National Artist of the

Philippines

Leonor Orosa-GoquingcoLeonor Orosa-Goquingco (July 24, 1917 – July 15, 2005) was a Filipino national artist in creative dance. She could play the piano, draw, design scenery and costumes, sculpt, act, direct, dance and choreograph. Her pen name was Cristina Luna and she was known as Trailblazer, Mother of Philippine Theater Dance and Dean of Filipino Performing Arts Critics. She died on July 15, 2005 of "cardiac arrest secondary to cerebro-vascular accident" at the age of 87.

FamilyLeonor Orosa-Goquingco was born on July 24, 1917 at Jolo, Sulu. Her parents were Sixto Orosa and Severina Luna, both doctors who graduated from the University of the Philippines. She was married to Benjamin Goquinco and had three children: Benjamin, Jr., Rachelle and Regina.

EducationGoquingco graduated Elementary in 1929 at Central Philippine University and as the top of her class as valedictorian in Negros Occidental Provincial High School. She moved to Manila and entered the Philippine Women's University (PWU) where she took an ACS course. She earned a diploma in education, majoring in English Literature from St. Scholastica's College Manila and graduated summa cum laude. The famous national artist also took graduate courses in theatre craft, drama and music at Columbia University and Teachers College in New York City, USA. She also took professional and teacher courses at the Ballet de Monte Carlo.

AccomplishmentsIn 1939, Leonor Orosa-Goquingco was the only dancer sent on the first cultural mission to Japan, at the age of 19. She produced Circling the Globe (1939) and Dance Panorama in the same year. She created The Elements in 1940, the first ballet choreographed by a Filipino to commissioned music. She also created Sports during the same year, featuring cheerleaders, a tennis match and a basketball game. The first Philippine folkloric ballet, Trend: Return to the Native, was choreographed by Goquingco in 1941. After the Second World War, she organized thePhilippine Ballet and brought the famous Filipino novel, Noli Me Tángere, to life. The Noli Dance Suite consisted of several dances. Maria Clara and the Leper, Salome and Elias, Sisa, Asalto for Maria Clara and The Gossips are some of the dances found in the Noli Dance Suite.

Leonor Orosa-Goquingco also danced during her early years. She danced at the American Museum of Natural History, Theresa Kaufmann Auditorium, The International House and Rockefeller Plaza, just to name a few. She appeared in War Dance and Planting Rice. Other works she choreographed were "Circling the Globe", "Dance Panorama", "Current events", "Vinta!", "Morolandia", "Festival in Maguindanao", "Eons Ago: The Creation", "Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend, and Lore in Dance", "Miner's Song", "The Bird and the Planters", "Tribal", "Ang Antipos" (The Flagellant), "Salubong", "Pabasa" (Reading of the Pasyon) and "Easter Sunday Fiesta".She took the Filipinescas Dance Company on a world tour in 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968 and 1970.

She was also a writer, and her articles were published in Dance Magazine (New York City), Enciclopedia Della Spettacolo (Rome), Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London), Arts of Asia (Hong Kong) and the Philippine Cultural Foundation. She wrote Dances of the Emerald Isles and Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend and Lore in Dance.Leonor Orosa-Goquingco also wrote a poem on the Japanese occupation, Lifted the Smoke of Battle. She is famous for her one-act play, Her Son, Jose Rizal which is set during the time Rizal was imprisoned and awaiting his execution. It reveals the emotions going through Rizal's mother at that time and the similarities between Rizal's life and that of Jesus Christ.Goquinco was also a critic who wrote reviews. She critiqued works like Tony Perez' Oktubre, Ligaya Amilbangsa's Stillness and Tanghalang Pilipino's Aguinaldo: 1898.

AwardsPatnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award in 1961 and 1964Rizal Centennial Award in 1962Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1964Presidential Award of Merit in 1970Tandang Sora Award and the Columbia University Alumni Association Award in 1975National Artist for Dance on March 27, 1976

PositionsShe was an Honorary Chairman of the Association of Ballet Academies of the Philippines, the founding member of the Philippine Ballet Theatre (PBT) and was known as a Zontian and a performing arts critic and columnist of the Manila Bulletin.

Francisco CochingBornJanuary 29, 1919Buting, Pasig, Rizal Province, PhilippinesDiedSeptember 1, 1998(aged 86)NationalityFilipinoArea(s)CartoonistFrancisco V. Coching (January 29, 1919- September 1, 1998) was a Filipino comic books illustrator and writer and is regarded as one of the “pillars of the Philippine Komiks Industry”. He served as both illustrator and writer for his comic book stories, Coching is referred to as the "King of Komiks", and as the "Dean of Philippine Comics".

Francisco Coching

BiographyCoching was born in Buting, Pasig, Rizal Province in the Philippines.He was the son of Gregorio Coching, a Filipino novelist in the Tagalog-language magazine Liwayway.Coching was unable to finish his studies in order to be an illustrator for Liwayway under the apprenticeship of Tony Velasquez. In 1934, at the age of fifteen, Coching created Bing Bigotilyo(Silahis Magazine). Coching had been influenced by Francisco Reyes, another pioneer in the Filipino comic book industry. In 1935, he created Marabini (an amazon warrior in Bahaghari Magazine). World War II interrupted Coching’s career in comics. He became a guerrillero (guerilla) for the Kamagong Unit of the Hunters-ROTC resistance organization.

After the Second World War, Coching created Hagibis, a Tarzan-like and Kulafu-like character in Liwayway Magazine). Other creations by Coching were Sabas, ang Barbaro (Sabas, the Barbarian, wherein the storyline was set during the Filipino revolution against Spain), Pedro Penduko, El Indio, Bertong Balutan, Don Cobarde, Ang Kaluluwa ni Dante (Dante's Soul), Pagano(Pagan), Haring Ulupong, Dumagit, Lapu-Lapu, Bulalakaw, Waldas, Talipandas, Palasig, Movie Fan, Anak ni Hagibis (a sequel to Hagibis), Gat Sibasib (another sequel to Hagibis), Satur,Dimasalang, Bella Bandida, El Vibora, Sa Ngalan ng Batas, and El Negro. El Negro (1974) was his last komiks novel.After 39 years in the komiks industry, Coching retired in 1973 at the age of 54. Coching was able to produce 53 komiks novels overall. He died at age of 79 on September 1, 1998.

InfluenceCoching influenced many other Filipino illustrators. Among them were Noly Panaligan, Federico C. Javinal, Carlos Lemos, Celso Trinidad, Emil Quizon-Cruz, Nestor Redondo, Alfredo Alcala, and Emil Rodriguez.

Film adaptationAlmost all of Coching’s komiks novels were adapted into films, with the exception of three titles. Among those that were made into a movie was El Negro in 1974.

AwardsIn 1981, Coching obtained the Makasining na Komiks Award in the Tanging Parangal for Comics Art from the Manila Commission of Arts and Culture.In 1984, Coching received the Komiks Operation Brotherhood Inc. (KOMOPEB) Life Achievement Award.In 1998, he received the Award of Excellence from the government of Pasay City.Coching received the nomination as a National Artist of the Philippines for the Visual Arts in 1999 and in 2001. On June 20, 2014, Coching was posthumously named as a National Artist for the Visual Arts by virtue of Proclamation No. 808, series of 2014.

Abdulmari Asia Imao

Abdulmari Asia Imao, a native of Sulu, is a sculptor, painter, photographer, ceramist, documentary film maker, cultural researcher, writer, and articulator of Philippine Muslim art and culture.Through his works, the indigenous ukkil, sarimanok and naga motifs have been popularized and instilled in the consciousness of the Filipino nation and other peoples as original Filipino creations.

His U.P. art education introduced him to Filipino masters like Guillermo Tolentino and Napoleon Abueva, who were among his mentors.With his large-scale sculptures and monuments of Muslim and regional heroes and leaders gracing selected sites from Batanes to Tawi-tawi, Imao has helped develop among cultural groups trust and confidence necessary for the building of a more just and humane society.

Abdulmari Asia Imao, 73, is the first Moro, and the only one to date, to be honored as National Artist of the Philippines. Named National Artist for Sculpture in 2006, he articulates Philippine Muslim art and culture through his work not only as a sculptor but also as a painter, photographer, ceramist, documentary film maker, cultural researcher, and writer.

Industry Brass Mural, Philippine National Bank, San Fernando, La Union

Mural Relief on Filmmaking, Manila City Hall

Industrial Mural, Central Bank of the Philippines, San Fernando, La Union

Mga Parangal at Gantimpalatumanggap ng Ten Outstanding Young Men award noong 1968Gawad CCP para sa Sining mula sa Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1990Ang mga gantimpala niya mula sa Art Association of the Philippines ay:ikatlong gantimpala, Animals Memorial, 1960ikatlong gantimpala, Moslem Prayer, 1962gintong medalya para sa eskultura, 1980

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