Kidlat Tahimik returns National Artist medal as symbolic protest vs CHED's curriculum proposal

Renowned filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik has surrendered his National Artist for Film medallion to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and offered to waive the privileges associated with the award to protest the curriculum overhaul proposed by the Commission on Higher Education. 

Tahimik, whose given name is Eric Oteyza de Guia, announced his decision at the beginning of a youth leadership seminar in Baguio City on June 16.

"As a protest, I am surrendering my prestigious medallion of the Order of National Artists and I will forego my National Artist amenities," Tahimik wrote in a position paper addressed to CHED chairperson Shirley Agrupis, as shared online by his godson.

In April, CHED announced a proposed reframing of the general education curriculum for college undergraduates, which includes reducing the number of units, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, from the current 36 down to 18. The commission argued the adjustment was meant to address job-market demands and encourage higher education institutions to produce employment-ready graduates. 

Following widespread opposition to the proposal, Agrupis announced in May that CHED will postpone the implementation of the curriculum revision to 2028 after it examines concerns of various stakeholders. 

Tahimik argued that CHED's proposal reverts the Philippine education system to colonial times. 

"To me, such policy moves are a regression backwards to our colonial-imposed education," he wrote. He warned that today's "babysitter classrooms" are merely training students "for next-generation skills at the assembly line." 

The National Artist asserted that "competency is the keyword in mass education manuals today—to equip skills for learners to compete globally. This means less focus on enhancing humanistic wholeness in our youth," Tahimik wrote. 

He further described today's "educational mantra" as being focused on exporting "more skilled Pinoys to bring back more dollars to our ailing economy." In the process, he wrote, it is not giving teachers enough time to "indulge in compassionate ethics, communal inter-person relations, in harmony with nature, and in spiritual balancing." 

"These unquantifiables are invisible in the econometrists' balance-sheet of 'progress,'" Tahimik continued. 

He accused today's tertiary institutions as being "Western models of education-for-growth sake at the expense of ginhawa ng sambayanan."

By giving up his National Artist medal and privileges in a symbolic gesture of dissent, Tahimik—who emphasized that his protest was his own, with no other National Artists involved—decried the direction of Philippine education.

"This is my personal gesture (in good faith) to spotlight that somehow our country's 'walang-paki' DNA might be traceable to the 3-'R's-only pedagogy of our colonizers," Tahimik wrote, referring to the colonial curriculum used by Thomasites in Philippine schools during the American colonization, where "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic" were the focus of lessons. 

"If this elementary-level menu is today being extended to college levels, quo vadis?" he wrote, essentially asking, "Where are we headed?"

Cultural warrior

PhilSTAR L!fe spoke to Tahimik on Thursday afternoon, when he narrated how he rushed to beat the June 15 deadline for position papers regarding CHED's curriculum proposal.

As he was writing his letter, he realized what would best bring his point across was a visual cue, which ended up as his offering to surrender his National Artist medal to the National Commission of Culture and the Arts, which, along with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, nominates and screens individuals for the Order of National Artists, according to Republic Act No. 7356. 

"I went to NCCA yesterday to return [the medal]," Tahimik told L!fe. But he clarified he did not do it out of anger at the commission. 

"I explained to them, 'Look, I'm not angry at you. I know you're on the same boat as me. We both want to increase 'yung cultural output. Hindi ko kayo sinasampal just because I'm angry at CHED. I'm giving you this for safekeeping," he said. "I love that medallion. I respect the honor na binigay sa akin. But I wanted to use it to call attention to the problem. I hope CHED listens, with my stature as a National Artist. Please listen to this problem. I'm coming from a cultural point of view."

"I think our whole country is so much on this Mother America track," he said, wondering at the fact that both the Philippines and the US do not have a Cabinet-level Cultural Ministry. "We're imitating our colonial mentors, especially our educational systems and cementing our 'walang-paki' DNA."

For Tahimik, culture is the backbone of any country's economy, which makes the CHED curriculum proposal especially dangerous. It was exactly the reason why he rushed to beat CHED's deadline for position papers and announced it in front of an auditorium full of young Filipinos. 

Recalling the letter, Tahimik chuckled at some of the more passionate phrases he wrote at the height of his anger, including identifying himself as an "ex-National Artist," which he said he regrets; though he stood by his other identifiers, "ex-MBA [graduate]" and "ex-economist for growth."

Aside from his gold-plated National Artist medallion, which, according to the Philippine Information Agency, is crafted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Tahimik was also willing to give up privileges the award comes with, including medical and life insurance, a lifetime stipend, and a state funeral upon death. 

"I didn't know my gesture and letter would go viral. For whatever it's worth, I hope CHED will read with feeling 'yung position paper ko," the National Artist said. "Sugod, mga kapatid!"