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A GROUP, led by some of the country’s National Artists, has asked the High Court to declare as grave abuse of discretion on the part of President Arroyo the inclusion of Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, architect Francisco Mañosa, fashion designer Jose Moreno and film director Carlos Caparas on the recipient list of National Artist awards. They sought to declare as a grave abuse of discretion, as well, the deletion of the name of composer Dr. Ramon Santos.

The joint board of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) had earlier submitted to the President a list of four nominees for National Artist—Federico Alcuaz for Visual Arts, Painting, Sculpture and Mixed Media; Lazaro Francisco for Literature; Manuel Urbano for Film and Broadcast Arts; and Santos for Music.

Malacañang dropped Santos from the final list, and added Caparas, Guidote-Alvarez, Mañosa and Moreno, triggering a major cultural row and weeks of public squabbling among former National Artist awardees, cultural leaders, among others.

Malacañang on Wednesday welcomed the move of concerned groups to question before the Supreme Court President Arroyo’s personal choices for national artists this year.

“This is welcome so that finally this can be settled before a court of law....It is the right of every citizen to go to court and it’s a much better way of seeking redress for grievances and, therefore, it would be up to the court to decide,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said in a news briefing.

Remonde also revealed he has agreed to meet with representatives of groups opposed to four of the seven new National Artists recently announced by Malacañang.

“There are certain sectors involved in this who are seeking a dialogue and, in fact, some of them are seeing me very soon. There are still ongoing dialogues on this matter,” he said.

He declined to say whether such a meeting would result in a compromise, but noted that “in a situation like this, everyone has to be open.”

“I will listen to them and see what will come out of it,” he said.

Remonde said his decision to dialogue with the group would show that “the Palace is always ready, willing and able to engage citizens who want to discuss things of national or social import, as always.”