MANILA, Philippines — Students from the Philippine High School for the Arts and FEATI University were announced winners in a nationwide sculpture competition sponsored recently by The Museum at De La Salle University, in honor of the university’s centennial in June this year.

The competition was opened to all Filipino design and fine arts students presently enrolled in any university or college in Metro Manila, including Philippine High School for the Arts. The contest adopted the theme ''Remembering the past, living the present, creating the future.''

The top plum was won by Philippine High School for the Arts’ Gabreyel V. Ferrer who designed ''Pagbubunyi,'' a sculpture he describes as both modernistic avante-garde. The piece incorporates abstract shapes that reach out to the skies and produce an interesting pattern of shadows.

“Shadows symbolize the past. Wherever we go, we will always have our past with us, like our shadows. The past builds us,” Ferrer explains.

The sculpture stands on a triangular base, which Ferrer describes as the strongest shape, to impress that “DLSU is strong, firm, and unassailable in its one hundred years.”

FEATI University’s Lance Kirby T. Yaneza bagged second place with ''A Century of Excellence,'' which features the likeness of leaves frozen in a spiral movement. Yanez says that his sculpture pays homage to God and represent the dynamism of the institution.

Alia Julia S. Pablo’s Unzip, a zipper-inspired artwork, won third place. Pablo, who comes from the Philippine High School for the Arts, explains her inspiration: “a zipper reveals the past, present, and future and evokes unity and a sense of moving forward.”

The grand prize winner won P150,000, while the runners up received P100,000 and P75,000, respectively.

The board of judges was composed of National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon Abueva as chair; DLSU’s Br. Edmundo Fernandez FSC and executive director of the Office for Strategic Communications Jose Mari Magpayo; Art Critic-Artist Cid Reyes; and renowned sculptor Dan Raralio.

The formal awarding ceremony will take place in March 2011.