- CHERYL G. CRUZ
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos in Negros Wednesday called for a “boycott” of the controversial movie, “Maid in Malacañang”, about Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s family, and supposedly depicts the last 72 hours of the Marcoses in Malacañang.
Alminaza described the film as “shameless”, and called on the people behind it to issue an apology.
“The producer, scriptwriter, director, and those promoting this movie should publicly apologize to the Carmelite nuns, to President Cory Aquino’s family, and to the Filipino people,” the Bishop said.
The prelate was reacting to the movie trailer portraying the late president playing mahjong with a group of nuns.
Aquino sought refuge overnight at the Carmelite monastery in Cebu during the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.
While the characters were not wearing the Carmelites’ brown religious habit, the congregation said the allusion to them “is too obvious for anyone not to see”.
“We are praying for the unity of Filipinos. But this unity can only be built on truth and not on historical distortion,” Sr. Mary Costillas, prioress of the Carmelite Monastery in Cebu said, as per the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines report.
Her statement was obviously in reference to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose election campaign circled around his call for unity, the CBCP added.
“Depicting the nuns as playing mahjong with Cory Aquino is malicious. It would suggest that while the fate of the country was in peril, we could afford to leisurely play games,” she added.
Bishop Alminaza challenged the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, which is under the Office of the President, to act on the issue and exercise its mandate.
“Would the MTRCB act responsibly on this and perform its mandated duty?” he asked./CGC
