‖. With
his literary output in Tagalog, he contributed to the enrichment of the Filipino language and
literature for which he is a staunch advocate. He put up an arm to his advocacy of Tagalog
as a national language by establishing the Kapatiran ng mga Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino
(KAWIKA) in 1958.
His reputation as the ―Master of the Tagalog Novel‖ is backed up by numerous
awards he received for his meritorious novels in particular, and for his contribution to
Philippine literature and culture in general. His masterpiece novels—Ama, Bayang
Nagpatiwakal, Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig and Daluyong—affirm his eminent place in
Philippine literature. In 1997, he was honored by the University of the Philippines with a
special convocation, where he was cited as the ―foremost Filipino novelist of his
generation‖ and ―champion of the Filipino writer‘s struggle for national identity.‖
Cirilo F. Bautista
Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and essayist with exceptional achievements
and significant contributions to the development of the country‘s literary arts. He is
acknowledged by peers and critics, and the nation at large as the foremost writer of his
generation.
Throughout his career that spanned more than four decades, he established a
reputation for fine and profound artistry; his books, lectures, poetry readings and creative
writing workshops continue to influence his peers and generations of young writers.
As a way of bringing poetry and fiction closer to the people who otherwise would
not have the opportunity to develop their creative talent, Bautista held funded and
unfunded workshops throughout the country. In his campus lecture circuits, Bautista
updated students and student-writers on literary developments and techniques.
As a teacher of literature, Bautista realized that the classroom is an important
training ground for Filipino writers. In De La Salle University, he was instrumental in the
formation of the Bienvenido Santos Creative Writing Center. He was also the moving spirit
behind the founding of the Philippine Literary Arts Council in 1981, the Iligan National
Writers Workshop in 1993, and the Baguio Writers Group.
Cirilo F. Bautista
Thus, Bautista contributed to the development of Philippine literature: as a writer,
through his significant body of works; as a teacher, through his discovery and
encouragement of young writers in workshops and lectures; and as a critic, through his
essays that provided insights into the craft of writing and correctives to misconceptions
about art.
Major works: Summer Suns (1963), Words and Battlefields (1998), The Trilogy
of Saint Lazarus (2001), Galaw ng Asoge (2003).
Ramon Muzones
Ramon Muzones was a Hiligaynon poet, essayist, short story writer, critic,
grammarian, editor, lexicographer, and novelist who authored an unprecedented 61
completed novels. A number of these represent groundbreaking ―firsts‘ in Hiligaynon
literature such as the feminist Ang Bag-ong Maria Clara, the roman a clef Maambong Nga
Sapat (Magnificent Brute,1940), the comic Si Tamblot (1946), the politically satirical Si
Tamblot Kandidato Man (Tamblot is Also a Candidate, 1949), the 125- installment longest
serialized novel Dama de Noche (1982-84), etc. Hailed by his peers as the longest reigning
(1938-1972) among ―the three kings of the Hiligaynon novel,‖ Muzones brought about its
most radical changes while ushering in modernism. With a literary career that spanned
fifty-three years (1938-1990), his evolution covers the whole history of the Hiligaynon
novel from its rise in the 1940s to its decline in the 1970s. Muzones tried his hand at a
variety of types and proved adept in all as literary fashions. In the process, he not only
extended with remarkable versatility and inventiveness the scope and style of the
Hiligaynon novel, but he also enriched Hiligaynon literature‘s dramatis personae.
Ramon Muzones
Notable Works:
● Shri-Bishaya (1969)
● Malala nga Gutom (Malignant Hunger,1965)
● Babae Batuk sa Kalibutan (Woman Against the World,1959)
● Ang Gugma sang Gugma Bayaran (Love with Love Be Paid, 1955)
● Si Tamblot (1948)
● Margosatubig (1946)
Resil B. Mojares
A teacher and scholar, essayist and fictionist, and cultural and literary historian,
Resil Mojares is acknowledged as a leading figure in the promotion of regional literature
and history. As founding director of the Cebuano Studies Center—an important research
institution which placed Cebu in the research and documentation map—he pioneered
Cebuano and national identity formation. As a leading figure in cultural and literary history,
he networked actively in many organizations. For over 50 years, Mojares has published
in diverse forms (fiction, essay, journalism, scholarly articles, and books) across a wide
range of discipline (literature, history, biography, cultural studies, and others). To date, he
has 17 published books (3 more in the press) and edited, co-edited, or co-authored 11
books, and written numerous articles for popular and scholarly publications.
Resil B. Mojares
Notable Works:
● Origins and Rise of the Filipino Novel: A Generic Study of the Novel Until 1940
(Quezon City, UP Press, 1983; second ed. 1998)
● The Man Who Would Be President: Serging Osmeña and Philippine Politics
(Cebu: Maria Cacao, 1986)
● Waiting for Mariang Makiling: Essays on Philippine Cultural History
(Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2002)
● Theater in Society, Society in Theater: Social History of a Cebuano Village, 1840-1940
(Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1985)
● The War Against the Americans: Resistance and Collaboration in Cebu, 1899-1906
(Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1999)
● House of Memory: Essays (Metro Manila: Anvil Publishing, 1997)
● Brains of the Nation: Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Isabelo de los Reyes and the
Production of Modern Knowledge
(Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2006)
● Isabelo‘s Archive (Metro Manila: Anvil Publishing, 2013).
Rolando S. Tinio
Rolando S. Tinio, playwright, thespian, poet, teacher, critic, and translator marked
his career with prolific artistic productions. Tinio‘s chief distinction is as a stage director
whose original insights into the scripts he handled brought forth productions notable for
their visual impact and intellectual cogency.
Subsequently, after staging productions for the Ateneo Experimental Theater (its
organizer and administrator as well), he took on Teatro Pilipino. It was to Teatro Pilipino
which he left a considerable amount of work reviving traditional Filipino drama by re-
staging old theater forms like the sarswela and opening a treasure-house of contemporary
Western drama. It was the excellence and beauty of his practice that claimed for theater a
place among the arts in the Philippines in the 1960s.
Aside from his collections of poetry (Sitsit sa Kuliglig, Dunung – Dunungan, Kristal
na Uniberso, A Trick of Mirrors) among his works were the following: film scripts for Now
and Forever, Gamitin Mo Ako, Bayad Puri and Milagros; sarswelas Ang Mestisa, Ako, Ang
Kiri, Ana Maria; the komedya Orosman at Zafira; and Larawan, the musical.
Levi Celerio
Levi Celerio is a prolific lyricist and composer for decades. He effortlessly
translated/wrote anew the lyrics to traditional melodies: ―O Maliwanag Na Buwan‖ (Iloko),
―Ako ay May Singsing‖ (Pampango), ―Alibangbang‖ (Visaya) among others.
Born in Tondo, Celerio received his scholarship at the Academy of Music in Manila
that made it possible for him to join the Manila Symphony Orchestra, becoming its youngest
member. He made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the only person able to make
music using just a leaf.
A great number of his songs have been written for the local movies, which earned
for him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines. Levi
Celerio, more importantly, has enriched the Philippine music for no less than two generations
with a treasury of more than 4,000 songs in an idiom that has proven to appeal to all social
classes.
A picture is worth
a thousand words
Thanks Prepared by:
Sheraline Flor M. Ambo
Subject Teacher
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