The talented Ms. Carpio

MANILA, Philippines - Her life and myriad activities can fill several volumes. In fact, she has just published her autobiography Shuttling Through Stage and Screen: Educator, author, lecturer, stage director and consummate actress, among other accomplishments in the arts and in the academe — Rustica C. Carpio, Ph.D. (and Doc Rustie to me because she and my late mother were colleagues at the Far Eastern University eons ago).

She was last seen in Brillante Mendoza’s Lola where she squared off against the formidable Anita Linda, stood her ground acting-wise, and both went on to win acting awards here and abroad. But the award she is most proud of is TOFIL (Outstanding Filipina in Culture and the Arts), given by the Jaycees International Senate and Insular Life in 2008.

Rustica was born 79 years ago in Paombong, Bulacan, to a musically gifted family. Her father, Leon José, was tortured by the Japanese military during World War II; and she herself, among other entertainers, went to the frontlines during the Korean War to sing for our troops.

In gratitude, a hill was named after her: “Rustie Hill.”

A young and attractive radio singer during the early ‘50s, she was abducted by a “popular band/orchestra leader,” who tried to rape her. Mercifully, she was able to escape but the harrowing experience left her a little bit afraid of men from then on.

Long a teacher and stage actress/director, Rustica made her film debut in 1976 in Ishmael Bernal’s Nunal sa Tubig, starring Elizabeth Oropesa and George Estregan. She played the village hilot, the mother of Daria Ramirez, and came up with an intense performance, especially in the scene where she was grieving for her dead husband.

Was Bernal temperamental? “No naman,” she says, “not always. Magaling siya. I mean, if there was a need to get angry he would…” She went on to appear in many more films by Bernal, including Aliw (she was nominated here), Menor de Edad and Walang Katapusang Tag-araw.

She was directed only once by Lino Brocka (another posthumous National Artist), appearing in Bona as the mother of Nora Aunor. (Brillante saw her in this film and it was the reason he cast her, many years later, in Lola.)

Asked to compare the styles of Bernal and Brocka, Rustica thinks “they are almost the same. They were classmates at UP (University of the Philippines).”

Another pleasant experience was with Fernando Poe Jr.: “He was very gentlemanly, and called me professor. He was the reserved type but he would go around and see if everybody had food. He would not eat ahead of the others.”

Shooting in Navotas City during stormy weather (for Lola) was a real trial, “but I enjoyed working with the group, the crew, all those people…” And she is all praises for Mendoza:

“Creative siya and he wanted us to be creative. There were some lines that we wanted to enrich, to put something… and he gave us freedom. Nakakatugma naman yung amin sinasabi doon sa gusto niya; we agreed. Mahusay siya. It’s not surprising that he’s going around the world. Sabi ko sa kanya you belong to the world.”

While Rustica considers her film experience highly rewarding, it has not always been a bed of roses. Once, while working, she lost an expensive pair of earrings (later, an expensive watch). At times there would be delays on the set, waiting for the stars who were working elsewhere (naglalagare).

“And so I learned to be patient,” she intones almost with a sigh. “That’s why I admire Eddie Garcia. When the call was for 8 a.m., he would be there at 8 a.m.” And she has unsolicited advice for some of the young people she has worked with: “Learn humility, discipline, respect for others. Otherwise, generally, I can say that I enjoy my experiences in the movies.”