‘Maid’ made in Malacañang?

By Herbert Vego

TWO movies with contrary motives are opening in mall theaters (mostly in Metro Manila) today. One of them, “Maid in Malacañang,” has been heavily advertised as “an untold story of the last 72 hours of the Marcoses inside Malacañang Palace before fleeing to Hawaii.”

Untold?  Since it has been told and retold in both the national and international media thousands of times, one gets the impression that it is meant to revise history.

The other, “Katips,” is a musical drama re-enacting the rise of student activism during the pre- and post-martial law administration of dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

I don’t have to see these movies to visualize the abuses of power committed by the military and the police.  As a student journalist who covered student activism as early as the “first quarter storm” in 1970, I personally witnessed how “the New Society” turned democracy into autocracy.

The trailers of both movies are on YouTube.  See for yourselves and choose which one to believe. As far as I am concerned, I know from its trailer that the “Maid in Malacañang” is a step aimed at rewriting history.

Do we see the hands of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. behind the making of the movie?

Literally not, but his sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, has been busy selling millions of pesos worth of tickets — wholesale to schools and civic organizations — to ensure its box-office “success”.

Unfortunately for the Marcoses, some of them have been “brave” enough to refuse the tickets. To Chinese-Filipino Teresita Ang See – founder of the Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran – the movie displays total disregard for integrity, and disrespect for the truth and historical facts.

A scene in the movie shows the late Cory Aquino (portrayed by actress Giselle Sanchez) playing mahjong with three nuns in Cebu City while the 1986 People Power Revolution was unfolding at EDSA. It never happened, according to one of the nuns so depicted. While Cory (the true winner in the Feb. 11 snap presidential election) was indeed in a Cebu convent, it was to keep herself safe.

The night scene depicting student demonstrators attempting to torch Malacañang Palace while demanding for the elder Marcos’ ouster was a half-truth because in reality, they carried no torches.

The movie is a “tsismis” passed on to movie director Darryl Yap, 35, who had not been born yet when People Power put an end to the 20-year Marcos regime.

“Katips,” on the other hand, does not have to be rammed into movie goers. The mere fact that it won seven awards in the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards (FAMAS) held last July 30 would be good enough to draw standing ovation.

“Katips” – directed and starred in by lawyer Vince Tañada — had earlier reaped raves and awards, too, at the World Film Carnival in Singapore.

-oOo-

NO MORE DOUBT ON FRANCHISE EXPANSION

IN yesterday’s issue of this paper, editor-in-chief Francis Allan Angelo correctly concluded that House Bill No. 10306, amending RA 11212, had become a law even if neither the former nor the present President had signed it.

The bill expands the franchise of Iloilo City’s power-distribution utility to the towns of Alimodian, Anilao, Banate, Barotac Nuevo, Dingle, Dueñas, Dumangas, Leganes, Leon, New Lucena, Pavia, San Enrique, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Zarraga, and Passi City.

Residents of those places had been clamoring for the entry of MORE Power for an already obvious reason.  It would not disenfranchise Iloilo Electric Cooperative.

On the contrary, competition with MORE would compel it to improve its services.

As a rule, a bill may become a law, even without the President’s signature, if the President does not sign it within 30 days from receipt in his office. Indeed, more than 30 days have passed since the bill as approved by Congress reached President Duterte’s office on June 29, 2022, or one day before the former President stepped out of office.

It follows that effective July 30, the new President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., would no longer be in a legal position to veto it.

Until that date, the people in the aforementioned municipalities were uneasy because five other bills unsigned by Duterte had been vetoed by Marcos. The veto could only be overridden by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

One of the vetoed bills had sought to extend the franchise area of Davao Light and Power Co. from Davao City to Northern Davao.