Negros Occidental to honor 2 national artists, top taxpayers

BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — Two Negrenses who were recently named National Artists will be honored as this year’s Outstanding Negrenses at the Cinco de Noviembre rites at the Social Hall of the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City on Thursday,  Nov. 5, in commemoration of the 128th year after the Negrense revolt.

President Marcos earlier named Nunelucio Alvarado of Sagay City as National Artist for Visual Arts and, posthumously, Teodoro Ledesma Hilado of Silay City, for Theater.

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said both will be honored by the provincial government alongside the top ten real property taxpayers of the province in the individual and corporate categories.

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READ: Get to know the next 10 national artists

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Alvarado, 76, is a social realist artist famous for immortalizing the struggles of seasonal sugarcane workers or sakadas in his paintings.

Hilado is being posthumously recognized as the “Father of Lighting Design in Philippine Theater.”

READ: The fight for our nation’s soul needs our artists

In the morning, a Cinco de Noviembre program will be held at the Provincial Capitol and Lagoon Park, led by Vice Gov. Jose Benito Alonso.

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Thursday will be a public holiday in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to mark Cinco de Noviembre, also known as Negros Day, celebrated annually to commemorate the Nov. 5, 1898 Negrense revolt that led to the surrender of Spanish forces.

During Cinco de Noviembre, heroes from the past as well as modern-day heroes are recognized, Lacson said.

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Modern-day heroes could be frontliners during calamities or those performing good deeds for their neighbors, he added.

Lacson said he will be unable to attend the Cinco de Noviembre rites because he was asked to go to Malacañang for the distribution of financial assistance for damages caused by Typhoon ‘Tino’ and Kanlaon Volcano eruption in Negros Occidental. /cb