An arts and culture agenda for Duterte

On Thursday President Aquino will take his bow and exit the political stage to allow his successor Rodrigo Duterte to enter and take his place under the blinding lights that are trained on him as his audience, the Filipino people, wait for him to act. 

Expectations are great, of course. So much hype has grown around Duterte since he nabbed the role of a lifetime. His rabid supporters have said much about his promises and his effective performances as mayor and representative of the first district of Davao City, but his public “rehearsals”—his press conferences, his polarizing statements on various issues—leading up to June 30 have left many people either in shock or awe.

This raises a lot of questions. Among them: Would he really do what he said will do? Could he really pull off a part that he never really aspired for? What, exactly, are his plans for this or that sector of our society?

Here’s mine: What does he intend to do with arts and culture in the country?

This question has been on the minds of people working in or covering this underappreciated field. Duterte is yet to address this head-on, but the last couple of weeks have been encouraging. First, there was his congratulatory message to Jaclyn Jose after she won the best-actress award at last month’s Cannes Film Festival. This showed those outside Davao that he can be appreciative of artists and their contributions.

Then there was his recent meeting with singer-actor Aiza Seguerra and his actress-wife Liza Diño—both staunch supporters of his—during which Duterte reportedly asked their help in promoting arts and culture in the country. This was followed by the participation of Seguerra and Cabinet Secretary-designate Leoncio Evasco Jr. in a National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) meeting aimed at formulating an arts and culture agenda for the incoming administration, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Lito Zulueta last Monday.

Whatever Duterte’s final plans are for the arts and culture sector, I hope that, once he takes center stage of the nation, he would just let artists do what they do best: create art. For this to happen, he must provide a setting where artists, including those who oppose him, can truly flourish and feel the government’s support, and that does not mean meddling. Let artists (continue to) manage their own affairs; no politician or non-artist could really do a better job than them.

If Duterte accomplishes this, he would have done more than his predecessor, whose exposure to or interest in Filipino arts and culture seems to be limited to the movies of his youngest sister and her younger son, and to listening to singer Noel Cabangon, despite the valiant efforts of competent members of his communications team to show otherwise. Remember the belated formal recognition given to the latest batch of National Artists years after they were first announced?

As the country waits for the curtain to rise on the production that is expected to run for six years, certain things are almost sure to happen: changes in the cast, missed cues, and lots of improvisation. If these things do occur onstage, we can, at least, be assured that those offstage—the talented men and women whose work contribute to a production’s success (or failure)—will continue to perform their chosen roles, roles that they’re good in, because that’s what is demanded of—by—their character.

Urian winners 

Last Wednesday esteemed film critics’ group Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (MPP) held its 39th Gawad Urian awards ceremony at the Kia Theatre, where it yielded some pleasant surprises.

Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s Yolanda-aftermath drama Taklub and Jerrold Tarog’s blockbuster biopic Heneral Luna emerged as the top winners, with the former earning the best-film prize—the only one it won, making Taklub the first film to do so since 2012’s Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Madilim (The Journey of the Stars in the Dark Night)—and the latter garnering well-deserved trophies for director and editing for Tarog (that masterful and sweeping flashback scene must have clinched these for him), cinematography for Pong Ignacio, and sound for Mikko Quizon.

I’m particularly pleased with the actors the MPP honored. With his best-actor win for his role in Erik Matti’s Honor Thy Father, twice-nominated John Lloyd Cruz showed fans that his range is much greater than what they give him credit for. As for LJ Reyes, her selection as best actress for Jun Robles Lana’s Anino sa Likod ng Buwan (Shadow Behind the Moon) rewards her uncompromising commitment to the role and to the film’s demands, among other things.

Bernardo Bernardo’s best-supporting-actor victory for Lawrence Fajardo’s Imbisibol (Invisible) is the proverbial cherry on top of his stunning reemergence on the local entertainment scene, and Ana Abad Santos’s triumph as best supporting actress for Mario Cornejo’s Apocalypse Child is, for me, the best of them all. I raved about her performance in my mini-review of the excellent surfing drama last October, and I’m so happy that she got the recognition she so deserved.

To them, and the rest of the winners—including Ari: My Life with a King screenwriter Robby Tantingco and musical scorer Jake Abella, Water Lemon production designer Ben Payumo, and Natatanging Gawad Urian recipient Romy Vitug—my warmest congratulations!