Senate commends Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan Awardees

The Senate today adopted a resolution commending the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan Awardees for their contribution in promoting the country’s cultural heritage.

           

Senate Resolution No. (SRN) 765, introduced by Sen. Loren Legarda, recognizes the outstanding Filipinos artists whose craft reflects Filipino culture and identity.

            The Gawad ng Manlilikha ng Bayan or GAMABA award was institutionalized through Republic Act No. 7355 in April 1992.

“Since its first conferment in 1993, the GAMABA award has so far recognized the efforts of 13 traditional artists,” the resolution said.

 

The GAMABA awardees are Ginaw Bilog, Masino Intaray, Samaon Sulaiman, Lang Dulay, Salinta Monon, Alonzo Saclag, Federico Caballero, Uwang Ahadas, Darhata Sawabi, Eduardo Mutuc, Haja Amina Appi, Teofilo Garcia and Magdalena Gamayo.

 

“Cognizant of their artistic genius and their perseverance to instil national pride through the arts, it is but fitting that our Manlilikha ng Bayan, the nation’s "living treasures," be recognized and honored for their painstaking dedication to promote, protect and safeguard the nation’s rich intangible heritage,” Legarda said.

 

Candidates for the GAMABA award must be inhabitants of an indigenous cultural community in the Philippines that has preserved indigenous customs, beliefs, rituals and traditions and/or has syncretized whatever external elements that have influenced it.

 

She said each candidate must have engaged in a folk art tradition that has been in existence and documented for at least 50 years. The candidate must have consistently performed or produced over a significant period works of superior and distinctive quality. He or she must possess a mastery of tools and materials needed by the art, and must have an established reputation in the art as master and maker of works of extraordinary technical quality.

Legarda said the candidate must have passed on and/or will pass on to other members of the community their skills in the folk art for which the community is traditionally known. (Olivia Caunan)