Regal matriarch Mother Lily dies at 84

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine cinema icon and Regal Films founder Lily Monteverde, affectionately called Mother Lily in the industry, passed away early yesterday morning, a day after her husband of over 60 years, Remy Monteverde, was laid to rest.

No cause of death was given.

Mother Lily was 84, a few weeks’ shy of her 85th birthday on Aug. 19. Her husband, who died last July 29, was 86. They are survived by their five children — Winston, Sherida, Roselle, Dondon and Goldwin — and grandchildren.

“Throughout her years she has not only been a mother to her children but also the ‘Mother’ to so many generations of Filipino filmmakers who have helped define what Philippine cinema is today,” read the official statement issued by the Monteverde family.

“Even to her final years, Mother Lily served as one of the cornerstones of the movie industry, providing opportunities to filmmakers — both creative and technical — to carve their names in our popular history.

“Yet behind this veneer of accomplishment, Mother Lily was not merely a matriarch and the face of Regal Films, but a true mother to artists and workers who had the chance to know her beyond the confines of work.

“Mother Lily was surrounded by her children and grandchildren in her final hours. She was blessed to say goodbye to her closest friends and associates who bid her farewell yesterday before she left for that trip back home to the Divine Father.”

Mother Lily’s passing is widely viewed as the end of an era, but the “legacy and pioneering achievement in Philippine cinema” of the industry pillar could never be forgotten, according to filmmaker Erik Matti in a post.

“She has helped so many,” Sen. Grace Poe also said in a statement about her “Ninang Mother.” “She was and will always be a titan in the Philippine movie industry.”

It’s already the stuff of movie legend how Mother Lily built Regal. The youngest child in a brood of 12 of “copra king” Domingo Yuchu of Marinduque was first and foremost a movie fan whose favorites were Nida Blanca and Gloria Romero.

“When a Nida Blanca movie opened at Dalisay Theater, uma-absent ako sa school. My friends and I would hire a bus to visit the set of Nida’s movie with Nestor de Villa. Remember that scene in Luneta na nagsasayaw ng ballet sina Nida at Nestor sa spiral staircase? We were there when that was shot. It was a dream sequence and it was beautiful!” she said in the late STAR Entertainment editor Ricky Lo’s book, Conversations With Ricky Lo, Volume 1.

“When I was 12, I went to Zurbaran to buy a petticoat, four layers, and then I wore it and stood in front of the mirror, whispering, ‘Sana maging Nida Blanca ako!’ Nagsasayaw-sayaw pa ako! Parang dream sequence, hahaha!!!”

When she wed Remy in 1961, her parents reportedly didn’t approve of the marriage so she had to start doing business from scratch. She would put up popcorn machines, including one close to Ideal Theater near Good Earth on Avenida Rizal, where she would be very happy to earn P100 a day.

“I always prayed that a woman’s movie would be shown dahil maraming babaeng manonood at bumibili ng popcorn. If action picture, mostly men would watch at kokonti ang bumibili ng popcorn. Malungkot ako siempre. The most that I would earn was P30. I also sold blouses at the Zurbaran Market. I would consign the blouses at the Corazon Dry Goods Store, P24 per dozen, at five percent lang ang tubo ko.”

It was in the early ’60s when Mother Lily would start laying the foundation for what would become Regal Films. Borrowing P10,000 from her older brother, Jessie Yu, she acquired the rights to the international movie “All Mine To Give.” It performed well in the domestic box-office, earning P500,000 at the time.

After success in film distribution of American and European films, she eventually ventured into producing local films, including the local version of “All Mine To Give” in 1975, titled “Araw-Araw, Gabi-Gabi,” with Charito Solis as the lead actress.

Her production outfit went on to churn out thousands of films, from critically acclaimed titles to blockbusters. Among them were “Manila By Night,” “Sister Stella L.,” Scorpio Nights,” “Temptation Island,” “Relasyon,” and long-standing franchises such as “Mano Po” and “Shake, Rattle & Roll.”

She was credited with having introduced the pito-pito system or filming movies in seven days, which led to the discovery of now esteemed auteurs like Lav Diaz. The late Lo wrote, “The system was maligned when, in fact, Lino Brocka shot ‘Insiang,’ one of his classic works, also in seven days, proving that what matters is not the number of days you shoot a movie but the product.”

And for the woman who once dreamt of becoming an artista like her screen idol Nida Blanca, she instead fulfilled the dreams of many to become movie stars, responsible for the breaks of the likes of Maricel Soriano, Gabby Concepcion, Dina Bonnevie, Alma Moreno, William Martinez, Rio Locsin, Snooky Serna, Richard Gomez, Manilyn Reynes and Ruffa Gutierrez. She also produced films for the biggest names in showbiz from FPJ, Tito, Vic and Joey, Vilma Santos, Nora Aunor, Christopher de Leon, to Judy Ann Santos and Marian Rivera.

Waiting at the corner

Meanwhile, Remy Monteverde became “the strong silent figure beside the gregarious Mother Lily,” director and Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) chair Joey Reyes said.

“He has always been a ‘Father’ to all of us who grew up in Regal,” he said in a Facebook post.

Direk Erik, in a separate post, also said of Mother Lily’s husband: “His legacy and contribution to Philippine cinema through Regal Films will always be remembered and recognized. He has championed Filipino action movies and defined it for so many decades with such icons Lito Lapid and Ace Vergel headlining the marquee.”

Their love story will always be one for the books. In “Conversations With Ricky Lo,” Mother Lily said that if there was one thing she would do all over again, “I will still court Remy.”

“Ako ang nanligaw sa kanya. He was a basketball player at San Beda and at the same time he was playing for the team of my father, Yu Chu.

“He’s the quiet type, my exact opposite because I am noisy. I was then studying at UNO High School (a Chinese school in Binondo owned and managed by the Yu family) and I would skip classes to go on dates with him.

“Our theme song was From Candy Store on the Corner to the Chapel on the Hill. He would wait for me at the corner so people wouldn’t see us and make sumbong to my parents.

“My parents were against Remy. Our wedding was simple. I wore a gown by Pitoy Moreno worth P5,000 which I paid by installment for one year.”

“Pinaghirapan ko ’yan kaya never ko siyang iiwan,” she told Lo.

For the Monteverde family, they said in the statement that they “feel at peace now that their mother has not only found rest but has joined their father Remy in that place called eternity — as they were together in life as they will remain together where there is no space or time.”

The wake and memorial service will start today at 3:30 p.m. until Aug. 9 at 38 Valencia Events Place in Quezon City. Interment will be on Aug. 10 at the Heritage Park in Taguig.