A Criticism to the Selection of a National Artist

Of course, this is nothing compared to what the professional writers and critics did. It is somewhat like an overview of Bautista VS Lumbera's Case.

The article shows how politics have corrupted the supposedly prestigious award in arts in the Philippines. But nevertheless, when do things have not been political? From the selection of unqualified officials for the deliberation to the interference of the government officials, power manipulation and political biases are evident.

- ‘Another problem, she states, is the procedure of having judges vote outside their field of expertise.  For example, music experts serve as judges in categories such as film and literature.’ So how would those unqualified officials evaluate properly when they are judging body of works not even under their expertise? How come they have not selected the suitable authorities to grant assessment for the event?

-The amount of time given was too little as if it was just a trivial award in the Philippines, and to think it is only held every three years. They could have given the judges the proper amount of time.

-The networking issues of the writers can be an important factor in politicizing the winners, like the colleagues they know who are in the position to judge. But it is just odd when Cirilio Bautista seemed to have those people who favored for him, like Fransicso Sionil Jose, Jose Garcia Villa and Edith Tiempo but he still lost.

-In the case of Carlo J. Caparas being selected by the president of the Philippines in that time, could it be a quite similar scenario during Bautista and Lumbera’s time? Do the highest positioned-government officials help the process of selection or are they just exercising their political scheming?

-The panel themselves are subject to their prejudices. If one is a proletarian writer, there must be a high possibility of him/her choosing another proletarian writer because his judgment could be relative to his own biases.

-Another problematic instance in deliberation is ‘ When a judge said it was “very difficult to understand” ‘ in which Jose retorted, “Have you read his work?  He’s writing Philippine history!” If a judge cannot understand the body of works or refuse to understand the body of works, then what makes him/her appropriate in his/her position?

-Marginalization of a certain genre of writers is manifested.

The rules and criteria for this award is valid in my own point of view, however no one can eliminate power manipulation and prejudices, and perhaps, bigotry.