Arts & Leisure
Posted on February 24, 2016 06:03:00 PM
15 key personalities discuss history in new EDSA Revolution documentary
FILMED 10 YEARS ago for a thesis requirement, former first lady Imelda Marcos, in full makeup and a glamorous dress, talked to the camera: “Everything is a priority... including enemies and garbage... He was a priority.” She was referring to the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., detained during Martial Law, who wished to go abroad for an operation instead of going to the Philippine Heart Center (one of the First Lady’s projects). Within the next 24 hours, Ms. Marcos said on the video documentary, they were already processing his papers.
A PROMO PHOTO for Discovery Channel’s documentary People Power: 30 Years On which airs tonight. -- WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DISCOVERYSEASIA
But she said she had to ask permission from her husband, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, first.
This snippet, showed on Feb. 23 at a press preview, is just one of the many never-before-seen on national TV accounts by key players in the historic event that is the 1986 People Power Revolution.
To be shown today, 9 p.m., on the Discovery Channel, People Power: 30 Years On is arguably the most extensive documentary about the bloodless revolution told from the point of views of its key personalities. It includes flashback videos and newspaper clips.
What makes it meatier than other documentaries is its interviews with numerous important players during those four days on EDSA:
• Ms. Marcos;
• former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, Ninoy Aquino’s widow;
• former President Fidel V. Ramos, who was the Vice-Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces at the time, and whose impending arrest along with Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile triggered the People Power Revolution;
• Senator Gregorio Honasan, then with the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) and one of the coup plotters against the Marcos regime;
• Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., an oppositionist in 1986;
• Francisco “Kit” Tatad, who had been Marcos’ Minister of Public Information through much of the Martial Law period;
• Bishop Soc Villegas;
• former Congressman Butz Aquino, Ninoy Aquino’s brother and one of those who, along with Jaime Cardinal Sin, called the people to come to EDSA
• the late Fr. James Reuter, Sr., who was involved in the underground radio station, Radio Bandido, which reported on the events of that historic week;
• Manuel Quezon III, now with the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office;
• journalist Cheche Lazaro
• Gen. Vic Batac and Col. Red Kapunan, who were members of RAM;
• Prof. Luis Teodoro;
• the late June Keithley, a Radio Veritas broadcaster who became the voice of Radio Bandido; and,
• Sr. Sarah Manapol, dubbed as “the lady in white” who provided information to the US Embassy during the EDSA Revolution while working with Fr. Reuter.
Originally called Laban: The Meaning of EDSA People Power Revolution, the documentary was the idea of producer Sally Jo Bellosillo for her masteral degree in Trans Atlantic Studies at the University of Birmingham in England. The documentary was first shown in schools.
“Then we changed the score of the music, simplified some of the script, and condensed it down to make it more accessible... we’re going to show it locally, but at the same time, it has to be relevant in South East Asia[n audience because] not everybody understands much details about the Philippines,” said executive producer Emile Guertin.
People Power: 30 Years On is narrated by Trey Farley, who also visited key locations around Metro Manila significant to EDSA in order to introduce an up-to-date perspective on each chapter of the EDSA story, peppered with his own personal recollections of witnessing the revolution as a young boy.
The original documentary included sections on EDSA II and III, which they had to edit out “because it could get complicated because you move away from the main topic,” said Mr. Guertin. Besides, he added, South East Asian audiences might get confused by these subsequent political events.
To fill in those sections that had been edited out, the team interviewed Ballsy Aquino-Cruz and Pinky Aquino-Abellada -- daughters of Ninoy and Cory Aquino and sisters of current president Benigno “Noynoy” Simeon C. Aquino III -- three weeks ago. The two said that Filipinos, especially the youth, are lucky because they can now “vent online.” “We hope you don’t get to experience it (Martial Law),” they said. -- Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
This snippet, showed on Feb. 23 at a press preview, is just one of the many never-before-seen on national TV accounts by key players in the historic event that is the 1986 People Power Revolution.
To be shown today, 9 p.m., on the Discovery Channel, People Power: 30 Years On is arguably the most extensive documentary about the bloodless revolution told from the point of views of its key personalities. It includes flashback videos and newspaper clips.
What makes it meatier than other documentaries is its interviews with numerous important players during those four days on EDSA:
• Ms. Marcos;
• former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, Ninoy Aquino’s widow;
• former President Fidel V. Ramos, who was the Vice-Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces at the time, and whose impending arrest along with Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile triggered the People Power Revolution;
• Senator Gregorio Honasan, then with the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) and one of the coup plotters against the Marcos regime;
• Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., an oppositionist in 1986;
• Francisco “Kit” Tatad, who had been Marcos’ Minister of Public Information through much of the Martial Law period;
• Bishop Soc Villegas;
• former Congressman Butz Aquino, Ninoy Aquino’s brother and one of those who, along with Jaime Cardinal Sin, called the people to come to EDSA
• the late Fr. James Reuter, Sr., who was involved in the underground radio station, Radio Bandido, which reported on the events of that historic week;
• Manuel Quezon III, now with the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office;
• journalist Cheche Lazaro
• Gen. Vic Batac and Col. Red Kapunan, who were members of RAM;
• Prof. Luis Teodoro;
• the late June Keithley, a Radio Veritas broadcaster who became the voice of Radio Bandido; and,
• Sr. Sarah Manapol, dubbed as “the lady in white” who provided information to the US Embassy during the EDSA Revolution while working with Fr. Reuter.
Originally called Laban: The Meaning of EDSA People Power Revolution, the documentary was the idea of producer Sally Jo Bellosillo for her masteral degree in Trans Atlantic Studies at the University of Birmingham in England. The documentary was first shown in schools.
“Then we changed the score of the music, simplified some of the script, and condensed it down to make it more accessible... we’re going to show it locally, but at the same time, it has to be relevant in South East Asia[n audience because] not everybody understands much details about the Philippines,” said executive producer Emile Guertin.
People Power: 30 Years On is narrated by Trey Farley, who also visited key locations around Metro Manila significant to EDSA in order to introduce an up-to-date perspective on each chapter of the EDSA story, peppered with his own personal recollections of witnessing the revolution as a young boy.
The original documentary included sections on EDSA II and III, which they had to edit out “because it could get complicated because you move away from the main topic,” said Mr. Guertin. Besides, he added, South East Asian audiences might get confused by these subsequent political events.
To fill in those sections that had been edited out, the team interviewed Ballsy Aquino-Cruz and Pinky Aquino-Abellada -- daughters of Ninoy and Cory Aquino and sisters of current president Benigno “Noynoy” Simeon C. Aquino III -- three weeks ago. The two said that Filipinos, especially the youth, are lucky because they can now “vent online.” “We hope you don’t get to experience it (Martial Law),” they said. -- Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
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