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By Rome Jorge
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Photo By
KJ Rosales |
In a world cared for, maintained and built by
Filipino caregivers, nurses, seamen, engineers and other overseas
workers, old traditions are taking root in strange places.
Kababayans abroad are now spreading Filipino heritage themselves.
Envision Fil-Ams in Los Angeles making their own bamboo orchestra
instruments and playing well-loved folk songs; Pinoy expats in
Brussels furthering Philippine cubism with their paintbrushes; our
theater actors in Broadway’s production houses and our ballet
dancers in Macau’s casinos showcasing our indigenous and folk
dances and songs.
This is the age of cultural caregiving. And
ardently espousing this doctrine is Cecile Guidote Alvarez,
executive director of the National Commission on Culture and the
Arts (NCCA).
“We have directed our grantees who go out and
get support from NCCA to do a complement of outreaches to Filipino
communities—either by conducting clinics, participatory work or
talks on the wealth of our heritage—for Filipino communities in
places where they are scheduled to perform,” she explains.
Alvarez sites examples such as those conducted
by the world-famous Luboc ‘Choir from Bohol’ “If there’s a
competition in Singapore or Vienna, there’s an inter-cultural
encounter afterwards with the Filipino community. Now, they don’t
just drop by and give a show; they now leave something behind.”
“For instance, the Filipino-American Services
Group, Inc. (a non-profit neighborhood-based health care provider
for Filipino veterans since 1981) organized something to go with a
tour of Los Angeles. They were so excited, we left our higantes
[larger-than-life papier-mâché caricatures from the traditional
Angono festival that artfully and subversively deride oppressive
Spanish landlords with exaggerated features and pompous stances]
with them because they wanted to use it,” she says.
“Now we’re planning something with the
bamboo orchestra of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines
better known as Banda Kawayan. They [Filipino communities in Los
Angeles communities] will be taught how to make bamboo instruments
themselves. The basic repertoire that will be taught to them will be
our kundiman and folk songs,” cites Alvarez.
“With the AAP [Art Association of the
Philippines], a group that would have had exhibitions anyway in
Brussels and in London, we asked them, with a little additional
funding, to do painting workshops for Pinoys there,” she examples.
Now, artists touring abroad that receives a
grant from the NCCA must pay it forward. They must not only perform
and inspire; they must also share their craft directly to a new
generation of Filipinos abroad.
“We are not as rich as the other countries. We
have no Japan House or Alliance Française. But we have so many
brilliant Filipino artists abroad. They can also be harnessed and
mobilized. We provide them with cooperative programming. Even they
[the touring Filipino artists] themselves, we also give them
cultural caregiving to strengthen them. We train them how to connect
and explore what they can give,” Alvarez explains.
“We are now programming with the CFO
[Commission on Filipinos Overseas led by chairman Dante Arevalo Ang
Sr.] together with the Department of Foreign Affairs through our
embassies and in consultation with the Church’s Center for
Migrants and their concerns and other NGOs [non government
organizations] and civic groups abroad. We are now going into a
systematic cultural caregiving for Filipinos overseas,” she
reveals.
Alvarez notes that collaborations between
touring artists and resident Filipinos have long been practiced. The
veteran theater artist explains, “When you travel and you have a
cast of 80 or so, you only go with the core and do a performance
collaboration with the local talent. They feel more connected.”
Now, the NCCA will systematize collaborations to
maximize opportunities by mapping out where Filipino artists are and
list what their skill set is. Each artist now will venture abroad
with a roadmap that includes as many venues for synergy and
collaboration as possible.
The same overseas Filipino workers who sustain
the economy with their remittances from abroad are now key in
nurturing our arts with their thirst for Filipino culture. We have
the most global migrant workforce on Earth and one of the largest
surplus of artistic talent we continuously export. The NCCA will be
sharing the burden of carrying our culture across among them. It is
nothing less than cultural bayanihan. The same Filipino communities
that foster our touring artists during their brief stays will now
nurture our traditions perennially, having been trained by the
artists who visit.
Filipinos—sometimes criticized for
assimilating foreign cultures all too well and surrendering heritage
all too easily—are now uniquely poised to seed our culture across
the globe. Though a small nation, the Philippines, by spreading its
migrant population across nations, has created a global audience for
its arts.
Local action
Cultural caregiving
is not limited to Filipinos abroad. Locally, it uplifts marginalized
sectors of society. Alvarez explains, “Right now, we have programs
with local government. Because our chairman is Dr. [Vilma] Labrador
[Department of Education Secretary Undersecretary], we now access
regional art schools. We’ve also prepared a voc-tec
[vocational-technical] curriculum for Tesda [Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority], some performance and media arts
modules. Out of school youths have artistic talents as well. These
will not be developed unless you give them opportunities through
these non-formal means. You will see what they can do if you just
give them equity of time and opportunity.”
“Downstairs [at the NCCA ground floor lobby of
the NCCA building] you will see some of the harvest of the
caregiving for the differently-abled. They are able to discover
their talents and build their confidence. We get to see the joy of
transforming them into ‘handy-capable,’” he enthuses.
“Within this context of cultural caregiving
for all these vulnerable groups, we go into the prisons. We go into
DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] centers like
Nayon ng Kabataan [rehabilitation for abused, orphaned, abandoned,
neglected and exploited children], The Haven [substitute home care
for women].”
“It’s really heartrending for our cultural
caregivers to have visited prison in Muntinlupa. You’ll be amazed
how touched both prisoners and teachers are. We were even able to
get [Justice Secretary Raul] Gonzalez to allow them—with of course
guards—to have a Christmas show on television, to perform in
Malacañang with Gary Valenciano. Now we are getting all these
requests, from Davao Penal Colony to Quezon City Jail. It’s
rehabilitation. It humanizes them. It gives them nutrition for the
soul,” Alvarez believes.
Many things to many people
Cultural caregiving is just one of the many
thrusts of NCCA. “Right now, with the FDCP [Film Development
Council of the Philippines], we are assisting in the observance of
the 10th anniversary of Cinemanila International Film Festival.
We’ve rescheduled it for October because it will be two days after
Pusan [International Film Festival].” She adds, “Within the
framework of October, there’s the United Nations Global Conference
on Migration. Besides this, the UN Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG)
campaign is now a partner to give a UNMDG prize for film. With
festival director Tikoy Aguiluz, we are institutionalizing the Vic
Silayan Acting Award to honor acting as well for both local and
foreign films.”
“October is also Indigenous Peoples’ Month.
It’s going to be wonderful because the host city, Santiago City in
Isabela will become like a living museum. The city has given a place
where the indigenous communities will [be] able to replicate their
habitat. Real indigenous communities will showcase their own rituals
and crafts. There will be various forums there on the issues of
education, ancestral land rights and cultural survival. We will also
have a forum with legislators from both the House and the Senate
[Rep. Del de Guzman and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, both commissioners
of the NCCA]. Even a board meeting of NCCA will be held there. Our
schools for living traditions will all gather together earlier so
they can see what traditions can be perpetuated. Now with CHEd
[Commission on Higher Education], each indigenous community will
have a partner school to help document and develop modules.”
“Now, all our sub-commissions are
collaborating, led by the sub-commission on the arts for the
preparation this early for the Arts Month in February. We are
internationalizing it, involving more inter-cultural and inter-faith
encounters.”
She reminds us, “We run a weekly live
television show on Channel 4 [People’s Television Network, Inc.]
called Sining Gising in cooperation with DepEd. It’s a creative
classroom.”
She also notes that the NCCA’s support for
handicapped artists extends year round and is not confined to
National Disability Week, which this ran from July 17 to 23.
Lifelong cultural caregiver
Alvarez’s nationalism and enthusiasm for
cultural caregiving has its roots in her conception. In her response
after receiving the Ramon Magsaysay (RM) Award on August 31, 1972,
Alvarez revealed her life, “My father died before I was born [in
1943]. He joined the guerrilla movement and dismissed the fears,
tears and anxieties of my mother with the urgent explanation of
fighting to give us the gift of freedom. I often wondered about him.
My father left me a shining legacy of giving, loving and fighting
for one’s convictions. He got no medal for his valor, but he is my
hero. Even as a child, as his daughter, I was resolved to define and
seek my own service to our people.”
As a high school student, Alvarez dreamed of
studying law at the University of the Philippines. However, her
elder brother, fearing the 16-year-old was too young for the hotbed
of activism, conspired to have her study at the St. Paul College in
Ermita. It was there, under the tutelage of Fr. James Reuter, that
she became part of the Paulinian Players Guild and later the Ateneo
Summer Graduate Theater. It was there that her love for theater arts
blossomed and her empathy for the disabled was first seeded.
Her speech for the RM Awards recalls her first
experience of cultural caregiving: “At the age of 16, working at
the Orthopedic Hospital, I was deeply impressed how a frail, shy
girl on crutches, whose hands were sweaty, whose eyes were downcast,
who could speak inaudibly only through trembling lips, found
herself. She blossomed into a beautiful character on stage,
acknowledging the cheers of the other patients who were a most
enthusiastic audience. The wonder-therapy for her incredible
personality development and social adjustment was drama.”
Reuter later prodded her to make her foray into
mass media. At 18, Alvarez began directing the award-winning
television series focusing on youth problems entitled Teenagers. She
recalls, “A further realization of theater as a formidable means
of influencing thought came into focus while I was working with
teenagers as a constructive reaction against the rise of juvenile
delinquency. It was noticeable that participants’ sensitivity,
flexibility, imagination, creative facilities and expression were
being cultivated as we continuously developed weekly original TV
dramas. These dramas functioned not merely as a platform for
entertainment, but also as an arena for social action where
youth’s present problems and future goals were discussed to
provide consciousness expansion . . . This is where I found meaning
to serve, to care and to be involved.”
In 1964, she went to the State University in
Texas to pursue a graduate degree in theater. In 1967, the same year
she finished her studies and returned to the country, Alvarez
founded the Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA). She
was just 24.
Through Peta, Alvarez had a hand in honing the
most acclaimed artists of our time: the late National Artist for
Cinema Lino Brocka, Robert Arevalo, Alfred Yuson, Mario de los
Reyes, Lutgardo Labad, Anton Juan, Isagani Cruz, Elwood Perez, Mario
O’Hara, Frank Rivera, Nick Lizaso, Marilou Jacob, Joy Soler, Lily
Gamboa O’Boyle and Joey Gosiengfiao to name a few. In turn, such
experiences tempered and steeled her skills as a leader and as a
visionary.
At age 29, she became the youngest person to
receive the RM Award. But just 21 days after receiving recognition
for progressive ideals, the Marcos dictatorship declared Martial Law
on September 21, 1972. She and her family escaped to the US to avoid
a shoot-to-kill order for her husband Heherson Alvarez (today the
presidential adviser on overseas Filipino communities).
It was as an exile in America that Alvarez
experienced migrant advocacy. She and her husband founded the Ninoy
Aquino Movement in New York after the exiled senator was
assassinated upon his return to the country on August 21, 1983. She
continued her cultural work directing and producing Filipino plays
at La Mama Theater off Broadway for the Third World Institute of
Theater Arts Studies.
After the first People Power Revolt of 1986
overthrew the Marcos dictatorship, the Alvarez family returned to
the Philippines. In 1987, then-President Corazon Aquino created the
Presidential Commission on Culture and Arts, now known as the NCCA.
As executive director, Alvarez has steered the NCCA through the
tumult of several administrations and the internecine conflicts that
characterize the highly polarized post-People Power arts community.
Today a breast cancer survivor, she endures with
pills and prayers. Every breath she takes attests to her enduring
tenacity. Talk about culture and she immediately lights up with an
indefatigable conviction. More than just a fighter, she is a
dreamer. Cecile Guiote Alvarez has so much more to give. It’s in
her culture.
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