NCCA Bags Gawad Sagisag Balagtas Award

For the effective dissemination of culture and arts through broadcast, “Sining Gising”, the National Commission on Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) banner program for TV at NBN-4 and “Radyo Balintataw” at DZRH were honored with the coveted Gawad Sagisag Balagtas Award last May 7 at Baguio City.

The award, given by the Pambansang Samahan ng mga Tagapagmasid at Tagapagtaguyod ng Filipino (PASATAF), headed by Dr. Marlene Tillah, recognized the valuable contributions in the Filipino culture and arts of “Radyo Balintataw” and “Sining Gising” particularly in the propagation of the national language.
The PASATAF, founded in 1967, is the largest and oldest organization of teachers in the Philippines with million teacher-members nationwide and the Gawad Sagisag Balagtas award is the highest accolade to be given by this organization.

The awarding ceremony was attended by the NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez who also hosts and produces both “Sining Gising” and “Radyo Balintataw”.

Founded in 1967, “Radyo Balintataw” was originally aired on television and was later broadcast over radio. For forty years now, “Radyo Balintataw” regularly dramatizes Filipino literary classics, poetry, songs and foreign works translated in Filipino. It also features dramas reflecting the wealth of heritage, history, habitat and language of the country. It was previously given twin recognition by the prestigious KBP Golden Dove Awards last year for Best Drama Program and Best Culture and Arts Program.
Jane Fonda, a two-time Academy Award winner, tagged Balintataw, then a TV program, as a “soap opera for social change.”

The program is aired over DZRH AM Radio from 9:00-9:30 p.m., from Mondays-Fridays for the drama presentation, hosted and produced by Alvarez. Belinda Olivares Cunanan, a Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist, joins Alvarez on Sundays for public affairs presentation heard from 8:00-8:45 p.m that tackles the burning issues of the day linked to giving good practices of implementing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN MDGs).

On the other hand, “Sining Gising”, the culture and arts TV show, conceptualized and hosted by Alvarez and broadcast over NBN-4 every Sunday from 4:00-6:00 p.m., bagged the Outstanding Television Program and Culture and the Arts award from the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Inc. (GMMSFI) in 2007. The TV show was cited for its promotion of nationalism through a creative and constructive medium to bring culture and arts closer to the people.

For details, please contact RENE NAPEÑAS, Head of the NCCA-Public Affairs and Information Office (PAIO) at cellphone number 0928-5081057), or call (02) 527-5529 / 527-2192 loc. 508, 612 to 615, email at ncca.paio@gmail.com or public_affairs@ncca.gov.ph