TUW2

For this online edition feature post, let this blogger share with the readers of this blog about movies, the following four selected best proverbs:

1. “Time is the great healer.”
2. “United we stand, divided we fall.”
3. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
4. “Win at first and lose at last.”

The chosen images that were used for this feature post were taken from the following selected online resources as our references:

• sports.inquirer.net
• newsflash.org

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead To All Of Us!

“Sandata At Pangako”

GIL DE LEON

FPJ, CHARITO SOLIS and LOURDES MEDEL

FPJ with CHARITO SOLIS

FPJ with BERNARD BONNIN

FPJ with Roger Moreno and Baby Janet

The title of this online edition’s subject feature-length film presentation was released in the Philippines in the Year 1961. The film production company behind it was the LVN Pictures, Inc or LVN for short. It was the only feature film where the late Fernando Poe, Jr. or FPJ for short appeared as the male lead character for the said company. The female lead character was played by the late Charito Solis. The title of the subject film can be translated into the English language as “Weapon And Vow”. The weapon presented in this case is particularly a gun or to be more specific, a hand gun.

The other members of the cast of characters were played by Bernard Bonnin, Lourdes Medel, Mila Ocampo, Gil De Leon, Johnny Reyes, Marietta Sanz, Vic Pacia, Baby Janet, Roger Moreno, Tony Dantes, Sim Pajarillo and Angel Confiado, among others. The film was directed by F.H. Constantino. The genre can be described as a combination of action, drama and love story. It was the first team-up of FPJ and Solis. It was the only team-up of FPJ and Bonnin as action stars.

After its released in the cinemas, it was later shown on selected television channels as an afternoon feature presentation. One of these channels was RPN Channel 9 which is a free television channel. Come the advent of cable television, it was shown on PBO which is a channel under Viva Entertainment. This film was restored digitally by ABS-CBN. It was released for free streaming on November 23, 2021.

For this blogger, the following are the issues and themes discussed in the storyline of the film:

1. Because of poverty, FPJ’s character is looking for a job which will somehow take care of their expenses for food at their home and other needs with his siblings (Medel, Baby Janet and Moreno) like payment of school expenses and medicine for a sick member of the family.
2. His job applications were not a success because he did not finish school. He was able to find one which pays well in the long run. However, he has to be a member of a criminal gang.
3. He got the job because he impressed the mastermind of the gang played by De Leon when the lead male character had a fight with De Leon’s character’s henchmen led by Reyes’ character in a night club (where the star singer was played by Ocampo) where they go as regular customers.
4. The male lead character was wounded in his first job where he and his colleagues will rob the house of a wealthy man. His colleagues (who are veterans in robbery and hold-up of selected establishments) left him because they panicked when they heard the police siren.
5. He sought refuge in the home of Solis’ character while waiting for the policemen to stop their search for him. He was arrested because she turned him over to the police. Later, when she learned that he has siblings who are having financial problems with his arrest and eventual imprisonment, she apologized to Medel’s character (present in the trial of her brother when the sentence was served, but kept her distance and did not make her presence felt) who accepted her apology because the latter said she would do the same thing if it happened to her. She offered the latter a job at her eatery which she owns as one of her assistants, the other being her father who was played by Pajarillo. Medel’s character accepted the job and her siblings are very happy with what happened.
6. The plainclothes policemen who arrested FPJ’s character were played by Bonnin and Confiado. The former (with the rank of lieutenant) was requested by Solis’ character to accompany her to the siblings of FPJ’s character. He was requested by FPJ’s character not to tell his younger siblings that he will be serving his sentence in prison in a year and few months. Bonnin’s character agreed and make it appear that he is the employer of their brother in his job abroad.
7. The eatery owner and the lieutenant became like family members of the siblings while the male lead character was in prison. The latter became the husband of Medel’s character. Solis’ character lives with his siblings while serving his sentence in prison because her father died in a heart attack which the real cause was his addiction to injecting opium. She continues living with them upon his release. At first, they were unease with each other naturally. Later they became close and became lovers.
8. The prison sentence was supposed to be a long one. However, De Leon’s character used his money and connections to make it short thinking that FPJ’s character would return to their fold upon his release. But, it was otherwise. Fortunately, he did not rat on them before and after his release.
9. Aside from robbery and hold-up, the gang led by De Leon’s character is also engaged in running an opium den and a supplier of illegal drugs. Among the victims are Pajarillo’s character, Solis’ character (because the drug injected by him to her arm provided reliefs for her perennial stomach pains) and De Leon’s character daughter played by Sanz  (a spoiled daughter who is fond of shopping in Escolta which was a shopping haven during those days) whom he found smoking crack which was given to her by Pacia’s character.
10. The courier of the drugs happened to be a neighbor of FPJ’s character and his siblings. The character was played by Dantes. Aside from being a drug courier, he is the one who refers persons to the opium den and a pervert who abused the innocence of the male lead character’s sister who is a elementary student.
11. The pervert was served justice through karma. He was electrocuted while being chased by FPJ’s character and his neighbors when they learned what he did to the elementary student.
12. FPJ’s character was released on a parole basis in which any trouble or criminal offense he is involved will return him to prison. Fortunately, he was prevented by Solis’ character to retaliate against the heckling made by the characters played by Sanz, Pacia and their friends when they became customers at the eatery run by Solis’ character.
13. The male lead character vowed not to take a weapon again by going straight. He found a job as a driver of garbage truck. However, his former colleagues set him up for a robbery in which he was not involved. To clear his name, he took a gun away from a policeman who was arresting him to look for the real perpetrators of the crime blamed on him.
14. The set-up was a retaliation against him because he told the police about the existence of opium den of De Leon’s character. It was raided and many people were arrested including the woman who manages the den who pointed to him as the mastermind.
15. Sanz’ character later learned the painful truth that her father is a criminal who maintains a well looking office as a front of his illegal business. She was killed when she protected her father from being hit by a bullet fired by Reyes’ character. The right hand man of her father turned traitor stole the money being kept by his boss as earnings from the crimes so that he can get away with the singer (the girl friend of his boss who is a widower) to whom he has a romantic interest.
16. The male lead character was vindicated in the end when he was joined by the police lieutenant in going to the hide out of De Leon’s character who planned to take Solis’ character with him in escaping from the hands of the law. There, the criminal gang members were arrested by a team of policemen who provided help to the characters played by FPJ and Bonnin in rounding them up.

The chosen images which were used for this feature post as our visual aids were taken from selected online resources (with very special mention to the social platforms of ABS-CBN and the Video48.Blogspot.com) as our materials for our references.

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead To All Of Us!

TRIVIA

• Johnny Reyes is the brother of Efren Reyes, Sr. and uncle of Efren Reyes, Jr. The elder Efren served as director of some of the films produced by FPJ Productions.
• Among the cast members, the younger generations from their clan followed their career path as actors and actresses – FPJ (Lovi Poe), Bonnin (JC, Mags, Richard and Charlene), Ocampo (Snooky Serna), De Leon (Pinky, Christopher and Lara Melissa) and Confiado (Mon).

ST3

Hello, Everybody!

Come with me and let us all take a look at the following four compiled and selected best proverbs as a diversion from the usual format of this blog about movies:

1. “Strike while the iron is hot/”
2. “There are two sides to every question.”
3. “There’s no fool like an old fool.’
4. “There is nothing that costs less than civility.”

The chosen images that were used for this feature post were taken from the following selected online resources as our references:

• en.wikipedia.org
• pbs.org

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead To All Of Us!

Tony Ferrer in “METROCOM”

TONY FERRER

In the late 1960s, the late Filipino actor (who later also became a film producer and director) Tony Ferrer (known for playing the role of Tony Falcon, Agent X-44 several times which made him famous), portrayed the part of a military officer whose special unit was tasked to combat crimes as part of its law enforcement activities. The said unit was known as METROCOM.  A movie was made about this (released in October 5, 1967) which served as a sort of an infomercial and an advocacy in fighting crimes in the Greater Manila Area (GMA), the former name of Metro Manila.

Aside from Ferrer, the cast members among others were Jose Romulo, Rosa Aguirre, Eddie Infante, Jose Garcia, Paquito Diaz, Lito Garcia, Van De Leon and the special participation of the officers and men of the METROCOM.

The feature-length film presentation was produced and released by Larry Santiago Productions and it was directed by Pablo Santiago.

The subject film begins with the compiled video clips which presented then President Ferdinand E. Marcos (FM), Sr.’s major policies and actions against the rising criminality and the ways how to curb it. The creation of the METROCOM was presented with Ferrer and Romulo playing the roles of its officers. The uniform or outfit worn by the members of the unit was shown which was categorized as a camouflage type. The head gear they wore can be distinguished very well because it is a black beret. There was a scene where a group of officers and men were in a marksmanship drill which tested their skills and agility in making their respective shots using a rifle or a carbine which they passed to one another.

The officers played by Ferrer and Romulo with their fellow officers and men were assigned by their superior officers to assist a businessman (Jose Garcia) who reported to them that he is being harassed by a group of men led by the character played by Diaz. The group is engaged in blackmailing certain prominent people in the field of business and industry. The businessman admitted to them that he made a lapse in judgment when he met a beautiful lady for a one night stand. The lady turned out to be a bait because the blackmailers made a video of the businessman with her when they met in a hotel room. They are asking for a very large sum of money from their victim to make them quiet and not release the video to his family.

The information given by the businessmen to the Metrocom officers and men turned out to be a major help. The latter located the blackmailers’ hideout and they made surveillance operations every day. The law enforcers disguised as telephone lineman, taho vendor, ice cream vendor and gulaman vendor. The last one sells refreshments which was the cover used by Ferrer’s character. After they performed their disguises, they planned their moves towards the day when the businessman will pay the sum of money the blackmailers had demanded from him. On that day, after the businessman paid the money, the law enforcers plunged to action very quickly and the blackmail ring was busted and its members arrested.

The team of law enforcers were later assigned to investigate the operations of a robbery gang led by the character played by De Leon. Ferrer’s character was designated for an undercover operation in which he is the infiltrator. His cover this time was a thief who is looking for a job. The right hand man of the leader was played by Lito Garcia. He was impressed by Ferrer’s cover which convinced him to hire the undercover operative. When Ferrer was brought to their hideout for meeting the leader, De Leon’s character was impressed too. The operative somehow made a sneak eavesdrop on the duo when they went to a room to talk. He returned quickly to his seat when he sensed that they were about to go out. He told them that the jewelries he “stole” to prove his skills were hidden in a tomb in a cemetery and he will get it to show it to them. De Leon tasked Garcia to go with Ferrer.

In the cemetery, he did this and showed it to Garcia who was very glad. In a lapse of judgment, he told Ferrer about the next job of the group which is to hijack an armored van of a major bank. Two Metrocom officers were present also in the said place and was able to make an audio tape recording of the conversation. The two officers with Ferrer’s character reported this to their superior officers. The group of the superior officers which included Infante’s character (the others with him were real life officers and one of them later became the Commanding Officer of the Metrocom- General Prospero Olivas) listened to the audio tapes made by their operatives and decided to take action against the planned crime to be committed. When the day of the execution of the crime arrived, the robbers were shocked to find out that the passengers of the armored van were Metrocom officers and men. A shoot out occurred. Some of the gang members were killed while the surviving ones were arrested. There were other teams of law enforcers aside from the team whose members posed as passengers of the van.

After their operation, Ferrer’s character received a radio call from his colleagues, his mother (Aguirre) who had been confined for several days at the hospital is in a very critical condition. He went quickly to the hospital. Unfortunately, his mother died by the time he arrived. This is one of the factors the law enforcers faced while performing their duties. When he reported back to their headquarters, Infante’s character told him with the latest success of his team’s operations against criminal groups, he is being promoted to the next higher position and he deserves this promotion.

The film ends with Ferrer’s character talking with a higher ranking officer of the Metrocom in real life. After their short conversation, Ferrer faced the camera and introduced to the audience the said officer. The Metrocom officer stated to the public the reason why the law enforcement was created and the plans and objectives of the agency for the succeeding years.

The images that were used for this feature post were taken from selected online resources (cinefania.com; movie-industry.blogspot.com; wikipedia; gma network.com) as references.

With Very Special Mention to the Video 48 Blog for the use of the movie poster as a visual aid of this online piece.

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead to All of Us!

METROCOM: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

This blogger would like to acknowledge the “1990 Report Fact-Finding Commission” (which was created in the aftermath of the December 1989 coup attempt against the President Cory Aquino Administration and the designated Chairman of the Commission was then COMELEC Chairman Hilario G. Davide, Jr.) and the Wikipedia for the following information in this portion after the above online article about the movie:

• The defunct Philippine Constabulary (PC) was a former major service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) which as the national police, was responsible for the security of rear areas in case of emergency.
• Through the years, law enforcement was continuously carried out by the PC.
• Metro Manila was formerly known as the Greater Manila Area (GMA) in the 1960s up to the latter part of 1975.
• When Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. (a Senator who later became Senate President) became President of the Republic of the Philippines in 1965, crime figures were on the rise in GMA. The 4 cities and 13 municipalities have their own police forces.
• A special striking force to be known as the PC Metropolitan Command (METROCOM) was created pursuant to an Executive Order (EO) of the President on July 14, 1967.
• It was created to complement and supplement police forces within GMA in its campaign against all forms of criminality.
• The strike force was the PC Special Forces Company (Airborne) whose members wore the distinctive black berets with the red canopy border.
• All members were all Airborne paratroopers and Special Forces graduates within the PC itself.
• On February 16, 1968, Marcos issued EO No. 120 which expanded the PC METROCOM into a Metropolitan Area Command. It assisted the local police forces in GMA in dealing with urban unrest among workers and students.
• Other units of the AFP were transferred to the METROCOM, which manpower rose from a meager 300-man team to a force of 1,700 personnel.
• From August 1, 1968 to July 1, 1970, this unit was under the administrative and operational control of the AFP General Headquarters (GHQ).
• After this period, the PC took over making it one of the major subordinate commands or units of the PC with a status equal to that of a PC Zone Command in the provinces.
• After the 1986 People Power Revolution, METROCOM was renamed as the Capitol Regional Command (CAPCOM) before the abolition of the PC in view of the establishment of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 1991.
• The current name of the former unit is the National Capitol Region Police Office (NCRPO) under the PNP.