Something awry at the NCCA

People who aren’t familiar with the creative process are in command positions at the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), people who have no track record as cultural workers.

They may have the best of intentions, but their myopia, alas, hobbles them. Their plan to have some of the works of our writers made into movies — if they had read these stories they should have excluded most in their filmable list — the narratives are simply dull and bereft of conflict or tension which is the most important element in film.

If I had my way, I would help instead our better directors and scriptwriters. The NCCA may also take a cue or two from South Korea whose government is actively supporting the country’s movie industry in producing those epic historical movies and the addictive telenovelas that have gained global currency.

In this regard, although so many hosannas had been written about Dolphy, let me add to them, recount a meeting with him. Dolphy used to frequent Za’s Café behind my bookshop. One of his children lived in an apartment above the coffee shop and he was often there, partaking of the café’s ensaymada which is the best in Manila.

I approached him once, introduced myself; he said he knew my bookshop. I asked if he ever saw Limelight, starring Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom — a moving story of a theater janitor who helps a young ballet dancer achieve her dream. It had such pathos and comedy as only Chaplin could make them. I asked Dolphy if he could do something similar, that I would help gratis with the script. He told me that, indeed, he admired Chaplin very much, and Cantinflas, the Mexican comedian. He studied so many of Chaplin’s films. He said he wanted to elevate his own movies from slapstick, but every time he did, the film did not do well. Is the masa hopeless? At least Dolphy tried. I think the majority of our mainline moviemakers never attempted to put quality plus in their work.

But back to those NCCA bosses who questioned why I applied for a grant to write abroad.

Like I said, these officials do not understand the creative process, that the writer — if he can — could write best away from the tensions of his normal environment. Nick Joaquin wrote The Woman Who Had Two Navels abroad, ditto with Rizal’s Noli and Fili. My novels in the Rosales saga — with my meager resources and help from friends, I wrote The Pretenders in the Basque village of Marquina, Tree in Baguio, My Brother, My Executioner in Tokyo, Mass in Paris. Only Poon was written in Bellagio, Italy with a Rockefeller Foundation grant.

Way back, the late Austin Coates who wrote that splendid biography of Rizal and I were comparing notes about writing. I told him that some of my novels were written on the run, and that I later joined the chapters like putting together furniture parts.

He advised me against it, saying no matter how good a carpenter I was, the joints will show, that I should seek isolation whenever I had a major writing project so that I can concentrate on the work.

These NCCA officials do not realize how important isolation is for the creative writer, why there exist writing centers such as those in the United States and the Rockefeller center in Bellagio which also sponsors composers, philosophers, journalists.

For writers crippled by poverty, writing abroad is a luxury that is almost unattainable. This is where institutions like Senator Angara’s Center for the Arts in Baler, and all those do-gooding foundations here and abroad are blessings.

To repeat, those NCCA decision-makers do not understand this simple need.

The problem with government institutions — and the NCCA is not alone, is the executives mandated to administer them, drop from the sky and are suddenly thrust into these important positions because of political maneuvering. Former NCCA administrators, architect Lindy Locsin, Jimmy Laya, Ambeth Ocampo, even Cecile Guidote Alvarez, for all the criticisms heaped against her, have a track record as a cultural workers, and of course Malou Jacob, a distinguished playwright, knew what she was doing.

Senator Edgardo Angara and Letty Shahani did right in creating the NCCA. There is some thinking now that it should be enlarged into a Department of Culture. If ever created, the background of the individuals who will run it should be carefully assessed. The Ministry of Culture in France was once led by the famous writer, Andre Malraux.

It can easily be assumed that because of my observations, I may have ulterior motives. At 87, I am not angling for any government job. I have so little time left for doing my thing. As for my NCCA grant application — forget it.

The National Artist Award

While I am at it, why the four-year delay in the Supreme Court Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) decision on the Award to a dressmaker and a pulp movie director? As I said it will not take four hours at the least and four days at the most to decide on such a simple case. I hope that with the new Chief Justice, this issue will be settled very soon so that once and for all the integrity of the selection process will not be violated by Presidential action the way President Gloria Arroyo did.

I made suggestions on the process and again, so that it will not be misconstrued as self-serving, my suggestions for more support for the National Artist, will be only for the new awardees and not for the incumbent.

In the past, as Nestor Torre pointed out, some of the awardees were undeserving; they did not have a substantial body of excellent work. Worse, there is nothing Filipino in their work, or even in their very lives; they illustrate no tenacious affection for this unhappy country — alienated as they are from her. They passed the gauntlet because of — again that nasty word — lobbying.

Lobbying will always be with us, and corruption, too, but if procedures are stringently followed, lobbying can be minimized.

The NCCA is tasked to promote Philippine culture; it follows that its functionaries must understand the creative process. They must empathize with the artists — their needs, for these artists are the primary creators of the art which in its entirety becomes a nation’s identity.