Bayang Magiliw: Take 3 for direk Gil and Eric

MANILA, Philippines - Bayang Magiliw is the third cinematic collaboration between director Gil Portes and screenwriter Enrique “Eric” Ramos. Their first two films together were the 2009 romantic thriller Pitik Bulag and the 2012 black comedy Two Funerals.

But in fact, direk Gil and Erik first teamed up in 2008 when OctoArts Films decided to produce a sequel to Miss X, one of direk Gil’s most successful films. Written by Ricardo Lee, the original 1980 movie starred Vilma Santos as a Filipina who fell victim to an illegal recruiter and ended up a prostitute in Amsterdam.

Direk Gil thought he needed a new writer who could provide a fresh take on the subject. He tapped Eric, the founding editor-in-chief of FHM Philippines who had written the Palanca Award-winning script of Azucena, which became an acclaimed film by Carlitos Siguion-Reyna in 2000. Unfortunately, the Miss X sequel fell through after the supposed lead actress, Katrina Halili, figured in a controversy.

Other producers have since expressed interest in the Miss X sequel, and direk Gil remains optimistic that the project will someday see the light of opening day. Meanwhile, his tandem with Eric finally took off the following year with Pitik Bulag, starring Marco Alcaraz, Paloma and Victor Neri. Produced on a very modest budget, the film was rated A by the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB), which commended its “tightly woven story” and “excellent” direction.

In 2012, direk Gil and Eric joined Cinemalaya when the indie festival inaugurated its Directors Showcase category for veteran filmmakers. Their entry was Two Funerals, about a mother’s journey to claim the body of her daughter, whose coffin was inadvertently switched with that of a middle-aged man, a fellow victim in a horrific road accident. Starring Wendell Ramos, Giselle Tongi, Arnold Reyes, Jackie Lou Blanco, Lloyd Samartino, Racquel Villavicencio, Xian Lim, Tessie Tomas, Jeffrey Quizon, Mon Confiado, Benjie Felipe, Althea Vega, Princess Manzon, Sue Prado, Rob Sy, Tony Mabesa, Dax Alejandro, Jess Evardone, AJ Dee and Ellen Adarna, the film won five major awards at the festival, including Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Bayang Magiliw is officially direk Gil and Eric’s third collaboration as director and scriptwriter. Eric began the script in early 2012 after direk Gil tossed him a story idea based on a real-life scandal that befell a local official in his hometown of Pagbilao, Quezon.

From there, Eric wove a story about a provincial town ruled by a mayor whose sexual appetite is as prodigious as his zeal for the Catholic doctrine of “go forth and multiply.” The result is a new comedy from director Gil that finds humor in the most contentious political issue of our time. Bayang Magiliw is a social satire about a fictional town in Quezon province called Magiliw where reproductive health is a crime.