Bayan (GAMABA) was institutionalized in April 1992.
National Commission for the Culture and the Arts
(NCCA) – tasked to administer and implement the award. The overall policy making and coordinating agency for the promotion and preservation of the culture and arts of the country.
The Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) or the
National Living Treasures Award is given to Filipino artists who spearhead the promotion, practice, and preservation of our country’s traditional arts. Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan
Is conferred on Filipinos who are at the forefront of the practice,
preservation, and promotion of the nation’s traditional folkarts. The main objective of the award is to honor and support traditional folk artists and see to it that their skills and crafts are preserved. The award is tied with a program that ensures the transfer of their skills to the next generation and the promotion of the craft both locally and internationally. In 2014, the Senate of the Philippines adopted Senate Resolution No. (SRN) 765 - aimed at recognizing the accomplishments of the country’s living treasures. Emblem
The award logo is a
representation of the human form used in traditional cloth. Below the logo is the phrase “Manlilikha ng Bayan” written in Baybayin, an ancient Filipino script used in the Philippines in the sixteenth century. Criteria PROCESS The Panel The Nominations The Screening • Subcomission on Cultural • The ad hoc search committees Committies and Traditional Arts: • Nominations can are deployed to various priority 1. Office of the Muslim affairs come from the areas in the country to conduct (OMA) members of the ad searches and document the hoc panel of candidates’ art or craft. The ad 2. National Commission on Indigeneous Peoples(NCIP) experts. The sub hoc panel of reviewers commissions on reevaluates the qualifications of 3. Ad hoc Panel is composed of 5 cultural members of Gawad sa the candidates and submits Manlilikha ng Bayan communities and recommendations to the NCCA Committee. traditional arts, Board of Commissioners. Once government and selected, the President of the 4. Four individuals identified by the private institutions, Committee among scholars, Philippines confers the awardees Practitioners, and experts in the universities and in a public ceremony in traditional arts. other persons Malacaṅang Palace knowledgeable. Awards and Incentives