Did the Director and Producer of "Give Up Tomorrow" Manage to Interview the Late Federico "Toto" Natividad Jr.?

I guess the fascination with the broken justice system can never end, right? After watching Give Up Tomorrow, my entire world was shattered. I never realized that, all along, the act done by the 35 (or more) witnesses for Juan Francisco G. Larrañaga aka Paco. Paco was in Quezon City in Manila during the night of the crime. Manila was 300 kilometers away from Cebu City, where the crime happened. One of my memories in high school was that a film based on the Chiong Sisters was being produced. The film was originally named Butakal meaning "male pig". Later, the film was renamed Animal in 2004--the same year Paco was wrongfully on death row. There was a sense of urgency in making the film. Fortunately, Paco and his co-accused were spared. The film presented the case of how eight people were wrongfully tagged. Yes, I believe that Davidson V. Rusia was innocent regarding the crime. The documentary did show that Davidson was tortured repeatedly.

What we saw was only what was included in the final product. Marty Syjuco and Michael Collins actually had 400 hours' worth of footage and over 100 interviews. They revealed that they never found Davidson. They did use a private detective hoping to find him. Meanwhile, with over 100 interviews, I'm led to believe that the crew did manage to interview not only the late Antonio Alberto Calvento but also Federico Natividad Jr. I guess the only way that Syjuco and Collins were able to secure clips of the Calvento Files episode was if Calvento gave his permission. I wouldn't be surprised if Calvento was in the premiere on 2012 before he died of cancer in 2017.

Natividad Jr. died of COVID-19 complications two years ago on April 27, 2021. Natividad Jr. became notorious for one reason--the movie Animal. It was loosely based on the Chiong Sisters with selected real-life references such as the Vizconde Massacre, Paco's alleged kidnapping attempt, and Paco's scuffle in a parking lot. However, the film took place in San Roque which is in Samar. The movie was as fictional as it could get. The Tan sisters, Cherry and Sandra, had a younger brother and only three Tan siblings. Jaco Lozano (acted by John Regala) was the only child of his mother and his father was either dead or missing. Junior Sanchez was from a broken home with a negligent father. Also, spoiler alert, because this garbage film isn't worth viewing, is that one of the sisters survived the incident to tell the tale. The other sister's testimony in court led to Jaco and his six co-accused getting sentenced to die by lethal injection. We also have a state witness named Ferdie (based on Davidson Rusia).

The Chiong couple fought against Natividad. Later, the Supreme Court ordered the MTRCB to return the master copy to Natividad Jr. in 2007. That would be two years before Paco was transferred to Spain. Paco is still in prison in Spain today. However, Paco has been considered the least dangerous prisoner. Paco's now working with prison breaks. Paco can go to work without an escort. However, Paco must admit having been a participant to get a pardon. That's something Paco will never do because he knows (along with others) that he never took part in the crime that happened. Along the way, Syjuco and Collins may have sat down and talked with Natividad Jr. before the film was finished.

The Chiongs had a legal battle with Natividad Jr. Meanwhile, the Larrañagas weren't known to try and file a case against Natividad Jr. In fact, I believe the Larrañagas had every right to go against the film too. Maybe, it's because the portrayal of Jaco was a far cry from Paco's home. As mentioned earlier, Jaco comes from a single-parent home. Jaco's mother was worried she might lose her only son while spoiling him simultaneously. The Larrañaga couple, Manuel and Margarita, were probably too busy trying to get Paco acquitted of a crime he never committed. Paco wasn't allowed to testify during the trial. As Paco mentioned, he would further defend his innocence if he wasn't handcuffed. I'm amazed that Natividad Jr. never bothered to put the 35 witnesses (or more) attempting to defend Jaco. Was the movie meant to be a satire of the case or what? If so, Natividad may have made that exploitation movie out of disbelief more than anything else.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the intended scenes was the Chiong family's fight against Natividad Jr. himself. Syjuco and Collins probably got to talk to Natvidad Jr. about the controversial film before they completed their own film. I wouldn't be surprised if the tandem asked why Natividad Jr. made the film. I wouldn't be surprised if Natividad Jr. even saw the documentary. Maybe, Natividad Jr. attended the Cinemalaya event in 2012 but didn't get noticed. Maybe, Natividad Jr. may have probably said, "The whole narration of Rusia is as exaggerated as my controversial film." Then again, it seems both Syjuco and Collins deemed it irrelevant for the final cut.

What's the Use of Complaining About Celebrities and Political Dynasties Running for Politics While DEFENDING Presidential and Rejecting Parliamentary?

2025 is just around the corner for the midterm elections . People keep emphasizing the need to "defend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines" for any amendments whatsoever. If that were true then we really need to remove Article XVII entirely if the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was meant to be set in stone (read here ). Several camps whether it's PDP-Laban supporters, Liberal Party of the Philippines supporters, Uniteam supporters, etc.--I can expect social media mudslinging at its finest . I keep talking about the need to amend or even replace the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. However, they keep acting like it's the best constitution in the world, they cite Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (and others like the Monsods) to idolatrous levels , and when I talk about the parliamentary system--I can expect the whole, "Boohoo! It will never work because we already tried it under Marcos! The proof was Cesar Virata!" However, I wrote a refute on that ...

No to Cha Cha Because of EDSA?

Back when I was in elementary, we were told that EDSA 1986 was a good thing. I don't want to deny the well-documented human rights abuses of the first Marcos Administration . The repeated call to amend or reform the constitution has unfortunately been demonized as if it's always a bad thing. I guess that's a result of people with poor reading (and listening) comprehension for so long . If only people started to read in-between the details of Philippine history, if only people read through the book From Third World to First and not just quote the late Lee Kuan Yew about the Marcoses, they'll see that using EDSA to demonize charter change is really a bad move. Startling facts during the Marcos Years that may have been ignored by anti-charter change proponents What happened during EDSA was practically a revolutionary government . Above is a video of the late Benigno Simeon A. Aquino Jr. aka Ninoy. I confess that I do tend to admire Ninoy, especially with his Los Angeles sp...

The EDSA Revolution of 1986 Would've Never Happened if People were Stuck in Nostalgia

It's something that I read crybaby comments online where people are saying, "Making EDSA a special working day is making us forget the glory of EDSA." Please, let me remind people that even 10 years later , neither the late Lee Kuan Yew's birthday nor his death anniversary has become a national holiday in Singapore! Singapore simply honored LKY's birthday by working on that day. I was laughing at the toxic Facebook page called We Are Millennials. What truly made me think that these people are stuck in nostalgia is that EDSA 1986 would never have been possible if the Filipinos were stuck in nostalgia . I remember talks about how the first Marcos administration was built on these two pillars. The first pillar was information control . The other pillar was toxic positivity. I remember back in 1995 when the social studies teacher talked about how he thought that Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was a "good president" due to the long holidays. However, the holidays ...

[OPINION] Why Do Some Filipino Boomers Insist that the Marcos Years Were Under a "Parliamentary System"

This is a screenshot I got on Facebook. The Tweet is courtesy of Raissa Espinosa-Robles, who I hear is a marites or a gossiper. I'm not denying that there are some truths in what she said. It's true that the Marcos Years have their well-documented human rights abuses. However, Mrs. Robles still continues to insist in the myth of a parliamentary system under Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.'s regime. It's not just Mrs. Robles but also some Filipino boomers who keep saying, "Are you crazy? We had a parliamentary system under Marcos." I could show them some evidence like Marcos' severe lack of legitimacy to disprove the parliamentary systme. I even wrote about the snap elections because Marcos was a president with powers (read here ). Under a parliamentary system, the president is purely ceremonial. The president is just a door opener and credentials receiver! Benigno Simeon A. Aquino Jr. and Salvador "Doy" Laurel both challenged the legitimacy of Marcos...

Why EDSA Should Be a Reason to Support, NOT Oppose Cha Cha

I don't doubt that the EDSA Revolution left a legacy to the world. Yesterday, I wrote a piece where I asked if EDSA should be a reason to say no to cha-cha . It was a peaceful revolution though it's often argued that the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. didn't want to further ruin his already tarnished image in front of the world. How true was it that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in his younger days, wanted to run over the protestors? However, consider EDSA wasn't really one of a kind. The Indian pacifist Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi, and his writings inspired the late Benigno Simeon A. Aquino Jr. aka Ninoy . also led a similar revolution against the unjust British occupation of India during that time. Gandhi may have been dead by the time Ninoy read about Gandhi. However, Gandhi's peaceful protests left a legacy that was probably not so well-known before. Today, the Indian economy has been doing better than the Philippines. I even consult...

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