MANILA, Philippines – This award, while issued in my name, appropriately belongs to my mother who nurtured and influenced me to embrace the majesty of culture and the arts.
My mother, Bessie Gella Bautista, sang operas, collected art, and was a person of culture. As a child, I was surrounded by artists, including Ibarra dela Rosa, H.R. Ocampo and Vicente Manansala — people who, by their art, contributed to shaping our national identity.
For its part, Loren Legarda’s “Dayaw” is a yearlong weekly viewing treat, because it’s a cultural TV show that insightfully reminds us of our ethnic and artistic roots and traditions.
It fills a gaping gap in local TV programming, which generally ignores the past in favor of the more with-it but trivializing present.
“Dayaw” helps make up for this unenlightened disdain, which in fact abridges our future prospects as a nation.
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has conferred on Senator Loren Legarda its highest honor, theDangal ng Haraya Patron of Arts and Culture.
The NCCA confers the Dangal ng Haraya award to individuals and institutions/organizations that have rendered significant and lasting contributions, support, patronage to preservation, development and promotion of Philippine culture and arts.
Senator Loren Legarda today said that President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA) worth P3.350 trillion, the first budget of the new administration.
Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that she is proud of the work they have done for this budget, which is pro-people as it addresses the most basic needs of the people while improving the country’s economic growth.
Culture and Our National Identity: Pursuing Change That Unites
Acceptance Speech on the Occasion of the Conferment of the Dangal ng Haraya Award (Tagapagtaguyod ng Sining at Kultura) to
Senator Loren Legarda
December 21, 2016, Marble Hall, Bureau of Treasury, Intramuros, Manila
It is with great honor that I accept the Dangal ng Haraya Award.
This award, while issued in my name, appropriately belongs to my mother who nurtured and influenced me to embrace the majesty of culture and the arts.
