CONTROVERSY AT THE CULTURAL CENTER OF THE PHILIPPINES.MANILA--The Cultural Center of the Philippines The Cultural Center of the Philippines (or CCP) is located in Manila, the Philippines and was opened in 1969 to promote and preserve Filipino arts and culture, and to become a mecca of culture and the arts in Asia. , Manila's seat of the arts, has been the source of a raging controversy during the past year. Founded under the tutelage TUTELAGE. State of guardianship; the condition of one who is subject to the control of a guardian. of former first lady Imelda Marcos Imelda Trinidad Romuáldez-Marcos (born July 2, 1929 in Manila) is a former First Lady and influential political figure in the Philippines. She is known as the "Steel Butterfly" and remains a controversial figure not only in her home country, but around the world. in 1969 with local and American funds, the theater has since presented the Bolshoi, Kirov, and Royal Danish ballets as well as contemporary American, French, German, and Philippine companies. The center's inauguration was attended by then California Governor and Mrs. Ronald Reagan. After Joseph Ejercito Estrada became president of the Philippines in 1998, he appointed a new board of trustees board of trustees Politics The posse of thugs who oversee an institution's administration. See Board of directors. for the performing arts center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. . The previous board, appointed by former Philippine president Fidel Ramos, immediately contested the appointment in court. They claimed that the center's charter stipulates that trustees are elected by the presiding board itself, only to be confirmed by the president. Organizationally, however, the center is directly under the office of the president. The board sworn in by Estrada is headed by Gloria Angara (wife of Estrada's defeated running mate in the 1998 election) and Armita Rufino, the center's new president. Rufino was vice-president of the center under the Marcos government. In March, Senator Raul Roco swore in a majority of the old board and some new members as "the official" trustees. This group is chaired by Father Rodrigo Perez III, rector of the college from which Roco graduated. In addition, the former president of the center, Baltazar Endriga, established an office at the center in March, after what he called "a leave." Rufino continues to occupy Endriga's old quarters. Alongside Rufino is the newly appointed artistic director, composer Ramon Santos. While some of the center's staff support Rufino, there are others who adamantly oppose her and the new board. Performing arts director Tess Rances leads the latter group. She is a close associate of the center's former artistic director, Nestor Jardin. The center's resident dance companies are so polarized A one-way direction of a signal or the molecules within a material pointing in one direction. that administrative and artistic work is hampered. Resident companies include the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company [See Presstime press·time n. The time at which a publication, especially a newspaper, is submitted for printing. News, August 1998], Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group The Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group (ROFG) was founded in 1972, and started out as a fledgling folk dance company composed of some thirty performers. Leaning on the vast amount of data and artifacts that he has accumulated while doing research over the years, Ramon A. , Ballet Philippines, and Philippine Ballet Theater. The situation is further complicated by the connections of staff members: Ballet Philippines was once headed by Jardin, the center's previous artistic director, and Philippine Ballet Theater once had the center's current president, Rufino, as executive director. The protagonists in the controversy, however, are Angara and Endriga, who leads the fight to keep former board members. |
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