On Thu, Apr 14, President Noynoy Aquino honored nine newly-declared National Artists.
At the conferment ceremony at Malacañan Palace, Aquino said, “To our National Artists: I know that any medal, any praise, any colorful words are not enough to the contributions in your respective fields and our society.”
He added, “We all agree that when we say National Artist, this is not about a medal just being given to anyone. This means we recognize the National Artist not only for their excellence in performing or creating, but also because they represent the best character of our race.”
Three of the nine had been named National Artist in 2009, and the rest in 2014. However, the conferment ceremony was only held this year.
Conferred the Order of the National Artist were the following:
1. Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, visual arts (posthumous)
2. Cirilo Bautista, literature
3. Francisco Coching, visual arts (posthumous)
4. Manuel Conde, film (posthumous)
5. Lazaro Francisco, literature (posthumous)
6. Francisco Feliciano, music (posthumous)
7. Alicia Garcia Reyes, dance
8. Ramon Santos, music
9. Jose Maria Zaragoza, architecture (posthumous)
The posthumous awardees were represented by their spouses or children.
