The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
by Boy Villasanta
It’s February once more and the National Arts Month has ushered in the country anew to celebrate the importance of arts and culture in the lives of the Filipinos to advance the pursuits of people in search for national identity.
NAM opened last February 1, 2025 led by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) which hosted the its opening on February 3, 2025 at the NCCA Office Building located within the historic Intramuros.
The event started at 8 in the morning with the opening ceremony held outside the NCCA building at General Luna Street and subsequently revealed in grand fashion the agency’s new façade inspired by Bulacan’s Singkaban Festival.
The hierarchy of the NCCA was around led by NCCA Chair Victorino Mapa Manalo, Executive Director Eric B. Zerrudo, and Deputy Executive Directors Marichu Tellano and Bernan Joseph Corpuz, its Secretariat, representatives from the Subcommission on the Arts, Cultural Agencies, the Intramuros Administration, as well as invited students, performers, and guests.
The presence of 2018 Miss Universe Catriona Gray made the event more pulsating and awe=inspiring.
Catriona joined the introduction of special song and dance numbers
The opening ceremony was followed by a parade around Intramuros accompanied by a marching band and street performers. The parade went around Muralla Street and passed by schools and universities around the area, as well as the historic Manila Cathedral.
Culminated at the Museo de Intramuros courtyard, the attendees were then be served snacks and given a free museum tour courtesy of the IA that ended the festivities with an enriching activity.
The nation is celebrating NAM under Presidential Proclamation 683, signed in 1991 by President Corazon C. Aquino.
The NCCA led by Mapa Manalo ang Zerrudo had invited everyone to honor the transformative power of the arts and the brilliance of Filipino artists.
According to Rene Napenas, publicist of NCCA, this year’s observance was spearheaded by NCCA’s Subcommission on the Arts (SCA), led by commissioner Arvin Manuel Villalon and its seven national committees, namely National Committee on Architecture and Allied Arts (NCAAA) chaired by Cathe Desiree S. Nadal; National Committee on Cinema (NCC) by Mahar Sulayman “Butch” L. Ibañez; National Committee on Dance (NCD) by Dr. Lordinio A. Vergara; National Committee on Dramatic Arts (NCDA) by Eduardo P. Perez; National Committee on Literary Arts (NCLA) by Niles Jordan D. Breis; and National Committee on Visual Arts (NCVA) by Dr. Dennis E. Montera.
For 2025, NAM carries the theme “Ani ng Sining: Diwa at Damdamin” (Harvest of the Arts: Soul and Passion), highlighting the spirit and passion driving Filipino creativity. The NCCA invites everyone to celebrate the richness of Filipino arts and culture.