Reworking Working Girls

Nineteen eighty-four was one of those trying times in recent Philippine history. Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated the year before and there was political unrest in the country. The economy had plunged, there was a boycott of multinational companies and the exchange rate was P21-$1.

In literary circles all over the globe, the discussion was about the novel 1984, a George Orwell 1949 work about his dire predictions of what the world would be like come 1984: There would be widespread communism and each house — bare of unnecessary amenities — would have a two-way TV screen and the leader of the Party, called Big Brother, would be watching everyone’s movement.

That did happen some two decades later, but people went into that kind of environment voluntarily and now here in the Philippines the tandem of Melason is starting to come out of our ears.

In local movies, we had Sister Stella L., ‘Merika, Alyas: Baby Tsina, Bulaklak sa City Jail, Adultery, Condemned and Boatman. My favorite film that year, however, was Working Girls, which was directed by the late Ishmael Bernal and released by Viva.

Although Working Girls mirrored exactly the socio-political situation of that period, the movie was practically ignored by the members of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, save for a Best Actress nomination given to Gina Pareño.

I wasn’t going to be a Manunuri until later, but I can only think of two reasons why this comedy failed to score high with the members of this local film critics’ group that time: 1) The race was crowded with a lot of other great works and 2) The Manunuri members that time didn’t have any sense of humor.

Written by Amado Lacuesta, a successful investor whose hobby was writing and was excellent at it (he died of heart problems a few years later), Working Girls has seven main female characters played by some of the popular actresses that time:

Hilda Koronel — She is cast as a female bank executive who has to elbow her way to the top in that then male-dominated profession. She exercises woman empowerment two years before the country had its first female President.

Rio Locsin — She is Hilda’s secretary, who is impregnated by the playboy Tommy Abuel and is heckled constantly by a nuisance of a co-worker portrayed in the movie by a then struggling male starlet who — half a decade later — would rise to stardom and become known as Cesar Montano.

Carmi Martin — Also a secretary (she is Rio’s best friend), she uses her sexiness to stay close to power. She has a scene where she walks past Zorayda Sanchez, who utters to herself: “Hmph, akala mo kung sino — ang pangit naman!” Imagine that coming from Zorayda, who three years later would become a household name herself. (She passed away a couple of years ago.)

Baby Delgado — An employee who doesn’t really have to work since her family is well-off. Her only goal is to catch a husband she can present to society. Like most of the other girls, she also sets her sights on the elusive Tommy Abuel.

Gina Pareño — Of lowly origins, she tries to better her station in life by learning the language and ways of the cosmopolitan — with comic results. She, too, tries to snag Tommy. Incidentally, she is not officially connected with any establishment, but goes from office to office selling pieces of jewelry on installment basis.

Chanda Romero — Hers is the most boring role: A career-driven woman whose success is resented by a husband (Romeo Rivera) suffering from low self-esteem.

Maria Isabel Lopez — A receptionist who hankers for anything expensive and gets these material possessions by selling her body on the side. Playing her pimp: The Joel Lamangan of today.

Working Girls contains all the ingredients viewers look for in a film: Comedy, drama and even sex. But much appreciated is the way it reflects the climes of the times.

As early as 1984, Ayala Avenue was already firmly established as our Wall Street and this is where 90 percent of the story unfolds. And so we see office workers making confetti out of the yellow pages of the phone book to be used in the Ayala Avenue rallies (EDSA 1 was propped up mainly by the middle class). Vehicles also had yellow ribbons as a sign of protest against the Marcos dictatorship.

Looking back now, that was so courageous of Bernal and Viva Films because the Marcos administration was breathing down the neck of the censors who were on the lookout for anything anti-government on both TV and the movies.

Working Girls was a box-office hit and I can imagine that it was the Kimmy/Dora of that year, except that this Bernal work was more polished and had more social significance.

As I write this, Viva and GMA Films are collaborating on a remake (or is it a sequel) of Working Girls — with younger stars, but will retain some of the original cast members. Hilda and Baby are both in the US (on opposite coasts), while the rest are here. Gina and Isabel, in fact, are both nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the Gawad Urian (Gina for Bakal Boys and Isabel for Kinatay).

Jose Javier Reyes is the director of this project and I have faith in him that he will deliver. After all, nine years after Working Girls was released, Joey came up with his own Makati Ave. (Office Girls) and won Urian Best Screenplay and Direction for it.

To the cast, creative staff and crew of Working Girls 2010, have fun reworking on this material. But don’t goof on it and don’t bastardize it or I’ll never forgive you. Working Girls, after all, is one of my favorite local comedies of all time. So get it done and do a good job of it.