Joseph Estrada's 'religious' movie

In 1969, at the peak of his acting career, Joseph Estrada topbilled a ‘religious’ movie, Ang Ninong Kong Nazareno. Set in Quiapo, where the Nazareno is enshrined and adored, the movie tells of one man’s fight against corruption with Jesus Christ as his ‘Ninong’ (Godfather).

Erap’s younger brother, the late George Estregan, co-starred in the movie, with Mary Ann Murphy as love interest and Paquito Diaz as main villain.

Quiapo was also the setting of an earlier Erap film, the acclaimed Geron Busabos (1964).

Ang Ninong Kong Nazareno was written and directed by Augusto Buenaventura and produced by Emar Pictures short, for Erap’s family name Ejercito Marcelo.      — RKC