Tita Midz: Leader by example

The name Armida is supposed to mean warrior.

How so appropriate for a woman who spent a large chunk of her professional life fighting battles for a more orderly system within the world of movies and television and basically for what she feels is right and beneficial for the local motion picture industry.

As a performer, Armida Siguion-Reyna didn’t have to engage in a lot of fighting because she produced most of her films and had her choice of roles — and always delivered what is expected of her as an actress. But she did have countless tiffs with directors who worked under her production outfit and, especially errant actors, who refused to stick to contractual obligations.

This is no urban legend. It is a story told to me by Alma Moreno herself who appeared in at least two important film projects — Laruang Apoy and Mga Bilanggong Birhen — both of which were produced by Armida in the late ‘70s.

In one of the movies she was doing for Armida, Alma — then very young, careless and carefree — decided to play hide-and-seek, except that her producer one day caught up with her and gave her a stern warning: “I will sue you!” Already one of the hottest properties in Philippine show business that time, Alma haughtily shot back: “Eh, di sue me!” (“Then sue me!”)

It wasn’t until after days had passed that Alma remembered to ask around: “Ano nga ba ibig sabihin ng sue?” (“What do you mean again by sue?) That was a chapter in Alma’s juvenile life that she now recalls with amusement.

But no laughing matter was her battle with film industry members when she ran — and won — in her bid for the 1983 Actors’ Guild presidency. The local movie community, unfortunately, felt complacent and wasn’t ready for the changes they probably imagined she would have initiated within the ranks of the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) and obviously just wanted to merrily go along with the very defective practices everyone had already gotten accustomed to: The star system, the commencement of productions shoots without a solid script (some writer-directors wrote their dialogues on the backside of the foil inside cigarette packs), delayed wages of the little people who didn’t have any voice to air their complaints — basically the lack of professionalism among workers who didn’t respect or even bother to read the fine print of their contracts if there were any at all.

It was a bitter fight she fought, but had to give up — no thanks to pressures from Imelda Marcos, who felt that was the only way to keep peace within the Film Academy, the semi-government organization which the former First Lady had always supported since Day One of its creation.

Today, the local film industry is hanging from its very last thread of life and — cruel as this may sound — is actually getting what it deserves due to past sins.

Armida may not have been officially recognized as an industry leader, but she saw to it that she led by example. She always fought for her principles and never compromised to anything. All her dealings had to be on the table — in black-and-white.

Surely, she was no saint. In fact, she was then known to have a nasty temper and was a ferocious enemy. But she never fought just for the sake of fighting. She only waged wars to make a stand for what she believed was right — and most of the time, she was correct. When it came to legalities, she could never be wrong. After all, she had the Siguion-Reyna law offices (established by her husband, lawyer Leonardo Siguion-Reyna) as her library and reference center.

Aside from her admirable work ethics — which, unfortunately, were unacceptable to most movie people back then — she also had other significant contributions to the local film industry: As a performer, producer and as a censors chief who saw to it that the Philippine motion picture industry flourished by allowing artistic freedom without necessarily violating the law as stated by the guidelines set by the government for the Movie, Television Review & Classification Board (MTRCB). Of course, there were some unscrupulous businessmen masquerading as legitimate film producers who abused such freedom — in their desire to make a quick buck (and they did). But Armida cannot be faulted anymore for not giving her trust to filmmakers — all in the hope that there would be free expression and genuine classification in this country.

For all the dedication and professionalism she displayed as an active participant in the local movie world, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (MPP) is giving Armida Siguion-Reyna its Natatanging Gawad Urian come awards night to be held at the UP Cine Adarna on April 29 (the affair will later be telecast on Cinema One) and I will be discussing her movie career in the succeeding issues of this column.