I would like to thank Boy Abunda for recently stating on TV that I was one of the people whom he felt deserved to be named National Artist. What an unexpected endorsement!
For a full decade now, I have been one of the “experts” involved in the process of vetting and deciding on who should receive the country’s top artistic honor, and now I’m in the running for it? —Thanks for the endorsement, Boy, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.
For one thing, I’ve ruffled too many feathers with my “honest” reviews to get enough people to support my “cause.” —Indeed, there could be quite a number of aggrieved rumblers and grumblers out there who would actively work against such a move!
Candidates
I daresay that they would include some N.A. candidates themselves who repeatedly try to make the grade every three years or so, but are nixed by grouchy vetters like me, for the simple reason that they don’t deserve the nation’s top artistic honor.
Indeed, for years now, I have been so concerned about the slow erosion of the validity and reliability of the top award that I have called for stringent reforms of the award process itself, some of which have come to pass. Along with other “reform-minded” vetters and voters, I have noted that many candidates and some actual “winners” rely too much on their political and artistic “connections” to pass muster. They try to make it not as major creative artists, but as educators, organizers, arts group heads, popular luminaries, etc.
Reformists feel that all these ploys are distracting us from the real intent of the National Artist awards, which is to reward high and consistent artistic contributions, period.
Another dangerous development is some ambitious people’s ploy to eventually become National Artists, even if they sense that they don’t have what it takes, by first supporting other candidates’ causes. When those people attain the honor, their supporters hope that they will gratefully endorse them in turn!
These and other crafty machinations make objectivity in the selection process dodgy, so everyone must be on his guard, if the top award is to retain its already bruised integrity and validity—especially after the last round’s questionable outcome, which has sundered the country’s entire artistic community.
That’s why I strongly feel that the selection process for the next batch of candidates should be deferred until after the Supreme Court has ruled on the contentious issue. The fact that the selection process has not been postponed indicates how little we want to learn from our sad, past experiences.
—So, your resident neighborhood NUT as National Artist? Thanks, Boy, but—I don’t think so!