By
Tito Genova Valiente
Reeling
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Source:
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/lifestyle/show/34378-the-fault-is-not-in-our-stars-but-in-our-government
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IT is not in our
stars (pun, pun really intended because this whole debate is dumb!) but in our
being underlings, and the government knows that.
Those lines are
not of lovers but from politicians, from plotters. Cassius is convincing Brutus
to take the side that will benefit the public, the majority and not the side of
Julius Caesar. But the lines might as well be for lovers, the lovers of arts
and their value in societies. There is love in Cassius’s words, but there is
also fear.
Fear grips those
who are not sure what art is all about. The fear of arts is the fear of doubts.
And the fear of doubts is the same fear of people who believe any form of
government is the epitome of stability. What we do not realize is the fact of
status quo, which props those who are in power and forgets the ordinary
citizens. So long as we are kept in the dark about this ideology, then all’s
well with the world. Any person who makes it his business to question or to
doubt is described as a destabilizing force.
The issue that is
facing the Palace and the latest act that emanates from that center is the
exclusion of Nora Aunor from the list of the individuals and personalities who
have just been proclaimed as National Artist. I don’t know how this decision
was reached; I do not have any idea also what went on inside the heads of those
people who opted to remove one name. What I do know is that it took them not
one month, not two months but some eight months before they had the courage to
do so.
What did the person
who received the list—drawn up and submitted by the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines after
months of careful and impassioned deliberation—do in those months? If we are to
assume that it is only the President who has the prerogative to remove one or
all from the list, then what did this President do in the intervening period? I
would like to imagine that the president re-viewed all the films of Nora and
did not like them. He is perhaps not convinced at all about the genius of this
former water vendor from the dusty city of Iriga in Bicol. I can also see his
staff helping him out, his personal historian, his secretaries, his bodyguards
giving him tips about the greatness of Nora. In the end, he finds no merit in
what the critics say. Perhaps, he found Nora’s film a tad too dark. Maybe.
The problem is the
law of this nation seems to be on the President’s side. This law says it is not
his responsibility to explain. That is an awesome prerogative. It is so huge a
power, it could only come from God or, at least, from his people, from those
who made him the president. But even gods explain. The divine and the human
always explain even if those explanations, those answers are in the form of
riddles.
As of the moment,
there is no word from the Palace, except those from the presidential lackeys.
At the other end
of this spectrum is Nora Aunor. No one seems to be interested to listen to her
speak about the snub. Much as it would make the ground tremble the moment she
speaks, Nora has no need to speak. A multitude has assumed the task of
explaining to the world Nora Aunor’s position. If the Palace meant to degrade
Nora and put her down, it has not succeeded in getting the desired results.
Nora’s name has even become stronger, draining any semblance of authority from
those hands that are supposed to declare the artists of this nation.
In what could have
been the deathly blow to her career, and her resounding eviction from the
consciousness of the Filipino people, the removal of Nora Aunor’s name from
that list of National Artist has caused her to ascend, body and soul, to the
firmament of greatness. Her detractors must be bristling with anger, for the
plot to murder the art of Nora Aunor and bury it in oblivion has now been
reduced to a hapless plan. In other words, this generation is getting to know
Nora Aunor, and why two National Artists have readily declared their support
for her.
When the news
broke out that Nora had been crossed off the list, an air of requiem filled the
air around those who admire her. It took a few hours before the outpouring of
support and the words of protest tore the air. The grieving stopped; the
planning began. The options were weighed; the decisions were made. The Facebook
accounts of many Nora Aunor fans turned black. But as quickly as the photos
dimmed, the social-media space opened up to accommodate the rage of the
citizenry. These were not fans anymore but citizens, Filipinos who believed
they have been shortchanged—yet again—by an act of the government. Ordinary
citizens ceased to be ordinary but became an extraordinary chronicler of state
errors and flaws.
Bienvenido
Lumbera, National Artist for Literature, called the presidential prerogative an
insult to those who selected Nora Aunor. Lumbera asked his fellow National
Artists in effect to protest the insult. F. Sionil Jose, National Artist for
Literature, in lines that are going viral, questions the ability of the
President to appreciate excellence.
The NCCA, it is
said, aims to renominate Nora Aunor. Some critics believe there is no nobility
in seeking reconsideration from the Palace; instead, these critics believe it
is wise to wait for the next president—the right president—to declare Nora
Aunor. Even as these opinions make the declaration of National Artist look like
that of a confirmation from the Commission on Appointment, the general feeling
is that the whole process has already been tainted.
Ever the
self-effacing person that she is, Nora Aunor has remained circumspect all throughout.
Which is just as well. Nora Aunor does not need now the President to declare
her an artist. A group of artists and intellectuals and experts has already
done that.
Nora Aunor is
acclaimed by the nation. Wise men and women have already formed a circle of
support around her. In the Palace, the President is also surrounded, I like to
think, by advisers who believe they have given him the right advice. We do not
have to count years; we only have to wait for the next election before they are
all gone.
As for Nora Aunor,
she will always be part of this nation, any critical sense of this nation, as
an artist who has no need for presidential prerogative, and whose art and
genius will live beyond elections.
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