‘Bonifacio’ producer slams film’s acting snubs

“Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo,” the big-budgeted bio-flick on Andres Bonifacio starring Robin Padilla, went home with nine awards, including Best Picture at the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival awards night held at the PICC Plenary Hall on Saturday, December 27.

But the top acting honors went to Derek Ramsay and Jennylyn Mercado, the lead stars of the romantic-comedy “English Only, Please” directed by Dan Villegas, which got seven awards, including Second Best Picture.

Derek won for his role as a Fil-Am who wants to learn Tagalog so he could get back at his Filipina girlfriend who dumped him (played by Isabel Oli). He won over Robin and Coco Martin (“Feng Shui”) whom many were predicting to win, and Dingdong Dantes (“Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2”).

Derek was nowhere in the PICC but his award was accepted by Jennylyn who read a message from Derek  in her phone. According to a source, Derek was with his parents on that night because he suddenly got sick.

Robin’s failure to snatch the best actor win shocked a lot of people who were watching the awards night at the PICC. But the action star was unperturbed and did his task of presenting the best actress award which was won by Jennylyn.

It was Jennylyn’s first best actress award from the MMFF and she shed tears as she accepted her trophy. She bested co-nominees Vina Morales (“Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo”), Carla Abellana, Erich Gonzales and Lovi Poe, the three lead actress of “Shake Rattle & Roll XV.”

Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo’s other awards were for Best Float, Youth Choice Award, Sound Engineer (Wild Sound), Best Theme (Von de Guzman), Musical Score (Von de Guzman), Cinematography (Carlo Mendoza), Gatpuno Antonio Villegas Cultural Award, and FPJ Memorial Award for Film Excellence.

In his speech, Robin appealed to the fans of his popular nephew Daniel Padilla to support “Bonifacio” which he said they produced to reach out to the youth. He also said that he hopes that they could recoup their investment so they can produce again, this time the bio-flick of Gregorio del Pilar where they will cast Daniel in the lead role.

“English Only, Please,” on the other hand, won the trophies for Best Story (Antonette Jadaone and Dan Villegas), Best Screenplay (Antonette Jadaone and Anj Pessumal) and Best Direction for Dan Villegas, who joined the MMFF for the first time.

In her speech, Antonette thanked the jury for giving new filmmakers the chance to compete at the MMFF.

“Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2” brought home six awards, including Third Best Picture.

It also won the best supporting actor and actress trophies for Joey Marquez and Lotlot de Leon, respectively.

Joey played the role of Dingdong’s father-in-law while Lotlot portrayed Nieves,the sister of  Dingdong. It is a new character introduced in the film.

It is Lotlot’s first acting award from the MMFF where her Superstar mom Nora Aunor is considered the queen. Nora had the most number of best actress awards in the MMFF. She couldn’t hold back her tears. She thanked her parents, Christopher de Leon and Nora Aunor, and hopes that they are proud of her.

“Kubot” also won awards for Best Make Up, Best Visual Effects and Best Production Design for Ericson Navarro.

Popular “Eat Bulaga” mainstay Ryzza Mae Dizon won the Best Child Performer award for “My Big Bossing.”

While others were happy with the result, Rina Navarro, the producer of Bonifacio, slammed the jurors of the MMFF because of the failure of “Bonifacio” to win the awards for Best Director for Enzo Williams as well the top acting honors for Robin and Vina.

On the other hand, ABS-CBN news anchor Anthony Taberna also took to task the MMFF jurors for the loss of Robin and Vina in the acting categories. In turn, the “Tapatan ni Tunying” host was criticized by netizens in Instragram for taking the cudgels for the “Bonifacio” stars.

To be fair, Robin and Vina were good in their respective roles, same as with Derek and Jennylyn. While we may be rooting for Robin and Vina to win, we believe that Derek and Jennylyn deserve to be lauded for their performances.

As with any contest, we ought to respect the decision of the judges. We should be magnanimous in victory and gracious in defeat as well.