Veteran singer and songwriter Freddie Aguilar must be disappointed.
National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario is the new chairperson of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
According to the NCCA website, “Almario was elected for the term 2017 to 2019 and shall lead the NCCA Board of Commissioners composed of representatives from the legislative, executive and the private sectors.”
Last year, rumors floated that President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Aguilar as the head of NCCA, but as former NCCA chairman Felipe de Leon has already pointed out, the president cannot choose the NCCA head since the position is not appointive.
“Election to the NCCA chair is among the heads of the cultural agencies that sit on the NCCA board in an ex-officio capacity as well as the heads of the four sub-commissions — on Arts, on Culture and Heritage (SCH), Information and Dissemination, and Cultural Communities,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.
READ: Freddie Aguilar insists he’s been appointed to head NCCA
Also known as Rio Alma, Almario is a well-respected poet and writer in Filipino. He was elected over SCH head Fr. Harold Rentoria, an Augustinian friar and a respected heritage advocate.
