54. ISABELA'S 3RD ALIW @ MANILA HOTEL OF LUNA DE SAN PEDRO

ISABELA'S 3RD ALIW @ MANILA HOTEL OF LUNA DE SAN PEDRO

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

19 December 2017

Speaking regularly before a big crowd for the past two decades lessened my nervousness before and during an assigned talk. However, last night’s awarding ceremonies sent shivers down my spine. Giants in the show business industry were around and I was asked to seat at the premier table in front of the main stage of the Fiesta Pavilion at the historic Manila Hotel along Roxas Boulevard. To top it, all winners were asked to give a short speech which normally contains thanking all those who one way or another contributed to the winning of the award. A team from the provincial government headed by Governor Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III was not able to grace this annual award and recognition due to bad weather in the valley including Mr. Nilo Agustin, the province’ consultant on culture and the arts. The CebuPac flight was cancelled and the delegates cannot beat the six o’clock call time of the award’s night if they will push through by land which normally would take around eight to ten hours drive. I went a day ahead as per instruction of my immediate superior as an advance staff. In short, I received the prestigious Aliw Awards for Best Festival Practices and Performance in behalf of the officialdom of the province and my fellow Isabeleños. The award is Isabela’s third in a row.

Aside from the Bambanti Festival, there were six other finalists for Best Festival Practices and Performance: Niyogyugan Festival of Lucena City (Quezon), Kadayawan Festival of Davao City, Maubanog Festival of Mauban, Quezon, Buglasan Festival of Dumaguete City (Negros Oriental), Karatong Festival of Dulag, Leyte and Budayaw Festival of Gen. Santos City (South Cotabato). Aside from the Best Festival Practices and Performance, other categories of the 2017 Aliw Awards include: Best Child Performer, Best New Artist (Male/Female/Group), Best Dance Company, Best Cultural Group, Best Choral Group, Best Instrumentalist, Best DJ for Electronic Dance Music, Best Host (Male/Female), Best Stand-up Comedian, Best Classical Dancer (Male/Female), Best Classical Performer (Male/Female), Best Crossover Performer (Male/Female), Best Production for Children, Best Non-Musical Production, Best Original Music Production, Best Dance Production, Best Stage Director (Musical/Non Musical), and Best Actor/Actress (Non Musical). Hall of Fame, Lifetime Achievement Awards, Alice H. Reyes Achievement Awards and Special Awards were also bestowed to distinguished personalities.

Aliw Awards Foundation Inc. (AAFI) was registered with the Security and Exchange Commission on November 1976 as a non-stock non profit private organization with Alice H. Reyes as the founding president. The National Press Club Committee on Socials headed by Ms. Reyes sought to give due recognitions to the country’s live entertainers. In 1977, the first Aliw Awards were presented at the Philamlife Auditorium at U.N. Avenue in Manila. From 1989 to 1999, the AAFI was in hibernation. No other organization could fill the vacuum left by the AAFI. In 1998, Elizabeth Sison Tagle took the helm of the foundation. Under Ms. Tagle, the AAFI presented the Centennial Awards for Live Entertainment at the PICC in 2000 as well as the first Aliw Awards since its ten year hiatus. Aliw is a root word meaning "to entertain" in Tagalog. Today, AAFI celebrates its 40^th anniversary and carried out the 30^th awarding ceremonies at the prestigious Manila Hotel last night.

The Manila Hotel is a 570-room, history clouded five-star hotel located along Manila Bay in Manila. The hotel, according to Google, is the oldest premiere hotel in the Philippines built in 1909 to rival Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the President of the Philippines and was opened on the commemoration of American Independence on July 4, 1912. The hotel complex was built on a reclaimed area of 35,000 square meters at the northwestern end of Rizal Park along Bonifacio Drive in Ermita. Its penthouse served as the residence of General Douglas McArthur during his tenure as the Military Advisor of the Philippine Commonwealth from 1935 to 1941. The hotel contains the offices of several foreign news organizations, including The New York Times. It has hosted numerous world historical persons and celebrities including authors Ernest Hemingway and James A. Michener; actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and John Wayne; publisher Henry Luce; entertainers Sammy Davis, Jr., Michael Jackson and The Beatles; U.S. President John F. Kennedy, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, and other world leaders. The hotel tower, built as part of the hotel's renovation and expansion from 1975 to 1977, is the tallest hotel tower in the Manila Bay area. An earlier renovation in 1935 was spearheaded by Engr. Pedro Siochi y Angeles and Arch. Andres Luna de San Pedro y Pardo de Tavera only child of the world renowned painter Don Juan Luna y Novicio. Luna de San Pedro designed the Fiesta Pavilion where the Aliw Award’s Night was held.

Www.lougopal.com and men.wikia.com narrates: Luna de San Pedro was born on September 9, 1887, in Paris, France to the great painter Juan Novicio Luna and Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera. He grew up in Paris until he was six years old. His father shot dead his mother and mother-in-law on September 22, 1892. He left with his father after he was acquitted by a French court in February 1893 because it concerned a crime of passion. After spending six months in Barcelona and Paris, they travelled by boat along with his uncle, Antonio N. Luna to Manila on May 24, 1894. He was taught painting in Manila’s School of Arts. He studied Arts in Paris where he got his diploma in 1911 and went on to study Architecture and finished in 1918. Upon his return to Manila, the city government appointed him the chief Architect, a position he held from 1920 to 1924. He first got attention as a painter in Hanoi, Vietnam where he won special mention. He won a silver medal in the St. Louis Exposition and another in a contest held by the Exposition of the Society of Artist in Manila (1908). Luna de San Pedro was a talented architect who seemed destined to equal his father’s artistic achievements. In the 1920s, he became obsessed with the design and construction of a glass palace to be called the Crystal Arcade, the first air-conditioned building in the Philippines and inaugurated on June 1, 1932. His designs were either modernist or revivalist of style. Some of them were lost during World War II. Luna de San Pedro gave in addition to his work as an architect also taught at the University and was also president of the Philippine Institute of Architects. In 1949, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit as the first architect of the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA). He married the American, Grace V. McRae. Luna de San Pedro died in Manila on January 22, 1952. Aside from the Manila Hotel renovation in 1935 and Crystal Arcade Building, his works include:, Legarda Elementary School (1922), First United Building (1928, Perez-Samanillo Building), Alfonso Zobel Mansion (1930), Natalio Enriquez Ancestral House in Sariaya, Quezon (1931), Regina Building in Manila, Lizares Mansion in Iloilo City and Rafael Fernandez Mansion at Arlegui Street (used as official residence of President Corazon Aquino) among others.

Governor Bojie Dy stated that “the bambanti symbolizes the diligence, preparedness, strength, and the kindness of the Isabeleño race as well as the wealth and progress of Isabela brought upon by the strength of its agriculture." Manila Hotel, now 105 years old, withstood the test of time and still is the premier hotel in the country. Luna de San Pedro, on the other hand, was a giant in Philippine architecture.