The U.P. College of Mass Communication has announced the 2011 U.P. Gawad Plaridel awardee in the person of Eloisa Cruz Canlas. Ms. Canlas was chosen for her outstanding contributions to the broadcasting industry, particularly in the field of radio.
Known to many as “Lola Sela Bungangera,” Canlas is a self-taught talent, starting out as a as a production assistant for the drama programs of DZRH radio station in the 1960s. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she voiced many different characters, and gave life to popular local AM figures such as “Zimatar” and “Eng-Eng” in the Adventures of Zimatar. Aside from this, she also worked as a talent for numerous shows such as Gabi ng Lagim, Mr. Romantiko, and Hukumang Pantahan, among others. To date, she still voices the program Lola Sela Bungangera with the Senior Citizen & Livelihood Project of DZRH, her home network.
Canlas continues to be active as a freelance voice talent for numerous commercials, anime shows, and other radio/television programs over the years. Aside from her current voice talent work, she hosts the “Pondahan” segment of cable network UNTV’s Good Morning Kuya early-morning show.
Canlas is currently the executive producer of the newly-established “Drama Sa Nuebe Nubenta” (DNN) of dzIQ Radyo Inquirer 990, the broadcast arm of the Inquirer group of companies. This collection of radio drama features six different romances, tear-jerkers, adventures, and values-oriented storylines which are all in line with Radyo Inquirer’s mission to offer a rich, balanced programming of news, commentary, public service, and entertainment for the mass AM market.
As owner and director, Canlas is also at the helm of Tanghalang Parisukat Training Center, a creative voice acting center established in December 2003. The Tanghalang Parisukat seeks to educate the youth on the importance of theatre, radio, television and print media as a means of fostering a peaceful community, and aims to cultivate the hidden creative skills of the youth and to promote values through free seminars and training programs.
The award comes with a trophy by National Artist Napoleon Abueva which will be handed by U.P. officials on July 20, 2011, at the Cine Adarna of the U.P. Film Institute. She will also deliver a lecture on important issues in the radio broadcasting industry during the ceremonies.
Established by the U.P. College of Mass Communication, the annual U.P. Gawad Plaridel recognizes Filipino media practitioners who have excelled in any of the media (print, radio, film, television, and new media) and have performed with the highest level of professional integrity in the interest of public service. Already on its seventh year, the U.P. Gawad Plaridel’s roster of honorees include Ms. Eugenia Duran-Apostol (2004), Ms. Vilma Santos (2005), Ms. Fidela Magpayo (2006), Ms. Cecilia L. Lazaro (2007), Mr. Pachico A. Seares (2008), and Mr. Kidlat Tahimik (2009) who were recognized for their outstanding contributions in print, film, radio, television, community print media, and independent filmmaking, respectively.
The award is named after Marcelo H. del Pilar (nom de plume, Plaridel), the selfless propagandist whose stewardship of the reformist newspaper La Solidaridad helped crystallize nationalist sentiments and ignite libertarian ideas in the 1890s. Like Plaridel, the recipient of the award must believe in the vision of a Philippine society that is egalitarian, participative and progressive, and in media that is socially responsible, critical and vigilant, liberative and transformative, and free and independent