By
Evelyn Macairan
The Philippine Star
June 22, 2014
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MANILA,
Philippines - The decision of Malacanang not to proclaim multi-awarded actress
Nora Aunor as a National Artist for film is a big loss to the movie industry,
the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) said yesterday.
NCCA chairman
Felipe de Leon Jr. told The STAR he was puzzled why Malacañang rejected their
recommendation to include the 61-year-old Aunor (Nora Villamayor in real life)
in the country’s newest batch of National Artists.
“I cannot
understand, Malacañang has not yet given an explanation. This is a big loss to
the film industry because it lost an opportunity to have another artistic role
model,” said De Leon.
He said they would
ask Malacañang to reveal the reason behind Aunor’s exclusion.
“We would ask if
there was a big reason for it to decline her nomination. If there is no big
reason, then may be we would try to ask Malacañang to reconsider,” he added.
Malacañang
declared on Friday six outstanding Filipinos as National Artists. They are
Alice Reyes for dance, Francisco Coching (posthumous) for visual arts, Cirilo
Bautista for literature, Francisco Feliciano and Ramon Santos for music and
Jose Maria Zaragoza for architecture, design and allied arts.
De Leon recalled
that during the deliberation of the NCCA board of commissioners and the
Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) board of trustees on the nominees for
the new set of National Artists, Aunor had one of the highest ratings.
He praised Aunor
for her outstanding artistic achievements. “She is a good actress. She is able
to give meaning to being an artist. Her style is to be so absorbed in her work,
and she shows off the real Filipino in the roles that she portrays,” he said.
There were
speculations that Malacañang might have turned down Aunor’s nomination because
of her drug conviction in the United States. But the NCCA head said Aunor has
served the penalty for her crime.
“This issue is no
longer important for us,” he said.
Another rumor was
that Aunor had a tax evasion case, but De Leon said this was never
substantiated.
Aunor, who has
been called Philippine cinema’s “superstar,” began her career as a singer and
later became recognized for being an exemplary actress.
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