A good month to be Filipino

When it rains, it pours, they say. Thank God, with all the awful things happening in our country, September turned out to be a great month to be a Filipino. Here’s a timeline showing why.

Sept. 6: "Maxi" wins in Montreal

That afternoon, while I spent the day watching the cause for impeachment die on TV, I received a text message from Jeffrey Jeturian saying my favorite movie won a major prize in Montreal.

Producer Raymond Lee described the moment in an e-mail sent to his friends:

"Twelve hours ago our film Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros won the Golden Zenith award for Best First Film at the closing ceremonies of the 29th Montreal World Film Festival.

"The jury, composed of Godfrey Cheshire (USA) Loic Magneron (France), and Paul Toutant (Canada), announced the prize, saying, ‘For its impressive quasi-documentary style and its spirit of humanity and tolerance, the jury unanimously awards the Golden Zenith to The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros from the Philippines.’

"Umakyat kami ni Auraeus (Solito, our director) sa stage para tanggapin ang award. Auraeus’s voice was breaking with emotion and his speech moved many in the audience. He said that this award was empowering and inspiring to all the independent filmmakers in the Philippines and that digital filmmaking has equalized the expression of third-world countries with first-world countries.

"He added, ‘We are poor but not in spirit.’ I said that the Filipinos are among the happiest people in the world despite all our problems and thanked them for making our country even happier with this award.

"Later, many told me our acceptance was the high point of the awarding, especially Auraeus’s highly charged, emotional speech. 

"Everyone praised all our actors, especially Nathan Lopez who played Maxi. A number of filmmakers – some in the same competition as us – said ours was the one they liked best among the films they saw in the festival, and kept spreading the word. Many told us they were bowled over by the music in the film and kept asking about Pepe Smith and the love song by Mike Villegas and Bayang Barrios.

"Backstage, one of the jury members told us that if there was an acting award they would have unanimously voted for Nathan Lopez. Another jury member thanked us for making a film that moved them in a very deep way."

Sept. 11: Pacman wins the super featherweight title

I completely forgot 9/11.

My husband loves boxing, having once been a kickboxer himself while working in Sydney. Before going out to Sunday lunch one morning, we watched a little bit of Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Hector Velasquez on TV.

My husband explained that Manny needed to win this badly, otherwise his career is going to be over.

On the way to my parents’ house, I prayed for him and it went something like this: "Dear God, if it be Thy will, please make Manny win because I’m sure he’s supporting all his relatives. If he loses, maybe he needs to rest (I’m concerned that his eyes are a bit – OK, very – crossed). But please make him win because the country is so down now, we need a real picker-upper. Thank You, Lord."

When we got to my folks’ house, the boxers were at round six. My dad already knew who the winner was, having seen the fight through satellite, but he refused to reveal it. "Just wait two more minutes," Dad said.

At the end of round six, Hector Velasquez gave up, making Manny Pacquiao victorious by technical knockout.

Thank You, Lord!

Sept. 20: Mig wins third place in Rock Star: INXS

Had Mig Ayesa won the grand prize in the reality show Rock Star: INXS, we would’ve had a national heart attack.

Personally, I think J.D. is cuter, while Mig looks like a younger, improved version of Joey "Pepe" Smith. Still, third place isn’t bad and we’re proud of him.

Like Precious Lara, Mig is proof that Filipinos come in all forms, never mind if he has an Australian accent.

Not all Pinoys are small and brown-skinned. Oh, I used to hate it in Social Studies when the textbook would describe the typical Filipino as "balingkinitan ang katawan, kayumanggi ang balat, malapad ang noo, at sarat ang ilong."

Mig was born in Manila in 1970. His family moved to Sydney, Australia, when he was 2. Though he’s introduced as Australian in the reality show, Mig says, "I was born in the Philippines and I’m very, very proud to be Filipino. I was born Filipino, my parents are Filipino. There’s no way I will hide that."

Sept. 26: Precious Lara wins Miss International

An angry discussion on the true nationality of Precious Lara Quigaman was building up on www.japantoday.com after she was crowned Miss International 2005 in Tokyo.

"Aah! Precious! You can’t go wrong in life…with a name like that," wrote a bitter poster named Maria. "I do think the crown is unfortunate – do you think they’re getting their revenge in a small way, by choosing that particular design?"

"You guys do realize... that Miss Philippines isn’t actually Filipino," said a poster named Kurama. "What a rip-off. If they had girls participating that really did represent their country, we’d get a winner that actually won for her country. These pageants are all so fake it’s unbelievable."

My two cents:

First of all, the crown rocks. I’ve always liked that crown with the red-and-white fur trim, and most of all, the white bow. If you think about it, it’s so Little Bo Peep, so Japanese, which probably explains why I love it.

Second, though Precious Lara studied in Bahrain for five years and lived most of her life in London, she was born to Filipino parents. That makes her Filipino, never mind the British accent.

Besides, with a name like that, she has got to be Filipino. Only in the Philippines do parents routinely name their daughters Girlie, Queenie, Princess, Sunshine, Strawberry, Twinkle, Jingle, and Lovely.

"Quite natural sa Pilipinas ’yung mapangalanan ng Precious at maisali sa beauty contest, no?" observed my friend Ricky.

Precious Bernadette Tongko won Bb. Pilipinas-Maja in 1990. And Precious Hipolito, though no beauty queen, played an ailing fan of Julie Vega in the cult classic The Julie Vega Story.

Julie Vega is actually a screen name. The late actress’ real name, incidentally, is Julie Pearl "Darling" Postigo, God bless her soul. And Precious Hipolito is now a newscaster.