“When the Priests went out of the Monastery”

[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignright" width="225" caption="the priests and ron at the lobby of the new municipal hall"][/caption]

 

                Since we started taping for “May Bukas Pa” in January  this year, most of us who are casted as priests (save for Jaime Fabregas, Dominic Ochoa and Lito Pimentel) have been taping our scenes inside the San Guillermo Church, Bacolor, Pampanga compound which we use as our set. Except also in few instances when some of us had a chance to tape in  other locations (Victor Basa taping in a ranch, Ruben Gonzaga taping in a fishing village and Budjie Mortiz taping in Manila  to name a few) we had been taping mostly inside the church compound.

                When we were informed two weeks ago  that our location will be in a small farming community near the famous Pampanga Mega dike, I was excited as this will give us a break from taping inside the Church for the past 9 months. The scenes involved the confrontation between the farmers affected by the planned casino resort and the supporters of the Mayor. It included the scene when Santino was trampled upon by the people in a stampede after a hired killer shot the farmer leader.  In the afternoon, the priests transferred to the grocery of Ato (Ogie Diaz) and Baby (Arlene Muchlach) where we taped the scenes where the priests were campaining for a NO vote in the plebiscite for the proposed casino resort.

                The next taping day, we were called to be at the Municipal Hall to tape the scenes when we showed support to the farmers who were on hunger strike. The next taping day I had an extra taping again at the Municapal Hall to tape the scenes where we vote for the plebiscite. Finally, we were called to tape at the Mt. Carmel Hospital along Mac Arthur Highway near Angeles City to tape the scenes when Santino was taken to the hospital.

                The first location the priests went to was named in the script as Barangay Kalinawan, a cebuano word for peace. It is an agricultural community engaged in rice farming. It is located 5 kilometers from the Church of San Guillermo, inside the river banks being enclosed by the famous Pampanga Mega dike to prevent the lahar  flows from running into the populated areas of the province in the early years after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.  Today, the flow of the river appears to have stabilized such that even in times when the area is being hit by  typhoons accompanied with heavy rains the river banks have not been reached by the flood waters. I hope the place is indeed already safe to live and to farm.

                The next location we went to tape some scenes was the grocery of Ato and Baby. It is located only about 200 meters from the Church of San Guillermo, but it was the first time that I  reached the place. It is a small sari-sari store in front of a newly constructed public market which has not been functioning as a such.

                The Municipal Hall  used as the set where Mayor Enrique Rodrigo (Albert Martinez) holds office which has areas  also used as Police Station and the Jail is very impressive. It is newly-constructed. It was constructed by the owner-developer of a residential subdivision with a shopping mall located inside the subdivision. But, it is situated near Angeles City and San Fernando City, although it was donated  to serve as the new Municipal Hall of the town of Bacolor which is about 15 kilometers away! Bacolor has an old municipal hall still being used as such and is near San Guillermo Church.  This two-storey new Municipal Hall is not yet functioning as such.

                The last location we went to tape was the Mt. Carmel Hospital along Mac Arthur Highway near Angeles City. We did the scenes where Santino was being hospitalized. It has a College of Nursing. We were assigned a  hospital suite as our stand by area.

                Indeed, the province of Pampanga is now becoming the next local Hollywood, being used not only by ABS-CBN for many of its releseryes but also by other networks. I could cite at least three factors that make taping or shooting in Pampanga attractive. First, is the efficient North Luzon Expressway. Imagine, I could be on the set coming from Quezon City or from City of San Jose del Monte in Bulacan where I live in only one hour. Second, Pampanga offer scenic spots with high cinematic qualities. Finally, the kapampangan food is just so delicious!