By JEMUEL CAINGLET SALTERIO
Regal matriarch Lily Monteverde undoubtedly helped the careers of not just a lot of artists achieve their dreams to become popular, but many screenwriters and directors fulfill their vision to direct for the big screen
“If not for her, I would not be here. I would not be who I am today,” said award-winning director and veteran screenwriter Jose Javier Reyes, after the Regal Films producer passed on Sunday, August 4, at the age of 84.
Mother Lily, as she was fondly called in the entertainment industry, would have turned 85 on August 19.
“She was the first who took the risk of hiring me as a screenwriter for a movie in 1979,” recalled Direk Joey about “Problem Child” (with Cherie Gil, directed by Elwood Perez) prior to the screening of Regal Entertainment’s Cinemalaya entry, “Love Child.”
“Elwood wanted to do a movie, ‘Coco Banana,’ and he wanted me to write the script. That was when I met Mother (Lily). The film did not push through.
“Then I went to the States and Mother reconnected with me when I returned. We did ‘Caught in the Act’ (1981), directed by Lino Brocka.
“Years later, we were having a casual conversation in Mother Lily’s kitchen at kumakain kami ng lumpia in her Greenhills residence when, out of the blue, she asked, ‘Joey, gusto mong mag-direct ng pelikula? Sige, direct ka na…
The first film that Direk Joey megged was “Regal Shocker the Movie.” Gusto kong burahin sa isip ko. (Laughed). But Mother stuck by me all through the years.
“That brought me to a new level in what turned out to be the road map of my career as a filmmaker.
“When I went to Berlin (Germany), when I entered Potsdamer Platz where ‘Toro’ (that became ‘Live Show’) made its premiere at the Berlinale. Mother was there with me. She was looking at me, laughing as the lights went on and we were blanketed with applause.
“She stood up clapping for me. You don’t get that from producers. I know she believed in what I could do. To the very end, when all the others gave up on me, she still believed I still have something to give. Maybe not in making movies, but doing something else for the industry.
“She was also beside me when we marched down Mendiola when I and the film were condemned by the then government and the Church. Sinumpa ako ng bayan. Sinumpa ako ng simbahan.
“Mother never wavered. She never made excuses for her support. She stood behind the directors. She never left me. Pinanindigan niya ang kanyang movie. That stretched on for years.
“When producers gave me up for being ‘over the hill’ or ‘laos na’ and I was told by a TV executive to my face na ‘baka mayroon ka pa namang ibuga,’ she held on to me and said, ‘Let’s do more work. Hindi, magtrabaho pa tayo.’
Mother Lily believed in her directors and supported them through the good and the bad. She never discouraged them. She even encouraged them with every positive motivation. She was their number one cheerleader.
“She was the only one who still believed in me to prove to others that despite the stretch of my career, that there was still something left for me to do,” said Direk Joey.
“And when I went back into teaching and started doing more work in film, she was there behind me … never giving up on me and …embracing me as part of her family, reassuring me that all will be well.
“So how can my heart not be in pieces now that she has left? How can I not feel the weight of the turn of events, just like so many others who she has helped, given chances, opened doors and pushed into the arena of possibilities?
When Direk Joey saw Mother Lily in her hospital bed last Saturday at Medical City, after he received a phone call from Roselle Monteverde, he knew the producer would not last long.
“I saw the state Mother Lily was in and I said goodbye to her and thanked her. I told her, Mother, sige, magpahinga ka na.”
In tears, Direk Joey added, “That was not the woman I used to see before. That was not the woman who had an entire parade on her birthday and celebrated it at Araneta Coliseum.
“When you see her in that state, you realize the big lesson that life has to say. I think my realization now is it’s not how famous you are, it’s not how powerful you are, how rich you are or the car that you drive, it’s how you affect the lives of people that you really love.
“Whatever people said in their dealings with Mother, she loved the movies and she loved the people in the movies. I will not be standing here, as to who I am, if not for Lily Monteverde. She was there in every major point in my life.”
“Goodbye, Mother Lily. As I whispered to you last Saturday by your hospital bed, ‘Thank you so much for all you have done for me and so many others. Ikaw ang ikalawang nanay ko. Mahal na mahal na mahal kita. Sige na, rest ka na’.”
