National Artist Awards can't be undone, says Solicitor General

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

National Artist Awards can't be undone--SolGen

The issues raised in the petition are clearly moot and academic

The issue of cultural standards, of the honor of a formerly revered award is moot and academic? I suppose.

No amount of melodramatic protests shall overturn this fact

Does melodrama instantly negate the virtues of one's case? If artists express themselves melodramatically, as is often their nature, does this mean their cause has no serious merit?

Implicit in this kind of thinking is that any issue involving culture and the arts is moot and academic, that serious consideration of such issues is beneath one's dignity.

This coming from a member of the legal profession of unimpeachable reputation, of course.

The present petition is one for prohibition which is a preventive remedy. The act sought to be enjoined having taken place already, there is nothing more to restrain.

A technical flaw, and it's a chronic flaw of Filipinos that they are prone to technical flaws. But another flaw of Filipinos and one more significant I think is in investing close attention to such minutiae and ignoring the larger issues involved. In this case--does Carlos J. Caparas deserve the National Artist Award?

(To) sustain petitioners’ argument that the President cannot grant the award to someone nor recommended by the NCCA-CCP Boards would be a patent disregard of the President powers

And this, of course would be a very bad thing.