Chinese blood, Filipino sensibilities

Whether here or overseas, many businesses are run by Chinese. Even the Philippine motion picture industry is run and populated by producers, directors, writers, technical people and actors who are either pure or part Chinese.

Charo Santos-Concio has Chinese blood (on her late father’s side) and this is evident in her fair and translucent complexion.

Gina Alajar also traces her roots to China. Regina Liguid Alati-it Eigenmann in real life, her maiden name shouldn’t have been Alati-it, but Tan. It turned out that Gina’s father had a falling out with her grandfather that he (Gina’s father) decided to drop the surname Tan and adopted instead the Alati-it surname of his foster parents. On hindsight, Gina must be thankful for how things turned out – otherwise, she would have been stuck with the surname Tan, which obviously does not go well with her given name Gina. Gina Tan? Delicious, but I don’t think she’d be happy with it.

Obviously part Chinese is Kris Aquino – specifically from the Cojuangco side, which descended from the southern Chinese province of Amoy. Kris’ being part Chinese also helped her deliver with extreme credibility her award-winning role Juliet Go in Mano Po.

Presidential son, Pampanga Vice Gov. and actor Mikey Macapagal Arroyo, incidentally, is also part Chinese because his father, Atty. Mike Arroyo, is a Tuason on the mother side. The Tuasons, as some of you may already know, were Chinese who came to the Philippines during the Spanish era bearing the surname Son-Tua. To Hispanize their Chinese name, they later changed it to Tuason.

Behind the camera, there’s director Mel Chionglo whose complete name is Carmelo Tan Chionglo and prolific screenwriter Ricky Lee.

On television and print media, we have Jullie Yap Daza who is pure Chinese and Ricky Lo, who edits this page and serves as one of the hosts of The Buzz. Why, even this writer is part Chinese (my middle name is Lim) although my knowledge of Chinese culture is limited to Chinese cuisine.

But the concentration of Chinese in the entertainment field is mostly on the business side – where the money is. When local filmmaking was at its peak in the late ’70s up to the mid-’80s, most of the producers and exhibitors of Filipino movies were Chinese.

There’s Ng Meng Tama who heads the Metro Manila Theaters Association to this day. Among the active producers back then were Romy Ching who produced Burlesque Queen and Mga Uod at Rosas, Jesse Chua who entered Haplos in the 1982 Metro Manila Film Festival and Jesse Yu who co-produced Stepsisters with Marichu Perez Maceda. Belonging to the younger generation of Chinese producers is William Lao of Bonanza Films, which produced a lot of Rudy Fernandez blockbusters. Still active in distribution is Wilson Tieng of Solar Films.

Today, we see less and less of Chinese producers and as a consequence, we see less and less of local films. But there’s one Chinese-Filipino who is my favorite and she still remains active (although not as active as she used to be) in local entertainment. Lily Yu Monteverde of Regal Films.

Most of us have already heard of Mother Lily’s success story and, yes, even her quirks at work. (Remember when she used to speak to four people on the landline at the same time?)

In the past, Mother Lily used to evade the press (she was friends with them, but shunned interviews). Today, she seems to be more open talking about herself, her life and her plans for her various businesses. During the 2002 Metro Filmfest awards night, I was surprised that she went up on stage to personally collect the trophies for Mano Po unlike in previous instances when she would just send her line producers to represent her.

I don’t know Mother Lily that well, but every time we’d bump into each other – usually in restaurants like Annabel’s or Bistro Lorenzo – she would be very pleasant company. And yes, she can be very, very funny – especially when she tells stories.

One time, I even told her that I wanted to invest on a unit at the Century Imperial Palace, the high-rise condominium building she built at the Tomas Morato Circle. Well, she said that we could discuss the details and even made plans to see each other the following day. Unfortunately, she was a no-show. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

But my admiration and respect for her remains unchanged to this day. Sure, she has her peculiarities, but she has done a lot of good deeds to this industry and its members.

She may have churned out a lot of trashy and worthless films, but at the same time she should also be credited for producing some of the best Filipino films of this generation: City After Dark (Manila By Night), Broken Marriage, Sister Stella L., Pahiram ng Isang Umaga, Makati Ave., Office Girls, Wating, The Fatima Buen Story and, yes, Mano Po. Even her so-called pito-pito movies came out well-crafted: Sana Pag-ibig Na and Kriminal ng Bo. Concepcion.

Recently, I bumped into Mother Lily again in a restaurant and I personally witnessed how she is trying to teach and help a new producer (and prospective competitor) get around in this industry. Although she told me not to write the details of this incident, I just can’t help but relate this outpouring of kindness and generosity from her end.

Lily Monteverde may be Chinese in great part by blood, but she truly is a blessing to the Filipino movie industry.