Lucrecia Kasilag’s Contributions to Education for Women in the Philippines
Since the passing of Lucrecia Kasilag in 2008, this marks the first of the series of articles dedicated to her. We first discuss the life of Kasilag brimming with accomplishments leading into the later musical legacy she produced.
Educational Background
Lucrecia Kasilag was born in San Fernando, La Union on August 31, 1918. She graduated from Paco Elementary High School as valedictorian in 1930, she advanced to her junior year in high school after her first year. In 1933, she graduated as well in high school as valedictorian in Philippine Women's University (PWU), even being president of the student council all the while. She then went on to graduate Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English from PWU in 1936. She also received her Music Teacher’s Diploma from St. Scholastica’s College in 1939, when she cross-enrolled in the college while still a senior in PWU. In 1949, she obtained her Bachelor of Music Degree from PWU, and graduated a year later from her graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
Kasilag evidently excelled academically, and this would later on play a significant role in how she would, in turn, educate and help mold the lives of young women later on in her life.
A Brief History on the Philippine Women’s University
The Philippine Women’s University was the product of an effort by seven Filipino women—Ciara Aragon, Concepcion Aragon, Francisca Tirona Benitez, Paz Marquez Benitez, Carolina Ocampo Palma, Mercedes Rivera, and Socorro Marquez Zaballero—to empower women in the Philippines by giving them access to quality education. Starting out as the Philippine Women’s College, the school was founded in 1919 and initially had 190 students enrolled.
In 1932, a year before Kasilag graduated from high school, the American colonial government officially recognized the college as a university, making PWU the first university for women, and one founded by Asians themselves in Asia. As a result, it was not uncommon for many prominent families in the Philippines to send their young female relatives to study in the university. Some prominent alumnae apart from Kasilagare Armida Siguion-Reyna, a known actress; Leonor Orosa-Goquingco, a Filipino National Artist in Creative Dance; and lawyer and educator Rosa Santos Munda.
The university would go on to produce a National Artist in Lucrecia Kasilag, an honor she received in 1980 for her more than 200 original musical compositions; promoting and enriching Filipino music, by incorporating ethnic and traditional musical elements in her productions. It was during her time as a dean of music at PWU that Kasilag learned about the ethnic origins of music and indigenous instruments, and it was out of her fascination for these instruments that she so passionately incorporated them into her own compositions.
Kasilag as an Educator
Kasilag taught piano and music theory in St. Scholastica’s College after receiving her Music Teacher’s Diploma in 1939, and at the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music from 1946 to 1947. In 1953, just a few years after obtaining her master’s degree, because of her impressive educational background, Kasilag became the dean of PWU’s College of Music and Fine Arts. It was here where she would establish and become director of the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center in 1957. This was a product of PWU’s folk dance and music program, the Filipiniana Folk Arts Troupe, which Kasilag was able to elevate in the establishment of the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center. In 1958, the dance company was recognized internationally at the Brussels Universal Exposition, where the amateur dancers of the company “struck like a flash of lightning” in a fair full of professional performers.
In 1971, Kasilag also became the chairperson of the Philippine Society for Music Education and chairperson for the Asian Comoser’s League in 1975. She eventually became Dean Emeritus of PWU’s College of Music and Fine Arts upon her retirement in 1977.
Kasilag was able to put Filipino folk dance and music on the world map, and more importantly, she was able to show the members of the group, especially its female members, just how they were capable of achieving in what was still a very patriarchal society.
Kasilag as a Filipino Woman
Even more than her work itself as an educator, Kasilag’s greatest contribution to education for women in the Philippines was how she lived her own life. She never shied away from responsibilities, an she proved that women could be excellent leaders as well if given the opportunity. In addition to this, she always pursued excellence, whether it was through sports in her years as an athlete, through music as a composer, through education both as a student and as a teacher, and even through being a Filipino. By making it a point to elevate Filipino culture along with her as she rose through the musical ranks, not just in the Philippines but in the whole world, she was named one of the five International Artists of the World (and the only female one at that) by UNESCO International Music Council in 1993.
Kasilag achieved all this and more, not only by going against the expectations set by race or gender at the time, but more importantly, by focusing on her greatest passion and not letting anything get in her way. In her autobiography entitled My Story, Kasilag reflects:
“Did I crash through music’s glass ceiling by being the only female International Artist of the World then? I don't believe so. Music does not choose gender nor race, and I only followed the Muses. But stand warned: my best music is yet to come”
Lucrecia Kasilag’s variety of pursuits borne from her example of one who did what she put her mind to, all the standards put aside, prove to be a great example for women everywhere. Kasilag’s headstrong personality and confidence brought about accomplishments that broke through the expectations of her time.
References:
“Bayanihan Folk Arts Center: International Understanding Philippines.” The Ramon Magsaysay Award
Foundation, The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, 1965, http://rmaward.asia/awardees/bayanihan-folk-arts-center/.
“Featured Artist: Lucrecia R. Kasilag. ” Himig, Ayala Foundation, 2009,
http://www.himig.com.ph/features/32- lucrecia-r-kasilag.
Kasilag, Lucrecia. “My Story.” PWU Publishing, 2000.
“Lucrecia Kasilag: National Artist for Music (1989).” National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Republic
of the Philippines, 2015, http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/national-artists-of-
the-philippines/lucrecia-r-kasilag/.
Medina, Mariel. “Did you know: Lucrecia Kasilag.” Inquirer.net, Philippine Daily Inquirer,2014,
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/629443/did-you-know-lucrecia-kasilag.
“National Artist for Music Lucrecia Kasilag, 90.” ABS-CBN News, ABS-CBNCorporation,
2008,http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/metro-manila/08/18/08/national-artist-music-lucrecia-kasilag-90.
“The Philippine Women’s University: About Us.” PWU.edu, The Philippine Women’s University, 2014,
https://www.pwu.edu.ph/about.html.
Photo of Lucrecia Kasilag taken from: https://www.clickthecity.com/arts/a/3720/special-mass-for-kasilag-at-ccp.
Photo of Eastman School taken from: https://www.rochester.edu/giving/gec/gallery/the-eastman-theatre#images/15/
Photo of La Union taken from: creative commons uploaded by Mike Gonzalez.
Photo of PWU taken from: https://www.facebook.com/PWU.OfficialFanpage/photos/a.438975609459622.104978.438967022793814/1113755015315008/?type=1&theater
Photo of Paz Marquez Benitez taken from: https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/972/today-in-philippine-history-march-3-1894-paz-marquezbenitez-was-born-in-lucena-city-quezon
Photo of Armida Siguion-Reyna taken from: https://pelikulaatbp.blogspot.com/2017/10/close-up-no-63-armida-siguion-reyna-by.html
Photo of Rosa Munda bust taken from: http://davaocitybybattad.blogspot.com/2012/07/philippine-womens-college-of-davao.html
Photo of Leonor Orosa-Goquingco stamp taken from: http://vincemd.blogspot.com/2011/03/leonor-orosa-goquingco-on-stamps.html
Photo of St Scholastica's College taken from: http://www.ssc.edu.ph/centennial%20website/SSC%201930-1939.htm