National Artists Award

National Artists Award

The Order of the National Artists Award

(Orden ng Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining)

is the highest national recognition given to Filipino individuals who

have made significant contributions to the development of Philippine
arts; namely, Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film and
Broadcast Arts, and Architecture and Allied Arts.
The order is jointly administered by the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Cultural Center of the
Philippines (CCP) and conferred by the President of the
Philippines upon recommendation by both institutions.
Background

The Order of the National Artist Award (Orden ng Gawad Pambansang

Alagad ng Sining) was established under Proclamation No. 1001 dated
April 27, 1972 to give appropriate recognition and prestige to Filipinos
who have distinguished themselves and made outstanding
contributions to Philippine arts and letters.

The first award was conferred posthumously later that year on

Fernando Amorsolo (Visual Arts).
Objectives:

2.1 Filipino artists who have made significant contributions to the

cultural heritage of the country.

2.2 Filipino artistic accomplishment at its highest level and to

promote creative expression as significant to the development of a
national cultural identity.

2.3 Filipino artists who have dedicated their lives to their works to
forge new paths and directions for future generations of Filipino
artists.
The Order of National Artists shall be given to artists who have
met the following criteria:

5.1 Living artists who are natural-born Filipino citizens at the

time of nomination, as well as those who died after the
establishment of the award in 1972 but were Filipino citizens at
the time of their death. Filipinos who have lost and re-acquired
Filipino citizenship, through dual citizenship status for at least
the minimum period of five years shall be eligible for
nomination.
5.2 Artists who through the content and form of their works
have contributed in building a Filipino sense of nationhood.

5.3. Artists who have pioneered in a mode of creative expression

or style, thus, earning distinction and making an impact on
succeeding generations of artists.

5.4. Artists who have created a substantial and significant body

of works and/or consistently displayed excellence in the practice
of their art form thus enriching artistic expression or style.
5.5 Artists who enjoy broad acceptance through:

5.5.1. prestigious national and/or international recognition,

such as the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining, CCP Thirteen Artists
Award and NCCA Alab ng Haraya

5.5.2. critical acclaim and/or reviews of their works

5.5.3. respect and esteem from peers.

6.2. Candidates may be nominated under one or more of the
following categories:

6.2.1. Dance – choreography, direction and/or performance.

6.2.2. Music – composition, direction, and/or performance.

6.2.3. Theater – direction, performance and/or production design.

6.2.4. Visual Arts – painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography,

installation art, mixed media works, illustration, graphic arts,
performance art and/or imaging.
6.2.5. Literature – poetry, fiction, essay, playwriting, journalism
and/or literary criticism.

6.2.6. Film and Broadcast Arts – direction, writing, production

design, cinematography, editing, camera work, and/or
performance.

6.2.7. Architecture, Design and Allied Arts – architecture design,

interior design, industrial arts design, landscape architecture and
fashion design
The selection and conferment of the National
Artists shall take place every three (3) years.
The logo, derived from the Baybayin character Ka and styled based on
a Katipunan design, represents Katotohanan, Kagandahan at
Kabutihan (Truth, Beauty and Goodness)
• Cirilo F. Bautista (Literature, 2014)
• Alice G. Reyes (Dance, 2014)
• Ramon P. Santos (Music, 2014)
• Jose Maria V. Zaragoza (Architecture 2014, posthumous)
• Francisco Feliciano (Music 2014, posthumous)
• Francisco V. Coching (Visual Arts 2014, posthumous)
• Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (Visual Arts 2009)
• Manuel Conde (Cinema 2009)
• Lazaro Francisco (Literature 2009)
Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and
essayist with exceptional achievements and
significant contributions to the development
of the country’s literary arts.

As a teacher of literature, Bautista has

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.
The name Alice Reyes has become a significant part of
Philippine dance parlance.
Perhaps the biggest contribution of Alice Reyes to
Philippine dance is the development of a distinctly
Filipino modern dance idiom. Utilizing inherently Filipino
materials and subject matters expressed through a
combination of movements and styles from Philippine
indigenous dance, modern dance and classical ballet she
has successfully created a contemporary dance language
that is uniquely Filipino.
Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer, conductor
and musicologist, is currently the country’s
foremost exponent of contemporary Filipino
music. A prime figure in the second generation of
Filipino composers in the modern idiom, Santos
has contributed greatly to the quest for new
directions in music, taking as basis non-Western
traditions in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

His return to the Philippines marked a new path

in his style. After immersing himself in indigenous
Philippine and Asian (Javanese music and dance,
Chinese nan kuan music), he became more
interested in open-ended structures of time and
space, function as a compositional concept,
environmental works, non-conventional
instruments, the dialectics of control and non-
control, and the incorporation of natural forces in
the execution of sound-creating tasks.
José María V. Zaragoza’s place in Philippine
architecture history is defined by a significant
body of modern edifices that address spiritual
and secular requirements. Zaragoza’s name is
synonymous to modern ecclesiastical
architecture.

Major Works: Meralco Building (Pasig Cty),

Sto. Domingo Church and Convent (Quezon
City),
Metropolitan Cathedral of Cebu City, Villa San
Miguel, Mandaluyoung.
Francisco Feliciano’s corpus of creative
work attests to the exceptional talent of
the Filipino as an artist.

Many of his choral compositions have

been performed by the best choirs in
the country, such as the world
renowned Philippines Madrigal Singers,
UST Singers and the Novo Concertante
Manila, and have won for them
numerous awards in international
choral competitions. The technical
requirement of his choral pieces are
almost at the tip of the scale that many
who listen to their rendition are awed.
Francisco Coching, acknowledged as the “Dean of
Filipino Illustrators” and son of noted Tagalog
novelist and comics illustrator Gregorio Coching, was
a master storyteller – in images and in print. His
illustrations and novels were products of that happy
combination of fertile imagination, a love of
storytelling, and fine draftsmanship.

He also left a lasting influence on the succeeding

generations of younger cartoonist such as Larry
Alcala, Ben Infante and Nestor Redondo. The comics
as popular art also helped forge the practice and
consciousness as a national language.
Federico Aguilar y Alcuaz, who signed his works
as Aguilar Alcuaz was an artist of voluminous
output. He is known mainly for his gestural
paintings in acrylic and oil, as well as sketches
in ink, watercolor and pencil. He was also a
sculptor of note and has rendered abstract and
figurative works in ceramics, tapestries and
even in relief sculptures made of paper and
mixed media, which he simply calls
“Alcuazaics.”

Alcuaz belongs to the second generation of

Filipino modernists after the fabled Thirteen
Moderns, credited along with Jose Joya,
Constancio Bernardo, Fernando Zobel and
Arturo Luz, for building a significant body of
abstract art from the arguably more tentative
efforts of their predecessors.
Manuel Conde grew up and studied in Daet,
Camarines Norte.
Through the more than forty films he created
from 1940 to 1963, Manuel Conde contributed in
no small measure to the indigenization of the
cinema. Conde went beyond the usual narratives
of the traditional genres and ventured into
subject matter that would have been deemed too
monumental or quixotic by the average producer.

Major works: Ibong Adarna (1941), Si Juan

Tamad (1947), Siete Infantes de
Lara (1950), Genghis Khan (1950), Ikaw
Kasi! (1955) Juan Tamad Goes To
Congress (1959).
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.

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.
Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan

In April 1992, the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan or

the National Living Treasures Award was institutionalized
through Republic Act No. 7355.
Envisioned under R.A. 7355, “Manlilikha ng Bayan” shall mean a
citizen engaged in any traditional art uniquely Filipino whose
distinctive skills have reached such a high level of technical and
artistic excellence and have been passed on to and widely
practiced by the present generation in his/her community with
the same degree of technical and artistic competence.
How Does One Become a Manlilikha ng Bayan?

a. He/she is an inhabitant of an indigenous/traditional cultural

community anywhere in the Philippines that has preserved
indigenous customs, beliefs, rituals and traditions and/or has
syncretized whatever external elements that have influenced it.

b. He/she must have engaged in a folk art tradition that has

been in existence and documented for at least fifty (50) years.
c. He/she must have consistently performed or produced over
a significant period, works of superior and distinctive quality.

d. He/she must possess a mastery of tools and materials

needed by the art, and must have an established reputation in
the art as master and maker of works of extraordinary
technical quality.

e. He/she must have passed on and/or will pass on to other

members of the community their skills in the folk art for which
the community is traditionally known.
A traditional artist who possesses all the qualities of a Manlilikha
ng Bayan candidate, but due to age or infirmity has left him/her
incapable of teaching further his/her craft, may still be recognized
if:

a. He/she had created a significant body of works and/or has

consistently displayed excellence in the practice of his/her art,
thus achieving important contributions for its development.

b. He/she has been instrumental in the revitalization of his/her

community’s artistic tradition.
c. a. He/she has passed on to the other members of the
community skills in the folk art for which the community is
traditionally known.

d. His/her community has recognized him/her as master and

teacher of his/her craft.
The Award shall be given in each, but not limited to the
following categories of traditional folk arts, viz.:
folk architecture, graphic and plastic arts,
maritime transport, ornament,
weaving, carving, textile or fiber art,
performing arts, Literature,
pottery and other artistic expressions of traditional culture.
Ginaw Bilog (d. 2003),
artist and poet,

Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro

Poetry (Ambahan), 1993

Masino Intaray (d. 2013),
musician and epic chanter,

Brookes Point, Palawan,

Poetry (Kulilal and Bagit)

Music (Basal / Gong), 1993

Samaon Sulaiman (d. 2011),
Musician,

Mama sa Pano, Maguindanao

Music (Kutyapi), 1993

Lang Dulay,
textile weaver,

Lake Sebu, South Cotabato,

Weaving (T’nalak), 1998

Salinta Monon (d. 2009),
weaver, Bansalan,

Davao del Sur,

Weaving (Abaca – ikat / Inabal),

1998
Alonzo Saclag,
musician and dancer,

Lubugan, Kalinga Province,

Music and Dance (Kalinga),

2000
Frederico Caballero,
epic chanter,

Sulod- Bukidnon, Iloilo,

Poetry / Epic Chant

(Sugidanon), 2000
Uwang Ahadas,
musician,

Lamitan, Basilan,

Music (Yakan specifically

Kulintang, kwitangan kayu,
gabbang, agung, and
tuntungan), 2000
Darhata Sawabi, (d. 2005),
weaver,

Parang, Sulu,

weaving (Pis Syabit), 2004

Eduardo Mutuc,
metalsmith / metal sculptor,

Apalit, Pampanga,

Metalwork (Bronze and Silver),

2004
Haja Amina Appi (d. 2013),
weaver,

Tandubas, Tawi-Tawi,

Weaving (Mat), 2004

Teofilo Garcia,
casque maker,

San Quintin, Abra,

Casque Making (Tabungaw), 2012

Magdalena Gamayo,
master weaver,

Pinili, Ilocos Norte,

Weaving (Inabel), 2012