Landmark heritage legislation for Arts Month

The celebration of Arts Month just begun on February 1 with an appropriate salvo at “Sining Gising”, the TV show of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) on NBN Channel 4, as well as Concert at the Park with more than 1,500 artists participating. On the airwaves, DZRH “Radyo Balintataw” and at GMA 7’s popular programs “SIS”, “Master Showman: Walang Tulugan” and “Unang Hirit” have brought images of Arts Month to a nationwide audience and our kababayans abroad. The“Ani ng Sining,” commemoration in government centers was officially launched in Malacañang, hosted by the Office of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Present were Vice-President Noli de Castro, with DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral and several Ambassadors of the Diplomatic Corps.

Besides appropriate performances witnessed in the Malacañang Museum, inaugurated was a colorful display of creative works by participants in the KALAHI Cultural Care-giving Services from prison, drug rehabilitation centers, the differently-abled “Brave Kids” afflicted by cancer at the Children’s Hospital, the therapeutic center in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, out-of-school kids in Binondo, BASECO and Tondo, and center for refugees of disasters and armed conflicts. Malacañang Kalayaan garden gave a vivid panorama of how arts can be used dynamically as a force for education and social transformation throughout the country, including linkage with overseas Filipinos. The NCCA has prepared a diverse menu of cultural presentations and films, workshops, seminars and interactive exhibits that profile the creative genius of our people and the potential wealth of human resources. All disciplines of the arts are animated. Partnerships are developed with local governments, school campuses and indigenous communities including commercial centers like SM Malls, Robinson’s and the Cubao Shoe Expo.

One very special offering on the part of the legislature is the landmark law on heritage preservation and conservation. UNESCO has declared in the Philippines a number of tangible and intangible heritage of mankind that we can be proud of. In the sponsorship speech of Senator Edgardo Angara, he has appropriately pointed out “Culture reflects and shapes values, beliefs, and aspirations, thereby defining our people’s national identity… Culture is a manifestation of the freedom of belief and of expression. It is a human right to be accorded due respect and allowed to flourish. As a mirror of our way of life, our cultural heritage needs to be protected strongly, effectively, and unambiguously…. Our national cultural heritage is the only way we can sustain our identity in the face of globalization and the unprecedented speed and scale of scientific advances…. I ask commitment to ensure that our cultural heritage gets the consideration, the protection, and indeed the affection, that we, as a people, owe our heritage… This is a significant gift of the Senate. We applaud Sen. Edgardo Angara with his co-sponsors Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Loren Legarda and the chairman of the Senate education committee, Sen. Mar Roxas. Bipartisan support made possible the birth of a long awaited strong policy to defend our patrimony and nourish our memory. The Senate has demonstrated it is possible to set aside politics to achieve a goal for the higher good of our country. In the House of Representatives, Congressman Juan Edgardo Angara Jr. has likewise sponsored the bill which was approved in principle in a hearing chaired by NCCA Board member and chairman of the education committee, Congressman Del De Guzman with the support of Congresswoman Darlene Antonino-Custodio, Congressmen Mariano Piamonte and Carlos Padilla.

Once more, we witness a demonstration of bipartisan support. We hope that this significant legislative gesture will forge the atmosphere of unity and kinship and concern for our country. Arts Month happens auspiciously and serendipitously as we also celebrate February as the month of love and as we recall the gallantry of the Filipinos in EDSA in overthrowing a dictator without bloodshed. For its sustained vision of democratization and decentralization of the right to culture as well as popularizing the diversity of expression from ancestral roots to new artistic routes of expression, we applaud the NCCA that is effectively run by a dynamic duo: Executive Director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, the country’s youngest Filipina Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, founder of PETA and the Earthsavers DREAMS Ensemble, honored as UNESCO Artists for Peace and chairman, Dr. Vilma Labrador, DepEd undersecretary for plans and programs, and a Gawad Quezon Awardee.

In the field of Culture and the Arts, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has a feather in her cap for recognizing the importance of culture as an essential ingredient for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and as a catalyst for our country’s Education for All policy. The heads of the NCCA committees on all the seven-arts discipline should likewise take a bow. The NCCA makes a grand debut this year! Thus, we remember the authors of this historic legislation 18 years ago. The NCCA was created through a bill drafted by then Sen. Heherson Alvarez with Sen. Leticia Shahani joined by Sen. Angara as chairman of the education committee in 1992. Amidst the twin global crisis that we face, indeed, the arts provide the cultural highway for forging the necessary unity and community spirit to overcome our difficulties and turn crisis and challenges to triumph. We salute all the artists who have been reaping honors in the global scene because they serve as symbols of the indomitable spirit and creative genius of our race. Mabuhay ang mga Alagad ng Sining!