The Butcher | A tribute to the National Artists other than Nora

I’ve already pointed out in my last column the reasons why Nora Aunor was so deserving of her National Artist Award for Film and Broadcast Arts. This time, allow me to pay tribute to the other newly-installed National Artists who have also contributed to the world of entertainment.

                                    

FIDES CUYUGAN ASENSIO (National Artist for Music)    

She could have rivaled the great Anna Moffo in the international music scene.  They’re almost the same age and began their respective careers at the same time.   

Yes, Fides Belza Cuyugan-Asensio could have conquered the world stage the way Ms. Moffo did. After all, they are both great musical talents (coloratura sopranos) and drop-dead gorgeous.

Locally, Fides became an instant star from the time of her graduation recital. The event came out on the front page of the Manila Times. This was in 1951 when she was 20 years old.    

An alumna of the Philippine Women’s University, she has a double degree: Bachelor of Arts in English (major in drama) and Bachelor of Arts in Music (major in voice and minor in piano). She took further studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Pennsylvania.    

But instead of pursuing a music career abroad where she could have been a great success, she followed her heart and married Dr. Manuel Asensio. One of their children, a very good-looking boy named Dennis, even had a brief romance with Cherie Gil in the early 1980s.    

The great thing about her forgoing a career internationally was the fact that we had her beauty and talent to appreciate here in the Philippines. She became a household name when she came out on television – in the old ABS-CBN musical show, Sunday, Sweet Sunday.  

Aired every Sunday at noon, it was like ASAP, except that the songs were done in opera style. Fides appeared on the show opposite Jimmy Melendrez. When martial law was declared in 1972, the show was moved to Channel 9 under the title Zing!

As a film actress, her most notable role was in Oro, Plata, Mata where she was cast as Joel Torre’s mother, the hysterical Inday Lorenzo. She also excelled in Nino – as the matriarch of a family whose fortunes begin to decline.    

Aside from lending her talent to the public, Fides also produced musical shows on stage and even formed an organization – the Music Theater Foundation of the Philippines – that gave musical scholarships.    

She also joined academe – as the chairman of the Voice and Music Theater Department of the University of the Philippines.

MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA (National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts)

The daughter of the late BIR Commissioner Conrado Diaz, she grew up in a privileged setting. Her mother, Felicitas, a bona fide doña, exposed her to the finer things in life. In their Makati home, she was surrounded by art.

She took up Communications Arts at Assumption. In 1973, she represented her school in the search for Metro Manila’s Five Most Outstanding Coeds, a beauty and personality contest. She took home one of the slots, along with Maryknoll College’s Menchu Genato, who would later be known to the public as Tita Maggi.    

Marilou’s first film, Tanikala, which starred Susan Roces, was a critical and commercial disaster. But she more than made up for that in Brutal, which scored big in the 1980 Metro Manila Film Festival.  

In 1984, the Film Academy of the Philippines put up the National Oscar Selection Committee, the body that chooses the country’s bet to the Academy Awards in Hollywood. Her film, Karnal, was sent to represent the Philippines in the Oscars that year. In 1998, another one of her films, Milagros, was also sent to the Academy Awards.     

One of Marilou’s most outstanding traits as a director was that she was daring and loved to experiment. When bold pictures became the trend in those years prior to EDSA I, she also did a sex movie, Sensual, which of course was a cut above the rest of the usual soft-porn movies churned out by the other directors.    

Sadly, Marilou was afflicted with breast cancer at the age of 57. She eventually died on October 8, 2012.     

                                        

RICARDO LEE (National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts)

In stark contrast to Marilou Abaya, Ricky Lee grew up in extreme poverty in Daet, Camarines Norte. Orphaned early in life, he was farmed out to relatives who were too poor to take in another child. He was therefore practically on his own early in childhood.    

In high school, a short story he wrote was published in Free Press. It paid him P50. Ricky quickly ran away to Manila and took on menial jobs in order to survive city life. He often fainted due to hunger.    

When he saved enough money for his college studies, he entered the State University. While in UP, he made friends with other writers who were critical of the government. Due to his anti-Marcos stance, he was arrested and incarcerated at Fort Bonifacio in 1974.        

In the 1970s, he tried writing scripts for the movies and was lucky because he had several opportunities to write for Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. He has since won dozens and dozens of awards for screenplay and was even given the Natatanging Gawad Urian by the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. He was, incidentally, one of the early members of this critics’ group. Ricky only left the organization when he embraced screenwriting full-time.     

His biggest contribution to the local film industry, however, was his effort to mentor aspiring writers. Ricky’s workshops were done in his house. He didn’t charge fees. It was mere passion and selflessness that became his driving force to train young people with the ambition to write for the movies.

                                              

ANTONIO MABESA (National Artist for Theater)     

Tony also had a rough time getting installed as National Artist.  As a director, he had a temper and was a terror, particularly during rehearsals. He often screamed at his talents who failed to deliver what he expected of them.     

The members of the panel in the National Artists committee apparently didn’t want to encourage such behavior in theater. And so it took a while before he got the nod of the jury. Sadly enough, he was no longer around to savor this much-coveted honor. He died on October 4, 2019.     

It cannot be denied, however, that he was truly deserving of the National Artist Award. His contribution to theater was immeasurable. Tony’s biggest accomplishment was having founded Dulaang UP in 1976.     

Though he was temperamental, he loved mentoring young talents. A lot of them turned out to be among the finest artists not only in theater, but also in cinema. Among them were Eugene Domingo, Neil Ryan Sese, Irma Adlawan, Nonie Buencamino, Shamaine Centenera, and Chris Martinez.

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