The Supreme Court Tuesday stopped the Office of the President from conferring the title of Order of National Artist, from disbursing cash rewards, and from holding ceremonies for seven persons chosen National Artists for 2009 by the Palace last month.

In a full court resolution containing a status quo ante order, the SC granted the petition filed by several national artists, university deans and professors, and private individuals challenging the proclamation of four persons as national artists.

The petitioners were against the bestowing of National Artist titles to Cecille Guidote-Alvarez for theater, Carlos Caparas for visual arts, Jose “Pitoy” Moreno for fashion design, and Francisco Manosa for architecture.

Secretary to the Cabinet Silvestre Bello III said Malacanang will respect the SC decision and will submit its comments to the Office of the Solicitor General.

Likewise affected by the SC’s status quo ante order was the proclamation of Manuel Conde (posthumous) for film and broadcast arts, Lazaro Francisco (posthumous) for literature, and Federico Aguilar Alcuaz for visual arts.

Since the proclamation of Conde, Francisco, and Alcuaz was not challenged, the conferment of title on them has to wait for the final resolution of the case against the four others.

On top of a thorough review of the processes involved in the selection of national artists, the SC is also expected to look into the dropping of Dr. Ramon Santos from the final list of those recommended by the boards of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts for the prestigious title.

The respondents in the petition – Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the Department of Budget and Management, the CCP, the NCCA, Caparas, Alvarez, Moreno and Manosa – were given 10 days to comment on the petition.

Sources said that after the submission of the comment, the SC would decide whether or not to hear oral arguments on the issues raised in both the petition and the comment of the respondents.

Among the petitioners were National Artists Virgilio Almario (literature), Bienvenido Lumbera (literature) Benedicto Cabrera (visual arts, painting) Napoleon Abueva (visual arts, sculpture), and Arturo Luz (painting and sculpture).

Joined by university deans, professors and private individuals, the petition stated that President Arroyo committed a grave abuse of discretion when she disregarded the results of the rigorous selection process and inserted the names of Alvarez, Moreno, Caparas, and Manosa in the shortlist submitted by the NCCA and the CCP boards for proclamation as 2009 Order of National Artists.

The petitioners said the President violated the constitutional provision on equal protection when she included Alvarez although the latter was not nominated and subjected to screening process by the National Artist Award Experts Panel.

“The exercise of discretion which violates the equal protection clause results in a void act. Thus, the President’s act of naming respondent Alvarez to the list of ‘National Artists’ for 2009 is null and void for being discriminatory and in violation of the equal protection guarantee,” the petition said.

They pointed out that Alvarez’s inclusion in the shortlist is “clearly illegal and unethical” because of her disqualification as incumbent executive director of the NCAA and also the President’s adviser on culture and arts.

“What is notable is that she even sat as a member of the Final Deliberation Panel. This makes her inclusion in the final list all the more irregular and patently illegal,” the petitioners added.

According to the petition, from the original 87 nominees – including respondents Caparas, Manosa and Moreno – the list was shortened to 32, with Caparas and Manosa’s names removed and with Moreno’s name still in the list.

It stated that on May 6, 2009, the final deliberation was conducted by the CCP and NCCA boards and from the 13 remaining nominees, four names were submitted to the President: Conde, Santos, Francisco and Alcuaz.

But the petition stated that on July 29, 2009, Ermita announced that the Order of the National Artists
would be conferred on seven persons: three from the final list submitted by CCP and NCCA minus
Santos, and including Caparas, Moreno, Manosa and Alvarez.

The petition stated that Ermita’s announcement did not include an explanation why Santos was dropped from the final list and did not state the justification for the inclusion of Caparas, Moreno, Manosa and Alvarez.

“For the President to cavalierly disregard the collective judgment of the CCP and NCCA Boards and substitute her own judgment without a clear indication of the reasons and bases therefore is an unacceptable and manifestly grave abuse of discretion,” the petitioners told the SC.

“Private respondents (Caparas, Moreno, Manosa, and Alvarez) were added by the President in grave abuse of discretion. Their inclusion in the list of National Artists will irretrievably taint the Order of National Artists as being one that is subject to politics and will diminish the prestige of the rank and title of the National Artists who are alive and active,” they added.