PETITION TO THE NCCA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS On the Acceptance of Resignation of NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez and Removal from Office of NCCA Chairman Vilma Labrador

PETITION TO THE NCCA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
On the Acceptance of Resignation of NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez and Removal from Office of NCCA Chairman Vilma Labrador

Much has been written and talked about the 2009 National Artist Award controversy which saw the removal of Dr. Ramon Santos and the inclusion of four other awardees, who did not pass through the final selection process, in the final list jointly conveyed by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Cultural Center of the Philippines to the Office of the President on May 6, 2009.

Amid the noise and fury raised by concerned artists, cultural workers and Filipino taxpayers who view the fiasco as a direct political manipulation of an otherwise legitimate process, what is clearly compromised is the integrity and credibility of the entire NCCA community. Its Board of Commissioners now bear the brunt of criticism as its leaders continue to defend what they call вpresidential prerogativeв despite very clear transgressions of rules and procedures governing the Awards.

In its August 8 edition, the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) has bannered the headline вwhy arenвt they resigning?в pertaining to NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez and NCCA Chairman and Education Undersecretary Vilma Labrador. The question stemmed from what PDI perceives as the top NCCA executivesв failure to defend the selection by the NCCA with the Cultural Center of the Philippines of composer Ramon Santos as National Artist for Music. вNot only had they not defended Santos and the NCCA-CCP selection, Labrador and Alvarez have also betrayed their preference for Caparas, who got the distinction of being allowed the use of the NCCA premises for a press conference last Friday (August 7) to defend his qualifications as National Artist.в The news item further asserted: вThat they had failed to defend the official в and legal в selection process should compel Alvarez and Labrador, either out of a sense of delicadeza or professional decorum, to resign from the NCCA.в

What is not clearly revealed in the reportage is the role and culpability of NCCA Chairman Vilma Labrador in the entire fiasco. In various published news reports, and by her own admission before the NCCA Board of Commissioners, Labrador was said to have defended NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez from the issue of delicadeza. She was quoted to have said that Alvarez did not have a hand in her own designation as a National Artist as she was not part of the process. (Members of the reviewing peer panels and the joint Boards of CCP-NCCA present during the various levels of deliberations would, of course, have another thing to say about Alvarezвs participation and intervention.) To further her defense of Alvarez, Labrador revealed that the former has been resigning since last year or since April 2009, depending on which news reports one has read.

If, indeed, Alvarez has resigned since April 2009, why did Labrador keep the matter a secret to the NCCA Board of Commissioners until the July 31 Board meeting? Did she think that the decision to accept or decline the resignation of the NCCA Executive Director is a matter for her alone to decide or act upon? The provisions on the Powers and Functions of NCCA Internal Rules and Regulations clearly states that вв Matters for decision that are not explicitly delegated by resolution shall require Commission action.в (Section 18.13).

It is in the interest of the entire Commission to have been informed of the intended resignation as it bears impact not only on NCCA programs and operations but в as the National Artist Award fiasco would now reveal в on the issue of delicadeza being hurled against Alvarez and the entire Commission. Labradorвs acts of secrecy and indiscretion have resulted in:

1. compromising the credibility and integrity of Ms. Alvarez as a National Artist candidate as вNCCA and CCP Board members and consultants and NCCA and CCP officers and staff from being nominatedв (Rule 5, Nomination Procedures of the Awards Guidelines);

2. compromising the position of the Philippine President who now has to defend Ms. Alvarezвs National Artist designation against rules of procedures, delicadeza and public accountability;

3. compromising the integrity of the joint CCP and NCCA decision on the National Artist Awardвs Selection process; and

4. compromising the integrity and credibility of the entire NCCA Community and its Board of Commissioners who have all been dragged as party to the issue of delicadeza.

At the core of this latest institutional crisis are issues of transparency, good governance and moral ascendancy that have long plagued the leadership of the NCCA. Republic Act 7356, or the NCCA Law, clearly defines NCCA as an вindependent agencyв (Section 8) mandated to promote a culture by the people and for the people (Sections 5 and 6). That its leadership has insisted on forsaking the peopleвs agenda for culture in favor of MalacaГang-driven initiatives compromises the integrity and credibility of NCCA.

The undersigned artists and cultural workers, therefore, appeal to the individual Board Members of the NCCA as an вindependent agencyв to immediately act on the following:

1. Accept the resignation of NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez,
who, has reached the retirement age as of November 13, 2008. She has served her
first term extension up to May 13, 2009 and the Board has not been informed of a
second and final extension. Section 4 of Executive Order 136 states that вUpon approval of the President, the first extension of services for Presidential appointees shall be for six (6) months, and subsequently for a second extension of six (6) months, or for a maximum extension of one (1) year only."

2. Initiate the removal from office of NCCA Chairman on the grounds of вculpable violation of the NCCA Implementing Rules and Regulations, NCCA rules and regulations, and any of its policies and directivesв (Section 21.2); and вculpable violation of the NCCA Code of Ethicsв (IRR Section 21.2).
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We call on the NCCA Board of Commissioners to assert the agencyвs status of independence, protect its own rules and regulations, and uphold their sworn duty of serving the arts and culture community in general and the Filipino people in particular.

Yours in service of the Filipino people and the arts and culture community,


ALLIANCE OF CONCERNED ARTISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES (ACAP)