By Haidee C. Pineda

(JUL. 10)—Four UP Diliman (UPD) artists are among the 13 Gawad CCP para sa Sining awardees.

Opera singer Fides Cuyugan-Asencio, visual artist Roberto Chabet, director-actor Antonio O. Mabesa and choreographer Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz will be honored for their achievements and contributions to music, visual art, theatre and dance/cultural work, respectively, at ceremonies to be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on Sept. 17.

Gawad CCP para sa Sining is the highest award given by the Cultural Center of the Philippines to Filipino artists and cultural workers.

Asencio is a professor emerita at the College of Music (CMu) Voice and Music Theater/Dance Department. She is a profile singer, actress, librettist, lyricist, pedagogue, producer and director. She earned an Artist’s Diploma in Vocal Performance from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and has appeared extensively in various international performance tours.

Chabet is a retired professor of the College of Fine Arts Studio Arts Department. He finished Architecture from the University of Sto. Tomas. He initiated the Thirteen Artists Award in 1970 when he served as the founding Museum Director of the CCP. He passed away in May 2013. He was 76.

Mabesa is a professor emeritus at the College of Arts and Letters Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA). The founding artistic director of Dulaang UP, a production arm of the DSCTA established in 1976, he trained at the University of California in Los Angeles and the University of Hawaii. He is also a well-known television and film actor.

Villaruz is a professor emeritus at the CMu Voice and Music Theater/Dance Department and the artistic director emeritus of the UP Dance Company. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History in Bacolod. He obtained his graduate degrees in Asian Studies and Comparative Literature at the Far Eastern University and UPD, respectively, and Advanced Diploma in Movement (Dance) Notation from Benesh Institute in London. He is currently the president for the Philippines and Vice President for Southeast Asia of the World Dance Alliance.

Other awardees are architect Paulo Alcazaren, actress Nora Aunor, fictionist-poet Leoncio Deriada, fashion designer Ben Farrales, scriptwriter Ricky Lee, choreographer Denisa Reyes, actress-producer Armida Siguion-Reyna, Talandiig School for Living Tradition and the Missionary Society of St. Columban. with reports from Inquirer.net