Responding To Netizen's Comment

Netizen's Comment: As an artist, she should be. It is an injustice if Nora Aunor is still not named as national artist in cinema.

If you talk about arts and link it with drug use, should we condemn majority of the actors, singers, writers, editors, directors, agents in the US and Philippine film industry? How about Andy Warhol and Jean-Micheal Basquiat , famous pop artists in the world also known to abuse drugs?

I think the super high pedestal they gave to this title is due to the fact there is a linkage to certain government subsidies until the national artists die. I do hope that immaculate criteria be removed, just talk about arts and the achievement , prestige and applause they gave to the Philippines.

Response: 

The main reason for Nora Aunnor's exclusion from the National Artist list in 2014 and 2018 was drugs.  

I still remember what President Noynoy said: "when I was faced with the nominations, there was only one question, and this is with regard to the title national artist. In my view, the honor and praise of a National Artist Award are given to people who contributed a lot to the Filipino race and someone who should be emulated. If I give it to her, having a history of drug use what message does it give to the Filipino people” Aquino said.

If the number of awards both international and local is the yardstick, Nora has more than enough CONTRIBUTED A LOT and has given the Philippines enough honor more than anybody else. More than the rest of the National artists he approved. And the president was contradicting himself. How can he say Nora was not someone we should EMULATE?

He should at least compartmentalize Nora as a person. Being an artist she is worth emulating ... but drug use is not. And having a history of drug addiction doesn't have to do with being an artist. Gone are the days when presidents have hackneyed and antiquated ideas on who to bestow these awards.  It is so selfish of him to deny her the penultimate award.

In 2018, I also remember what the Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said: "the 65-year-old actress is “still young” and “will be proclaimed as a National Artist in God’s perfect time.” At a press the conference, he stated, “Her non-inclusion does not diminish her iconic stature as the country’s Superstar and her significant contributions to film, theater, television, and music industries,” Nora Aunor being most known as Philippine’s ‘superstar’ for outstanding performances in movies such as Miracle, Thy Womb, and Three Godless Years, to name a few.

Panelo added that “Her non-inclusion is to spare Ms. Nora Aunor from the emotional and psychological torment coming from the barrage of mixed reactions, the award will bring,” possibly referring to Nora Aunor’s involvement with illegal drugs in 2014.

When Panelo said Nora is still young ... are they going to give it to her post-humously? And when is God's perfect time? And saying that her non-exclusion will spare her from emotional and psychological torment ... well it already did. More than what Panelo knows.

I know that the rank and title of National Artist is conferred by means of a Presidential Proclamation, but what really dopresidents know about art, music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film, Broadcast Arts, and Architecture or Allied Arts? And what do they really know about the intricacies of giving an award, except perhaps asking if the recipient has a criminal record, or in Nora's case does she have a drug history?

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) should try to reexamine this minute detail but an important one.   Why can't they give the awards themselves, and why do they have to ask for the president's approval? 

Year in and year out, they are giving the National Artist award like it was a big sale in the mall. Had there been issues like philandering or corruption, adultery, child abuse, tax evasion, or any cases involving moral turpitude that came out with the past nominees? If there is (although we really don't want to know because it is all water under the bridge now) what message does that give to the Filipino people?

If the exclusion of the nominee is political or maybe personal, as the president said" What message does it give to the Filipino people? 

What I felt was "They should not be playing GOD with the artist's awards. Nora was a blatant and a flagrant example, there will be someone for sure in the near future who will suffer the same fate.