Do you agree with Malacañang that Nora Aunor should not be honored as National Artist?

I am neither a Noranian nor a Vilmanian, but I have high respect and admiration for these two veteran Filipino actresses. As a growing kid in the 70s, I have followed how these two artists evolved, from being sing-and-dance pa-“cute” entertainers  packaged with their love teams, to becoming the serious and moving thespians that they are now, more than forty years hence.
I have to bring this up, however, because the “snubbing” of Nora Aunor as National Artist this year has once again ignited the decades-long rivalry between the two. I have heard kababayans opine that the reason La Aunor has not been given this national recognition is because President Noynoy Aquino, allegedly, is a “Vilmanian”.
Of course, that is just a speculation by some, although what is factual is that indeed, it was PNoy’s decision that made the Philippine National Artist Award elusive to the “Superstar”.
As ABS-CBN News reported, Nora has been in the shortlist for the award by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural center of the Philippines (CCP). Emily Abrera, chairman of the CCP board, said they recognized the contributions of Aunor and the rest of the nominees.
However, in a statement released last month, the CCP said it respects President Benigno Aquino III’s decision on the country’s new National Artists, which did not include veteran actress Nora Aunor.
“Obviously, the artists we recommended are those whose contributions to the field of culture and the arts are genuinely outstanding and unassailable. While we had hoped that they would all be conferred the honor, the President’s approval is part of the process. Ultimately, the CCP respects that,” Abrera said.
According to the CCP statement, the “presidential authority to affirm or not affirm the recommendations was vested in the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that disallowed a set of National Artists named by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo which had not undergone the deliberation and selection process.”
ABS-CBN News further reported that the National Artists proclaimed last June 20 include Cirilo F. Bautista (Literature), Francisco Coching (Visual Arts), Francisco Feliciano (Music), Alicia Garcia Reyes (Dance), Ramon P. Santos (Music) and Jose Maria Zaragoza (Architecture, Design and Allied Arts).
In an interview with the news site Rappler.com, Bienvenido Lumbera, one of the few living national artists, said Malacañang owes the public an explanation why award-winning actress Nora Aunor was dropped from the list of recipients of the National Artist Awards this year.
According to the Rappler report, Aunor got a big number of votes from her peers in various artistic fields who participated in the rigid, 3-phase selection process, according to Lumbera who was among them. So when her name was removed from the shortlist that was submitted to the honors committee at the Palace, it begged for a justification.
“I felt Malacañang would have to explain why Nora Aunor was dropped from the list. Why explain? Because Nora Aunor was not an artist known only to a few people, Nora Aunor had a national following. And for her to be dropped from the list of national artists, this is for Malacañang to go against the sentiment of artists who chose Nora, the fans that Nora had developed over the course of her career as an actress,” Lumbera told Rappler.
And PNoy himself gave the much anticipated explanation. He said he decided against giving the National Artist recognition to Aunor because of the actress’ drug conviction in the U.S. The President said she is not a good role model for the Filipinos.
This explanation, however, was debunked by Aunor’s lawyer in LA, Atty. Claire Navarro Espina, saying Aunor was arrested  but the case has been dismissed and she was never convicted.  Espina lamented that Malacanang was misinformed about the real facts about Aunor’s case which lead the President to decide Aunor isn’t deserving of the National Artist honor.
Let us revisit the criteria for selection for the National Artist, as enumerated by ncca.gov.ph:
The Order of National Artists shall be given to artists who have met the following criteria:
1. Living artists who are natural-born Filipino citizens at the time of nomination,  as well as those who died after the establishment of the award in 1972 but were Filipino citizens at the time of their death.  Filipinos who have lost and re-acquired Filipino citizenship, through dual citizenship status for at least the minimum period of five years shall be eligible for nomination.
2. Artists who through the content and form of their works have contributed in building  a Filipino sense of nationhood.
3. Artists who have pioneered in a mode of creative expression or style, thus, earning distinction and making an impact on succeeding generations of artists.
4. Artists who have created a substantial and significant body of works and/or consistently displayed excellence in the practice of their art form thus enriching artistic expression or style.
5. Artists who enjoy broad acceptance through:
5.1 prestigious national and/or international recognition, such as the Gawad CCP  Para sa Sining, CCP Thirteen Artists Award and NCCA Alab ng Haraya
5.2 critical acclaim and/or reviews of their works
5.3 respect and esteem from peers.
Which of these criteria did Nora Aunor fail to meet, at least from the perspective of President Aquino? Do you agree with Malacanang’s decision?  Should Nora Aunor be given the the Philippine National Artist Award?

Gel Santos Relos

Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com and www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos