It has been almost thirty years since former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr was gunned down.
To mark this milestone, a different retelling of his story and of former President Corazon Aquino’s life will be staged at the Meralco Theater. Entitled Pamana, the play is a joint project of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation, the Philippine Educational Theater Association, and Indie.go Media. The play will be staged starting on August 21, the anniversary of Aquino’s assassination.
Pamana tells the story of Ninoy and Cory through the eyes of three people whose lives they touched. It features Malou de Guzman, Jett Pangan, Kakki Teodoro, and Bodjie Pascua in the lead roles, and was written by Rody Vera with songs by Ryan Cayabyab and Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ.
The play’s video director, who will compile sounds and images of the late couple for use during the musical, is Jun Reyes, who also directed The Last Journey of Ninoy. In introducing the play, Maribel Legarda, PETA’s artistic director and the play’s stage director, told the media at the launch event yesterday evening, “it’s an epic story of love, the love of a man and a woman for their country.”
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In a prepared statement, Rafa Lopa, executive director of the Ninoy and Cory Foundation, said “Pamana is a story of hope; it tells the story of a new generation of Filipinos who have found inspiration from the lessons of the past and the opportunities presented today.”
Not far from the minds of some of the media though was the concern that an equally powerful narrative, primarily circulating around social media and spoken by key influencers, was posing a strong challenge to this narrative of heroism.
Lopa responded in kind, “We’ve been discussing that offline; How as time goes on, different versions of the role of certain heroes develop, but I guess that as far as where we are coming from as Ninoy and Cory are concerned, the challenge is to continue to tell the story in many ways. But more than just relating facts, the important thing is to make young people experience the kind of transformation that happened to these two people and what moved them to do what they did.”
Lopa admitted that at one point, he did feel as cynical and ready to give up as did a good number of people, but President Aquino in 2008 reassured him and his friends, “While you are still alive, there is still hope.”
Legarda echoed a statement she said earlier in the evening, “Take away the family names, take away the geneaology—let’s look at the selfless act [they did], and that for me is key.”
The cast emphasized that the stories recounted in the play were experiences that they saw in reality or have themselves experienced. Kakki Teodoro, for instance, said that she saw her character in the number of her peers who were now entering government or pursuing social entrepreneurship.
She even noted the Global Shapers Community, whose Catalyst launch event she recently hosted, as an example of the youthful idealism inspired by the two leaders. The night ended on a note of reminiscence as Bodjie Pascua recounted how his youthful reflection upon Ninoy’s detention and eventual murder led him to join the cause for justice.
While the play will open on the 21st of August and will run until the 25th, this will only be part of NCAF’s plans to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Aquino’s death. The NCAF-produced documentary The Last Journey of Ninoy will be shown starting on August 14 in select Metro Manila theatres for the first time since its release in August 2009, after President Aquino’s death and burial, and will be broadcast on the Knowledge Channel as well throughout the month.
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Tickets for the production will be available through Ticketworld; for further details readers can contact the PETA Theater Center at 7256244 or 09064817333.
