Supreme Court stops conferment of 2009 National Artist awards

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) stopped yesterday the conferment of National Artist Awards on seven individuals and Malacañang has vowed to honor the injunction.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the Palace always abides by the SC’s decisions.

In seeking the injunction, several National Artists and other concerned parties asked the SC to define the President’s discretion naming awardees to the Order of the National Artist.

The petitioners 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 university professors and private persons.

Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the Department of Budget and Management, Cultural Center of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Malacañang-named National Artist awardees Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, Carlo Caparas, Jose Moreno and Francisco Mañosa.

SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the Court saw the urgency to stop the conferment of the national artist awards pending resolution of the issues raised by petitioners.

The order also covers the other three awardees: Manuel Conde (posthumous) for film and broadcast arts; Lazaro Francisco (posthumous) for literature; and Federico Aguilar Alcuaz for visual arts, he added.

Malacañang, Alvarez, Caparas, Moreno, Mañosa and other respondents were ordered to comment on the petition within 10 days.

On the other hand, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez said he expects the Office of the Solicitor General to defend and insist on the list of National Artist awardees approved by the Office of the President.

President Arroyo was well within her rights to choose the awardees from outside the list of the CCP and NCCA and the president’s prerogative to broaden her choice outside of the NCCA and CCP recommendations was based on Executive Order 236 establishing the Honors Code of the Philippines.

Gonzalez said the EO, which was issued on Sept. 19, 2003, created a committee on honors comprised of members of the Cabinet and other officials in the executive branch to assist the President in evaluating nominations for recipients of honors.

The honors committee has been functioning for sometime without question, he added.

The petitioners also asked the SC to stop the DBM from releasing “the monetary benefits, entitlements and emoluments arising from such conferment” to Alvarez, Caparas, Moreno and Mañosa.

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 life pension, medical and hospitalization benefits.

A life insurance will also cover awardees who are still insurable, along with arrangements and expenses for a state funeral.

They will have a place of honor at national state functions and recognition at cultural events.

The petitioners accused Malacañang of “grave abuse of discretion” when it disregarded the results of the selection process in inserting the names of Alvarez, Caparas, Moreno and Mañosa and dropping the name of Dr. Ramon Santos, the only nominee for the music category.

They petitioners said Alvarez was not qualified for a National Artist award, being NCAA executive director and presidential adviser on the culture and the arts.

“What is notable is that she even sat as a member of the Final Deliberation Panel,” read the petition. “This makes her inclusion in the final list all the more irregular and patently illegal.”

CPP and NCCA recommended to the president that Conde, Santos, Francisco and Alcuaz be named National Artists for 2009.

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

Caparas was named national artist for film and visual arts, 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.

Malacañang also did not make any justification for the inclusion of Caparas, Moreno, Mañosa and Alvarez.

“For the President to cavalierly disregard the collective judgment of the CCP and NCCA Boards and substitute her own judgment without a clear indication of the reasons and bases therefore is an unacceptable and manifestly grave abuse of discretion,” the petitioners said.

Under Executive Order 236 (Honors Code of the Philippines), the Order of National Artist is the fourth in the order of precedence and importance. 

The honor is not conferred only by the President but by the whole country, as seen by its recognition in the Honors Code.

Cash award and other emoluments are taken from public funds.         – With Marvin Sy