BenCab, Del Corro to get HAU cultural awards

BenCab, Del Corro to get HAU cultural awards

Holy Angel University (HAU) has chosen a National Artist and a top linguist as recipients of the first Juan D. Nepomuceno Cultural Awards.

Benedicto ‘BenCab’ Cabrera, 2006 National Artist for Visual Arts, and Anicia H. del Corro, noted linguist and lexicographer, will receive special University medals of honor on March 8, birth anniversary of HAU founder Juan D. Nepomuceno.

BenCab will be honored “for his outstanding achievement in arts and culture” and Del Corro “for her outstanding contribution in Kapampangan research and scholarship.”

The cultural awards are given in honor of the HAU founder, who was himself an advocate of Kapampangan culture. He wrote Kapampangan plays and translated books into Kapampangan during his time.

He founded Holy Angel Academy in 1933 and served as its President from 1938 to 1973. The University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies also bears his name.













BenCab is a full-blooded Kapampangan whose parents hailed from sasmuan, while Del Corro, also a full-blooded Kapampangan, comes from the Hizon clan of Mexico.

“He is the best-known and best-selling living visual artist in the Philippines,” Robby Tantingco, Director of the Center for Kapampangan Studies, says. “His works are always attuned to historical transitions and social landscapes. His work with the Cordillera arts and traditions inspires artists and cultural workers all over the country, including Kapampangans.”

On the other hand, Del Corro’s research on Kapampangan morphophonemics and Kapampangan lexicography has raised the standards of Kapampangan linguistics studies, Tantingco says. “She is a tireless advocate of multi-lingual, mother tongue-based instruction, which is what we need to raise our grade school pupils’ comprehension skills.”

The Juan D. Nepomuceno Cultural Awards are given annually by Holy Angel University. They come in two categories: culture and the arts, and research and scholarship.