Proposed movie ‘Freedom Fighter’; celebrated defense lawyer; wedding in Iran
Wwere delighted to read in the entertainment pages that popular Sen. Manny Pacquiao will play the role of Philippine World War II hero, the late Col. Macario Peralta, Jr., who became a senator and secretary of defense under then President Diosdado Macapagal.
When we were barely out of college at the Ateneo, we assisted in our national and provincial politics in Pangasinan in the mid-1950s, when we were wrongly charged with inciting people to rebellion through our radio broadcasts in 1959, and our defense lawyers were then Mac Peralta and the late Senator Ambrosio Padilla, who took turns visiting the Court of First Instance (CFI) in Lingayen, Pangasinan, for my defense. Both were actually celebrated bar topnotchers. They were occasionally joined by the late Sen. Estanislao Fernandez, another famous bar topnotcher.
We won the case after more than a year of trial and the Judge Eloy Bello Jr. dismissed the case and even congratulated us for our “distinct service to Philippine democracy,” denouncing negative, destructive politics at the time in the Pangasinan and national elections of 1959. Our head lawyer was our godfather Ambrosio Padilla, also the 1936 basketball Olympian in Berlin, Germany.
Mac Peralta was Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s favorite officer in the Philippines in World War II and was the leader of the Philippine guerrilla resistance on Panay Island.
We understand the proposed movie “Freedom Fighters” is based on the memoirs of Louise Spencer, one of a group of American doctors, nurses, and missionaries who could not flee to Australia and to the US at the beginning of the war and who chose to stay hidden behind enemy lines to join the guerrilla resistance in the Visayas led by Col. Peralta.
In the jungle they built a community called “Hopevale,” supported by loyal and brave Filipino families, and waged guerrilla warfare in the Visayas for years until the return of Gen. MacArthur’s triumphant forces from the US and Australia.
There are reports that our friend, boxing legend Sen. Manny Pacquiao, himself a bonafide Filipino hero, will play the role of the courageous Mac Peralta, and leading Hollywood and Philippine studios and distributors, headed by producer and financier Francis Lara Ho, are lining up behind the project. The film promises to be a blockbuster at home and overseas.
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A few days ago, my wife Gina and I visited our old friend Andrea Domingo, chairman and CEO of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), whom we have not seen for quite some time.
We commended Didi, as we fondly call her, for her outstanding achievements as Pagcor chief, having transformed the state-owned gaming firm into one of the highest revenue-generating governmentowned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) and in carrying out programs and projects that address our people’s basic needs – health, education, anti-poverty and environmental protection – and even cultural preservation.
Under her leadership, we have noted that Pagcor generated a record-breaking
1104.12 billion in total revenues last year, the highest in the gaming firm’s history. Pagcor’s 2018 income was 73.96% higher than the revenues in 2017, which was
159.85 billion.
We told Chairman Domingo that it is indeed a remarkable accomplishment. In fact, no less than President Rodrigo Duterte praised Chairman Domingo during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Congress last July.
Prior to becoming Pagcor’s top honcho, Andrea Domingo had earlier served as immigration commissioner, general manager and CEO of Philippine Reclamation Authority, and Pampanga congresswoman from 1992 to 1995, during our first term as speaker of the House, and later as our special adviser in Congress, where, in all these offices, she served with great distinction.
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We convey our congratulations to our good friend Wilfredo Santos, Philippine ambassador to Iran, who will tie the knot with his fiancée Geraldine Lucero in Tehran on October 25, 2019.
Ambassador Santos, one of our brightest and skilled diplomats, had earlier served as ambassador to Qatar and assistant secretary for consular affairs. He was also posted at the Philippine Embassies in Kuwait and Singapore and the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco, USA. Wherever he served overseas, thousands of Filipinos gained employment.
He is a recipient of two presidential awards – the Gawad Mabini, with the rank of Grand Cross, which he received in 2016, and the Order of Lakandula, with the rank of Officer, in 2007.
We kidded Ambassador Santos that his wedding in Tehran is perhaps proof that the tension in the Persian Gulf has subsided and that the earlier feared imminent armed conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the latter backed by the US, has probably been averted.
Ambassador Santos concurrently serves as our non-resident Philippine ambassador to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.