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• Insignia of the Order of National Artists

  Composed of a Grand Collar featuring circular links portraying the arts, and eight-pointed conventionalized sunburst suspended from a sampaguita wreath in green and white enamel
• Medallion


  Divided into three equal portions, red, blue, and white, recalling the Philippine flag
• Three stylized letter Ks

  The KKK stands for the CPP's motto: Katotohanan, Kabutihan, Kagandahan
• The insignia was created by First Lady Imelda Marcos, CPP's founder
• Honors and Privileges of National Artists

  • The rank and title of National Artist, as proclaimed by the President of the Philippines
  • The insignia of a National Artist and a citation
  • Lifetime emolument and material and physical benefits comparable in value to those received by the highest officers of the land such as:

  a. Cash award of 100, 000 pesos for living awardees

  b. Cash award of 75,000 pesos for posthumous awardees, payable to legal heirs

  c. A monthly life pension, medical, and hospitalization benefits

  d. Life insurance coverage for Awardees who are still insurable

  e. A state funeral and burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani

  f. A place of honor
• Amado Vera Hernandez


  National Artist for Literature (1973), "Makata ng Manggagawa", poet, playwright, and novelist, practiced "committed art", stripped Tagalog of its ornate character and wrote in prose closer to the colloquial than the "official" style permitted, wrote the novel Mga Ibong Mandaragit which is the first Filipino socio political novel that exposes the ills of the society as evident in the agrarian problems of the 50s
• Other works by Amado V. Hernandez

  • Bayang Malaya
  • Isang Dipang Langit
  • Luha ng Buwaya
  • Amado V. Hernandez: Tudla at Tudling: Katipunan ng mga Nalathalang Tula 1921-1970
  • Langaw sa Isang Basong Gatas at Iba Pang Kuwento ni Amado V. Hernandez
  • Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol at Iba Pang Akda ni Amado V. Hernandez
• Jose Garcia Villa


  National Artist for Literature (1973), considered as one of the finest contemporary poets regardless of race or language, lived in Singalong, Manila, his first poem "Have Come, Am Here" received critical recognition when it appeared in New York in 1942, used Doveglion (Dove, Eagle, Lion) as pen name
• Nick Joaquin


  National Artist for Literature (1976), regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino writer in English writing so variedly and so well about so many aspects of the Filipino, enriched the English language with critics coining "Joaquinesque" to describe his baroque Spanish-flavored English or his reinventions of English based on Filipinisms, explored the Philippine colonial past under Spain and probed into the psychology of social changes, wrote plays, novels, poems, short stories and essays including reportage and journalism
• Some of Nick Joaquin's works

  • The Woman Who Had Two Navels
  • A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino
  • Manila, My Manila: A History for the Young
  • The Ballad of the Five Battles
  • Rizal in Saga
  • Almanac for Manileños
  • Cave and Shadows
• Carlos P. Romulo


  National Artist for Literature (1982), multifaceted career spanned 50 years of public service as educator, soldier, university president, journalist and diplomat, first Asian president of the United Nations General Assembly, Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C., and later minister of foreign affairs, wrote and published 18 books including novels, autobiographies, war-time memoirs, and memoirs of his experiences serving all the Philippine presidents
• Francisco Arcellana

  National Artist for Literature (1990)
• Francisco Arcellana


  • Writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher
  • One of the most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English
  • Pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form
• Arcellana's works are now an indispensable part of a tertiary-level-syllabi all over the country
• Arcellana's published books


  • Selected Stories (1962)
  • Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977)
  • The Francisco Arcellana Sampler(1990)
• Some of Arcellana's short stories

  • Frankie
  • The Man Who Would Be Poe
  • Death in a Factory
  • Lina
  • A Clown Remembers
  • Divided by Two
• Arcellana's poems


  • The Other Woman
  • This Being the Third Poem This Poem is for Mathilda
  • To Touch You and I Touched Her
• Rolando S. Tinio


  National Artist for Theatre and Literature (1997)
• Rolando S. Tinio

  • Playwright, thespian, poet, teacher, critic and translator
  • Chief distinction as a stage director whose original insights into the scripts he handled brought forth productions notable for their visual impact and intellectual cogency
  • Organizer and administrator of the Ateneo Experimental Theater
  • Took on Teatro Pilipino and left a considerable amount of work reviving traditional Filipino drama by re-staging old theater forms like the sarswela and opening a treasure-house of contemporary Western drama
  • Excellence and beauty of his practice claimed theater a place among the arts in the Philippines in the 1960s
• Tinio's collections of poetry

  • Sitsit sa Kuliglig
  • Dunung - Dunungan
  • Kristal na Uniberso
  • A Trick of Mirrors
• Tinio's film scripts


  • Now and Forever
  • Gamitin Mo Ako
• Tinio's sarswelas


  • Ang Mestisa
  • Ako
  • Ang Kiri
  • Ana Maria
• N.V.M. Gonzalez


  National Artist for Literature (1997)
• N.V.M. Gonzalez


  • Fictionist, essayist, poet, and teacher
  • Articulated the Filipino spirit in rural, urban landscapes
  • Won the First Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940, received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1960 and the Gawad CP Para sa Sining in 1990
  • Triumph in appropriating the English language to express, reflect and shape Philippine culture and Philippine sensibility
  • Became U.P's International-Writer-In-Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers of the U.P. Creative Writing Center
  • U.P. conferred on him the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, its highest academic recognition
• Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez

  • The Winds of April
  • Seven Hills Away
  • Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories
  • The Bamboo Dancers
  • Look Stranger, on this Island Now
  • Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty -One Stories
  • The Bread of Salt and Other Stories
  • Work on the Mountain
  • The Novel of Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1994
  • A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories
• Levi Celerio


  National Artist for Literature/Music (1997)
• Levi Celerio


  • Prolific lyricist and composer for decades
  • Effortlessly translated/wrote anew the lyrics to traditional melodies
  • Received a scholarship at the Academy of Music in Manila that made it possible for him to join the Manila Symphony Orchestra, becoming its youngest member
  • Made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the only person able to make music using just a leaf
  • A great number of his songs have been written for the local movies, which earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines
  • Enriched Philippine music for no less than two generations with a treasury of more than 4,000 songs in an idiom that has proven to appeal to all social classes
• Edith L. Tiempo


  National Artist for Literature (1999)
• Edith L. Tiempo


  • Poet, fictionist, teacher, and literary critic
  • One of the finest Filipino writers in English whose works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style and substance, of craftsmanship and insight
  • Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences
  • As a fictionist, her language has been marked as "descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing"
  • Together with her late husband, Edilberto K. Tiempo, she founded and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced some of the country's best writers
• Edith L. Tiempo's published works

  • The novel A Blade of Fern (1978), The Native Coast (1979), and The Alien Corn(1992)
  • The poetry collections: The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems (1966), and The Charmer's Box and Other Poems(1993)
  • The short story collection: Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964)
• F. Sionil Jose


  National Artist for Literature (2001)
• F. Sionil Jose


  • His writings since the late 60s, when taken collectively, can be best described as epic
  • The sheer volume of his work puts him on the forefront of Philippine writing in English
  • The consistent espousal of the aspirations of the Filipino-for national sovereignty and social justice-that guarantees the value of his oeuvre
  • In the five-novel masterpiece, the Rosales saga, he captures the sweep of Philippine history while simultaneously narrating the lives of generations of the Samsons whose personal lives intertwine with the social struggles of the nation
  • His works, including his many short stories, have been published and translated into various languages
  • He was bestowed the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999; the Outstanding Fulbrighters Award for Literature in 1988; and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts in 1980
• Virgilio S. Almario

  National Artist for Literature (2003)
• Virgilio S. Almario

  • Also known as Rio Alma, a poet, literary historian and critic
  • Revived and reinvented traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he championed modernist poetics
  • In 34 years, he has published 12 books of poetry, which include the seminal Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon and the landmark trilogy: Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan ng Lupa
  • Many Filipino writers have come under his wing in the literary workshops he founded -the Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) and the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA)
  • Long been involved with children's literature through the Aklat Adarna series
  • Constant presence in national writing workshops and galvanized member writers as chairman emeritus of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL)
  • Accomplished putting a face to the Filipino writer in the country, one strong face determinedly wielding a pen into untruths, hypocrisy, injustice, among others
• Alejandro Roces

  National Artist for Literature (2003)
• Alejandro Roces

  • Short story writer and essayist, considered as the country's best writer of comic short stories
  • Known for his widely anthologized "My Brother's Peculiar Chicken"
  • In his innumerable newspaper columns, he has always focused on the neglected aspects of the Filipino cultural heritage
  • Ever the champion of Filipino culture, brought to public attention the aesthetics of the country's fiestas and personally led the campaign to change the country's Independence Day from July 4 to June 12, and caused the change of language from English to Filipino in the country's stamps, currency, and passports, and recovered Jose Rizal's manuscripts when they were stolen from the National Archives
  • His unflinching love of country led him to become a guerilla during the Second World War, to defy martial law and to found the major opposition party under the dictatorship
  • His works have been published in various international magazines and received numerous national and international awards, including several decorations from various governments
• "You cannot be a great writer; first, you have to be a good person": 'Alejandro Roces'
• Bienvenido Lumbera

  National Artist for Literature (2006)
• Bienvenido Lumbera

  • Poet, librettist, and scholar
  • As a poet, he introduced to Tagalog literature what is now known as Bagay poetry, a landmark aesthetic tendency that has helped to change the vernacular poetic tradition
  • As a librettist for the Tales of the Manuvu and Rama Hari, he pioneered the creative fusion of fine arts and popular imagination
  • As a scholar, his major books include Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition and Influences in its Development; Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology, Revaluation: Essays on Philippine Literature, Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa
• Bienvenido Lumbera's works


  • Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (poems in Filipino and English), 1993
  • Balaybay, Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang, 2002
  • Sa Sariling Bayan, Apat na Dulang May Musika, 2004
  • "Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita," Pakikiramay, 2004