Marahil isang bagay ang naging maigting ngayong linggo sa diwa nating mga Pilipino – kung gaano kahalaga ang pagkatao ng ating mga pinuno at ang epekto nito sa pangkalahatang saliw ng buhay publiko.
Sa isang bahagi, ang pagkatao ng Pangulo ay produkto ng kulturang kinagisnan niya. At sa kabila naman, ang Pangulo ay humuhulma sa kultura ng kasalukuyan dulot ng kanyang impluwensya sa ating mga kinatawan at sa iba’t-ibang kagawarang pampamahalaan. Higit sa lahat na marahil, ang Pangulo ay ang pinakamaigting na personalidad ng ating pampublikong buhay. Siya ang tampulan ng parangal o kutya, depende sa galing o tumal ng kanyang pangangasiwa.
Ang kontrobersya ukol sa National Artists Award ay hindi kagulat-gulat. Ito ay umaayon lamang sa estilo ng pamamalakad ng Pamahalaang Arroyo. Sa Media in Focus kagabi, nabigyang diin ang pagsawalang-bahala sa proseso sa pagpili ng mga alagad ng sining na karapat-dapat parangalan. Sa pitong napili ng National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) at CCP, isa ang tinanggal at apat ang idinagdag ni Pangulong Arroyo.
Ayon kagabi sa isang tanyag na manunulat at miyembro ng NCCA na si Butch Dalisay, halos dalawang taon ang prosesong ito. Ang parangal na ito ay galing mismo sa mga kapwa alagad ng sining. Totoo nga namang ang mga ibang artist din ang maaring makasukat ng galing at kalinangan ng isa’t isa.
Ipinagtanggol ni Carlo J. Caparas kagabi ang kanyang sarili sa matinding kritikong natamo na’ng siya’y pangalanan ni Ginang Arroyo. Dalawang bagay ang mensaheng pinariinan niya. Una, binalewala niya ang pagtutol ng ilang miyembro ng NCCA at CCP sa pagbigay ng parangal sa kanya. Mas pinahalagahan niya ang pagpili sa kanya ng Pangulo. Pangalawa, inakusahan niya ng pagiging elitista ang mga tumututol sa kaniya. Aniya, ang sukatan daw ng galing ay sa takilya. Ipinamukha niya na tila siya’y minamaliit dahil siya’y pinarangalan sa komiks at ang komiks ay maka-masa.
Mali ang ganitong mga argumento ni Carlo J. Caparas. Sa larangan ng pelikula na halimbawa, hindi maaaring akusahan si Lino Brocka, isa nang National Artist, sa pagiging ‘elitista’, kung ang ibig sabihin ay hindi maka-masa. Ang mga pelikula ni Brocka ay walang tawad na tumutuligsa sa sistemang lumilikha ng api sa ating lipunan.
Isa pa’ng ibig sabihin ng ‘elite’ ay pinakamagaling. Hindi ba tama’ng piliin at ipagpugay ang pinakamagaling sa larangan ng sining? Sa gayon, ang standard ay mataas at ang mga nanalo ay maaaring magsilbing halimbawa sa iba pa’ng mga artist? Sa kahit ano’ng larangan, hindi ba’t tayo’y humahanga sa mga taong sa tingin natin ay magaling?
Ikalawa, tumaas ang kilay ko na’ng sinabi ni Caparas na mas pinahalagahan niya ang pagpili sa kanya ni Ginang Arroyo. Para ito’ng sampal sa mukha sa kapwa niya mga artist. Para nga namang nawalang saysay ang kategoryang ‘National Artist.’ Ang mensahe nito ay – ang parokyano ni Gloria Arroyo at nagsilbi ka sa kanya ng mabuti ay sinusuklian. Kung gayon – kung gusto mo’ng umasenso, tumanyag at gawaran ng parangal bilang artist – hindi mo na kailangang magpakadalubhasa. Lalong hindi mo kailangan ng respeto ng mga kapwa mo artists. Ang kailangan mo lang ay basbas ng Malacañang. Iba yatang set of skills ang kailangan mong hasain kung ganyan ang sukatan.
Ginawaran si Carlo J. Caparas ng award sa kategoryang “Visual Artist.” Pagkat may ibang umani ng parangal sa “Film”, hindi ito dahil sa sining ng kanyang mga massacre movies. Ito ay dahil sa kanyang gawa sa komiks.
Sa video na ito ipinaliwanag ni Gerry Alanguilan, isang comic artist, na hindi si Caparas ang “visual artist” ng mga komiks na pinatanyag niya. Iba ang mga nag-dibuho o nag-drawing. Si Caparas lamang ang nagsulat. Kung sa gayon, dapat siya’y pinarangalan sa kategoryang literatura.
Hindi sa pelikula, hindi sa visual arts at hindi sa literatura. Hindi tuloy maikaila na isiningit lamang talaga si Caparas at ang tatlong iba pa sa listahan ng mga nanalo. Ayon kay Dalisay kagabi, hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa rin lumalabas ang komite umano ng Palasyo na nagdagdag ng apat na ito.
Bilang isang ordinaryong mamamayan na wala’ng alam sa mundo ng sining, ito ang ilang obserbasyon ko. Walang sinasanto ang “executive privilege” ni Pangulong Arroyo. Ultimo National Artist award, pinapatos. At huli, kung hindi nangingiming magdagdag-bawas sa National Artist Award, lalo na siguro sa National Election ano?
Popularity: 2% [?]
art and politics do not make a good mix.
i didn’t see caparas’ interview but based on your account one thing is clear: caparas has no class.
Ang hindi ko talaga ma-take, Visual Artist eh ni hindi siya marunong mag-DRAWING!
I caught the replay a few hours ago. On one hand, you’d feel sorry that he was put in this awkward position of having to self-justify his award; on the other, he is pretty (or intentionally playing) dense with regard to what the real objection is about. His defensiveness bordered on ridiculous with the pandering to GMA and virtually calling Willie Revillame, being the King of Programang Masa, an example of art/cultural excellence. Shame that Ms. Guidote cancelled on the show, would’ve been more interesting to hear how she’d defend her award.
Though it boggles me what GMA gains granting CJC and the others the pahabol award at this price, it’s not as important as the disrespect she showed the NCCA and CCP. Like Mr. Romero said, if she doing the picking, what are the two committees for?
heard him being interviewed over the radio just now. he really is as dense as dense can be. and he keeps on playing the class card, characterizing himself as a ‘masa’ artist and his detractors as elitists. he is an insult even to the ‘masa’ crowd. he’s really in a class of his own — the stupid class.
is it possible mr. caparas can’t let go of the award because of the perks and benefits that come with the title. i heard the stipend given to national artists reach 6 to 7 figures. is this correct? if yes, then this whole issue probably boils to money — again.
There’s the classic fame getting to one’s head. Besides, Caparas is part of the “matandang mayabang” culture.
Now I know what Gerry Alanguilan looks like. This guy deserves an award.
If CC was not being intellectually dishonest he would have, should have, demured.
But alas both delicdeza and intellectual honesty have been thrown out the window it appears with over-used ‘presidential prerogative’ being the accessory to murder of the awards.
You can see the Media in Focus episode again here:
http://www.vimeo.com/5992376
salamat sa link!
There are people who have some Psychiatric and Psychological
problems. This is not their faults. Their brains are just not
functioning well. You can understand this. If you are familiar with the fields of Psychology and Psychiatry. There are Obsessive Compulsive Personalities. People who are afraid of dirty things, dirts, germs, etc… There are Kleptomaniacs. People who cannot help themselves from stealing. (Most of our Politicians are afflicted).
Gloria Arroyo is obsessed to influence all kinds of elections and
selections. So, she influence the Artist Awards. Next time, she
can vote herself as FAMAS Best Actress for the year. We will not
mind this. She deserves it.
Di siya papasa sa Urian!
Sure? With Ms. Lupita in her corner? ;)
Gigi Alfonso won’t have that!
Siguro dapat ibalik ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ang award nila bilang protesta. Sa Inglaterra nagbabalik nga ng MBE ang mga artists. Isa na dito ang mga Beatles.
Kung kaya nilang mawalay sa perks!
i have a question on on the issue of him being awarded the visual artist award…
lets think about stan lee and jack kirby
lee is the writer. kirby the illustrator.
would it be wrong to award stan lee the visual artist award for his work in comics?
if yes, what award ought to be given (assuming an award had to be bestowed). writing for a comic? story editing? character creation?
can we not say that lee should be given an award for his involvement in comics in general, is there a name for this kind of award?
what do you think of this analogy (lee is like caparas). as i’ve read here and at other places, caparas wrote a number of comics, and was a publisher.
can we not award him a “comics award”. is a comics award tantamount to a visual artist award (because comics are a visual medium)? even if he himself is not the illustrator?
gab,
as this online petition shows the visual artist category includes:
“Visual Arts – painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation art, mixed media works, illustration, graphic arts, performance art and/or imaging”
i see… i got the same response when i asked gerry in his blog.
so in the comics world/industry, only the illustrators may be awarded for work in comics. everyone else, no — they’d have to be awarded in existing categories.
i honestly thought that visual arts included involvement in comics, coz i thought comics were a visual art, primarily.
it seems too much to expect that a writer in comics, even a prolific one, would receive a literature award, with so much competition from short stories and novels (media that historically has more mature/complex stories)
I was really curious about PGMAs little committee. Well, they let it out, at least some of them… according to Ms. Guidote: Fr. James Reuter, National Artist for Literature Alejandro Roces and Sen. Edgardo Angara had recommended Alvarez, and their peers in their respective fields recommended Caparas, Mañosa and Moreno.
I’m frankly surprised Fr. Reuter was mentioned.