By Ibarra C. Mateo
Playwright, scriptwriter, martial law activist, and human rights advocate Bonifacio P. Ilagan is the 2019 UP Gawad Plaridel awardee for transmedia category, the UP-College of Mass Communication (UP-CMC) announced on Sept. 4, 2019.
The UP-CMC, said in a statement, that Ilagan “has excelled and provided distinctive contributions in various media platforms, including film, television, theatre, among others.”
“For his 43 years of steadfast and outstanding recognitions, Ilagan has practiced critical, socially responsible, and morally upright service,” the statement said.
While among his more prominent works is Pagsambang Bayan, Ilagan had written for films and television.
His film credits include Migrante (2012), Sigwa (2010), Dukot (2009), and The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995).
His works for television include That’s My Job (a 2008 television series) and episodes of Maalaala Mo Kaya.
Box-office shattering actor Alden Richards had portrayed the role of Ilagan, together with Rocco Nacino, who acted as Jose Lacaba, also a Gawad Plaridel awardee, in a GMA Network special in September 2017 to commemorate the dark days of martial rule imposed in September 1972.
Ilagan, then a student activist, was arrested in 1974, tortured, and eventually released in 1976, only to find out that his sister Rizalina had disappeared and believed to have been abducted by the military.
Gawad Plaridel recipients are given a trophy, designed by National Artist Napoleon Abueva.
UP President Danilo Concepcion and UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan are to present Ilagan his Abueva trophy in a ceremony on Nov. 13, 2019, 2 pm, at the UP Film Center.
Ilagan is to deliver a lecture during the ceremony.
Established by the UP-CMC, the annual UP Gawad Plaridel recognizes Filipino media practitioners who have excelled in any of the media (print, radio, film, television, and transmedia) and “who have performed with the highest level of professional integrity in the interest of public service,” the statement said.
Past awardees are: Eugenia Duran-Apostol (2004, print), Vilma Santos (2005, film), Fidela “Tiya Dely” Magpayo (2006, radio), Cecilia “Cheche” L. Lazaro (2007, television), Pachico Seares (2008, community print), Kidlat Tahimik (2009, independent film), Eloisa “Lola Sela” Canlas (2011, radio), Florence “Rosa Rosal” Danon-Gayda (2012, television), Jose “Pete” Lacaba (2013, print), Nora “Nora Aunor” Villamayor (2014, transmedia), Ricardo “Ricky” Lee (2015, film), Francisca “Babes” Custodio (2016, radio), Tina Monzon-Palma (2017, television), and Jessica Soho (2018, journalism).
The award is named after Marcelo H. del Pilar (nom de plume, Plaridel), a mover of the Propaganda Movement and “whose stewardship of the reformist newspaper La Solidaridad gave voice to nationalist sentiments and libertarian ideas in the 1890s.”
“Like Plaridel, the recipient of the award must believe in a vision of a Philippine society that is egalitarian, participative, and progressive, and in media that is socially responsible, critical and vigilant, liberative, and transformative, and free and independent, UP-CMC said.
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