ARTS & CULTURE   By Ayi Muallam  |  President Arroyo signed into law on Thursday Republic Act 9521 or the National Book Development Trust Fund Act, which aims to provide Filipino authors reasonable amounts of money to help them complete their manuscripts for publication.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the government to take aggressive steps for the recovery of Philippine cultural and art treasures that were carted away by foreigners during the colonial era.
Pimentel proposed that the National Commission for Culture and the Arts should be empowered and given additional funding to undertake efforts [...]

Many years ago, he was famous as Rustom Padilla. He was also married to an actress, Carmina Villaroel. In 2002 he left for the U.S. to study film. At the same time he reflected on his life and began to grow in understanding and conviction until one day he decides to come out and in his own words, “accept who I am.” This was Rustom Padilla then and Bebe Gandanghari today.

A panel of three internationally acclaimed authors and experienced literary judges named Filipino author Miguel Syjuco the winner of the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize for his novel Ilustrado, a fictional account of a young Filipino caught within a notorious scandal spanning over the Philippine history.

(The same novel also won the grand prize for the novel in this year’s Palanca awards. More about Syjuco and his novel here.)

By Ninotchka Rosca |  In my New York neighborhood, a 20-block run takes you to Argentina, Chile, Columbia, India, Pakistan, Philippines; 30 blocks and you’re in Africa, Jamaica and other places whose names escape even a geography fan.

“In honoring the plunderers of this nation and letting them off easy without any punishment (like Erap) we not only condone their infamy; other rapists of this nation will also feel redeemed, convinced that they did no wrong. Then, they pave the way for future criminals to do the same, sure that, like Imelda and her gang, they will not be punished and that after their foul deeds, they can even preen in the limelight before a people without memory.”

Amado Hernandez (Photo courtesy of tinig.com)

A mini-controversy has erupted in the blogosphere. It involves blogger Connie Veneracion who, in a recent column in the Manila Standard Today newspaper, trashed Amado V. Hernadez’s “Mga Ibong Mandaragit” because she, her daughter and her husband didn’t get it.

Blogger Exie Abola wrote what Newsstand has called a “cogent” response to Veneracion’s tirade (”a complete evisceration” of Veneracion, Newsstand says). Others have weighed in, but of course. There’s Stuart Santiago, calling Veneracion “lazy,” “stupid” and “anti-Filipino.” Ouch.