‘The movie would have a more powerful impact and an authentic patriotic end if the lead characters had been killed, just like the more than 10,000 victims who were tortured, murdered or had disappeared.’
THE multi-awarded movie “Katips” (which stands for Katipuneros) has brought back anguished memories of UP student activists suddenly disappearing from campus. Many were college scholars who believed that serving the people meant forsaking family, studies, and future careers. Most would never be seen again.
The film opens with blinding rage set in music and dance against the Marcos dictatorship and ends with realism taking the backseat for what seemed to be a misplaced celebratory mood.
The intensity from unspeakable torture leading to slow murder seems eventually neglected or downplayed, with activist leaders Panyong and Greg miraculously surviving nearly mortal wounds in an encounter with soldiers. Particularly wrenching were the torture scenes, including the rape scene of NPA cadre Alet, whose mangled body is found on a swamp.
The fate of beauty queen Nelia Jose comes to mind. She joined the rebel movement, was captured, and ultimately released. Other women-activists were not as lucky, with numerous and similar recollections of Alet’s horrific ordeal abounding.
The lead character, Panyong (Vince Tanada, also the movie’s director), is triumphant at the end, joining other families of other martial law heroes at the inauguration of the Bantayog ng Bayan shrine on EDSA.
The movie would have a more powerful impact and an authentic patriotic end if the lead characters had been killed, just like the more than 10,000 victims who were tortured, murdered or had disappeared.
In the midst of the harrowing crisis that has gripped the fearless activists, love blossoms tenderly with romance a major antidote to the despair and helplessness around them.
After EDSA, Greg comes back to their safehouse with a little boy surprising him, who turns out to be his son with his girlfriend who opted to stay behind. The moving scene strives to escape from the immensely tragic fate of thousands of families torn apart by the demonic atrocities of martial law who would never relish any family reunion.
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President Bongbong Marcos has directed the PNP to be prudent in the use of force and to apply it in a “reasonable and justifiable” manner. He regards the police as “vanguards of peace” and not as machines of misery, doom and death that former President Duterte had repeatedly espoused.
In his speech during the 121st anniversary of the PNP at Camp Crame, Marcos stressed that “your mandate must be firmly grounded on moral principles, integrity, accountability and honesty to ensure the rapport and support of the public.”
These are, of course, contradictions to Duterte’s blood-thirsty mantra of his administration’s brutal drug war that trampled openly on accountability, honesty and on any moral principle, and instead relentlessly promoted criminal impunity — the street executions of suspected drug pushers and dealers.
Consistent with this fresh lawful imposition for police discipline and legal operational compliance, as well as crystal-clear acknowledgment of the human rights of drug suspects, Marcos should order an intensive review of numerous and questionable extra-judicial killings.
Already, the new PNP chief, Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, has ordered PNP station commanders to fully explain why they are still operating in towns and municipalities that have been declared drug-free.
