The lesson GMA should have learned from her father - STARBYTES by Butch Francisco

With this big headache Live Show is giving President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, I’m inclined to believe that film as a 20th century art form is more of a bane than a boon to the Macapagal family.

Thirty six years ago, the Macapagal administration’s decision to withhold the exhibition of a locally-produced film exploded like a bomb on the face of Arroyo’s father, then Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal.

This happened at the height of the 1965 presidential race. The late President Macapagal was seeking reelection and was up against one of the brightest names in Philippine politics: Ferdinand E. Marcos.

As part of his campaign strategy, Marcos had his life story made into a movie (it was actually Ernesto Maceda’s idea) – with 777 Film Organization financing the movie. (Sampaguita Pictures supervised the production and acted as distributor.) The result was Iginuhit ng Tadhana, starring Luis Gonzales as Ferdinand Marcos, Gloria Romero as Imelda, Vilma Santos as Imee, Bongbong Marcos as himself, Chona Vera-Perez (now Amptil) as Irene and Rosa Mia as Doña Josefa.

Directed by Conrado Conde (the brother of Gerry de Leon), in collaboration with Jose de Villa and Mar Torres, the movie (written by Emmanuel Borlaza) focused on the Nalundasan case and how Marcos brilliantly defended himself in court, his exploits in Bataan during the Second World War, his colorful political career and his family life.

From Day One of shooting, the film already encountered various production problems. The military, for one, wouldn’t lend Sampaguita Pictures firearms to be used as props in the war scenes. Luis Gonzales as Marcos therefore ended up using a wooden rifle in the film. In spite of the numerous production problems it encountered, the movie was still finished in time for the exhibition.

Iginuhit ng Tadhana put the Macapagal boys in a quandary. They knew that film was a very powerful medium and could be used as a political tool. It was used by Magsaysay in Magsaysay is My Guy, by the late Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson in The Arsenio Lacson Story (with Fred Montilla playing the mayor) and even Macapagal himself in The Poor Boy from Lubao.

Initially, Iginuhit ng Tadhana was approved for exhibition by the review committee assigned by the board of censors. It went on a test-run in the provinces where it was well-received by the public. This was bad news to the Macapagal administration. The President’s people therefore had the film’s permit recalled. (Very much like what happened to Live Show).

The recall order, however, was not issued until after the well-heeled guests to the film’s premiere night had already gathered at the Rizal Theater. As soon as everyone had taken his seat, Ernie Maceda went on stage only to tell the disappointed crowd that the film’s exhibition permit had been withdrawn by the board of censors. The people who had trooped to the Rizal Theater had two options that evening: Watch a foreign film in lieu of Iginuhit ng Tadhana or have cocktails at the theater lobby.

Majority of the people marched downstairs and munched their canapés with gritted teeth. They were angry – very angry and frustrated at the way the Macapagal administration had suppressed freedom of expression.

The film’s producers, of course, didn’t take the decision of the Board of Censors sitting down. They promptly dragged the censors body to court. At the Court of First Instance, Iginuhit ng Tadhana was again given the permit to be shown in movie theaters.

The court battle, however, didn’t end there. The case was brought by the Board of Censors to the Court of Appeals and was eventually elevated to the Supreme Court. The final verdict made Marcos and his producers very happy. Iginuhit ng Tadhana was again given permit to be shown publicly all over the country.

The Iginuhit ng Tadhana case was so sensational, it was heard by three different courts in just a matter of weeks.

When the film was eventually shown in movie theaters, it turned out to be a huge box-office hit. And by the time the presidential elections came around, Marcos had become so popular and well-loved by the masses, he brought Diosdado Macapagal down on his knees.

There were probably other factors why Macapagal lost in his bid for reelection. But old timers in the movie industry believe that the Macapagal administration's attempt to ban the exhibition of Iginuhit ng Tadhana made Macapagal a villain – and that proved to be his undoing.

The late President Diosdado Macapagal passed on to his daughter, now President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, this very wise dictum: Do your best and God will do the rest.

I don’t mean to desecrate the memory of President Macapagal, but with the negative repercussions brought about by his admnistration’s censorship of Iginuhit, maybe he should have also shared with his daughter this one valuable lesson: Never suppress freedom of expression.