SCENE from “Sigwa.” Is it based on the novel-turned-TV movie “Desaparesidos”?

MANILA, Philippines—Two veteran directors, Gil Portes and Joel Lamangan, are being accused of lifting story lines from previous works for their movies exhibited at the recent 2010 Cinemalaya independent film festival.

Portes allegedly copied the idea for “Two Funerals” from the script of “Biyaheng Norte”— whose writer, filmmaker Alejandro “Bong” Ramos, said he submitted it in 2007 to the Cinemalaya screening committee, which included Portes. “Two Funerals” won five awards in this year’s event: Best Director for Portes; Best Screenplay for his cowriter Eric Ramos; Best Cinematography, Audience Choice and Special Jury Prize.

Cinemalaya says...

Bong has posted comments in Facebook chiding Portes. On July 29, Portes released a statement, signed by Cinemalaya officials Laurice Guillen and Nestor Jardin, saying the organizing committee “found no plagiarism or copyright infringement involved in the film.”

In a phone interview on Monday, Guillen told the Inquirer that movie producer Robbie Tan and writer-director Armando “Bing” Lao, two members of the screening committee in 2007, were consulted about the statement. Tan and Lao had both read the scripts of “Two Funerals” and “Biyaheng Norte,” the statement said, and concluded that “the two are distinctly different from each other.”

Added Guillen: “Their only similarity is that both are road films involving a coffin. Portes’ is a black comedy; Bong’s is a drama.” “Two Funerals” is about a woman’s journey from Tuguegarao in the north, to Sorsogon in the south, to recover the body of her daughter after a funeral mix-up.

“Biyaheng Norte” is the story of a family sending off their soldier father, who died while at war, to his final resting place in Laoag.

By phone on Tuesday, Bong said he respected the committee’s decision. But, he added, “I don’t know how they investigated this. They did not arrange for Portes and I to talk face-to-face. I just wanted them to hear my side.” He said he wanted to file an official complaint but that Portes’ statement beat him to it.

Bong’s’ bone of contention: “Portes read the [‘Biyaheng Norte’] script. We even discussed what he liked and didn’t like about it. He was very excited... he asked if I’d consider selling the script. I wouldn’t have protested if Portes wasn’t part of the committee that year. There’s definitely malice.”

At this point, said Bong, he’d like to prove to Guillen and the screening committee that he’s right, “to prove them wrong.”

Guillen said the issue was as good as dead: “No one has ownership of an idea. Plagiarism is a very strong accusation. You must prove that your work was copied word for word.”

‘Desaparesidos’

Award-winning writer Lualhati Bautista, meanwhile, has called attention to Lamangan’s “Sigwa,” which, she is saying, is very much like her 1997 TV movie, “Desaparesidos” (based on her own novel about missing political detainees in the 1970s) in “concept and approach.”

Bautista wrote (via e-mail) to the Inquirer: “I watched ‘Sigwa’ at the UP Film Center to be sure ... as I do not want to prejudge anybody without basis ... True enough, there is a very striking similarity ... and that is the very concept of a mother searching for the daughter she has lost, which is the basic, unifying element of the movie.”

To prove her point, Bautista made a comparison: “‘Sigwa’ is told from the point of view of Dolly, a junior correspondent of a US magazine who joins the NPA (New People’s Army). During a raid, she hands over her daughter to her comrade Azon ... ‘Desaparesidos’ is told from the point of view of a communist rebel, Anna, who entrusts her 3-month-old daughter to a comrade, Karla...”

Bautista—writer of the novels-turned-films “Dekada ’70,” “Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa?,” and “Gapo”—added that she first submitted “Desaperasidos” for a teleplay aired on GMA 7 in 1997, with Lamangan as director.

In 2000, she said, Viva Films bought the film rights for “Desaperasidos” but did not push through with production. “Had that film [been made], it would have also been directed by [Lamangan],” Bautista stressed. “As the director would-have-been, he has in his possession a copy of my [finished] script. And that is not to mention the book readily available for the reading pleasures of Lamangan and [scripwriter] Boni Ilagan.”

Lamangan told the Inquirer on Monday, “(Bautista) has no monopoly over the mother-looking-for-daughter theme. The situation may be similar, but the approach is different. And I don’t have a copy of her script anymore.”

Lamangan added that Bautista might as well run after the creators of the American film “Not Without My Daughter” (Brian Gilbert), and Portes, who directed “Andrea: Paano Ba ang Maging Isang Ina?” These films had the same theme, Lamangan pointed out.

In another e-mail, Bautista said, “I don’t like trouble, but I owe it to myself to protect my work.” Asked about this, Guillen advised Bautista to file a formal complaint before the Cinemalaya organizing committee.

E-mail mcruz@inquirer.com.ph