I agree with de Quiros on Nora Aunor. Dont you think he is right here? President Aquino’s spokespersons say he does not owe the artists, or the public, any explanation at all. The Office of the President itself puts it this way: “It is well within the President’s power to proclaim all, or some or even none of the recommendees without having to justify his or her action.” The argument for this is that the CCP and NCCA, which administer the National Artist Awards, are government bodies. Which is why the President has the final say on who should be named national artists. The law allows him to. The law says he can veto the decisions. The law says he can choose not to name a national artist at all. Well, if the law says that, then scrap the freaking law . . . Either scrap the president’s role in the National Artist Awards or make it completely titular or honorific. In acknowledgment at least of the national artists’ stipends—never has money been put to better use—being taxpayer money. Cory Aquino, for one, understood it thus and—as pointed out by those protesting the Aunor snub—did not interfere during her time when Lucrecia Kasilag, a supporter of Ferdinand Marcos, was named National Artist for Music. Opening the National Artist Awards to presidential discretion, or intervention, will guarantee, not quality, but tyranny. It is no wonder that the historical figures associated with this folly were out-and-out despots—Hitler, who fancied himself an artist, though he was at least an art student who longed to build the greatest art museum in history, and Stalin, who fancied himself all sorts of things, which qualified him only for the funny farm. Leave the artists well enough alone. Politics is too important to leave to politicians, art is too important to bring in politicians.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 02:19:41 +0000
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