CINEMALAYA'S CHILDREN: THE CINEMA OF LOST INNOCENCE

 Cinemalaya  has always hosted a number of films centered on children in their various awkward and even critical ages.  

The transformation of children into that painful passage to adulthood has always served as a popular theme for independent filmmakers making statements not jhust about growing up but the factors that bring these critical changes in the lives of the young.  From Clodualdo del Mundo Jr.'s Pepot Artista and Aureus Solito's Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (2005) to Lawrence Fajardo's The Hearing (2024), the independent film festival has always provided room for films that dealt with the complexities of youth in a world that is even made more confused and confusing.

But this year Cinemalaya has three films that provide insight into the minds of the young placed in a variety of scenarios.  

Although they are almost similar in premise, the approaches done by the screenwriters and directors seem to have pulled them to worlds apart. JL Burgos' Ganggang, Kaka Sa Yawan ( Brothers of the River ) of Alpha Habon and Mark Duane Angos' Hand of God  all focus on the critical and life-changing journeys of young boys as they react and interact with the world around them.

Kaka SaYawan is about a lifelong friendship between Nico, a City Boy and a Mangyan youngester who he meets in a visit to Mindoro.  Ganggang may seem like a simple look into bullying in a remote public school using the metaphor of spider fights on tingting stalks but actually cuts deeper into the politics of power.  But it is Hands of God, a devastating tale about innocence lost when children are caught in the crossfire of a never ending war that leaves the strongest impression --- and disturbance.

The premise is simple: a military man named Reyes (credibly portrayed by Ruru Madrid) brings football right in the heart of an isolated Muslim community that has decided to stay neutral and out of the way of the battle between the soliders and the insurgents led by a certain Omar ( played with such casual and effective villainy by Jhong Hilario). The insurgents have resorted to recruiting children to be their soldiers in replacement for those eliminated by the military.

The heart of the movie is a boy named Khaleel (KD Omalin), the child of Farida (Iza Calzado) in a small village where an elder named Pah Ismail (Ronnie Lazaro) serves as mediator between the dwellers, the rebels and the military.  Reyes concocted a completely different strategy to win the trust and loyalty of the Muslims: he introduces and trains the children how to play football.  Khaleel has already been recruited by Omar to be part of his rebel squad but he orders the boy to return to his mother and entice his peers to join the insurrection. But in the process, Omar is introduced to football and is befriended by Reyes.  Thus provides the very core of the story.

The very first feature film of Mark Duane Angos literally broke my heart.,

At the end of the film, I found myself in tears mourning for the burnt innocence of the children caught in the maelstrom of war.  The fate of Khaleel and Farida is often ignored, taken for granted and even normalized in a world accustomed to violence and indifferent to the damage done by war. In the game of politics and strategizing, it is the children who suffer most --- whether they are victims or survivors.

And maybe that is why Ganggang, Kaka Sa Yawan  and especially Hand of God are such relevant statements made by Filipino filmmakers shaping their voices out of the national and international chaos that is the here and now.

I celebrate Hand of God for what it aspired to say and the manner by which Direk Mark Angos shaped his story.  I applaud Ruru Madrid, Iza Calzado, Ronnie Lazaro and Jhong Hilario for this exceptional work now immortalized in film.  But most of all, I embrace KD Omalin for representing all the children who have become collateral damage to the folly and recklessness of adults who flaunt their powers to rule the world and destroy lives.

OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN: CINEMALAYA @ 22

 Twenty-two years later, the festival of independent cinema offers a curation of some of the best films in its history.  What makes this year's entries more important is how a number of these films center on Filipino women and children.

I will plow into a more incisive analysis of the recurring themes that seemingly reverberate in some of the best entries this year:  the sadness of women and the loss of innocence of children.  What is more important than citing what the filmmakers want to say in the here and now is an understanding of why these films resonate in this volatile year of political turmoil, duplicity and most of all, a search for meaning amidst an atmosphere of desperation.

Two of the more impressive movies center on the sadness of women.

The ignored and seemingly unloved heroine of STATUS: REJECTED and the victim of everyday bureaucracy in a country that has failed its citizenry in 2 VALID IDs are the two most impressive contributions of the festival this year. 

Van Leinard Pascual's STATUS: REJECTED is an unfiltered depiction of loneliness and the feeling of uselessness and abandonment in old age.  When Biring (Ruby Ruiz) decides that her only salvation is to cross the Pacific Ocean and join her son who is an illegal alien in Trump's America, her best friend Tess (Beverly Salviejo) decides to introduce her to online dating apps where she meets her American Prince Charming.

Early on, one could already predict where that road would lead but the engrossing performances, especially of Ruiz and her daughter played by Alessandra DaRossi reveal more than just competence delivery but an evident commitment to a project meant to give very clear and definite statements.  The desperation of Biring is not merely an economic challenge but that of what to do with the rest of her existence and Ruiz embraces that character well.

Similarly, Ma-an Asuncion Dagnalan's 2 VALID IDs tackles another level of despair, illustrating the frustrations of everyday bureaucracy and the glaring failure of our health care system where the poor prefer to die than to suffer the inhumanity of systemic requirements.  Based from the screenplay of Abet Pagdagdagan, this film leaves no room to breathe freely. Instead, it entraps the viewer into that germ-infested claustrophobic atmosphere of a hospital ward where the poor grasp for the last straws of hope that medicine can save them from a seeming irredeemable situation.

Whereas Ruiz as Biring embodied the desperation brought by loneliness and isolation, Marietta Subong (more popularly known as the comedian Pokwang) embodies the bane of womanhood and poverty combined, a farmer's wife who struggles through the complexities of requirements and deadlines ... only to realize that all these are mere exercises in futility.

If there is one thing in common about these two impactful films about women maneuvering their way through this urban labyrinth, then it is that sense of dreadful naturalism.  No one can escape heredity and environment as we are all victims of circumstances and must learn to accept our limitations granted onto us upon birth.

But despite all the bleakness and heaviness of the heart these films carry, it is the success of the performances that again prove that Cinemalaya provides the venue for our cinema artists --- especially our artistas to show just how much they can give.

Pokwang already showed the range of her  acting prowess in Dwein Baltazar's Oda sa Wala but it is here that we see an even more surprising performance.  Indeed, comediennes wield extraordinary talents that when tapped reveal a far greater acting range than what is demanded of them in their regular gigs.  Similarly, Joey Marquez and Zaijan Jaranilla add gravitas to Dangnalan's piece: Jaranilla as a child actor already showed the promise but, after all these years, it is Marquez who still surprises the audience with his capacity to show the depth of pain ... and the embodiment of everything wrong about our system as he becomes just another body, just another victim.

If only for these two films --- from a first-timer in Van Leinard Pascual --- and a filmmaker in her sophomore entry to Cinemalaya, then the effort to go all the way to the cinema and brave these rains is guaranteed a worthy adventure.  Pascual handles his first feature with confidence and focus --- while dear Ma-an has shown how she could do great leaps from Blue Room  to this seething statement on the plight of every Juan.  

If only for these two films, we need not argue that Cinemalaya is an important annual event which we, as supporters of evolving culture, must never allow to die. 

And for those who have a mouthful to say about the garbage-like quality of Filipino movies in your arrogant if not inutile generalizations about our cinema, manood nga kayo ng Cinemalaya. Give yourself the chance to be proud of who you are in the stories your countrymen tell in the language of films.

FOR THE LOVE OF THAT LITTLE GOLDEN STATUETTE: THE SEARCH FOR THE PHILIPPINE ENTRY TO THE OSCARS

 Somebody barked in his social media shoutout that throughout the entire history of Philippine movies, we have never been nominated at the Oscars. 

And he is right.

Despite the Avellanas, de Leons, Brockas and Bernals, we have never been cited for any of the categories of the Academy Awards.  Philippine cinema has been around for more than one hundred years --- and the Oscars is ninety-eight years old.  So do the math.  We haven't been as lucky as Vietnam, for instance.  Or Latvia.

But every year we pin our hopes on hope.  Only the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) is recognized and authorized by the American Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to choose the national representative to the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film.  This used to be called the Best Foreign Film but (I guess) in the spirit of inclusiveness, they rebranded the category all together.

The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) only provides assistance to FAP in the selection of the official Philippine entry to the Oscars.  The council's biggest contribution is the PhP1M to be used by the chosen film for its publicity and promotions campaign after it has been selected. Despite the amount handed to the producer, this is still glaringly insufficient to fund the entire campaign to be noticed during the period of selecting nominations and eventually votations for the winners of the little golden statuettes.

After all, one million pesos is only equivalent to US$52,234.00.  In the game of campaigns, that is a mere drop in the bucket.

One would recall that last year's Best Picture (Anora) spent more money for promotions than what they invested in shooting and post production.  If I am not mistaken, the film was completed at US$6M but the Oscar campaign and promotions cost US$20M.  

That is HOW Oscar campaigns are built --- used as long-term investments for a film to achieve worldwide distribution and attention.  Visibility, recognizability and accessibility are all needed to even be considered in the shortlist ... much more in the roster of nominees.

The battle for the Best International Film is a dog-eat-dog battle.  

National cinemas battle for the five slots reserved for the final nominees from which the winner will be annointed with that little gold statuette during the awards night.  But then you ask: how important is that win? Aside from the chances of greater worldwide distribution, it is more of the prestige of being branded an Oscar winner that seem to matter most not only for the project but for the country that the film represents.

There are certain exceptions when a film does not only win the Best International Film Award but also bags the jackpot prize of Best Feature Film of the Year:  that has only happened once --- thanks to Bong Joon Ho's Parasite.  But again, be reminded that the resounding victory of this film is the end result of decades-long planning and implementation of a national program designed to push and propagate popular culture ( films, tv series, music, fashion) into profitable soft economy.  Hallyu, the term to describe the pop cult conquest of South Korea in world culture, is a deliberate and successful program supported by both government and private sectors.  It was well planned with short and long term prospects --- and was fully supported by funds.

Thus to aspire for a Filipino film to even be nominated for an Oscar is an uphill battle of pre-planning, strategizing, marketing and monetizing.

The Philippine selection committee is appointed by the FAP: criteria for the selection of the committee are based on the following:

(a) Professional expertise:  requiring at least an 8 year experience in filmmaking, criticism, curation or the academe, identified as a respected personality in the film community.

(b) Diversity and representation: committee members must represent commercial and independent filmmaking as well as that of the knowledge of regions and the gamut of possible narratives to constitute national cinema.

(c) Independence and impartiality

(d) Knowledge of Academy of  Motion Picture Arts and Sciences  (AMPAS) rules

(e) Transparency: FAP will publicly disclose committee membership, selection criteria and a summary of the deliberations and processes without identifying particular votation details

(f) Commitment to evaluation: assurance that all selection committee members have watched all the films under consideration.

There are seven committee members who will watch, evaluate and deliberate on which of the films submitted will be the official Philippine entry to the Oscars.

Among the members, a Chairman will be selected.  The Chairman will conduct and moderate the discussion but will not vote unless there is a tie.

This year's board members have already been selected.  Their names were submitted to the AMPAS for examination and approval.  Together with this, the FAP also sent its criteria for selection.  These include:

(a) Narrative strength: originality, coherence and impact of the film

(b) Artistic merit: technical craftsmanship of the material

(c) Cultural representation: authenticity in reflecting Philippine stories, values or perspectives on issues

(d) International Appeal: potential of the film to resonate with international audiences

(e) Ability to execute a campaign upon selection

This further clarifies that the short list for eventual consideration and examination is through the submission of producers for possible inclusion in the Oscar deliberations.  This is done through the response of producers to an open call made by the FAP inviting producers to submit their films for the selection committee to view and evaluate.  

The FAP can also invite producers to submit their films for consideration.  If the FAP feels that there are certain films not submitted by producers but deserve to be included in the viewing of the Selection Committee, the FAP can reach out to these producers and invite them to submit their entries with the necessary paperwork.

This procedure is followed because of the responsibility of the producer to invest more funds if and when their film is selected: campaigning and marketing the film (as I mentioned earlier) is as important as the aesthetic merits of the material.

Consider the number of foreign films submitted each year for the Academy members to screen and vote on, especially in the International Film criteria.  In order to be noticed, there is a need for a full fledged coordinated and well planned campaign for the title to enter the radar of the Academy voters.

Moreover the importance of international exposure throughout the year gives an advantage to certain films most especially if they have been invited to major film festivals ( Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Toronto, etc.) and win attention during their exhibition or competitive screenings.  Winning awards in these festivals bring familiarity and therefore curiosity for the title, giving an advantage for foreign audiences to want to screen the film ... to affirm the accolades that the movie received.

That is why shortlisted films that have gone through the major festival routes have a built-in advantage of being selected --- most especially if they have already found foreign distributors who could help in the campaign for the final showdown.  Getting a major foreign distributor as well as an international publicist give further traction to the film  to even be screened by the Academy members.  Once selected as a national representative, the game has changed into careful planning and strategic marketing.

You do not and cannot win --- or even be nominated  --- through aesthetics alone. You need a well designed and well-oiled campaign.  And money.

It is but simplistic to think that having a good film and warranting collective praise from the audience are enough to qualify as an Oscar contender.  There is an entire science and business behind all this. A good movie still requires the buzz from the audience, the excitement to cross borders and the energy to sustain and strategize just to be shortlisted in the derby.

Through all the ninety-eight years of the Oscars, only one film of recent note made it close to being shortlisted for the final assessment.  Carl Papa's animated Iti Mapukpukaw (2023) was cited by Variety Magazine as one of the films worth the watch.  And if only for that, we know that we can keep on hoping.

So let's keep on trying as well. 

A TEACHER'S PRIVATE PAIN ON THE DEATH OF HIS STUDENT

 I intended to return to my blog to discuss something else but tonight I find it a need to ventilate whatever it is that I am feeling inside this ancient heart.

It is not easy to be a teacher.  Everyone who has made a life or even dabbled into education realizes that there is truth to the rumor:  you do not get rich teaching.  You spend sleepless hours preparing lectures, checking papers and computing grades with stone-etched deadlines --- but you do not get rich.  

Teaching is not a profession.  It is a vocation .  And in certain semesters/trimesters/quarters, it is an act of self-flagelation.

You never stop learning if you decide to teach.  You ever stop working. 

And the lessons only play a part of being a teacher.  After years of teaching, I have come to realize that the greater part of teaching is you as a teacher.  Students nowadays can get more concise and precise lessons from the internet: YouTube can provide you with all the lessons --- whether conceptual or technical --- if you knew how and what to look for.

But no internet video can duplicate the influence of a teacher.  In the same manner, every class is not a one-way learning process.  The teacher learns as much from his students.  If he does not, then he has fallen short of his mission.  Indeed, it is not the lesson alone that matters --- but the very being of the teacher in what he teaches, what he proposes, what he explains --- that is as important to the students.

And in my years of teaching I have come to realize that there is nothing more gratifying than to see the success that my students garnered.  Nothing fills my heart with more pride than to see the heights that my students climbed --- and how they have affected and even changed the lives of others.  Somehow I feel that somewhere along the way ... a part of me was given to them that mattered in whatever extent.

I have never boasted of the roster of students who once sat in my classroom in De la Salle University but I feel that their names along have scored me terrific points in heaven.  Leila de Lima, Kim Jacinto-Henares, Cesar Purisima, Benhur Abalos --- just to name a few of the countless others who once-upon-a-time had to sit behind a desk and listen to my lectures.

That is also why being a teacher is such a personal thing.  You cannot help it.  There will be some students who will eventually become your kids. Way before, they were your friends --- but nowadays I found out that I am teaching the children of the first batches of students I handled in the late 70s and early 80s.  Those "kids" I had then are now Senior citizens like me : when I get invited to these spur of the moment reunions, I realize just how much the students have played so much a part of my life ... and defined my timeline.

That is why when one of my students leave this life so prematurely ... so unexpectedly I cannot help but feel not only heartbroken. I am devastated.

Late last night I found out that one of the final batch of students I welcomed to the Film Program of the College of Saint Benilde has passed.  I was in complete shock, asking myself how this could have happened.  Earlier today I found out that this was the boy who won a scholarship because of the outstanding work he did in Senior High school and that he was all too eager to be part of the Benildean film community.

The circumstances surrounding his death made it all the more painful --- as it had affected not only his peers and classmates but also his teachers.

Even if I am not close to this young man --- and that our encounters were few and quite some time ago, I am still trying to figure out why this has such an impact on me.  I need not think hard: it is the feeling of disappointment that all that talent, all that enthusiasm has come to an abrupt end.  All the potential, all the promise.

It also makes me wonder why. Or if anybody could have done something to change the sequence of events.  But such thoughts only come as an aftermath.  What is real is what is true: we have lost one of our best students in the Film Program and it is so saddening.

But for a teacher it is not merely the feeling of loss.  It is the pain of losing somebody who was at a time entrusted to you --- someone who hopefully listened to you and you wish you were there for him right to the very end.

Never underestimate the importance a teacher gives his students.  I remember somebody asking me, "You have a chosen a life that deprives you of having children.  Aren't you afraid that there is no one you can leave your legacy?"  I told him, "Are you kidding?  Every fourteen weeks in La Salle, I have twenty to twenty-five even forty children who will bring me in their hearts for the rest of their lives.  I will never run out of legacy."

Not will I ever grow numb with the pain --- when one of my children leave me.

THE METROMANILA FILM FESTIVAL ON ITS GOLDEN YEAR (1)

 There was an extraordinary amount of preparation given to the MetroManila Film Festival this year.  Not only because the 2023 edition was most successful with its top grosser Rewind earning more than a billion worldwide, but significant movies like Firefly and Gomburza were not only critical but commercial successes.

But the 2024 edition is exceptionally special.  This is the 50th year of the All-Filipino Christmas Film Festival and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is determined to make this event as memorable as possible.  Even during the launch held at the Manila City Hall, the MMDA already emphasized that the curation of this year's films must represent the best of the best that Filipino cinema can offer.  And, in fairness, in terms of diversity of choices and genres, the promise was more or less fulfilled.

If one measures this year's curation by star power alone, then the Golden MMFF is the one to beat.  Never did one festival gather names like Vic Sotto, Vice Ganda, Vilma Santos, Aga Muhlach, Tirso Cruz III, Piolo Pascual, Judy Ann Santos, Lorna Tolentino, Eugene Domingo and Dennis Trillo in its roster of entries.  This only signifies the premium given by local producersa to this year's festival most especially after the jackpot turnout for Rewind which promises the possibility of raking in a billion.

And in all fairness, the selection of the movies cuts across all the genres that are palatable to the local audiences.

There are some suprises that required courage on the part of the industry icons: What? Vice Ganda doing a dramatic role as a returning OFW with a promise of a very different ending far from what his fans have seen for the past so many years?  What? Vic Sotto sheds off his Enteng Kabisote costume to don that of a Lakan, the highest official in The Kingdom complete with full military entourage and prancing and dancing babaylan? To see is to believe.

Did somebody actually have the courage and nobility of spirit to bring to the screen the musical rendition of National Artist Ishmael Bernal's classic Himala written by another Pambansang Alagad ng Sining Ricky Lee with music by Vincent de Jesus?  The musical was a hit onstage when it was performed to capacity crowds but would the same theater going audience flock to cinemas this Christmas to watch an all theater cast led by the luminous Aicelle Santos in the role immortalized by yet another National Artist Nora Aunor? Sige nga. Let us see where this goes.  Let us see if that thousands of pesos ticket-paying theater audience will invest four hundred bucks to see the movie version of this iconic musical directed by Gomburza's Pepe Diokno.

Green Bones  is a story of morality, of moral compass --- of who we believe is good or who we easily judge as evil.  It is a tale so well personified by Dennis Trillo and his posse of fellow inmates who indicate the goodness in every man,  despite the sins they have committed against society.  The story is much deeper than what it seems if one is willing to address the questions being raised: what makes true goodness in a person?  Now that is something worth thinking about and watching.

Then there are two kinds of horror movies.

Of course horror is a most patok genre each MMFF: people love to be terrified while singing Silent Night and calling this engagement a barkada movie.  No one wants to watch a horror movie alone which is why you have both Judy Ann Santos and Lorna Tolentino with the comeback of one of the best character actresses around, Chanda Romero, in Chito Rono's slow burn Espantaho. Remember, this is from the director who brought you Feng Shui and Ang Mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan.  In other words, with Santos and Tolentino and Romero thrown into the pot, you can figure out that this is not cheap thrills.

Then there is Strange Frequencies which is a local adaptation of a Korean movie about a bunch of influencer ghosthunters led by Enrique Gil as himself.  This troop of millennials are out for some fun and games ... and harvesting more followers for their livestream leading to you-know-what.  This is Blair Witch Project Redux with actors playing themselves in a world gone completely meta.

The romance movies must be there from Regal and Viva.  My Future You stars a charming love team of kids whose chemistry onscreen goes over and beyond the marketing of studios.  Francine Diaz and Seth Fedelin are not exactly fresh faces but gleam with such charm and empathy in a rather familiar trope of a movie with interesting twists to make the narrative look new. This promises to be the dark horse in this dog-eat-dog battle of movies if only due to the fact that it is the sole G-Rated movie in the entire menu.

Viva sets its entry somewhere in Japan where a confused and confusing Carlo Aquino meets an equally confused and confusing Julia Barretto in what turned out to be a confused and confusing romance set against fields of yellow blooms and hazy Japanese winter skies. Whew!  That says it all. It is a story about forgiveness ... to let go of the past but more so to be kinder to one's self by moving on.

Then there is Richard Somes with his trademark action movie Topakk which already had a screening at the Cannes Film Festival Market.  True to Somes' brand of action, it is all about keeping you at the edge of your seat with non-stop tension and a fair share of blood to make you think that this feature was co-sponsored by the Philippine Red Cross.  Arjo Atayde takes his role seriously --- and I mean seriously --- to wrestle through the action scenes with utmost conviction.

Uninvited could have a local title called Ang Mama ni Angela Markado.  

If you talk production value, then ask no further. This Vilma Santos-Aga Muhlach-Nadine Lustre  starrer reverberates of real life events in the past ... of a man in power having virgin like coeds kidnapped, raped and killed by his henchmen. The movie covers an entire party where all the guests look like they belong to that kind of party ... and where everyone spoke in eloquent La Salle and Ateneo English. And to think at the heart of all this is a revenge movie where the grief and anger of a mother make her do near-impossible feats.

It will be such a waste to miss out this year's festival if one has this pre-conceived notion that Filipino movies do not deserve even a single day of their holidays.

This is one MetroManila Filmfest where commercialism is not a shameless display of reductive or even pandering movies meant to cater to the most superficial level of human intelligence.  Instead, some of these movies are well thought-out, all are well produced but most of all, the ten films want to bring back the audiences to the moviehouses where their narratives can be savored properly as a community experience --- as a celebration of Christmas.

Kaya sige na. Nood na tayo.  Puwede?

FOR MANNY C. ON HIS 70th BIRTHDAY

Dear Manolet: 

You would have turned seventy this 20th day of August.

It took me more than a month before I could write this blog.  Somehow, I needed the time and the distance to digest everything that happened.  It was not easy that in about six weeks, two people who are so close to my heart left this life that resulted this gaping hole in my existence.  

I had a really bad feeling when I saw you during that dinner held at my house when the friends decided to get together for no reason at all aside from getting together.

I had warned the others who arrived earlier not to react to how you looked because the previous time we saw each other was on the set of a series I was doing --- and I did not have the guts to tell you that you did not look good --- or even ask you if anything was wrong.  That was less than a year ago --- and when you arrived at my residence, we were all shocked at the physical deterioration that had taken place.

You said you were not feeling well --- and we knew you are not well at all.  That was why our friend Erick literally dragged you to the hospital the following Monday to make sure that we knew what was wrong with you.

And find out we did.

We were convincing you to have yourself further checked ... but you were hesitant.  I knew you well enough to know what went on in your mind when you displayed this kind of behavior. And I knew that the more I insisted, the more you would stand your ground.  Despite all the cajoling from both Erick and I, you always found an excuse for delay.  You said you will have yourself confined when you were ready.

That was why a little after a month from the dinner I received word from your nephew that you already died.

Manny, I did not know how to react.  I was about to give a speech when I got the text message stating that they found your lifeless body perhaps more than twenty-four hours after you expired.  We always warned you about living alone ---   but you always had fifteen thousand reasons why you did not want a live-in housekeeper or domestic companion.  After much argumentation I would mutter in exasperation, "Bahala ka."

So even to the very end you never wanted anyone living with you 24/7.  You asked me if I knew of someone who can be your part-time companion with a specification: "Gusto ko yung lalake na mauutus-utusan. Ayoko ng babae. Maarte." And I laughed.  

I did not know that that was the last conversation we would ever have.

Even if more than a month has come to pass I still have not fully absorbed the fact that you are gone.  Although we would not talk for stretches of time ... for one reason or another ... it was different when I knew you were just a text message or a phone call away.  When our schedules got all messed up or I was too preoccupied filling my days with work, we could waste months with absolutely no communication.  But then each time we find ourselves in conversation, it was as if the time that elapsed did not matter.  Every encounter was only the continuation of a timeline of friendship.

As it should be.  Everyone who knew us were aware that we met when we were eight years old.  

You just moved three houses away from where I lived in Pasay City ---- and one fine day you saw me playing cards by myself and you pushed open the gate of my house to ask if you could join me in a game of ... Old Maid.   How were we to know that this would be a premonition of sorts.

It was years later when we saw each other again at the canteen of then De la Salle College.  Again, one of our favorite shared anecdotes was how we reacted when our eyes chanced on each other and you went, "Joey?" and I tentatively asked, "Manolet?" and what followed was an ear-piercing scream that was heard all the way to Taft Avenue.  

Ever since then we were inseparable.  It was always Joey and Manny. We laughed the same laugh.  We had a delicious way of sharing stories.  We swapped opinions --- and, boy, did we really bitch in a manner that our lacerating wit can conceive.

Now when I look back, I realize that in all the major moments of my life, you were there.  

You were in the cast of my very first successful professional endeavor as a writer in The Boys in the Band in Taglish, directed by Tony Espejo and staged in Hotel Mirador, running close to two years.

You were in the cast of the very first sitcom I wrote for then BBC Channel 2, directed by the late Quito CuUnjieng entitled Sandy's Cousin, starring Ronald Bregendahl and meant as the launching pad for a beautiful new talent named Sandy Andolong.  Remember how you and I together with Benggot PeBenito would spend the day in school then take a Love Bus ride all the way to Broadcast City because our taping started at 12 midnight to about seven the next morning?  Then we would just go home, change clothes then go back to school for the classes we taught?

You were in the most important movie of my writing career: I remember asking Peque Gallaga if I can create a character for you and I was overjoyed when he agreed.  Shooting Oro, Plata, Mata was a joy because you, Don Escudero and I were together in one frenzied night when we shot the opening party scene.  The following day we shot the ending of the movie --- I wrote the role of Emilio based on the idea of Gallaga to show the change of power in the sexes as a result of the devastation of the war.  You were in the opening and closing of the movie --- but more important was the fact that the three of us ( you, Don and I) were together for that once in a lifetime experience.

And you were cast in the very first movie I directed.  I do not remember how many movies I have written and directed that you played one role or another ... but it was the comfort of having you on the set ... or the fact that there was always someone there to infect everybody with laughter.

Or the time when I decided to move out of my parents' house and asked you to accompany in my house hunting where we ended up in the South Syquia Apartments in MH del Pilar suddenly awed by the beautiful art deco architecture.  That was when you impulsively decided to move out of your family home as well: I remember the day we moved into Syquia in our separate residences --- you on the second floor of Building 2 while I was on the fourth.  And some people actually thought that we were living together because we had the same address.

There were too many memories to share. I mean, it could not be helped.  We have known each other for sixty-one years which was more than a lifetime for unfortunate others.  We both lived through the Remedios Circle days when that was the most fashionable area of the city: we survived Coco Banana, Subway and all the other clubs where it was a weekly ritual to party from Saturday evening until sunrise of Sunday.

There were the New Year's Eve parties you hosted in your apartment where you actually dedicated time and effort to cook a terrific meal for your friends as we greeted each passage of yet another landmark in our lives.  You would take out your best silver and flaunt your culinary talent --- something about you that very few people knew.  We had spent so many new year's eve together that I wrote a song to celebrate those unforgettable occasions: "Isang Taong Lumipas" was made even more unforgettable by the music of Ryan Cayabyab.

We lived through all that.  And later those vacations in Boracay, those crazy trips to Hong Kong and Bangkok.  I got to see how you viciously collected those Versace plates that you carefully arranged in a buffet cabinet that came crashing down during an earthquake.  I remember how you were in a state of shock after finding a dozen or so plates diminished into shards and how you casually and non-challantly shrugged your shoulders and said, "Oh, well." 

That was so much like you for you never show others how you felt or what went inside your mind.  You never wanted anyone to catch your vulnerabilities or make others feel responsible for your problems ... down to the very end.

Yes, these past few years we had our differences because of choices we made.

But despite the arguments we had about politics, we never really let that create a crack so big that it could become irreperable. We may not agree on a lot of things to the point that I unfriended you in Facebook because I found your online ranting toxic ----and hurting the feelings of so many people we knew. But, in the end, we just never talked about it.  You never asked me why I cut my social media connections with you.  There was more to our friendship than the ramblings of politics to put an end to a lifetime of camaraderie.  

That is why even after so many weeks that you have left, I am still not used to the fact that you are no longer there.

We will soon have another dinner in my house --- and that empty seat will remind all of us that this space was reserved for you... only you.

We will miss you as we are missing you now and I know that all my life I will be missing my best friend.  But to quote a line from that song, "It is the laughter that we will remember ..." because that was something you gave me for sixty-two years.

And I know that you are somewhere out there (with Don) chattering endlessly, bitching at your best and perhaps remembering too ... remembering the best of years when Don, you and I shared the same table and lived our lives like no other.

Only a few remember that your nickname was not Manny but Manolet.

Happy birthday, Manolet.

FOR MOTHER LILY ON HER 85TH BIRTHDAY

 An era in Philippine cinema ended on 04 August 2024.

The passing of Lily Monteverde, more popularly known as Mother Lily, was felt like a blow that hurt the heart the movie industry in our country.  Regardless of what you felt or thought of her, the woman was and will always be one of giants who showed the direction and shaped cinema in our country.

It is hard to underestimate the value of Mother Lily's contribution to our culture.  The film library of Regal Films stretches not only through decades but generations of movie productions handled by Filipino directors whose voices have become benchmarks in the history of our popular culture.

Yes, there are the works of National Artists for Film like Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Ricky Lee and Marilou Diaz-Abaya ... but also included are the films of the popular and commercial icons like Luciano B. Carlos (known as Tatay Chaning), Mike Relon Makiling and, of course, Elwood Perez and Joey Gosiengfiao.  One cannot run through the films made in the seventies straight throughto the nineties without pointing to Regal Films as one of the the epicenters of popular culture.

For if there is Mike de Leon's Sister Stella L., then there is the iconic Temptation Island of Joey Gosiengfiao. Regal was the home of the most important films of Ishmael Bernal ( Relasyon, Broken Marriage, Hinugot Sa Langit ) Even to this day, the works of Pablo S. Gomez turned into popular movies like Tatay Chaning's Inday trilogy ( Inday Bote, Inday, Inday sa Balitaw and Super Inday and the Magic Bibe) are still being talked about and used as points of reference in studying what and how it was the latter years of the past century.

Without Mother Lily there would be no Regal Babies.

The names of Maricel Soriano, Snooky Serna, Dina Bonnevie, Gabby Concepcion, William and Albert Martinez are still familiar because they belonged to that generation of stars who were not sparks in the dark.  They had lasting power and credibility because they represented more than popularity but more of talent.

Then of course the roster of Regal Stars must including Gina Alajar, Rio Locsin, Alma Morenom, Lorna Tolentino and  the late Cherie Gil who all donned that magic kamison used in posters and promotional materials to sell films like Disgrasiyada, Diborsiyada, Separada and even The Rape of Virginia P and Waikiki.  How could anyone discuss 20th century Philippine movies without addressing these names and faces who defined popular entertainment of that time?

What is little known to the larger audience is just how much Lily Monteverde laid the ground for the blossoming of young filmmakers but believing in their talent but more so by being a major movie fan herself.

Mother Lily never shied away in admitting that she started out as this rebellious kolehiyala who joined the throngs waiting outside the gate of Sampaguita Pictures in Gilmore Avenue just to catch a glimpse of her favorite movie stars.  That movie fan mentality translated to a sincere and deep love for movies --- which gave this producer the sense of trust and even bewilderment to the creativity and the need for independence of screenwriters and directors.  

Back in those days there were no creative committees, no creative managers : there was only the producer with the director and his writer --- and for Mother Lily, that was enough.  She believed in the importance of creative identity, leaving each director the right to issue his thumbprint on his work ---- so that no two movies can ever sound and look alike.  Under Mother's productions, you would know the Elwood Perez movie from that of a Gosiengfiao. You can see the personality of a Maryo J. de los Reyes movie or that of Mel Chionglo. 

Even on the first ten minutes of the film's viewing you will know that this is a Rono movie ... or a Lamangan. Or an Erik Matti.

Yes, Mother was far from perfect.  As a matter of fact, it is safe to call her beautifully insane.

Her unpredictability, her mood swings from hysterical laughter to ... uh, pure hysteria are all that she was and will always be remembered.  But it is that ability to be completely unpredictable that made her both unnerving as well as endearing.

Yes, there are all the complaints about working conditions but only those in her inner circle were fully aware of what she was going through in terms of the financial struggles in certain periods of Regal's history.  Mother Lily would never shared that with anyone her trials and woes because by being a fighter, by being a survivor she succeeded in keeping Regal afloat to become the oldest existing movie studio today.

Although many know Lily Monteverde by name ... only those who had been given the opportunity to know her personally can vouch that her public persona fell short of showing what kind of a person she was.  Simply put, the term mother was most appropriate because she was exactly that.  If you had won her trust and heart, then you would have been shown the generosity and care that she gave her closest friends and associates.  She was not a mother only by name ... because she took the role seriously in quietly and privately caring for people who she knew cared for her and her children.

People may remember Mother Lily as a producer ... but for some of us who have shared a substantial part of our lives with her, the woman shall and will always remain as irreplaceable and in so many ways incomparable.

I have said it so many times before and I will say it again: if it were not for Mother Lily, I would not be here where I stand and speak and write today.

I have been blessed to have her as a part not only of my professional life ... but as a second mother who took care of me when  all the rest have given up on me.  She was a rock of strength for me ... and by her memory alone I am sure there are so many others who find fortitude by the sheer example of her life.

Thank you once again, Mother. Happy birthday and may you have found the eternal peace and happiness that you so deserve,

You will never be forgotten because there are so many who will always love you.