Pio Valenzuela: Remembering Him, because No One Really Remembers Him

Tomorrow's Halloween, but more importantly, it's the time when Filipinos go to their family graves and pay respects to those who have gone ahead of us. Work is cancelled for a few days so that families living in bigger cities can go home to their respective provinces to visit the dead and also visit the living. Not too many people know this, but, the season we call Undas is a season to celebrate life and the unknown. I think that's why we still opt to celebrate Halloween... not only because it was introduced to us by our colonizers, but also because this is a reminder that we must celebrate the dead as we celebrate life.

I'm not going to talk about Halloween though. There are too many articles, both positive and negative, regarding the existence of ghosts, demonology, as well as the latest Halloween costumes and recipes for the same kind of pumpkin soup. This article is about a man forgotten by both family and nation. This article is about Pio Valenzuela.

Pio Valenzuela was one of the leaders of the Katipunan and the first Filipino mayor of the city of Polo, Bulacan (now Valenzuela City). He died in 1956 and is currently buried in the Valenzuela cemetery. His grave is next to my family's, so every year I see his grave.

For the past 10 years or so, I have noticed that his grave is unkempt and apparently never visited. It's now surrounded by water, and it's hard going into that part because the path is also very muddy. Leaves are scattered everywhere, and people just pass by without even looking twice. There's a medium-sized sign that spells out his last name, but no one seems to care. It's a projection of how many Filipinos do not take pride in knowing their history.

If Undas is about celebrating life and death, why have we forgotten the life and death of this man?

A watery grave.

The sign is there, but who remembers?

I deem it ironic, really, that Valenzuela City does not honor the man who they named the city after. Isn't that disrespectful? I've already talked to Doctor Zialcita and Doctor Ocampo about this matter, and it will take some time and public awareness to get people to understand, appreciate and act on cleaning up his grave and celebrating his life. And I hope to see this in my lifetime.














*Click to enlarge images. © 2010 Myta Santiago.

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Speaking of remembering our heroes, Instituto Cervantes is celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of the South American independence this November by showing movies about the Chilean revolution. Take some time to watch how the Chileans fought for their freedom, and how their creativity and courage in the arts have made them well-known!

Click to enlarge. Images by Instituto Cervantes de Manila.

National Film Archive, much like saving a child

Read THIS first.

But if you don't want to, here's a brief outline.

• Briccio Santos just arrived from business-related trips in Pusan (South Korea) and Hanoi (Vietnam).
• His office's main priorities as the government arm of the film industry -- co-production and the national film archive -- all in the name of finally establishing a national/state cinema.

This is honestly a good start for Chairman Briccio as it is high time that we should establish one. There are so many films lost due to time and mismanagement, and I hope that the film industry can (finally!) work together to save our, as FDCP calls it, "cinematic gems."

However I have a feeling that the question among many people aware of this movement is, "which films should we preserve and reconstruct?" My personal view is this: why not preserve all while we still can?

I know, I know that many of films are not well-done, but in one way or another, a film despite its ratings and reviews still deserves to be preserved because -- admit it, Filipinos (or whoever reads my blog), at one point in our lives, we liked slapstick comedy and that brand of comedy made our childhood memorable to a certain extent (I still like Dolphy/Babalu comedy. Still cracks me up till now).

A film archive is not only an area to keep films and prolong their lives, as well as provide public access to people who want to study Asian Film or Philippine Film. A film archive, like all archives, preserves and reconstructs our emotions, our lifestyles and our way of life. Just because some films lately have not been so excellent doesn't mean we cannot just throw them away. It's sort of like aborting your unborn child who has Down Syndrome. Take responsibility; the film archive will always help out.

I just hope producers have this foresight of depositing their films and not storing them in some poorly air-conditioned warehouse, and I hope that the Film Development Council of the Philippines will hold true to their mandate -- but they must ask help and support from SOFIA and Mowelfund, and not just CCP and NCCA.

I look forward to the days ahead for Philippine cinema.

My question for now is will all filmmakers help out? I'm not a filmmaker (I'm the granddaughter of one, and I'm sure he's disappointed with me) but nonetheless I am passionate about film preservation and I do want to help out as much as I can.

Antonioni, Visconti, Fellini and Pasolini: Straddling Cinema and Literature

 In relation to my post last night about the 9th Italian Film Festival, the planning committee (The Embassy of Italy and the Philippine-Italian Association) has also put together a special lecture on Italian cinema and literature at 10:00 on October 20, 2010 at the Premiere Theater of Shang Cineplex. The lecture will be followed by a screening of "The Leopard" by Luchino Visconti.

RSVP through Marissa Ronquillo at filital2@yahoo.com or through Jigs at 6332227.