A National Artist of the Philippines (Filipino: Pamabansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas) is a title given to a Filipino who has been given the highest recognition for having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts. Such Filipinos are announced, by virtue of a Presidential Proclamation, as National Artist or in Filipino, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining. They are then conferred membership in the Order of National Artists, the regalia of which is an ornate, gilden collar of honor. In addition to the collar, each newly proclaimed member of the Order is given a citation that is presented during the awardees' conferment ceremonies. The Cultural Center of the Philippines then hosts a Memorabilia Exhibit and Gabi ng Parangal (A Night of Tributes) for the National Artists at the Tanghalang Pambansa.
Other benefits received by National artists include a monthly pension, medical and life insurance, arrangements for a state funeral, a place of honor at national state functions, and recognition at cultural events.[1]
The National Artist Honors is administered by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) by virtue of President Ferdinand Marcos's Proclamation No. 1001 of April 2, 1972 and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). The Government of the Republic of the Philippines confers the award to deserving individuals who have been recommended by both the CCP and the NCCA. The first award was posthumously conferred on Filipino painter Fernando Amorsolo.
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Categories under which National Artists can be recognized originally included[2]:
However, national artists have since been honored under new categories. The NCCA 'created' the category of National Artist for Fashion Design when it nominated Ramon Valera, but subsumed that category under "Architecture and Allied Arts". President Fidel V. Ramos issued an executive order creating the category of National Artist for Historical Literature before conferring the honor to Carlos Quirino. As part of the 2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo proclaimed Carlo J. Caparas a National Artist under the category of "Visual Art and Film", but it was unclear whether the honor was given under the separate categories of "Visual Art" and "Film", or as a new, combined category.[3]
Nominations for National Artist of the Philippines are based on a broad criteria, as set forth by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts[2]:
Nominations are then submitted to the National Artist Secretariat that is created by the National Artist Award Committee; experts from the different art fields then sit on a First Deliberation to prepare the short list of nominees. A Second Deliberation, which is a joint meeting of the Commissioners of the NCCA and the Board of Trustees of the CCP, decides on the final recomendees. The list is then forwarded to the President of the Philippines, who, by Presidential Proclamation, proclaims the final nominees as members of the Order of National Artists.[4]
(Categorized under "Allied Arts")
(New category created by President Fidel V. Ramos)
In August 2009, the conferment of the Order of National Artists to seven individuals by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo [5] became controversial when it was revealed that musician Ramon Santos had been dropped from the list of nominees short-listed in May that year by the selection committee, and that four other individuals had been nominated to the title via "President’s prerogative":Cecilla Guidote-Alvarez (Theater), Magno Jose "Carlo” Caparas (Visual Arts and Film), Francisco Manosa (Architecture), and Jose “Pitoy” Moreno (Fashion Design).[1][6]
Members of the Philippine art community, including a number of living National Artists of the Philippines, protested that the proclamation politicized the title of National artist, and made it "a way for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to accommodate her allies." Specific protests were raised regarding the nomination of NCCA executive director Guidote-Alvarez, because it was purportedly a breach of protocol and delicadeza (propriety), and of Carlo Caparas, because he was allegedly not qualified to be nominated under the categories of either Visual Arts or Film.[6][7]