The late director Marilou Diaz-Abaya now shares the distinction of being named National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts with both Nora Aunor and Ricky Lee. She gained recognition for her influential and thought-provoking movies such as Jose Rizal, a biographical film tackling the national hero's life, and Brutal, the first Filipino film to tackle feminist issues in the Philippines' traditionally patriarchal society.

Through her films and television programs, she strove to use her mediums to reflect the social and political problems rampant in society and to attain social reform. She had previously admitted that she uses her work to “uphold, promote, and protect” the state of democracy within the Philippines.

Read also: 12 Directors Who Have Shaped Philippine Cinema

Named as National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts, the esteemed screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and playwright Ricardo “Ricky” Lee was lauded for writing iconic films such as Himala, Sa Kuko ng Agila, and The Flor Contemplacion Story. To date, he has written over 180 screenplays for film and won more than 70 awards from various institutions. Among his accolades are three lifetime achievement awards from the Cinemanila International Film Festival, the Gawad Urian, and the PMPC Star Awards for Television. Not only that, but he received the UP Gawad Plaridel in 2015, among his mammoth list of achievements.

Together with Diaz-Abaya, their works from the '70s and '80s form part of the Philippines’ “Second Golden Age of Cinema”.

Read also: 10 Iconic Films That Shaped Philippine Cinema

Renowned choreographer Agnes Dakudao Locsin was proclaimed National Artist for Dance for her efforts in “growing interest in neo-ethnic style [of dance] among young artists,” according to the FDCP. The neo-ethnic style of Filipino dance choreography is described as “blending indigenous themes with Western classical and modern techniques.” Not one to keep such developed techniques to herself, she applied this kind of choreography to the ballets and shows Encantada, La Revolucion Filipina, Sayaw, Sabel, and the four-part “Alay sa Puno” series, among others.

She also served as the artistic director of Ballet Philippines in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) from 1989 to 1999.

Read also: Ballet Philippines Goes Full Gear for its 53rd Season

Known professionally as “Slim,” the late Salvacion Lim-Higgins was a renowned fashion designer and is now the newest proclaimed National Artist for Design. Though she originally moved to Manila with aspirations to become a painter by studying fine arts at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), her studies were unfortunately halted by World War II. She would go on to enrol at the Traphagen School of Design in New York to shift focus and complete her studies before returning to the Philippines in 1952.

She used to send sketches of her fashion designs to the Manila Times, signed with her trade name “Slim.” With her sister and family friend, Slim would set up a fashion design shop in Manila, which later moved to Taft Avenue. She is famous for reinventing the terno –familiarly known as the Maria Clara gown– and popularising it for the modern audience. The FDCP credits her as having “masterly innovated and transformed the national costume into a world-class silhouette.”

See also: The Life And Times Of Salvacion Lim Higgins

A literary critic from Cebu, Gémino Abad, has been proclaimed a National Artist for Literature. Until his retirement, he taught English, comparative literature, and creative writing at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he holds the highest academic rank of University Professor Emeritus. He currently sits on the Board of Advisors of the UP Institute of Creative Writing and, since 2015, has been an honoured Senior Guest Panelist at the annual University of Santo Tomas National Writers' Workshop.

His list of achievements in the literary world is prolific indeed. Gémino Abad has won a Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature in the Poetry category, the country's highest literary honour, among his many accolades. The Palanca Awards have been likened to the "Pulitzer Prize of the Philippines." For his work in the literary scene, Gémino Abad was honoured for providing future generations with a "comprehensive view of the landscape for Philippine poetry and fiction," as per the FDCP.

See also: F Sionil Jose's Open Letter To Writers: Advice From A National Artist for Literature

Famous soprano, actress, director, translator, and teacher, Fides Cuyugan-Asensio is the new National Artist for Music. Since her operatic debut in 1955, she has become one of the most prominent and influential performers and producers in the country’s opera scene. She has also brought Filipino operas to a broader international audience through world premieres of operas like Ramon Santos’ Mapulang Bituin, Eliseo Pajaro’s Binhi ng Kalayaan, and her iconic performance as Sisa in Felipe de Leon’s rendition of Noli me Tangere in 1957.

Film buffs may have also seen her roles in the films Oro Plata Mata (1982), Niño (2011), Aparisyon (2012), and Mana (2014). The FDCP hails her as having contributed to a "Renaissance of classical musical theatre in the country".

The late Antonio “Tony” Ocampo Mabesa was an influential stage director, actor in film and television, and professor. He is considered one of the founders of Philippine university theatre and is now a National Artist for Theater. He was awarded this distinction for his contributions to the “growth and diversity of Philippine theatre,” as said by the FDCP. 

Called the “Lion of the Theatre,” he was the brilliant mind and expressive soul who founded the theatre groups Dulaang UP and the UP Playwright’s Theater. He also kept busy throughout his long career, producing over 170 productions and mentioning some of the country’s most prominent theatre artists who followed in his footsteps.

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