ARMIDA: ART IN HER HEART
IAM an avid collector of autographed material, especially from people who have touched my life by what they do. Armida Siguion- Reyna, who passed away last Feb. 11, 2019, was one of them. I had my chance during the 2012 impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Her half- brother, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, was the presiding officer of the trial and I was a commentator for the government station. She went to some of the last hearings and with this in mind, I brought along my copy of her album “Pop Lola,” its cover printed on glossy paper. I asked her devoted daughter- in- law and a film artist in her own right, Bibeth Orteza, to have her sign it with my special pen for such glossy stuff. The album cover was returned to me without her signature. After many tries, the pen did not work. I lost my chance to have Armida’s autograph because of pen malfunction, but I was glad to have a photo. I bought her book Armida and asked Bibeth on Facebook if it was still possible to see her. She kindly replied that Armida was already too sick to meet with anyone. That was sad.
When I was young, I do not remember watching much of her "Aawitan Kita" shows, although after seeing some footage of it made me wish they’d release a DVD. The most important actors of our film history singing the most historic songs of our culture, against the backdrop of historic sites and heritage places. I remember watching a footage of Didith Reyes singing “Bakit Ako
Mahihiya” and Fernando Poe, Jr. singing “Ang Daigdig Ko’y
Ikaw.” It was just wow for me! The Aawitan Kita archives my well be the visual repository of the history of our arts.
When I was growing up, she was controversial as a movie producer of Reyna Films. She produced movies starring Rossana Roces, controversial and hot as a pistol at the time, in "Ligayaang Itawag Mo Sa Akin
"and "Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya." In the time of ST and
pito-pito, these are quality films except that censors think that all films with nudity are the same. She fought against censorship of art and stressed that the role of the MTRCB is to just classify, not cut films. Artistic freedom should be distinguished from mere pornography. She was appointed as chair of the commission herself, and despite the fact the she came from a family of lawyers and had a lawyer for a husband, she was not too legalistic, as Nick Joaquin observed. “Armida may have law in her blood but she has ‘ art’ in her art.” She brought MTRCB
to the progressive era.
But her real impact on me happened around 2007. Ted Failon and Korina Shanchez, in their radio show, were trying to assure people that we shall overcome in a time of so much political controversy and allegations of corruption. Daily at the end of every show, they played an early “spoken word piece” read by Armida in the 2003 album “Pop Lola” called “Tagubilin at Habilin.”
According to the poet commissioned by Armida to write a will and testament encapsulating her beliefs in life, José “Pete” Lacaba, “Tagubilin at
Habilin” was inspired by “The Sunscreen Speech” and Max Ehrmann’s classic “Desiderata.” With soothing background music by future National Artist Ryan Cayabyab, Armida was playful, hopeful, assuring, her words very contemporary, which she tried to do all her life anyway: to make the arts relevant to every generation in the span of many decades. She invoked values of pakikipagkapwa but also a word of
caution, “Huwag kang aawit ng ‘ My Way’ sa videoke bar at baka ka mabaril.”
She quoted a harana which famously starts with the phrase “O Ilaw”: “Gising at magbagon sa pagkagupiling, sa pagkakatulog na lubhang mahimbing.” This is Aawitan Kita music and then adds, “Gumising ka kung hinaharana ka ng pag-ibig. Bumangon ka kung nananawagan ang kapus-palad.” She ends with the stanza: “Ang sabi ng iba, ang matapang ay walangtakotlumaban,Angsabi konamanangtunaynamatapang aylumalaban kahit natatakot! Lumaban ka kung iminumudmod ang nguso mo sa putik. Bumalikwas ka kung tinatapaktapakanka!Buongtapangmong ipaglabanangiyongmgaprinsipyo hindi ka sigurado na agad-agadkangmananalo.”
I myself was facing petty political battles at that time which resulted in the nonrenewal of my contract in my first job. That poem taught me to fight even when I fear, and that I will be all right. I would face more subsequent battles and every time, I recite Armida’s words, and they make me strong. She also reminds me to be compassionate to my fellow man. To borrow her ending to “Tagubilin at Habilin ,” to bid her goodbye I say, “Mabuhay ka, Armida! Mabuhay ka!” Your art will live in this historian’s heart.