The glory days of Visayan Movies

CEBU, Philippines -  These lines came out on a page of The Freeman weeks ago. This brought to my mind the past Visayan movies that I saw, the Visayan stars that I had met and made friends with, the glory days of Visayan movies. The time was some 59 years ago.

I belonged in the same batch with Teddy Alo and Eddie Dakay at the University of San Carlos boys' high school batch '55. Teddy, who was the older brother of child star Riza Marie, brought me along on two shooting schedules: a province scene somewhere at the Capitol Hills and a concert scene with Gloria Sevilla inside the Liberty Theater (now Ultravistarama) on Legaspi St. The location at Capitol Hills was also to be the main setting of our hit TV series Si Goot da Wanderpol much later, in the 90s.

The movie was Balud (Waves), starring the beautiful Rosita Fernandez and Eddie Dakay. Eddie was already a popular pianist before he entered the movies. He later married his childhood sweetheart, Norma Boyles, who belonged to the batch '55 of the USC girls' high school.

Despite Eddie's popularity, he and his wife were able to keep away from intrigues and controversies, which were common in the showbiz world even then. For her part, Rosita Fernandez later married a guy from the Bureau of Customs. But she had quite a number of suitors while still in high school at Southwestern University.

Another movie shoot I had witnessed was a drama scene in a nipa hut. The lead star was Esterlina. Upon the director's call to "Action!" Esterlina looked out the window as she heard the tolling of the church bells. "Mibagting na ang lingganay. Kaslon na ang akong anak. Apan…," she muttered as she began to cry. Classic Cebuano words that delineated a mother's sorrow for not being able to attend the wedding of her beloved daughter. Then "Cut!" called out the director. He was Gene Labella, who later married Esterlina after years of courtship.

The movie was Luha sa Kalipay (Tears of Joy). It was at about this time that Esterlina and I became very good friends. She was the most down-to-earth of the Visayan stars I knew personally. She was well-behaved too; I never heard her utter a single vulgar word. 

The producer of the movie was Dr. Leandro Tojong of Southern Star Production. Dr. Tojong also owned the Tojong Clinic, the building that still stands today across the University of the Visayas on the D. Jakosalem side. The good doctor produced another movie, entitled Mga Sangang Nangabali (The Broken Branches), wanting to help sustain the momentum of Visayan movies. This one was topbilled by Esterlina, Gloria Sevilla, and Bert Nombrado.

Most of the Visayan movie stars of old were radio talents, who also dabbled in three-act stage plays. Most famous was the Juezan family. Gloria Sevilla and Caridad Sanchez, though, had a different background; both were star members of the debating team of the University of the Visayas. Due to her rather high-pitch voice, Caridad was mainly assigned to "kontrabida" (villain) roles.  Perhaps the only time she played heroine was in the movie Politika (Politics) by Talyux Bacalso, where she really proved her dramatic prowess.

Bacalso's Salingsing sa Kasakit (The Unfurling Sorrow) earned a FAMAS (Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Science) Best Actor Award for Undo Juezan.  Caridad Sanhez was in that movie too, and so was Talyux Bacalso himself who was also the director. The competition between Caridad and Rebecca Torres was an interesting topic of gossip at the time. They were trying to outdo each other as to who was the better actress and who had more fans.

Rebecca was the lead star of Rosita, a project of Mutya Productions that also starred actor Romy Kintanar. Rebecca would later be linked to the head of the shooting crew and the laboratory team of the company. The guy was rumored to be a married man, although the rumors were never confirmed.

There was another actor under Mutya Productions - Mike Lozano. He was at one time said to have sired a daughter with a woman from Lapulapu City. The daughter would later end up in the movies, too, gaining notoriety for her involvement in the so-called "penetration" skin flicks. The name Amanda Amores frequented the adult theatrical billboards until years ago.

Another talent of Mutya Productions who had a colorful love life was Tessie Sevilla. She claimed to have already been married in Antequera, Bohol, prior to her coming to Cebu. Tessie started by competing in amateur singing contests on radio. She then entered radio drama as a talent and became involved with a fellow talent, a married man. They produced one son before they broke up. Yet Tessie's most controversial relationship was with Siux Cabase, a multi-talented radio personality and with whom she had three sons and a daughter. Again the relationship didn't last.

Another very active movie company was the Azucena Productions. Gloria Sevilla was their favorite star.  Most of their movies were written by Carmelita Rodriguez, who was Concordia Arong in real life, belonging to the family who owned the company. The Arong family had other businesses: movie houses like the Liberty and Rene Theaters, and the Arong Tailoring. They were also the first local distributor of The Philippine Free Press, a weekly news magazine published in Manila that still exists today.

Azucena Productions eventually closed shop due to financial problems. Gloria Sevilla and Caridad Sanhez left Cebu to try their luck in Manila. Caridad's first Tagalog movie, where she portrayed a comic role, didn't amount to much; while Gloria had a grand introduction as "the Queen of Visayan Films - Miss Gloria Sevilla!" in a movie that starred the then famous Edna Luna.

There were other movie companies around, like the CAB Productions, owned by Captain Cipriano Barba. Barba reportedly got his "captain" moniker by his involvement in the resistance movement during the wartime in Cebu. He produced two movies, Talina, Talina and Pit Senyor! Talina starred Gloria Sevilla, with Mike Ranillo and Violeta Roces, siblings of then Gloria's husband Mat Ranillo Jr., who would die in a plane crash years later. Gloria soon got married to Amado Cortes, Amado Padilla in real life, a marriage that was reportedly against the wishes of Gloria's mother.

Captain Barba owned the original Barba Press and the Avenue Hotel and Restaurant on Jones Avenue - the pioneering first-class hotel and restaurant in the city. Visiting Manila movie stars would stay at the hotel. It was also the haven where known womanizers would have rendezvous with their flames. One of its frequent local guests was Talyux Bacalso, who would meet with young movie-star hopefuls there.

Even Captain Barba himself was said to be "fond of women." His wealth supposedly came from his sugarcane plantation in Negros. In fact, as soon as he decided to fold up his CAB Productions, he was heard saying, "Mananom na lang ko'g tubo." He thought it better to go back to his farm.  (FREEMAN)