The campaign for the coming elections commenced as early as the Christmas holidays. Cruising along the major highways, we start to see images of those running for electoral positions taking over the major billboards. Those who have the money start really early, and their think tanks do not care even if it’s not the official campaign period yet. The early bird gets the fattest worms, so they say.
In the coming days, we will be seeing tarps, banners and posters of these politicians all over, greeting everyone from “Happy Fiesta” to “Kong Hei Fat Choy,” from “Happy Valentine’s Day” to “Happy Easter,” from “Congratulations Graduates” to “Happy Mother’s Day,” with their massive photoshopped faces and molar-to-molar smiles.
In the local entertainment arena, expect more life stories and so-called bio-flicks of politicians and political aspirants on both the big and small screens in the coming days.
There’s Bato: The General Ronald de la Rosa Story that finished principal photography only on January 23 and will open in cinemas on January 30. With Robin Padilla portraying the bald general on the big screen, filmmaker Adolfo Alix Jr. chose to have an ensemble of actors to give Padilla strong support.
Playing pivotal characters in the general’s life on the big sceen are Ricky Davao, Gina Alajar, Mon Confiado, Jess Mendoza, Efren Reyes Jr., Joko Diaz, Kiko Matos and Beauty Gonzales.
There are a few disgruntled members of the industry and the opposition that are making noise and overreacting but when you think about it, there is no need to put color into every film project that one takes on. It is just work for these actors and members of the production team, and they are not answerable to anyone for whatever project they decide to accept or not.
Truth is, the producers and financiers have the means and resources, and they’re willing to invest in the material. The filmmaker did not have to fly out of the country to beg for grants from foreign entities, people were offered work and they accepted wholeheartedly, and no one got paid postdated checks. So it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved in the project.
We hope the finished product will not have a rushed outcome, considering that it will just have less than a week for post-production. Whether the film earns or not in the box office, no one will know until it gets shown, and frankly, we do not think that making money is the topmost goal of the financiers when they bankrolled this movie. If people go and watch it, then good for them. If it turns out to be a good movie, then fine.
On the television front, expect the weekly drama anthologies to be flooded with life stories of political aspirants, too. We heard that a very wealthy lady senator has agreed that excerpts from her life story be made into a special episode of a weekend drama show. Her former senator husband who, many years ago, tried but failed in his bid for the country’s top post is supporting her every move.
And there is the life story of a good-looking senator from the eastern part of Central Luzon that will be shown probably very soon on the longest drama anthology on Philippine TV, probably airing on the same weekend.
We do not even have to make a wild guess what lures the networks to dramatize and feature the stories of these politicians who have both the money and machinery to drum up their candidacies. The answer is very obvious.
This is only a sampler of how colorful elections in our country is and will be. Election season has, and will always be, larger than life. And it has always been like this. Only the powerful and the moneyed will continue to manipulate everything—government, laws, economy, cinema, everything, including the future of this country.