NATIONAL ARTIST FOR DANCE

FRANCISCA REYES AQUINO  Folkdance Pioneer

“Philippine Folk Dances and Games,”


Her books include the following:

Philippine National Dances (1946)

Gymnastics for Girls (1947)
Fundamental Dance Steps and Music (1948)
Foreign Folk Dances (1949)
Dances for all Occasion (1950)
Playground Demonstration (1951) and
Philippine Folk Dances, Volumes I to VI.

RAMON OBUSAN  dancer, choreographer, stage designer, and artistic

director.
 he achieved phenomenal success in Philippine dance
and cultural work.
 he was also acknowledged as a researcher, archivist
and documentary filmmaker who broadened and
deepened the Filipino understanding of his own cultural
life and expressions.
 Among the full-length productions he choreographed are
the following:

Vamos a Belen! Series (1998-2004)

Noon Po sa Amin
Obra Maestra
Unpublished Dances of the Philippines
Water, Fire and Life, Philippine Dances and Music–A
Celebration of Life Saludo sa Sentenyal
Glimpses of ASEAN, Dances and Music of the ASEAN-
Member Countries
Saplot (Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group): Philippines
Costumes in Dance

ALICE REYES  dancer, choreographer, teacher, and director,

she has made a lasting impact on the development and

promotion of contemporary dance in the Philippines.
 Her dance legacy is evident in the dance companies,
teachers, choreographers, and the exciting Filipino
modern dance repertoire of our country today.
 development of a distinctly Filipino modern dance idiom.

Among her major works:

Amada (1969)
At a Maranaw Gathering (1970)
Itim-Asu (1971)
Tales of the Manuvu (1977)
Rama Hari (1980)
Bayanihan Remembered (1987)
  Dubbed the “Trailblazer”
LEONOR OROSA GOQUINGCO  “Mother of Philippine Theater Dance”
 “Dean of Filipino Performing Arts Critics”
 pioneer Filipino choreographer in balletic folkloric and
Asian styles,
 Orosa brought native folk dance, mirroring Philippine
culture from pagan to modern times, to its highest stage
of development
 She was the Honorary Chair of the Association of Ballet
Academies of the Philippines (ABAP) and was a
founding member of the Philippine Ballet Theater.

LUCRECIA REYES-URTULA  choreographer, dance educator and researcher, spent

almost four decades in the discovery and study of
Philippine folk and ethnic dances.
 Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company director
Among the widely acclaimed dances she had staged were the
following:
Singkil
Vinta,
Tagabili
Pagdiwata
Salidsid
Idaw
Banga
Aires de Verbena

NATIONAL ARTIST FOR MUSIC

ANTONIO R.  composed songs, compositions, for solo instruments as
well as symphonic and orchestral works based on the
BUENAVENTURA folksongs of various Philippine ethnic groups.
 also, a conductor and restored the Philippine Army
Band to its former prestige as one of the finest military
bands in the world making it “the only band that can
sound like a symphony orchestra”
JOSE MACEDA  composer, musicologist, teacher, and performer explored
the musicality of the Filipino deeply.
 He wrote papers that enlightened scholars, both Filipino
and foreign, about the nature of Philippine traditional and
ethnic music.
 freed Filipino musical expression from a strictly
Eurocentric mold

LUCRESIA R. KASILAG  involved herself wholly in sharpening the Filipino

audience’s appreciation of music
Her orchestral music include:
Love Songs
Legend of the Sarimanok
Ang Pamana
Philippine Scenes
Her Son,Jose
Sisa and chamber music like
Awit ng mga Awit Psalms
Fantaisie on a 4-Note Theme
East Meets Jazz Ethnika

ERNANI J. CUENCO  A composer, film scorer, musical director, and music

teacher
Filipino Youth Symphony Orchestra
Manila Symphony Orchestra from 1960 to 1968, and the.
Manila Chamber Soloists from 1966 to 1970.
 He completed a music degree in piano and cello from the
University of Santo Tomas where he also taught for
decades until his death in 1988

LUCIO SAN PEDRO  is a master composer, conductor, and teacher whose

music evokes the folk elements of the Filipino heritage.
 wideranging body of works that includes band music,
concertos for violin and orchestra, choral works,
cantatas, chamber music, music for violin and piano,
and songs for solo voice.

Peng Kong Grand Mason Concert Band

San Pedro Band of Angono
Banda Angono Numero Uno

His songs and ballads include:

Nahan, Kahit na Magtiis
Diligin Mo ng Hamog ang Uhaw na Lupa
Pilipinas
Inang Bayan
Isang Dalangin
Kalesa
Bato sa Buhangin
“Gaano Kita Kamahal.”
 The latter song shows how Cuenco has enriched the Filipino
love ballad by adding the elements of kundiman to it.

ANTONIO J. MOLINA  a versatile musician, composer, music educator was the

last of the musical triumvirate
 Molina is credited with introducing such innovations as
the whole tone scale, pentatonic scale, exuberance of
dominant ninths and eleventh cords, and linear
counterpoints
Hatinggabi
Misa Antoniana Grand Festival Mass
Ang Batingaw
Kundiman-Kundangan;(chamber music)
Hating Gabi
String Quartet
Kung sa Iyong Gunita,
Pandangguhan; (vocal music)
Amihan
Awit ni Maria Clara
Larawan Nitong Pilipinas

FRANCISCO FELICIANO  was able to bring out the Filipino mysticism in the simple
harmonies that can captivate and charm his audiences.

LEVI CELERIO 

prolific lyricist and composer for decades.
Guinness Book of World Records as the only person
able to make music using just a leaf
 great number of his songs have been written for the local
movies, which earned for him the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines.
 Philippine music for no less than two generations with a
treasury of more than 4,000 songs in an idiom that has
proven to appeal to all social classes.

RAMON P. SANTOS  composer, conductor, and musicologist, is currently the

country’s foremost exponent of contemporary Filipino
music.
 ethnomusicological orientation has but richly enhanced
his compositional outlook
JOVITA FUENTES  Long before Lea Salonga’s break into Broadway, there
was already Jovita Fuentes ‘portrayal of Cio-cio san in
Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at Italy’s Teatro
Municipale di Piacenza.
 This is even more significant because it happened at a
time when the Philippines and its people were scarcely
heard of in Europe.
her dream to develop the love for opera among her
countrymen led her to find the Artists’ Guild of the
Philippines, which was responsible for the periodic “Tour
of Operaland” productions.

NATIONAL ARTIST FOR CINEMA/FILM

LAMBERTO ARCELLANA  Tagged as “The Boy Wonder of Philippine
Movies”
 Kalderong Pilak was the first film by a Filipino
filmmaker shown Cannes International Film
Festival
 Grand Prix at the Asian Film Festival in Hong
Kong for Anak Dalita (1956)
 Best Director of Asia Award in Tokyo for Badjao


MANUEL CONDE  producing and directing films based on old

Filipino Tales as such as Siete Infantes de Lara
(1950), si Juan Tamad (1947), Ang Ibong Adarna
(1941)
 brought to the silver screen stories from the other
parts of the world like Genghis Khan (1950)

EDDIE S. ROMERO  is a screenwriter, film director and producer who

is behind the Filipino classics
Ganito Kami Noon… Paano Kayo Ngayon?
Banta ng Kahapon
Aguila
13-part series “Noli Me Tangere.”
LINO BROCKA  recognized for his films which explores the lives
Catalino “Lino” Ortiz Brocka of people in the marginalized sectors
Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang” (1974)
Insiang” (1976)
“Bona” (1980)
“Maynila: Sa Kuko ng Liwanag” (1975)
 directed for theatre organizations such as the
Philippine Educational Theater Association
(PETA) and the Concerned Artists of the
Philippines (CAP).

GERARDO DE LEON  De Leon is a prominent film maker in the fifties

and sixty’s producing classics such as
 Daigdig ng mga Api
 Noli Me Tangere
 El Felibusterismo
 Dyesebel
 Sisa

ISHMAEL BERNAL  “The genius of Philippine Cinema,”

 is known for directing films that projects the
realities of the Filipinos
“Himala” 1982
“City after Dark” (1980),
Nunal sa Tubig” (1976)
 are social commentaries that reflect the struggles
of the people and aim to address the issues such
as sensorship and justice to be the oppressed

ROLANDO ALLAN K. POE  popularly known as Fernando Poe, Jr., he is

considered an icon of the film industry working as
an actor, director, writer, and producer

“Mga Alikabok sa Lupa (1967)

Totoy Bato (1977)
Ang Probinsyano (1996)
Ang Alamat (1972)”, among others.
 NATIONAL ARTIST FOR THEATRE
DAISY AVELLANA  co-founded the Barangay Theatre Guild
 This move made theatre and dramatic arts
popular in the country.
 portrayal of Candida Marasigan both in the stage
and film versions of “Portrait of the Artist as
Filipino” by Nick Joaquin was highly remembered

 Queen of Kundiman
HONARATA “ATANG” DELA RAMA  first actress to portray a 15-year-old in the
very first tagalog film
 version of the sarsuela “Dalagang Bukid”
 She believed that “the sarswela and the
kundiman expresses best the Filipino soul

ROLANDO S. TINIO  He was known for his works

Ang Mestisa
Ana Maria
Orosman at Zafira
Larawan
Bayad Puri
Gamitin Mo Ako
Milagros
Now and Forever”.

SALVADOR F.BERNAL  Bernal used local materials including bamboo,

abaca, hemp twine, and rattan in theatre design
for local productions.
WILFREDO MA. GUERRERO  He was served as the Director of UP
Dramatic Club for 16 years since 1947
 He founded the UP Mobile Theatre, which
started the concept of theatre campus tour.
The UP Mobile Theatre had around 2,500
performances within 19 years.

SEVERINO MONTANO  He organized the Arena Theatre while

serving as Dean of Instruction of the
Philippine Normal College.
 Aside from being one of the National Artists
for theatre in 2001, he was given the
Patnubay ng Kalinangan Award from the City
of Manila, the Presendential Award for Merit
in Drama and Theatre, and the Rockefeller
Foundation Grant.