THE CONTROVERSIAL last-minute replacement to the roster of entries to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) emerged as the most victorious movie in Wednesday night’s award rites.

Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga bested six other entries to win 11 of the 22 awards up for grabs, including the honor for Best Picture.

It was the first time in almost two decades that an action movie won as Best Picture in the annual film festival. The last time an action movie won as the festival’s Best Picture was in 1992 with Andres Manambit, Angkan ng Matatapangstarring Eddie Garcia.

Manila Kingpin made it as an official entry to this year’s film fest only after Robin Padilla’s action flick Mr. Wong, and Nora Aunor’s tearjerker Hototay failed to finish shooting in time for the MMFF deadline last month. 

“This victory is really a great blessing,” Manila Kingpin actor and producer Emilio Ramon “E.R.” P. Ejercito III (popularly known as George Estregan, Jr.) told reporters after the Gabi ng Parangal (Night of Honor) held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater at the Resorts World Manila in Pasay City.

Manila Kingpin dominated the technical awards, winning the honors for production design (Fritz Siloria, Mona Soriano, and Ronaldo Cadapan), editing (Jason Canapay and Ryan Orduna), cinematography (Carlo Mendoza), and screenplay (Roy Iglesias and Rey Ventura).

The black-and-white biopic of Tondo gangster Nicasio “Asiong” Salonga also bagged the awards for Best Original Theme Song (“La Paloma” by Ely Buendia), Best Sound Recording (Mike Idioma), and Best Musical Score (Jerry Lazaten).

The movie also won the Gatpuno Antonio Villegas Cultural Award, and the Best Director honor for Amable “Tikoy” Aguiluz, and his eventual replacement, a certain Gary dela Cruz.

Mr. Aguiluz earlier criticized Mr. Ejercito’s decision to re-shoot several scenes of the movie. The director also did not like the producer’s decision to re-edit, and re-score the movie.

Mr. Aguiluz then filed a case at the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office against the film’s producer for violating Republic Act 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

Last Friday, Mr. Aguiluz got a temporary restraining order (TRO) directing the movie’s producer to remove the director’s name from the credits of the movie, and from all film posters.


Newbies and veterans

In the acting categories, Dingdong Dantes snatched his first Best Actor award for his portrayal of a rich architect looking for the perfect wife in the suspense flick Segunda Mano.

The 31-year-old actor won over Mr. Ejercito, Vic Sotto (Engteng ng Ina Mo), Jericho Rosales (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow), and Ryan Agoncillo (My Househusband [Ikaw Na!])

Maricel Soriano won her fourth MMFF Best Actress trophy for her role as the feisty TV executive in the drama Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

Ms. Soriano beat last year’s Best Actress winner Ai-Ai delas Alas (Enteng ng Ina Mo), as well as Judy Ann Santos (My Househusband), Eugene Domingo (Shake Rattle and Roll 13 “Lunod” episode) and Maricar Reyes (Shake Rattle and Roll 13 “Tamawo” episode).

John Regala’s performance as Asiong’ Salonga’s nemesis Totoy Golem in Manila Kingpin earned him the Best Supporting Actor Award, while Eugene Domingo won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her wacky portrayal as the next-door neighbor in My Househusband. Ms. Domingo was also the MMFF Best Supporting Actress last year for Tanging Ina Mo Rin (Last Na ‘To).

Box-office top-grosser Enteng ng Ina Mo won the Second Best Picture Award (with a P550,000 cash prize), and the honor for Best Make-up (Florencia Panero, Niccolo Medina, and Jayvee Flores).

The 13th installment in the horror trilogy Shake Rattle and Roll won as Third Best Picture (with a P300,000 cash prize). It also won the awards for Best Story (Chris Martinez and Marlon Rivera for the episode “Lunod”), and Best Child Performer (Bugoy Cariño for the episode “Tamawo”).

Ang Panday 2 won the honors for Best Visual Effects (Riot Incorporated), and Best Float, while My Househusband received the Gender Sensitivity Award.

Meanwhile, H.I.V. and Pintakasi evenly split the awards for the full-length independent film categories of the New Wave Section of the 2011 MMFF.

Pintakasi was named the festival’s best full-length independent film, and won the Best Actor award for JM de Guzman.

H.I.V. won the Best Actress (for Iza Calzado) and the Gender Sensitivity awards.

In the Students’ Film section, De La Salle-College of St. Benilde’s Biyahe ni Barbie won the Special Jury Prize, while De La Salle University-Lipa’s Payaso won as Best New Wave Student Film.

Colegio San Juan de Letran’s Mate won as Best New Wave Student Short Film, while Miriam College’s Speechless received the Gender Sensitivity Award for the student category.

The awards night will be aired on Jan. 1 at 10:30 p.m. on ABS-CBN Corp.’s Channel 2.


Disqualification

Hours before the awards night last Wednesday, the MMFF executive committee finalized its decision to disqualify Regal Films’ Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow from competing in four categories.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis N. Tolentino said Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow was disqualified after the final version of the movie “was about 90% different” from the script approved by the selection committee during the screening of possible entries last June.

“Only the title was the same,” Mr. Tolentino told reporters. “After the script was approved, they changed the cast, they changed most of the story,” he added.

The MMDA chair said that while he had heard about the violations, he was only able to confirm these after he watched the film on Dec. 27.
Because of the decision, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow was removed from the list of nominees in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Gatpuno Antonio Villegas Cultural Awards.

In a statement furnished to reporters on Wednesday, Regal Films said it was “shocked, dismayed, and deeply hurt” by the MMFF’s decision.

“It is quite disturbing that the decision was handed out on the very same day as the awards night,” the statement read.

“Regal wants to make it clear that it committed no violation of the MMFF Rules and Regulations. There was no major deviation in the storyline. While the script was slightly modified, this was done primarily to suit changes in the cast of which MMFF had prior notice...”

“The genre and essence of the film were never changed. All the necessary elements required by MMFF that will make the final script identifiable with the one originally submitted are intact,” the film studio further said.

Mr. Tolentino said he had already talked to Regal Films big boss Lily Y. Monteverde to clarify the issue.


Box office results

Meanwhile, Mr. Tolentino expressed his confidence that this year’s festival box office haul will exceed the P530 million gross earnings posted last year.

He said the seven entries this year posted a total box office take of P107 million on Christmas Day last Sunday, about 20% more than the first day earnings of last year’s film festival entries.

Mr. Tolentino said that after three days, Enteng ng Ina Mo continued to be the top-grossing MMFF entry this year, earning P91.9 million.

In second place was the fantasy movie Ang Panday 2 with P51.5 million, followed by Segunda Mano with P46.9 million, and Shake Rattle and Roll 13 with P22.8 million.

My Househusband (Ikaw Na!) is in the fifth spot with P20.8 million, followed by Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga with P7.96 million, and Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow with P4.1 million.

Mr. Tolentino said the box-office rankings are likely to change in the coming days, following the result of the awards night. 

“More people might be interested to watch Manila Kingpin after it won many awards,” the MMDA chairman said.

Mr. Ejercito said he welcomes the possibility that more people will watch his movie. He, however, insists that his goal in producing Manila Kingpin was not to be the festival box-office top-grosser.

“Our objective is to make a quality film that we can all be proud of,” he told reporters.

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