Art, roses, and pan de sal

"Unsaon man na ang painting ba? Dili man na makaon."

A few years ago, a local official allegedly uttered these words after some artists requested government support for their project. I could just imagine him computing how many sacks of rice or bags of pan de sal he could buy with the amount that would have been spent for a painting.

I had a similar thought when I saw a vendor peddling flowers along a busy street. She delicately balanced a basin of roses on her head. I wondered who would buy them. She was far from a church or a cemetery and it was not Valentine's Day. Why would people buy roses on a regular day? Don't they have more useful things to spend their money on? I thought.

The past few weeks, however, I found myself buying a dozen long-stemmed roses at the start of the week. Having them in my office made me very happy. When I tried to explain why it made me (and everyone else who saw the flowers) happy, the only idea that entered my mind was the corny saying that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever."

It must be my romantic ideas of beauty and of art as an expression of one's soul that makes me buy paintings and roses. The same ideas make it difficult for me to understand why the local official would compare a painting with something as mundane as food. I can never think of art as a commodity with an equivalent value in sacks of rice or bags of pan de sal.

Fortunately, not everyone thinks like the local official. The framers of all three of our Constitutions recognized the value of art. The 1935 Constitution provides that "Arts and letters shall be under [the State's] patronage." The 1973 Constitution says that "Arts and letters shall be under the patronage of the State." The 1987 Constitution provides that "Arts and letters shall enjoy the patronage of the State."

In 1991, President Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No. 683 declaring the month of February every year as National Arts Month. The proclamation enjoined all agencies of the government "to undertake activities with the spirit of this proclamation."

February 2007 will be the 17th time that our country will celebrate National Arts Month. Surprisingly, this year marks the first time that I learned that we actually have a National Arts Month. This almost made me think that I had been living under a rock for the last 16 years. Since I'm pretty sure that I did not, I am wondering why very few people seem be aware that we have a National Arts Month.

I checked the Internet for information on what the activities are for National Arts Month. From the website of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the premier government agency for culture and the arts, I learned that the theme for this year's Philippine Art Festival is "Ani ng Sining: Yaman ng Lahi."

I also learned that the festival will be launched simultaneously in Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Bulacan on February 3. The activities for the National Capital Region are described in the NCCA website. Unfortunately, "To be uploaded soon" appeared when I clicked on the section on calendar of events. When I checked the official websites of Cebu City as well as that of Cebu Province, I did not find any mention of National Arts Month at all. In contrast, the websites of the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Tagbilaran had detailed descriptions and schedules of their activities for National Arts Month.

Since I am an optimist, I am hoping that the official websites of the Cebu LGUs have simply not been updated and that both LGUs have meaningful activities lined up for National Arts Month. I refuse to imagine a scenario where they do not. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

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