MANILA, Philippines - The winners of the Philippine Art Awards from Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao have been proclaimed recently at the National Museum, the Museo Sugbo, and the Provincial Capitol of Misamis Oriental, respectively.
The 10 Metro Manila winners are: Arnel Brillantes of Makati City for “Unfamiliar Territories”; Camille dela Rosa of Mandaluyong City for “Those Who Have Ears, Hear. Those Who Have Eyes, See”; Joey Cobcobo of Mandaluyong City for “Crown Him King”; Raffy Napay of Mandaluyong City for “Ang Liwanag at Ang Pakikipaglabanan”; Jaime Jesus Pacena Jr. of Quezon City for “In Denial”; Maximino Balatbat II of Caloocan City for “Avenida Karnibal”; Dan Raralio of Quezon City for “Brain Drain”; Dexter Sy of Quezon City for “Oro, Plata, Mata”; Thomas Daquioag of Makati City for “Magnet”; and Froilan Calayag of Marikina City for “The Mother’s Revenge (After Rizal)”.
The 10 Luzon winners are: Rodelio “Toti” Cerda of Binangonan, Rizal for “Broken Vows”; Teodorico Cumagon III of Lipa City for “The Root Cause”; Augusto Elopre of Baguio City for “The End of the Black In-Hear-itance”; Yuan Mo’ro Ocampo of Santiago City for “Pentecost”; Vincent Paul Padilla of Binangonan, Rizal for “See Through the Barong Tagalog”; Rommel Sampana of Plaridel, Bulacan for “The Following Program is Not Suitable for Very Young Audiences”; Reynaldo Samson of Antipolo City for “Sustansiya ng Langit”; Arturo Sanchez Jr. of Angono, Rizal for “Tragic Playground”; Isidro Diaz Santos of Angono, Rizal for “Binigkis”; Crispin Villanueva of Antipolo City for “Considering that it is Already Changing.”
From the Visayas, the 10 winners are: Lucilo Sagayno of Cebu City for “Twisted”; Eliseo Libo-on Jr. of Bacolod City for “Water is Life”; John Paul Castillo of Iloilo City for “State of Complexity”; Frank Alexi Nobleza of Guimaras for “Stapled”; Marvin Chito Natural of Toledo City for “The Filipino Art of Problem Solving”; Nomar Milano of Lapu-Lapu City for “Milagrosa”; Jzy Tilos of Iloilo City for “Mari-it”; Cezar Arro of Iloilo City for “Deception”; Edmar Colmo of Iloilo City for “Connected”; and Jovito Hecita Jr. of Talisay City for “Balik-loob.”
Mindanao’s best are Michael Bauzon of Davao City for “Bombings: Man’s Cruelty Against Man”; Bryan Cabrera of Davao City for “Consumed”; Soliman Poonon of Bukidnon for “Cultural Identity”; Michael Bacol of Cagayan de Oro City for “A Story for Lola Basyang”; Edgar Carreon of Davao City for “Katawan at Kaluluwa”; Rodney Yap of Davao City for “Generations of Women: Adapting the Attempts to Proliferate”; Jericho Vamenta of Cagayan de Oro City for “Ang Paglalakbay ni Ino”; Marcelino Necosia of Bukidnon for “Relasyon”; Nicolas Aca of Cagayan de Oro City for “People’s Flower”; and Oscar Floirendo of Cagayan de Oro City for “Self-Portrait, Too”.
Aside from the trophy, the 40 winners each received P40,000 and will also compete with each other in the national competition slated next year. All regional winning works will be collectively exhibited at the National Museum during the competition.
The grand prize winner in the national competition will receive P350,000, while the Juror’s Choice Award of Merit winners will each receive P120,000. An all-expense paid trip to the World Expo and Art Fair in Shanghai also forms part of the prize pool for all national winners.
National Artist BenCab, who is one of the members of the panel of judges, commended the Philippine Art Awards for being “always in the forefront when it comes to giving the Filipino visual artists the best opportunity to make their entries truly competitive, especially now that it has expanded the contest to include multi-dimensional works.”
He is joined in the panel by Mercedes Vargas of the Lopez Memorial Museum; Cid Reyes, art critic and author of several books on Philippine art; Nestor Vinluan, abstractionist and former dean of UP College of Fine Arts; Dr. Patrick Flores of the Vargas Museum; Tina Colayco, art book publisher and dean of UP College of Fine Arts; Julie Lluch, terra cotta sculptor; Jose Tence Ruiz; and Ambie Abano, grand prize awardee of PAA.
The Philippine Art Awards is jointly presented by Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc. (PMPMI), the National Museum, and Asian Tigers Philippines and supported by regional collection centers in Angono, Angeles City, Malolos, Baguio, and Taguig.