Modern arts

Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the
1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophy of the art produced during that era. ... More recent
artistic production is often called contemporary art or postmodern art.

Fine or aesthetic major arts

One definition of fine art is "a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic and
intellectual purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specifically, painting, sculpture,
drawing, watercolor, graphics, and architecture."

Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves, a group of early twentieth-century modern artists whose works
emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained
by Impressionism

Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual
artworks and writings.

Cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century art movement which brought European painting and sculpture
historically forward toward 20th century Modern art. Cubism in its various forms inspired related
movements in literature and architecture.
 Analytical cubism
An early 20th-century style and movement in art, especially painting, in which perspective with a
single viewpoint was abandoned and use was made of simple geometric shapes, interlocking planes,
and, later, collage.

National Artists
 Architect

Juan Nakpil- architect, teacher and civic leader, is a pioneer and innovator in
Philippine architecture. In essence, Nakpil’s greatest contribution is his belief that
there is such a thing as Philippine Architecture, espousing architecture reflective of
Philippine traditions and culture. It is also largely due to his zealous representation
and efforts that private Filipino architects and engineers, by law, are now able to
participate in the design and execution of government projects. He has integrated strength, function,
and beauty in the buildings that are the country’s heritage today. He designed the 1937 International
Eucharistic Congress altar and rebuilt and enlarged the Quiapo Church in 1930 adding a dome and a
second belfry to the original design.

Pablo Sebero Antonio - pioneered modern Philippine architecture. His basic design
is grounded on simplicity, no clutter. The lines are clean and smooth, and where there
are curves, these are made integral to the structure. Pablo Jr. Points out, “For our
father, every line must have a meaning, a purpose. For him, function comes first
before elegance or form“. The other thing that characterizes an Antonio structure is the maximum use
of natural light and cross ventilation. Antonio believes that buildings “should be planned with austerity
in mind and its stability forever as the aim of true architecture, that buildings must be progressive,
simple in design but dignified, true to a purpose without resorting to an applied set of aesthetics and
should eternally recreate truth.”

Leandro V. Locsin - reshaped the urban landscape with a distinctive architecture

reflective of Philippine Art and Culture. He believes that the true Philippine
Architecture is “the product of two great streams of culture, the oriental and the
occidental… to produce a new object of profound harmony.” It is this synthesis that
underlies all his works, with his achievements in concrete reflecting his mastery of space and scale.
Every Locsin Building is an original, and identifiable as a Locsin with themes of floating volume, the
duality of light and heavy, buoyant and massive running in his major works. From 1955 to 1994,
Locsin has produced 75 residences and 88 buildings, including 11 churches and chapels, 23 public
buildings, 48 commercial buildings, six major hotels, and an airport terminal building.

Ildefonso Paez Santos, Jr.- distinguished himself by pioneering the practice of

landscape architecture–an allied field of architecture–in the Philippines and then
producing four decades of exemplary and engaging work that has included hundreds
of parks, plazas, gardens, and a wide range of outdoor settings that have enhanced
contemporary Filipino life.

José María V. Zaragoza - place in Philippine architecture history is defined by a

significant body of modern edifices that address spiritual and secular requirements.
Zaragoza’s name is synonymous to modern ecclesiastical architecture.
A Notwithstanding his affinity to liturgical structures, he greatly excelled in secular
works: 36 office buildings, 4 hotels, 2, hospitals, 5 low-cost and middle-income housing projects; and
more than 270 residences – all demonstrating his typological versatility and his mastery of modernist
architectural vocabulary.

Dance

Francisca Reyes Aquino - is acknowledged as the Folk Dance Pioneer. This

Bulakeña began her research on folk dances in the 1920’s making trips to remote
barrios in Central and Northern Luzon. Her research on the unrecorded forms of local
celebration, ritual and sport resulted into a 1926 thesis titled “Philippine Folk Dances
and Games,” and arranged specifically for use by teachers and playground instructors in public and
private schools.

Ramon Obusan - was a *dancer, choreographer, stage designer and artistic director.
He achieved phenomenal success in Philippine dance and cultural work. He was also
acknowledged as a researcher, archivist and documentary filmmaker who broadened
and deepened the Filipino understanding of his own cultural life and expressions.
Through the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Grop (ROFG), he had effected cultural and diplomatic
exchanges using the multifarious aspects and dimensions of the art of dance.

Leonor Orosa Goquingco, - pioneer Filipino choreographer in balletic folkloric and

Asian styles, produced for over 50 years highly original, first-of-a-kind
choreographies, mostly to her own storylines. These include “TREND: Return to
Native,” “In a Javanese Garden,” “Sports,” “VINTA!,” “In a Concentration Camp,” “The
Magic Garden,” “The Clowns,” “Firebird,” “Noli Dance Suite,” “The Flagellant,” “The Creation…” Seen
as her most ambitious work is the dance epic “Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend and Lore.” With it,
Orosa brought native folk dance, mirroring Philippine culture from pagan to modern times, to its
highest stage of development.

Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula, - choreographer, dance educator and researcher, spent

almost four decades in the discovery and study of Philippine folk and ethnic dances.
She applied her findings to project a new example of an ethnic dance culture that
goes beyond simple preservation and into creative growth. Over a period of thirty
years, she had choreographed suites of mountain dances, Spanish-influenced dances, Muslim
pageants and festivals, regional variations and dances of the countryside for the Bayanihan Philippine
Dance Company of which she was the dance director. These dances have all earned critical acclaim
and rave reviews from audiences in their world tours in Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

Alice Reyes - has become a significant part of Philippine dance parlance. As a

dancer, choreographer, teacher and director, she has made a lasting impact on the
development and promotion of contemporary dance in the Philippines. Her dance
legacy is evident in the dance companies, teachers, choreographers and the exciting
Filipino modern dance repertoire of our country today.
 Music

Antonio J. Molina, versatile musician, composer, music educator was the last of the
musical triumvirate, two of whom were Nicanor Abelardo and Francisco Santiago,
who elevated music beyond the realm of folk music. At an early age, he took to
playing the violoncello and played it so well it did not take long before he was playing
as orchestra soloist for the Manila Grand Opera House.

Jovita Fuentes - portrayal of Cio-cio san in Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at

Italy’s Teatro Municipale di Piacenza. Her performance was hailed as the “most
sublime interpretation of the part”. This is all the more significant because it happened
at a time when the Philippines and its people were scarcely heard of in Europe.

Levi Celerio- was a prolific songwriter, with over 4,000 songs to his credit. He is
perhaps best known for being a leaf-player, a feat for which he was put into the
Guinness Book of World Records. In 1997, he was named National Artist of the
Philippines for Music.

Ernani Joson Cuenco- He wrote an outstanding and memorable body of works that
resonate with the Filipino sense of musicality and which embody an ingenious voice
that raises the aesthetic dimensions of contemporary Filipino music. Cuenco played
with the Filipino Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Manila Symphony Orchestra
from 1960 to 1968, and the Manila Chamber Soloists from 1966 to 1970.

Lucrecia R. Kasilag - An educator, composer, performing artist, administrator, and

cultural entrepreneur, she is seen as the pioneering figure for fusing Filipino ethnic
and Western music, helping elevate Filipino’s appreciation for music.

Jose Maceda- composer, musicologist, teacher and performer, explored the

musicality of the Filipino deeply. Jose Maceda was born in Manila, Philippines, and
studied piano, composition and musical analysis. After returning to the Philippines, he

became a professional pianist.

Lucio San Pedro - is a master composer, conductor, and teacher whose music
evokes the folk elements of the Filipino heritage. Cousin to “Botong” Francisco, San
Pedro produced a wide-ranging body of works that includes band music, concertos for
violin and orchestra, choral works, cantatas, chamber music, music for violin and
piano, and songs for solo voice.
 Ramón Pagayon Santos (born 25 February 1941) is a Filipino composer,
musicologist and ethnomusicologist. He is a National Artist of the Philippines for
music, and University Professor Emeritus of the composition and theory department
the College of Music of the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Andrea Ofilada Veneracion - a Filipina choral conductor and a recipient of the 1999
National Artist for Music award. She founded the Philippine Madrigal Singers in 1963.
She was also an adjudicator in numerous international choral competitions and was
an active force in choral music before her massive stroke in 2005.

Honorata “Atang” Dela Rama was formally honored as the Queen of Kundiman in
1979, then already 74 years old singing the same song (“Nabasag na Banga”) that
she sang as a 15-year old girl in the sarsuela Dalagang Bukid. Atang became the
very first actress in the very first locally produced Filipino film when she essayed the
same role in the sarsuela’s film version. As early as age seven, Atang was already being cast in
Spanish zarzuelas such as Mascota, Sueño de UN Vals, and Marina.

Antonio Buenaventura- Vigorously pursued a musical career that spanned seven

decades of unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of Philippine music.
Buenaventura composed songs, compositions, for solo instruments as well as
symphonic and orchestral works based on the folksongs of various Philippine ethnic
groups.

Visual Arts

Carlos “Botong” Francisco- the poet of Angono, single-handedly revived the

forgotten art of mural and remained its most distinguished practitioner for nearly three
decades. In panels such as those that grace the City Hall of Manila, Francisco turned
fragments of the historic past into vivid records of the legendary courage of the
ancestors of his race. He was invariably linked with the “modernist” artists, forming with Victorio C.
Edades and Galo Ocampo what was then known in the local art circles as “The Triumvirate”. Botong’s
unerring eye for composition, the lush tropical sense of color and an abiding faith in the folk values
typified by the townspeople of Angono became the hallmark of his art.

Fernando C. Amorsolo. The official title “Grand Old Man of Philippine Art” was
bestowed on Amorsolo when the Manila Hilton inaugurated its art center on January
23, 1969 with an exhibit of a selection of his works. Returning from his studies abroad
in the 1920s, Amorsolo developed the backlighting technique that became his
trademark where figures, a cluster of leaves, spill of hair, the swell of breast, are seen aglow on
canvas. This light, Nick Joaquin opines, is the rapture of a sensualist utterly in love with the earth,
with the Philippine sun, and is an accurate expression of Amorsolo’s own exuberance. His citation
underscores all his years of creative activity which have “defined and perpetuated a distinct element
of the nation’s artistic and cultural heritage”.
 Hernando R. Ocampo, a self-taught painter, was a leading member of the pre-war
Thirteen Moderns, the group that charted the course of modern art in the Philippines.
His works provided an understanding and awareness of the harsh social realities in
the country immediately after the Second World War and contributed significantly to
the rise of the nationalist spirit in the post-war era. It was, however, his abstract works that left an
indelible mark on Philippine modern art. His canvases evoked the lush Philippine landscape, its flora
and fauna, under the sun and rain in fierce and bold colors. He also played a pivotal role in sustaining
the Philippine Art Gallery, the country’s first.

Benedicto R. Cabrera, *who signs his paintings “Bencab,” upheld the primacy of
drawing over the decorative color. Bencab started his career in the mid-sixties as a
lyrical expressionist. His solitary figures of scavengers emerging from a dark
landscape were piercing stabs at the social conscience of a people long inured to
poverty and dereliction. Bencab, who was born in Malabon, has christened the emblematic scavenger
figure “Sabel.” For Bencab, Sabel is a melancholic symbol of dislocation, despair and isolation–the
personification of human dignity threatened by life’s vicissitudes, and the vast inequities of Philippine
society.

Cesar Legaspi is remembered for his singular achievement of refining cubism in the
Philippine context. Legaspi belonged to the so-called “Thirteen Moderns” and later,
the “Neo-realists”. His distinctive style and daring themes contributed significantly to
the advent and eventual acceptance of modern art in the Philippines. Legaspi made
use of the geometric fragmentation technique, weaving social comment and juxtaposing the mythical
and modern into his overlapping, interacting forms with disturbing power and intensity.

Abdulmari Asia Imao, a native of Sulu, is a sculptor, painter, photographer,

ceramist, documentary film maker, cultural researcher, writer, and articulator of
Philippine Muslim art and culture.Through his works, the indigenous ukkil, sarimanok
and naga motifs have been popularized and instilled in the consciousness of the
Filipino nation and other peoples as original Filipino creations.

Guillermo Estrella Tolentino is a product of the Revival period in Philippine art.

Returning from Europe (where he was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts,
Rome) in 1925, he was appointed as professor at the UP School of Fine Arts where
the idea also of executing a monument for national heroes struck him. The result was
the UP Oblation that became the symbol of freedom at the campus. Acknowledged as his
masterpiece and completed in 1933, The Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan stands as an enduring
symbol of the Filipinos’ cry for freedom.
 Arturo Luz, painter, sculptor, and designer for more than 40 years, created
masterpieces that exemplify an ideal of sublime austerity in expression and form.
From the Carnival series of the late 1950s to the recent Cyclist paintings, Luz
produced works that elevated Filipino aesthetic vision to new heights of sophisticated
simplicity. By establishing the Luz Gallery that professionalized the art gallery as an institution and set
a prestigious influence over generations of Filipino artists, Luz inspired and developed a Filipino
artistic community that nurtures impeccable designs.

Federico Aguilar y Alcuaz, who signed his works as Aguilar Alcuaz was an artist of
voluminous output. He is known mainly for his gestural paintings in acrylic and oil, as
well as sketches in ink, watercolor and pencil. He was also a sculptor of note and has
rendered abstract and figurative works in ceramics, tapestries and even in relief
sculptures made of paper and mixed media, which he simply calls “Alcuazaics.” The preference to
use his maternal name was more for practical reasons; Alcuaz was rarer than the name Aguilar, and
thus ensured better recall; it was also simpler to drop the customary y between the two names.

Napoleon V. Abueva, a native of Bohol, was the youngest National Artist awardee.
Considered as the Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture, Abueva has helped shape
the local sculpture scene to what it is now. Being adept in either academic
representational style or modern abstract, he has utilized almost all kinds of materials
from hard wood (molave, acacia, langka wood, ipil, kamagong, palm wood and bamboo) to adobe,
metal, stainless steel, cement, marble, bronze, iron, alabaster, coral and brass.

J. (Jeremias) Elizalde Navarro, was born on May 22, 1924 in Antique. He is a

versatile artist, being both a proficient painter and sculptor. His devotion to the visual
arts spans 40 years of drawing, printmaking, graphic designing, painting and sculpting. His masks
carved in hardwood merge the human and the animal; his paintings consists of abstracts and figures
in oil and watercolor; and his assemblages fuse found objects and metal parts.

Francisco Coching, acknowledged as the “Dean of Filipino Illustrators” and son of

noted Tagalog novelist and comics illustrator Gregorio Coching, was a master
storyteller – in images and in print. His illustrations and novels were products of that
happy combination of fertile imagination, a love of storytelling, and fine draftsmanship.

Victorio C. Edades emerged as the “Father of Modern Philippine Painting”. Unlike,

Amorsolo’s bright, sunny, cheerful hues, Edades’ colors were dark and somber with
subject matter or themes depicting laborers, factory workers or the simple folk in all
their dirt, sweat and grime. In the 1930s, Edades taught at the University of Santos Tomas and
became dean of its Department of Architecture where he stayed for three full decades.

Ang Kiukok is one of the most vital and dynamic figures who emerged during the
60s.. As one of those who came at the heels of the pioneering modernists during that
decade, Ang Kiukok blazed a formal and iconographic path of his own through
expressionistic works of high visual impact and compelling meaning.

Jose Joya is a painter and multimedia artist who distinguished himself by creating an
authentic Filipino abstract idiom that transcended foreign influences. Most of Joya’s
paintings of harmonious colors were inspired by Philippine landscapes, such as green
rice paddies and golden fields of harvest. His use of rice paper in collages placed
value on transparency, a common characteristic of folk art. The curvilinear forms of
his paintings often recall the colorful and multilayered ‘kiping’ of the Pahiyas festival. His important
mandala series was also drawn from Asian aesthetic forms and concepts.

Vicente Manansala‘s paintings are described as visions of reality teetering on the

edge of abstraction. As a young boy, his talent was revealed through the copies he
made of the Sagrada Familia and his mother’s portrait that he copied from a
photograph. After finishing the fine arts course from the University of the Philippines,
he ran away from home and later found himself at the Philippines Herald as an illustrator.

Literature

Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher, is one of the
most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English. He pioneered
the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form. For Arcellana, the
pride of fiction is “that it is able to render truth that is able to present reality”. Arcellana
kept alive the experimental tradition in fiction, and had been most daring in exploring new literary
forms to express the sensibility of the Filipino people.

Edith L. Tiempo, poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic is one of the finest Filipino
writers in English whose works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style and
substance, of craftsmanship and insight. Born on April 22, 1919 in Bayombong,
Nueva Vizcaya, her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant
experiences as revealed, in two of her much anthologized pieces, “The Little Marmoset” and
“Bonsai”.

Bienvenido Lumbera, is a poet, librettist, and scholar.As a poet, he introduced to

Tagalog literature what is now known as Bagay poetry, a landmark aesthetic
tendency that has helped to change the vernacular poetic tradition. He is the
author of the following works: Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (poems in Filipino and
English), 1993; Balaybay,

Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez, better known as N.V.M. Gonzalez, fictionist,

essayist, poet, and teacher, articulated the Filipino spirit in rural, urban landscapes.

Virgilio S. Almario, also known as Rio Alma, is a poet, literary historian and critic,
who has revived and reinvented traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he
championed modernist poetics. In 34 years, he has published 12 books of poetry,
which include the seminal Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon, and the landmark
trilogy Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan ng Lupa.

Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and essayist with exceptional achievements and
significant contributions to the development of the country’s literary arts. He is
acknowledged by peers and critics, and the nation at large as the foremost writer of
his generation. Throughout his career that spans more than four decades, he has
established a reputation for fine and profound artistry; his books, lectures, poetry readings and
creative writing workshops continue to influence his peers and generations of young writers.

Nick Joaquin, is regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino writer in

English writing so variedly and so well about so many aspects of the Filipino. Nick
Joaquin has also enriched the English language with critics coining “Joaquinesque” to
describe his baroque Spanish-flavored English or his reinventions of English based
on Filipinisms.

Lazaro A. Francisco developed the social realist tradition in Philippine fiction. His
eleven novels, now acknowledged classics of Philippine literature, embodies the
author’s commitment to nationalism. Amadis Ma. Guerrero wrote, “Francisco
championed the cause of the common man, specifically the oppressed peasants. His
novels exposed the evils of the tenancy system, the exploitation of farmers by unscrupulous
landlords, and foreign domination.”

F. Sionil Jose’s writings since the late 60s, when taken collectively can best be
described as epic. Its sheer volume puts him on the forefront of Philippine writing in
English. But ultimately, it is the consistent espousal of the aspirations of the Filipino–
for national sovereignty and social justice–that guarantees the value of his oeuvre.

Carlos P. Romulo‘s multifaceted career spanned 50 years of public service as

educator, soldier, university president, journalist and diplomat. It is common
knowledge that he was the first Asian president of the United Nations General
Assembly, then Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C., and later minister of
foreign affairs. Essentially though, Romulo was very much into writing: he was a reporter at 16, a
newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32.

Jose Garcia Villa is considered as one of the finest contemporary poets regardless
of race or language. Villa, who lived in Singalong, Manila, introduced the reversed
consonance rime scheme, including the comma poems that made full use of the
punctuation mark in an innovative, poetic way. The first of his poems “Have Come,
Am Here” received critical recognition when it appeared in New York in 1942 that, soon enough,
honors and fellowships were heaped on him: Guggenheim, Bollingen, the American Academy of Arts
and Letters Awards.

Alejandro Roces, is a short story writer and essayist, and considered as the
country’s best writer of comic short stories. He is known for his widely anthologized
“My Brother’s Peculiar Chicken.” In his innumerable newspaper columns, he has
always focused on the neglected aspects of the Filipino cultural heritage. His works
have been published in various international magazines and has received national and international
awards.

Rolando S. Tinio, playwright, thespian, poet, teacher, critic and translator, marked
his career with prolific artistic productions. Tinio’s chief distinction is as a stage
director whose original insights into the scripts he handled brought forth productions
notable for their visual impact and intellectual cogency. Subsequently, after staging
productions for the Ateneo Experimental Theater (its organizer and administrator as well), he took on
Teatro Pilipino.

Levi Celerio is a prolific lyricist and composer for decades. He effortlessly

translated/wrote anew the lyrics to traditional melodies: “O Maliwanag Na Buwan”
(Iloko), “Ako ay May Singsing” (Pampango), “Alibangbang” (Visaya) among others.
Born in Tondo, Celerio received his scholarship at the Academy of Music in Manila
that made it possible for him to join the Manila Symphony Orchestra, becoming its youngest member.
He made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the only person able to make music using just
a leaf.

Cinema

Lamberto V. Avellana, director for theater and film, has the distinction of being
called “The Boy Wonder of Philippine Movies” as early as 1939. He was the first to
use the motion picture camera to establish a point-of-view, a move that revolutionized
the techniques of film narration. Avellana, who at 20 portrayed Joan of Arc in time for
Ateneo’s diamond jubilee, initially set out to establish a Filipino theater.

Catalino “Lino” Ortiz Brocka, director for film and broadcast arts, espoused the
term “freedom of expression” in the Philippine Constitution. Brocka took his social
activist spirit to the screen leaving behind 66 films which breathed life and hope for
the marginalized sectors of society — slumdwellers, prostitute, construction workers, etc. He also
directed for theater with equal zeal and served in organizations that offer alternative visions, like the
Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines
(CAP).

Ishmael Bernal was a filmmaker of the first order and one of the very few who can
be truly called a maestro. Critics have hailed him as “the genius of Philippine cinema.”
He is recognized as a director of films that serve as social commentaries and bold
reflections on the existing realities of the struggle of the Filipino.

Manuel Conde grew up and studied in Daet, Camarines Norte. In the decades before
and after World War II when Philippine society was being inundated by American
popular culture, Conde invested local cinema with a distinct cultural history of its own
through movies that translated onto the silver screen the age-old stories that Filipinos
had told and retold from generation to generation for at least the past one hundred years,

Gerardo “Gerry” De Leon, film director, belongs to the Ilagan clan and as such grew
up in an atmosphere rich in theater. Significantly, De Leon’s first job — while in still in
high school — was as a piano player at Cine Moderno in Quiapo playing the musical
accompaniment to the silent films that were being shown at that time.

Ronald Allan K. Poe, popularly known as Fernando Poe, Jr., was a cultural icon of
tremendous audience impact and cinema artist and craftsman–as actor, director,
writer and producer. The image of the underdog was projected in his films such
as Apollo Robles(1961), Batang Maynila (1962), Mga Alabok sa Lupa (1967), Batang
Matador and Batang Estibador (1969), Ako ang Katarungan (1974), Tatak ng Alipin(1975), Totoy
Bato (1977), Asedillo (1981), Partida (1985), and Ang Probisyano (1996), among many others.

Eddie Romero, is a screenwriter, film director and producer, is the quintessential

Filipino filmmaker whose life is devoted to the art and commerce of cinema spanning
three generations of filmmakers. His film “Ganito Kami Noon…Paano Kayo Ngayon?,”
set at the turn of the century during the revolution against the Spaniards and, later,
the American colonizers, follows a naïve peasant through his leap of faith to become a member of an
imagined community.

Theater

Daisy H. Avellana, is an actor, director and writer. Born in Roxas City, Capiz on
January 26, 1917, she elevated legitimate theater and dramatic arts to a new level of
excellence by staging and performing in breakthrough productions of classic Filipino
and foreign plays and by encouraging the establishment of performing groups and the
professionalization of Filipino theater. Rolando S. Tinio, playwright, thespian, poet, teacher, critic
and translator, marked his career with prolific artistic productions.
 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero is a teacher and theater artist whose 35 years of devoted
professorship has produced the most sterling luminaries in Philippine performing arts
today: Behn Cervantes, Celia Diaz-Laurel, Joy Virata, Joonee Gamboa, etc. In 1947,
he was appointed as UP Dramatic Club director and served for 16 years. As founder
and artistic director of the UP Mobile Theater, he pioneered the concept of theater campus tour and
delivered no less than 2,500 performances in a span of 19 committed years of service.

Honorata “Atang” Dela Rama was formally honored as the Queen of Kundiman in
1979, then already 74 years old singing the same song (“Nabasag na Banga”) that
she sang as a 15-year old girl in the sarsuela Dalagang Bukid. Atang became the
very first actress in the very first locally produced Filipino film when she essayed the
same role in the sarsuela’s film version.

Salvador F. Bernal designed more than 300 productions distinguished for their
originality since 1969. Sensitive to the budget limitations of local productions, he
harnessed the design potential of inexpensive local materials, pioneering or
maximizing the use of bamboo, raw abaca, and abaca fiber, hemp twine, rattan chain
links and gauze cacha.

Severino Montano is the forerunner in institutionalizing “legitimate theater” in the

Philippines. Taking up courses and graduate degrees abroad, he honed and shared
his expertise with his countrymates.

Lamberto V. Avellana, director for theater and film, has the distinction of being
called “The Boy Wonder of Philippine Movies” as early as 1939. He was the first to
use the motion picture camera to establish a point-of-view, a move that revolutionized
the techniques of film narration.

GAMABA

Ginaw Bilog, Hanunoo Mangyan from Mansalay, Mindoro, grew up in such a

cultural environment. Already steeped in the wisdom that the ambahan is a key to the
understanding of the Mangyan soul, Ginaw took it upon himself to continually keep
scores of ambahan poetry recorded, not only on bamboo tubes but on old, dog-eared
notebooks passed on to him by friends.

Haja Amina Appi of Ungos Matata, Tandubas, Tawi-Tawi, is recognized as the

master mat weaver among the Sama indigenous community of Ungos Matata. Her
colorful mats with their complex geometric patterns exhibit her precise sense of
design, proportion and symmetry and sensitivity to color. Her unique multi-colored
mats are protected by a plain white outer mat that serves as the mat’s backing. Her
functional and artistic creations take up to three months to make.

Samaon Sulaiman achieved the highest level of excellence in the art of kutyapi
playing. His extensive repertoire of dinaladay, linapu, minuna, binalig, and other
forms and styles interpreted with refinement and sensitivity fully demonstrate and
creative and expressive possibilities of his instrument.

Darhata Sawabi is one of those who took the art of pis syabit making to heart. The
families in her native Parang still depend on subsistence farming as their main source
of income. But farming does not bring in enough money to support a family, and is
not even an option for someone like Darhata Sawabi who was raised from birth to do
only household chores.

Eduardo Mutuc is an artist who has dedicated his life to creating religious and
secular art in silver, bronze and wood. His intricately detailed retablos, mirrors,
altars, and carosas are in churches and private collections. A number of these
works are quite large, some exceeding forty feet, while some are very small and
feature very fine and delicate craftsmanship.

Magdalena Gamayo knows is only a couple of hours drive away from the capital of
Laoag, but is far removed from the quickening pulse of the emergent city. Instead, it
remains a quiet rural enclave dedicated to rice, cotton and tobacco crops. 2012
Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan awardee, Magdalena Gamayo still owes a lot to the
land and the annual harvest. Despite her status as master weaver, weaving alone
is not enough.

Alonzo Saclag found endless fascination in the sights and sounds of day-to-day
village life and ritual. According to his son, Robinson, he received no instruction,
formal or otherwise, in the performing arts. Yet he has mastered not only the
Kalinga musical instruments but also the dance patterns and movements
associated with his people’s rituals.

Teofilo Garcia leaves his farm in San Quintin, Abra, he makes it a point to wear a
tabungaw. People in the nearby towns of the province, in neighboring Sta. Maria and Vigan in Ilocos
Sur, and as far as Laoag in Ilocos Norte sit up and take notice of his unique, functional and elegant
headpiece that shields him from the rain and the sun.

Salinta Monon had watched her mother’s nimble hands glide over the loom,
weaving traditional Bagobo textiles. At 12 she presented herself to her mother, to
be taught how to weave herself. Her ardent desire to excel in the art of her
ancestors enabled her to learn quickly.

Federico Caballero, a Panay-Bukidnon from the mountains of Central Panay to

ceaselessly work for the documentation of the oral literature, particularly the epics,
of his people. These ten epics, rendered in a language that, although related to
Kiniray-a, is no longer spoken, constitute an encyclopedic folklore one only the most
persevering and the most gifted of disciples can learn.

Local Materials

Puni designs can be categorized according to their uses. The most common
designs are in the form of toys such as birds, fish, grasshopper, etc. They are also
used as food containers for suman, rice and various kakanin, the most commonly
known is the “puso” and paraphernalia for religious rituals especially during Palm
Sunday when these design are used to accentuate the “palaspas”. But today they

serve as modern artistic expressions and arrangement.

Singkaban Festival is an annual provincial event of Bulacan where Bulakenyo

culture and arts are featured in a week-long celebration. It showcases the
traditional arts of the literary form “Balagtasan,”folk dances, and traditional
songs known as “kundiman.”

Saniculas cookies made with the imprint of San Nicolas de Tolentino, the
miracle healer. Legend has it that he revived the sick with blessed bread mixed
with water, hence the "panecillos de San Nicolas", or simply 'saniculas' in
Pampanga.
 Pabalat or pastillas wrappers has transformed in recent years from being
a local, folk tradition into a popular art. Besides adding flair to the sweet
pastillas de leche made from fresh carabaos milk, the pabalat has also
become a compelling icon/symbol of the people’s creativity.

Taka (Laguna) Subjects of Taka Common and traditional subjects

of taka include the manok, kabayo, kalabaw, dalaga (chicken, horse,
carabao, and maiden) which is made primarily for localuse.

Pagbuburda (Taal, Lumban, and Laguna) the art of embroidery is happily alive
and flourishing in these towns. Although it's mostly done by women who are wives
of the farmers and fishermen, it is not uncommon to see fishermen and farmers
who are also carefully and delicately embroidering floral designs.