In this day and age of gender equality, size doesn't matter.
A giant man as Goliath could be toppled down in a duel in his reflection and trepidation by a determined, dwarfed David.
A towering male basketball player could be beaten by a diminutive female spiker in the hardcourt if both are given the chance in volleyball.
A sturdy policewoman could give a macho policeman a run for his money in the arrest of a scoundrel.
In the arts and culture scene, a petite Michelle Junia, also known as Nikki Junia, could spell bureaucratic high now that she'd call the shots in the ministerial and managerial stint of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
Nikki Junia (Photo Credit: Michelle Nikki’s Facebook)
Nikki, who was recently elected as ad interim new president of CCP by the Board of Trustees of the state agency on culture and arts, has vowed to reach greater heights to push her vision further in the enhancement of national heritage.
Standing barely five feet tall, Junia replaced 1973 Miss Universe Margarita Moran Floirendo, also known as Margie Moran who now sits as the Board’s Vice-Chair along with Atty. Lorna Kapunan, among others.
Wondering what really transpired in the bowing out of Margie from the CCP presidency.
According to Nikki, Moran-Floirendo was an ad interim president as hers because she wasn’t appointed by the president, this time President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. unlike Arsenio J. Lizaso who was officially assigned by former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Anyway, in her term as president of CCP, the petite Junia had assumed gargantuan tasks she would want to further her cause of bringing the Center to the most number of people. “I want to relate to the multi-sectoral segments of Filipinos so that they would feel CCP is their home. I know that this was also the objective of all past leaders of the Center. It’s not an easy task,” she admitted.
As much as possible, Nikki would want to erase the elitist image of the state agency on arts and culture, an effort that was also exerted by its past presidents like Moran-Floirendo, Nick Lizaso, Raul Sunico, Nestor Jardin, Isabel Caro Wilson, among others.
“It’s a tough act but I will do my best,” she said.
In her own capacity as a person and as an artist,
Nikki would go down again to the grassroots by bringing national arts to the regions, provinces, towns, barrios, barangays, a program and advocacy which also characterized Lizaso administration when he brought the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) and classical music to the masses.
What is unique about Nikki as an artist is her two-pronged dimension as a leader having been exposed to a wide range of art forms.
Her academic background of earning a degree in Bachelor of Music major in Voice from the UST Conservatory of Music, she has an armory of the classics and her joining the 14-K singing group of Ryan Cayabyab during her youth as a vessel of popular music, she has a diverse repository of pop culture to apply to the management of national arts and culture.
Hopefully, the blend can attract patronage of the CCP arts from both the high-heeled and the culturati and the masses, hoi polloi in the Gen Alpha, Generation Z, millennials, even the boomers and the silent and greatest generations.
Shorts:
Monty Blencowe and Lovi Poe (Photo Credit: Lovi Poe’s IG)
Filipino actress Lovi Poe—daughter of the late Local Movie King Fernando Poe, Jr. and erstwhile model and actress Rowena Moran—has finally surrendered her single-blessedness with her British beau, Monty Blencowe at the Cliveden House in Berkshire, United Kingdom over the weekend. What made Lovi's red-letter day extra memorable was the presence of her half-sibling Senator Grace Poe, adoptive daughter of FPJ and Philippine Movie Queen Susan Roces and half-brother Ronian Poe, son of Ronnie Poe with TV, stage and film thespian Ana Marin.
Pilar Pilapil (Photo Credit: Boy Villasanta)
Pilar Pilapil is shuttling from Cebu to Manila and back to fulfill her business and artistic responsibilities. In her entrepreneurial spirit, Pilar has just built townhouses for rent in Cebu while her real properties in Manila are intact for her residential purposes whenever she's in the imperial city. According to La Pilapil, she was informed by a GMA Network insider that the station’s former drama series "First Lady" will have a Book 2 and her former role as mom of the president is very crucial in the sequel.
Moodie Jam and Faye Romero (Photo Credit: Faye Romero’s Facebook)
Eagle Broadcasting Corporation (EBC)’s Frequency Modulation (FM) doyenne of disc jockeys Moodie Jam, Magdalena Estrada in real life, recently passed on because of complications diabetes and heart problem. The whole Iglesia ni Cristo mourned the death of its premier broadcaster. One of the faithful, Tito—a term of endearment to an older man or an uncle by blood or affinity—Nel Talavera considers Moodie Jam his mentor at the College of Mass Communication of the New Era University. Nel was devastated when he learned about the tragedy that befell his idol. “Si Moodie Jam ang nagturo sa akin ng aking mga kaalaman sa showbiz (She taught me knowledge in showbiz),” quipped Talavera who now manages the live streaming app PIKO. According to broadcaster Faye Romero, a former DZEC hostess, Moodie Jam was her Best Friend Forever (BFF). Faye was rather remorseful that she didn’t meet up with Moodie Jam personally when she recently arrived in the Philippines some couple of weeks ago. Romero said the DWDM dean of broadcasters died at the New Era Hospital. In her lifetime, Moodie Jam was the key person at EBC.
Leon Guinto Memorial College, Inc., a community school in Atimonan, Quezon was lucky it had celebrated and influential artists Dr. Arthur P. Casanova, Chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF); Dennis N. Marasigan, Vice-President and Artistic Director of the CCP and progressive and erudite Bibeth Orteza—the latter was the latest virtual guest—in the elite list of guests online in a lecture series on Theater Arts for students of Art Apprenticeship 1 Theater.
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