By COOPER RESABAL JR.
MARIBOJOC, Bohol—The movie “Amigo” by American independent filmmaker John Sayles immortalized many picturesque sites in six towns of Bohol where it was filmed in its entirety in early 2010. A number of these towns were the most severely damaged by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the island province on Oct. 15.
There will be benefit screenings of “Amigo” at the UP Cine Adarna at the UP Film Institute on Nov. 15, 2013 at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. for victims of the tremor, considered to be the deadliest to hit the Philippines in 23 years.
The film depicts a slice of village life during the Philippine-American War in 1900.
In this town, some 14 kilometers from Tagbilaran, where the film production crew built a 15-hut 1900s village set complete with a Spanish-era stone church, there were 18 casualties and 213 injured. A total of 1,976 houses were damaged, including the 18th century Sta. Cruz Church, which was declared a national heritage in 2009.
Almost a month after the 7.2 earthquake hit this popular tourist province in central Philippines, some of the local actors and extras involved in the Amigo filming are still reeling from the after effects.
James Obenza, a local actor from Punta Cruz who played Joaquinito, teenage son of Rafael, the character played by Joel Torre in “Amigo,” expressed apprehension that he may have to stop his studies at the University of Bohol in Tagbilaran. Transportation expenses have become prohibitive since the earthquake toppled the Abatan Bridge between his town and adjacent Cortes. He was trying to get a boat ride the Cortes side.
Lourdes Pampilo from Busao village, who played Al Caida, mistress of the Spanish character played by Miguel Faustmann, almost delivered her child at the height of the earthquake. “I begged her not to deliver, please,” Pampilo’s husband Efren said. She eventually gave birth to a boy in a makeshift tent hospital in Loon six days after the quake.
Paterna Moncano of Toril, the most “visible” woman villager in “Amigo,” still stays in a makeshift tent since her house collapsed in the quake, including Rosario Mirabite, who was pregnant when “Amigo” was filmed.
Julito Marzan of Lincod, who played one of the guardia civiles, said he has to repair their house to live there again. He was carrying wood across the Abatan River whose bridge collapsed at the height of the quake.
Mirabite, who now stays with her family and the baby girl born during the filming in a waiting shed transformed into a tent, shed tears when she met British actor Ben Harvey, who visited the Toril evacuation center on Nov. 2. “It’s very heartening to see that our Amigo family still cares after all these years,” she said.
Harvey, who played an American soldier who tortured a Filipino village head played by Torre, brought milk and solar-powered flashlights for the children and old folks of Toril. “I’m just shocked that the chapel where we used as waiting area (for the ‘Amigo’ filming) has collapsed,” he said after viewing the ruins of the 1927 art deco structure.
On Nov. 12, initial assistance to Toril from the “Amigo” production family in New York was distributed as support for shelter of 116 households in the former film site.
In Loay town, some 12 kilometers from the capital town, the ancestral Clarin House, where “Amigo” had its first shooting day which coincided with the 111th anniversary of the Philippine- American War, was also damaged, “with some broken materials, but still standing,” disclosed Melany Clarin, great granddaughter of the prominent Clarin clan. She served as production medic for “Amigo” production.
The town of Loon, where scenes were shot of Katipunan leaders plotting their next moves in a cave in Basdacu-Lintoan, was the most devastated town with sink holes that collapsed bringing with them some houses and people nearby. The tremor reduced its beautiful symmetrical Our Lady of Light Church to rubble.
At the height of typhoon Yolanda last weekend, Loon Mayor Lloyd Lopez re-evacuated many of his constituents to Tagbilaran, for fear that the land where they had pitched tents could sink with too much rain expected from the storm.
Antequera, some 16 kilometers from the capital, where a scene was shot of the son of Torre’s character running on a bamboo bridge and Bembol Rocco walking on a river in Sto. Rosario village, incurred heavy damage on its many structures, including its stone church. Two houses and the people in it were swallowed by gaping fissures in Ubujan, and a road “disappeared” in a slide nearby.
John Philip Jagunos, a young actor from Antequera who played Eloy, cousin of Joaquinito, who plays a young Katipunan guerrilla in “Amigo,” still lives in a makeshift tent with his family. “Our house has lots of cracks, and it’s dangerous for us to stay there,” Jagunos’ mother told VERA Files over the phone.
In Dauis, Panglao Island, where the “Amigo” actors were billeted at Olman’s View Resort and Ladaga Inn, the stone church collapsed. The film production also shot scenes in Corella and Panglao towns which had minor damage from the tremor.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, 222 died, eight remained missing, 976 people were injured, and more than 73,000 structures were damaged by the Oct. 15 quake in Bohol.
