Tantingco: The HAU Cultural Awards

Holy Angel University, home to the Center for Kapampangan Studies, recently announced this year's recipients of its Founders Day Awards, two of which are the Juan D. Nepomuceno Cultural Awards in two categories, one for Kapampangan arts and another for Kapampangan research. The former is given to a Kapampangan with a lifetime of outstanding achievement as an artist, while the latter is for a Kapampangan with outstanding contribution to Kapampangan studies through research, scholarship and publication.

The Kapampangan artist and the Kapampangan researcher who will receive the Cultural Awards on March 8, which is the 90th founding anniversary of HAU, are singer/songwriter Ramon David of Sto. Tomas, a.k.a. Mon David, and archaeologist Dr. Eusebio "Bong" Dizon of Mabalacat City.

Mon David is recognized as of the world's greatest contemporary jazz singers but more than that, he has composed and recorded some of the most popular Kapampangan songs today, including the stirring iconic song "Kapampangan Ku" and the patriotic "Himnu ning Kapampangan," which has become the official anthem of the province. Mon David, along with ArtiSta. Rita, has raised the level of Kapampangan music to national and international standards.

Dr. Bong Dizon is often referred to as the Indiana Jones of the Philippines for being the most popular Filipino archaeologist with matching Harrison Ford good looks. He is credited for establishing the Archaeological Studies Program of UP Diliman which is the country's first and so far only degree course in archaeology. His studies and explorations have shed light on little-known aspects of Philippine and Southeast Asian prehistory, and his excavations at the Porac archaeological site have helped historians and anthropologists better understand what Pampanga was like before the Spaniards came.

Previous recipients of the HAU cultural awards include National Artist Bencab, Cannes best director Brillante Mendoza, Patis Tesoro, Willy Layug, Andy Alviz and Claude Tayag (in Mon David's category), and linguist Anicia del Corro, historians John larkin, Nina Tomen and Ambeth Ocampo, and literary anthologist Edna Zapanta Manlapaz (in Bong Dizon's category).