Father & son at their best in Bayan Ko

MANILA, Philippines - GMA 7 was running its landmark teleserye, Bayan Ko, on the day of the elections.

With reports of rampant vote-buying and the proliferation of political dynasties being aired in almost all the media outlets, Bayan Ko is indeed — as the news cliché goes  — as timely as today’s headlines.

Directed by Adolf Alix Jr., the teleserye is a notch higher than most TV productions as it tackles the unspeakable state of politics in the country. For another, Bayan Ko has an excellent acting ensemble led by Pen Medina as Gov. Antonio Rubio and his son, Ping, as Congressman Anton Rubio.

In the teleserye’s last episodes, you see that the governor is in cahoots with a businessman trying to expand his business empire through the building of another shopping mall; you also see that he is a partner in crime of a former DENR secretary who made possible rampant illegal logging in the province.

Indie queen Mercedes Cabral lands the role of the congressman’s mistress and played the part with utmost insight and vulnerability.

Perfect for the part as neophyte Mayor Joseph Santiago is Rocco Nacino who is trying to introduce change in a corrupt and lethargic small-town government unit.

Ending in a big flood that all but unmasked the criminal partnership between local politicians and DENR, Bayan Ko is a grim reminder that everything happening in this country is both the fault of public servants and the governed.

“We hope that through Bayan Ko, voters realize that good governance is not only possible but crucial to our progress and start to demand better performance from the officials they elect,” said GMA News TV channel head and Bayan Ko creator Nessa Valdellon.

Ironically, Pen in real life is the enemy of bad politicians and corrupt bureaucracy. He has joined protest rallies in the streets and in congress, and was recently seen endorsing Teddy Casiño as his No. 1 candidate for senator. Like it or not, he can spot a good man when he sees one.

If at all, Bayan Ko showcased another project that put to test the amazing acting talents in the Medina clan.

Pen and Ping — as the incumbent governor and congressman — gave us a clue to what greedy politicians are capable of.

The son of a Protestant minister from Arayat, Pampanga, the older Medina has essayed a variety of roles on stage, TV and in films, garnering awards for his natural kind of acting.

His acting genes happily found their way into his sons, Ping and Alex (Ina, Kapatid, Anak) who are active in both indie films and television.

Finding the character and giving him another life is a whole process for the actor. “At first reading, I let the text sink where it should without thinking of the form it will take. I dwell first on the content of the script and relate to the character later. This was I was trained by actor Jonee Gamboa. It worked well for me. First, you must come out as real as a person before you can create the character. In acting, it is imperative that you must sound sincere; your lines must be real and not just memorized text.”

Happily, he has a visual arts background that enabled him to carve his characters the way a painter should to make a character come to life.

Actually, he has a long-delayed one-man exhibit always waylaid by tapings and film commitments. “Painting allows me to look at myself and the world in another setting. I like to look at the stars at night and realize that our worldly concerns are nothing beyond what is truly essential in this life.”

If acting comes as second nature to him now, it is Pen’s advantage that he is a natural absorber of what goes on in life and in the arts. He can still recall a Grade 2 crush, a favorite oratorical piece delivered with Tennessee Waltz in the background and the sound of classical music played by his father back in the Arayat town of his childhood.

The actor once said, “Music helps a lot in an actor’s search for character. It can make one vulnerable.”