Think about it
Salvador Floro Bernal, 66
By Jun Velasco
“Life is short. Let’s make the most of it.—“ Anon
AT 8 in the morning Friday at the Immaculate Concepion Cathedral in Cubao, we found ourself alone beside the Philippine Flag-draped casket of National Artist for Theater and Design Salvador “Badong” Bernal.
We must have come rather early, as there was no one around except the two soldiers who stood beside his casket. There were several wreaths including those from President Pnoy and Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa who were his friends at the Ateneo.
We busied ourself poring over the guest list, but saw no familiar Dagupeno name except Chit Deloso, high school classmate, and hubby Ed.
In that aura of silence, we talked to him in prayer, as memories of our youth came rushing back.
We were practically partners in high school and college days. Badong picked us as his running mate when he ran for the Dagupan City High School student council and, in college, the Dagupan City Varsitarians Association. We handily won in the first, but lost in the later one, but which gave birth to a new group, the Vox of Dagupan, with us again as his vice president.
It was an honor to be handpicked by him to be his vice. We didn’t know he would someday become a National Artist especially in the field where he excelled – theater design.
We thought he would be a giant in literature. Badong used to give us copies of The Heights, Ateneo’s literary magazine. When his father, the late Dr. Santiago Bernal, died, Badong and this writer had a long talk at church about writing as a career. We told him it won’t probably be in literature but in journalism that we would build a career on.
He was fond of his classmates who became our friends, too, because of our ties in “extra-curriculars.”
While writing this, we learned that necrological services were to be held Oct. 29, 9 a.m., at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
His remains would be brought to the family mausoleum at Eternal Gardens in Dagupan on Nov. 2.
In expressing its sorrow, Malacanang described him “one of our cultural pillars.”
It added: “Beyond his impressive career as an artist, he made it his mission, as a teacher, to pass on his knowledge to those who will have to stand in his place in the coming generations.
He did his part to ensure that Philippine Art will continue to be dynamic and relevant, even as the torch is passed from old masters like him to emerging talents in the nation’s artistic landscape.”
The National Commission for Culture and Arts said “Salvador Bernal is a great loss to Philippine Arts as he has contributed greatly to the growth of theater design in the country.”
From all indications, our friend Badong became a giant in his field. A CCP official said he “redefined scenic design in the Philippines and was a teacher and mentor to our current crop of designers.”
Considered the Father of Philippine Theater Design, Bernal produced a brilliant body of works which enriched Filipino original works in theater, dance and music.
Since 1969, he designed more than 300 productions for drama, musicals, operas and concerts such as those for Musical Theater Philippines and Opera Guild of the Philippines. He designed period costumes for movies like Oro, Plata, Mata and Gumising Ka, Maruja and for TV commercials and calendars. Bernal was known for using indigenous and locally available materials for stage such as bamboo, abaca fabric, hemp twice raw, rattan chain links, and styrofoams in productions such as Rajah Sulayman, Abaniko, La Traviata, Tomaneg at Aniway and Pagkahaba-haba man ng Prusisyon sa Simbahan din ang Tuloy (Much Ado About Nothing). Bernal created the CCP Production Design Center and organized PATDAT (Philippine Association of Theatre Designers and Technicians) in 1995. As president of PATDAT, which is also the Philippine Center of OISTAT (Organisation Internationale des Scenographes, Techniciens et Architectes du Theatre), Bernal introduced Philippine theater design to the world.
His last CCP production was the musical version of Banaag at Sikat with Tanghalang Pilipino. Before his death, Bernal was working on the design of King Lear with PETA to be directed by longtime friend and collaborator Felix “Nonon” Padilla and went on to finish a bachelor of science in philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1966.
After teaching literature in Ateneo and setting up the Tanghalang Ateneo theater group, in 1970 he went on to pursue graduate studies in Theater Arts at Northwestern University in Illinois, earning a masters of fine arts in theater arts, major in scenic design.
Rest in peace, friend.
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