At Large
The people we honor
By Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:38:00 01/19/2008
MANILA, Philippines--WE WERE CHATTING WITH NATIONAL ARTIST for Literature “Doc” Bien Lumbera before the Mass to mark the UST Varsitarian anniversary recently, and we got to talking about the honors granted to surviving National Artists in this day and age.
The subject came up because Lumbera had mentioned that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the anniversary dinner (held last night at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza) because he would have to be at the Lipa Fiesta, where he would be crowning the year’s “Miss Lipa.” “Well of course,” I teased him, “we can’t get in the way of such a heavy responsibility!”
Later, talk drifted to the honors granted last year to five National Artists for Literature, Lumbera among them, by the UP Institute of Creative Writing and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. The five renowned writers and poets were feted in their hometowns, the places that shaped their sensibilities and informed their work. At the same time, said Lito Zulueta, publications director of UST, and Inquirer writer and critic, the hometown honors were a way of “re-introducing” these renowned personalities to their town mates, especially to young people who may not have had any idea who they were, and their own link to the nation’s heritage.
“I was really treated like a celebrity,” recounted the white-haired Lumbera of the welcome accorded him by Lipa City. “There were streamers all around the city honoring and welcoming me, and the young people were cheering for me when I arrived at their school.”
This year, according to a press release, the same National Artists—including (aside from Lumbera) Edith Tiempo, Alejandro Roces, Francisco Sionil Jose and Virgilio Almario—will be conducting lectures alongside performances of their works in venues around the country. Lumbera will be visiting Ilocos Norte National High School, where highlights from his play “Hibik at Himagsik ni Victoria Laktaw” will be staged by Dulaang UP.
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HEARING of the honors heaped upon our National Artists warmed my heart. Not just because I have always been fond of “Doc” Lumbera, who was briefly my professor in a graduate class in Philippine Literature while I was pursuing a Master’s in Philippine Studies (eventually sidelined by marriage and motherhood). The news was also heartening because I’ve always felt it unfair that while movie stars and pop singers get mobbed by hundreds of thousands of fans and have their every move documented by the media (and make millions thereby), the most that living National Artists can expect is some polite applause when they attend performances at the Cultural Center.
A nation, I believe, reveals its true nature by the people it chooses to honor. What does it say about us when the “EB Babes” get more publicity and remuneration than a National Artist?
Our choice of individuals to honor tells us, as well, about our national priorities and our sense of values. Do we put more importance on the ephemeral rewards of wealth, celebrity and notoriety than on the more lasting values of accomplishment, talent and artistry? What is it that we want our young people to aspire to? The material rewards of scandal and instant popularity, or the longer-lasting returns from a good reputation and solid achievements?
I’m almost afraid to hear the answers because of what they’ll reveal about us!
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STILL, despite our misshapen values and priorities, there’s no stopping, it seems, the more idealistic among us Filipinos from pursuing the cause of social change and transformation, and paying tribute to compatriots who devote their lives to these causes.
To be launched next Friday (Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. at the Powerbooks Greenbelt 4 branch) is a book titled “Profiles Encourage,” a slim volume that tells the story of “ordinary Filipinos making an extraordinary difference.”
Profiled in the book are 10 Filipinos, of varied ages and professions, living in different parts of the country, whose journeys to their life’s work and vocations all have a common goal—to make this country a better place to live in.
That may seem trite, but the journey is more difficult than it may seem. If it were so easy, more of us would be engaged in the goal. That so few are tells us also why this country is the way it is.
The authors’ choice of Filipinos to profile is interesting. None of them can be considered a full-blown celebrity, though some have previously been the subject of personality profiles and tributes. There is one (young) politician, but there are more teachers, including the politician who is now more committed to teaching after his electoral defeat. There are new graduates who have chosen to parlay their degrees into building communities; as well as retired employees and veteran educators who continue slaving away in classrooms, “loving into excellence” generations of students.
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WHAT is of greater interest to me, though, are the identities of the authors themselves, who embarked on this project after a series of discussions on what ails this nation, and then bringing the book to fruition over many months of what group instigator Quintin Pastrana calls “a snowballing e-mail potluck among friends and loved ones.”
Many of the writers are graduate students in universities and centers abroad, including Harvard and Oxford, or else are employed in multinational institutions. Apparently, distance—and we’re talking not just of the physical—has not dulled their sense of being Filipino, and indeed, temporary exile has seemed to sharpen this even more, deepening their love and concern for the country and people they have, for now, left behind. “Profiles Encourage,” in a sense, is both a love letter to a beloved homeland, as well as a statement of commitment to its future.
More Inquirer columns
Previous columns:
Pinoys to cheer for – 01/17/08
World's 'greenest city' – 01/16/08
What’s their beef? – 01/14/08
Searching, and not just for presidentiables – 01/12/08
The making of a journalist – 01/08/08
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