In 1980, Armida Siguion-Reyna bought the rights to show the Gawad Urian on television for a then princely sum of P25,000. If I am not mistaken, this was the year Lino Brocka refused to accept his Best Director trophy (for Jaguar) from the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. I was still in school then, was years away from being a member of this local critics’ group and didn’t see the telecast — and so I wasn’t sure if that was the time Brocka staged his walkout (although I was told by the Manunuri elders that he still lingered in the lobby until after the awards ceremonies).
On record, we can say that Armida was one of the very few TV producers who didn’t rob the Manunuri members blind because she paid in full the royalties agreed upon by both parties. Other investors took advantage of the fact that the Manunuri members have no business sense and merely disappeared after the awards night.
Fortunately, there were also other producers who dealt with this organization of film reviewers fairly and they were Dr. Grace Javier Alfonso (she wasn’t a member yet, but co-produced the 1989 awards presentation with Baby Barreiro), Tessie Celestino-Howard (1990-2001) and Antonio P. Tuviera (2002-2007 — all supervised by the ever professional executive producer, Malou Choa-Fagar).
But it is Armida who should be credited for taking the initial risk on the Urian — notwithstanding the fact that the Manunuri members do not go for the popular choices and their awards presentation is not expected to be as star-studded compared to the others. I can imagine she produced the show not to make money, but to help announce the names of the winners being honored by the film critics’ group through the wide reach of television because what is the point of honoring achievements in film if nobody else knows about it?
Between producing for movies and TV, she once told me that television is a walk in the park. For as long as you have sponsors supporting your program, the income comes regularly, she said. Investing on films, however, is risky because if the movie flops, you can only hope you are able to break even through auxiliary rights — like selling the film to television and video that eventually ends up being pirated anyway.
As a film producer, Armida tried to put order into the business of moviemaking. Tired of chasing after her lead stars to make themselves available for shoots, she made sure no one among her stars would be able to engage in disappearing acts anymore by doing her movies in the remotest areas of the archipelago as much as possible. Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte was a favorite location site for her because that isolated her stars — making it impossible for them to shuttle between two shoots, a bad habit of actors in their prime back then.
Working in Pagudpud also discouraged boyfriends of lead actresses from visiting the set. This way the heroines were able to focus on their acting job — without getting distracted by outside forces.
Husbands of actresses were allowed on the set, however — like in the case of Tito Molina because he and Rosanna Roces were husband and wife when Osang did Ligaya ang Itawag Mo sa Akin and Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya.
It was also Armida who got Rosanna out of her old contract with Seiko Films that paid her peanuts for making sex flicks — the likes of Basa sa Dagat and Patikim ng Piña. For all the money Rosanna brought to the film company, she received dimes and nickels. But Armida, who saw the huge potential in Rosanna as a performer, found a legal way out of the actress’ ties with Seiko and this allowed her to work for Reyna Films.
That was such a bonanza for Rosanna. In time she also hit the P5-M mark when she did La Vida Rosa for Star Cinema.
Good for Armida, too. That gamble paid off because both Ligaya ang Itawag Mo sa Akin and Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya made money at the box-office. Rosanna, however, was the bigger winner between the two because by doing Ligaya under the direction of two-time Urian winner Carlos Siguion-Reyna, she eventually received the respect she had longed for as a performer. It was in this critically-acclaimed film where she got her first Urian acting nomination. From that time on, she became a perennial Urian nominee for Best Actress — until she snagged it finally in 2001 for La Vida Rosa (she is in the running again this year for Wanted: Border).
But more than her systematic way of producing movies, Armida is being honored by the Manunuri members for the quality of films she had churned out in a span of more than two decades. Whether it was she who bankrolled her own money or was line-producing it for another company, the project always had quality.
Not surprisingly, if you go over the list of Urian nominees for Best Picture, there was always a movie produced by Armida. My personal favorites are Misis Mo, Misis Ko, which she line-produced for Viva Films and Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, which came from her own production (both were directed by Carlitos).
In 1981, she line-produced Salome (directed by Laurice Guillen) for Bancom Audio-vision and it won Urian Best Picture. Hihintayin Kita sa Langit was this close to getting the Urian prize in 1991, but lost to Laurice’s Ipagpatawad Mo (Viva Films). Oh, but Armida was again a big winner the following year when Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal won Urian Best Picture (Carlitos also went home with his second Urian Best Director trophy for this film).
Moviemaking is a business, but Armida was never the type of producer who would shortchange the public by giving them inferior film products (her technical elements, particularly the music, were always outstanding). Of course, many a times she lost money on some of her projects even if these were of prime quality. But such efforts do not always go unrewarded in show business.
On April 29, Armida will be the recipient of the Manunuri’s Natatanging Gawad Urian, which will be held at the UP Cine Adarna (formerly UP Film Center) and will later be telecast over Cinema One.
This lifetime achievement award is one honor Armida so richly deserves for all the contributions she poured into the business of filmmaking — in her case, quality filmmaking.