Let the cockfight begin!

Back in the late ’50s, there was a Sampaguita movie called Sabungera starring Lolita Rodriguez in the title role. It was a comedy and it didn’t really go deep into the psyche of a cockfighting aficionado.

Opening on Sept. 30 (with a premiere on Sept. 27 at Megamall Cinema 1 and at Gateway Mall Cineplex 5) is Sabungero: Dangal at Tibay with Joel Torre in the title role and produced by Rooster Content Online (creator of sabong.com.ph, the No. 1 cockfighting website on the Internet). It’s touted to be “the first full-length feature on the Filipino sport of cockfighting,” also starring Ricky Davao, Sid Lucero, Mark Gil, Nonie Buencamino, Robert Arevalo, Maritoni Fernandez and Leo Martinez, co-directed by Miguel Kaimo and Rozie Delgado (daughter of Susie Laurel-Delgado and granddaughter of Celia and Doy Laurel; Sid’s girlfriend).

The movie is timely in the sense that sabungeros are applying for a COMELEC accreditation as a party list planning to join the 2010 elections. The general reaction to that is, “What!?!”

“Why not?” said JC Bernardo, producer of Sabungero. “There are more than six million cockfighters all over the country and they also need a representative in Congress.” (A party-list bet needs only 500,000 votes to win a seat.)

JC (whose mom is iconic model Conchitina Sevilla-Bernardo), 37, has been into cockfighting for more than 20 years, starting when he was only 17.

“From the start,” said JC, “I’ve been intrigued by the resilience of the cocks that fight until they die or they win. Sabong is an integral part of Filipino culture. There’s a sabungan in every town in almost every town and barrio in the country.”

It was his mom’s driver, a sabungero, who got JC interested in cockfighting.

“I was about 10 or 11 and in Grade 6. He took me to a cockfight and I loved it. My mom didn’t know. I remember that day and how fascinated I was with the cock’s fight-to-the-death determination. Since then, I’ve been hooked.”

He was 24 when he owned his first fighting cock. He now breeds 50.

Just like wives, fighting cocks need TLC (Tender Loving Care). Remember the Pinoy joke about husbands fondling their fighting cocks more than they do their wives?

“I’m not like that,” said JC with a laugh. His wife is Fe Tio Laurel, 75 percent Chinese, with whom he has a daughter.

JC breeds 50 fighting cocks.

“The cocks need a lot of room and it’s unhealthy if they are crowded. It’s hard to take care of fighting cocks, just like any other pet. You have to make them comfortable. If the cock is not healthy, it won’t perform well during the sabong.”

So what took him so long to produce a movie about cockfighting?

“Money. I wanted to make a really good movie, one which is a reflection of our country’s cockfighting culture,” adding, “did you know that the origin of cockfighting is Malay?”

Unlike JC, Joel Torre is not a cockfighting fan, although he also deals with chicken, being the owner of the Bacolod Chicken outlets.

“I serve the chicken that lose in the fight,” joked Joel. (The truth is that chicken served at Bacolod Chicken is “native” that’s why it’s delicious, mouth-wateringly so.)

“When I first thought of doing the movie two years ago,” said JC who is, like Joel, Ilonggo, “I had Joel in mind. I want good actors in the movie.”

Mark now ‘at par’ with Piolo

Buddy-buddies Mark Bautista and Piolo Pascual, who are not seen together as often as they used to be, have many things in common, one of which is their love for, you guessed it, chicken.

Piolo has been an endorser of Max’s Chicken for a few years while Mark has just been signed up as endorser of Mang Inasal, outlets of which you see all over Metro Manila.

Now, isn’t it interesting to see Mark and Piolo in a drumstick-eating contest, Mark biting into a Mang Inasal drumstick and Piolo into a Max’s drumstick? Better still, they can share a drumstick, with Mark biting from one end and Piolo from another end.

“I’ve been a Mang Inasal lover before they got me as endorser,” confessed Mark. “That’s why when the offer to endorse it, came, I said yes at once. Now I can have as much chicken from Mang Inasal as I want.”

Unlike JC Bernardo, Mark and Piolo are not (yet) into cockfighting. If they ever do, maybe they can start breeding fighting cocks and, why not, as they swap drumsticks from Mang Inasal and Max’s, they can at the same time fondle each other’s fighting cock.

Lovely, isn’t it?

What’s up?

• De La Salle Voices, under choirmaster Joven Valeras, take centerstage tomorrow, Sept. 25, at 6 p.m., in Paco Park Presents in a program titled Kultura. Thea Perez-Prosia is program host. Admission is free.

• The mythical Filipino bird of lore flies to life in Concert at the Park this Sunday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m., in the Gantimpala Theater Foundation’s production of the late playwright Rene Villanueva’s Ibong Adarna under the direction of Roobak Valle. It stars Aaron Villaflor as Don Juan, Arkin da Silva (Don Diego), Roeder Camanag (Don Pedro), Matthew Manalaysay (Ibong Adarna), Anna Derica (Mariya Blanca), Joey de Guzman (Ermitanyo), Billy Parjan (Haring Fernando), Pamela Hundana (Reyna Valeriana) and Abel Napuran (Manggagamot). Minette Padilla is program host.

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