CEBU, Philippines — Twenty-one years ago, Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong did not make it home. A lifeless body was later on found in Carcar City, south of Cebu. It would be claimed as Marijoy’s, while Jacqueline remains missing to this day. Seven men were accused of the crime, some of which had belonged to Cebu’s prominent families.Last Tuesday at SM City Cebu Cinema 1, people flocked to the Cebu premiere of “Jacqueline Comes Home,” a film that created buzz on social media and in face to face conversations. Loosely based on the real-life 1997 kidnapping, rape, and murder of the Chiong sisters, the film was met with intrigue upon the release of its trailer by Viva Films early this month – rehashing claims of an unfair trial towards the perpetrators and questioning the credibility of “Jacqueline Comes Home.”
But its director, Ysabelle Peach Caparas, was unfazed, welcoming sceptics inside the packed cinema, well aware that the turnout would consist of the curious, and at worst, the haters.
Even before it hit the big screen for commercial release last Wednesday, “Jacqueline Comes Home” – starring Donnalyn Bartolome and Meg Imperial as Marijoy and Jacqueline, respectively, together with Joel Torre and Alma Moreno as Dioniso and Thelma Chiong, and Ryan Eigenmann, CJ Caparas and AJ Muhlach as among the perpetrators – was slammed online, along with its stars, for a seemingly biased interpretation of the tragedy.
Others strongly called for a boycott and urged netizens to watch “Give Up Tomorrow”—a 2011 documentary produced by Marty Syjuco which showed the side of his brother-in-law and “mastermind” Francisco Juan “Paco” Larrañaga. It also doubled as an exposé on the crooked justice system in the Philippines, calling out the unfair trial that Larrañaga and the others were subjected to, which had netizens demanding to reopen the case and free Larrañaga who is in Spain behind bars.
“Jacqueline Comes Home,” according to Peach, was not meant to further incriminate anyone.
“I didn’t want to make anyone hate anyone in the tragedy. It’s such a big tragedy: it rocked the nation and tore so many families apart. I didn’t want to be part of that much hatred and that much incrimination,” Peach says in an interview post-screening.
Defending the project, Peach says the film was them telling the story of a grieving family who had to bury one daughter and search for another, how the rest of the children coped, and the dent it made in the Chiong household. It was also meant to stir people into action regardless of their stand on the case.
“I didn’t want to make you guys watch something that would just make you feel one thing. That’s why we released the trailer as it was because our job as filmmakers is to intrigue, enlighten, and captivate,” the 25-year-old filmmaker says.
“So when we released the trailer as it was, it intrigued you enough that it gave you a chance to enlighten yourself, dig deeper. And you guys found ‘Give Up Tomorrow’. And you guys started thinking.”
Peach says the film mainly tackled the journey of one mother’s suffering, not using the perpetrator’s names, nor focusing on the tedious trial that followed.
“To captivate, I thought I’d make a film that makes people think instead of just kilig. I’m pretty sure I did that because people started hating it a lot. Saying na parang ang bias, it’s such an easy thing—but I’m making you think, am I not? I brought you there, did I not? I took you places, I made you think for yourselves. I made you look, dig deeper. I made you thirsty for knowledge,” the daughter of veteran director Carlo J. Caparas reasons.
Ultimately, Peach shares that doing “Jacqueline Comes Home” had a lot to do with her mother—the late producer and actress Donna Villa of Lapu-Lapu City’s Patalinjug clan.
Peach says that her mom has always wanted to put the Chiong case on the big screen. She might not know her mother’s take on the issue (although she mused that her mother might lean towards the Chiongs)—but all that mattered was if she could make her mother proud by fulfilling her dream project.
“It had a lot to do with my mom kaya medyo naging emotional ako. Everytime we’d pass by that place [Carcar] – we used to go Santander every Sunday – we would pass by it and my mom would talk about how something tragic happened there all those years ago. When she passed away, my dad chose to take a one-year hiatus and when he came back he said we’re going to do the Chiong sisters film and it’s going to be my feature film debut,” she explains of her tearful moment on stage while introducing the film.
But Peach wasn’t the only one who got emotional that night. A distressed Thelma Chiong left the cinema in the middle of the rape scene, her wailing hard to miss as it echoed across the packed theater.
“During pre-production, I told her that to be able to bring these people on a journey, I had to portray it the best way that I can but also keeping it R-13. You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. She wasn’t even watching, she was just listening and it brought her back. I was hoping it took everyone from an unbiased point of view on a journey themselves,” Peach says.
“She’s okay. She was just triggered. I got to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Chiong. I didn’t want to be harsh and tell her, what are you gonna do, it’s a movie. I said, sorry Mrs. Chiong if I had to bring you back to those things. That wasn’t my intention. Siyempre na trigger talaga iyan eh.”
She adds, “I know a lot of people are saying these things na maybe it never happened. Maybe it’s a conspiracy theory but the thing is, what if it’s not? What if she’s really a mother who lost two kids and she had to see something like that. I just wanted to keep myself as unbiased as possible so I treated her with the kind of respect that I would treat a mother who suffered a loss and who literally had to watch it play in front of her.”
Actresses Donnalyn Bartolome and Meg Imperial, both present during the screening, meanwhile cried foul at the cyberbullying directed at them for taking on the project.
Peach admitted that the actresses were a tad apprehensive of the reactions following the premiere, and that she had to reassure both Donnalyn and Meg of the film’s intentions.
“Aside from the fact that it challenged us, of course it’s a real story. It’s very controversial, iba yung nararamdaman mo. Merong sympathy, siyempre nawalan sila ng anak. So kami, we want to set an awareness to people na ganun din ang situation nila,” Meg shares on why she said yes to “Jacqueline Comes Home.”
“Bukod sa empathetic kami sa family, nung nabasa namin yung script at napanood niyo naman po, so naiintindihan naman po na wala po kaming ibig sabihin na palabasin at pinapanigan,” quips Donnalyn, who did the project to learn and put her acting skills to the test.
“I feel it would raise safety awareness kasi meron akong mga kapatid na babae at alam ng nanay ko, lagi ko sa kanya sinasabi na huwag mong pauwiin na sila lang,” she adds.
Both actresses had seen “Give Up Tomorrow” and ran with their sense of sympathy while doing their roles since they were not able to speak to the Chiongs about their characters. They admit there had been pressure, before and even after doing “Jacqueline Comes Home.”
“Maraming naging bashers, naging personal na. They attacked us personally. The struggle was real for the both of us. Kami yung na-blame sa injustice,” Meg said.
The Viva contract stars took to social media to express their disappointment with all the hate they received for the project.
Says Donnalyn, “Siyempre nung binasa namin yung script, wala kaming pinapanigan. Hindi kami nag-edit ng trailer. Na-shock ako na bakit sa amin. Bakit kami ang target. In fact mas nakakatulong yung film na ma-highlight yung injustices sa Philippines. Hindi ko po kayo mapipilit na panoorin yung film pero sana magkaroon kayo ng kaibigan na manood nung film para sabihin sa inyo kung ano po talaga at kung ano yung nasa film hanggang huli.”
On her Instagram stories, Meg was more assertive, calling out the unwarranted hate directed towards them. She described how depressing people’s comments have been.
“Ang hindi ko maintindihan sa inyo sa research na yan at paulit-ulit niyo. Ilang beses po ba dapat sabihin sa inyo we’ve done our research? And kung tinanggap namin ang film, bakit kami ang binabatikos ninyo? Tanggihan man namin yan o hindi, meron at meron pa rin kukunin na artista na gaganap dyan. Bakit ang artista ang bina-bash niyo rather than the justice system that you guys are so into? Why not the government if you want change? Or action regarding that matter? Why us?” she writes.
“Do you think sa ginagawa niyo may naitulong kayo kay Paco? Kami ba na mga artista ang nagpakulong? At may kakayanan magpalaya sa kanya? If you think you guys know everything then go to court and open the case,” she continues, adding that some people are merely riding on the hype.
“Kailan niyo lang ba nalaman about sa case? Hindi ba when you saw the trailer? Unless you guys were there at isa kayo sa nakakaalam ng truth. Then if not who are you to judge the people behind this film? Especially kami ni Donnalyn? Ang concern niyo sa case instead makabuti, nakakasama. Ang sinasabi niyong hindi fair sa justice system eh ginagawa niyo sa amin. Kami ba pumatay? Bakit kung makapanghamak kayo para kami ang dapat nakulong? Bakit kung makapagsalita kayo parang kilala niyo na kami simula’t sapul?” Meg questions.
“Oo! Freedom of speech pero alamin niyo sinasabi niyo. Hindi yung sumasabay lang sa hype ng topic. Kaya ang daming nagsu-suicide because of cyber bullying.”
Unlike Meg and Donnalyn, Peach had been prepared for the drama and the controversy. She notes how ironic it is for people to throw around the word “biased” when they refuse to take a second opinion, and how quickly people rode the boycott bandwagon.
“A lot of the people from Cebu were initially like—yes, we know about the case tapos parang it sort of become a bandwagon to hate on one thing so much after seeing one thing. I’ve been trying to say, do watch ‘Give Up Tomorrow.’ It’ll give you a backstory and it’ll be easier for the film to let you find easter eggs and nods and homages to certain things. But the bandwagon has become [to] boycott. And sometimes they don’t even know what the hell they’re talking about,” Peach says.
“One reaction snowballed into a big one and everyone rode that bandwagon and I’m like, if you’re someone who seeks justice, get all of your facts. Get most of the knowledge that you can, be thirsty, be hungry for those facts. It’s different when you just stop listening to one side. That’s what makes you biased. That’s what makes you a hater—when you’re like, ‘I saw this thing that’s why I’m not gonna see this thing.’ That’s what bias is.”
Apart from cinematic liberties, the director explains she had to do things differently so she could bring “Jacqueline Comes Home” to cinemas.
Peach also spoke about how she wanted to create a thinking audience by introducing something else apart from the usual rom-com fare.
“When they go to watch the movie, if they would, instead of like spoon feeding, brain washing, I wanted people to be able to have something they could have their own opinions on. Find their own kind of facts about it. And it made them hungry for knowledge and I wanted to reawaken something like that with the Filipinos of today. Kasi I believe the [film] industry is stagnating where it could just be slapstick, rom-com, or you know, cheesy horror movies. Dati po kasi, true-to-life controversies—they used to do that all the time and it deterred filmmakers when the hate got too much,” Peach says.