FELIPE M. DE LEON, JR.
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FELIPE M. DE LEON, JR. is presently the Chairman and Commissioner for the Arts of
the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Chairman of its Committee on
Intangible Heritage.
He is, likewise, Chair of the Humanities Division of the National Research Council of
the Philippines (NRCP), an agency under the Department of Science and Technology.
He is a Professor of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines where he taught
humanities, aesthetics, music theory and Philippine art and culture, and a Lecturer on social
transformation courses at the Asian Social Institute.
His experience as a cultural administrator/manager is extensive and widely recognized. He
was Commissioner and Head of the Subcommission on the Arts of the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Chairman of its National Committee for
Music from 2004-07. He was also Chairman of the Gawad Sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (National
Living Treasures Awards) from 1993-2007. He was mainly responsible for setting up and
institutionalizing this award, which recognizes the masters of traditional arts in the country for
the purpose of preservation and transmission of skills to the younger generation.
He was a Commissioner of UNESCO Philippines (1999-2002) and Chairman of its
Committee on Culture (2002). He was a Commissioner of the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts and Head of its Subcomission for Cultural Communities and
Traditional Arts from 1992-98, during which period Schools of Living Traditions (SLT’s) were
established all over the country.
He was Chairman of the Department of Humanities of U.P. Diliman from l976-82 and
President of the National Association for Philippine Psychology from l985-86. It was during
his chairmanship that the Department made a major shift from a Eurocentric to a World Art
approach, with emphasis on Southeast Asian and Philippine arts.
Among his published works are Philippine Art and Literature, Volume III of the Filipino
Nation Encyclopedia, published by Grolier International in l982, and On Art, Man and Nature:
Selected Readings in the Humanities. He has written numerous articles on cultural issues,
especially on cultural creativity and diversity, worldviews and values, and culture and
development. He was the main author of the ASEAN Declaration for Cultural Heritage.
His distinct contribution to scholarship is on how he has developed the use of the arts as
an instrument for understanding the culture (key ideas, world view, values, character,
psychology, and expressive forms) of a people. He has specialized in establishing the
principles of culturally-rooted governance or management for sustainable development,
especially in the context of Philippine society. He is also the proponent of a holistic world view
that integrates spiritual principles with psycho-physical health and social well-being.
He was the Artistic Director of the musical concert and television programs Concert at
the Park and Paco Park Presents in l986. Since 1985 he has been the Musical Director of
Kasarinlan Philippine Music Ensemble, a group that promotes the treasures - indigenous,
folk, light, serious, pop and other types - of Filipino vocal and instrumental music. Founded in
1985, Kasarinlan, has performed extensively both locally and internationally.
He has done many studies in Philippine musicology, particularly on the kundiman and
other folk music traditions. Prof. de Leon was the Chairman of the First Asean Composers
Forum on Traditional Music held in Manila and Banawe, Philippines in April l989. As a
composer, he has written music for various plays, such as Abadeja: Ating Sinderela (by
Amelia Lapena-Bonifacio), Yerma (by Federico Garcia Lorca), Lysistrata (by Aristophanes),
and Noli Me Tangere (by Dr. Jose Rizal, directed by Tony Mabesa). He has written quite a
number of nationalistic songs, the most renowned of which is “Lumuha Ka Aking Bayan” (with
lyrics by National Artist for Literature Amado V. Hernandez), popularized in the 70s by the Inang
Laya. He was commissioned by the National Centennial Commission to write the official
hymn,”Diwang Pilipino”, of the Philippine Republic for the celebration of l997 as the Year of
the Filipino Spirit. This song was launched by President Ramos on January 28, l997 at the
Quirino Grandstand in Manila.
He obtained his A.B. Humanities, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines in l969.
His graduate studies were in Fine Arts at the U.P. College of Fine Arts in 1973-74, composition
and music theory at the U.P. College of Music from l974-75, musicological studies at the
Madras Music Academy in India in l976-77, and Philippine studies at the U.P. College of Arts
and Letters in l989-9l. He was conferred the Gawad Chancellor for Extension Work of the
University of the Philippines in Diliman for the year 2005.
Felipe M. de Leon, Jr. is the son of National Artist for Music Felipe Padilla de Leon, Sr.
and the father of emergent musician Diwa De Leon of the Makiling Music Ensemble and multiawarded triathlon athlete Ani De Leon.
08 June 2011