Press Release
December 27, 2008

CEB rated A; NCCA and DepEd endorsed
QUALITY FILIPINO FILMS LIKE BALER SHOULD BE SUPPORTED - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said that Baler, being a quality Filipino film which is rated A by the Cinema Evaluation Board and is endorsed by the Department of Education (DepEd) and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), is set to make waves in '08 Metro Manila Film Festival.

"The quality and depth of this film is being recognized by various institutions, which are all pitching in to inform the public that Baler is worth watching and supporting. Baler is rated A by the Cinema Evaluation Board and is being endorsed by DepEd and NCCA," said Angara who is the favorite son of Baler.

He added, "The once sleepy town of Baler is set to embark in its most ambitious journey into the silver screen. Combining a delicate balance of fact and fiction, the war-time movie Baler is set to make waves in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival."

Top-billed by Jericho Rosales and Anne Curtis, the movie is set to be the most expensive movie of Viva Films and Bida Foundation, spending P70 100 Million.

Combining fact and fiction, Baler features the first team-up of Jericho Rosales and Anne Curtis. As Celso Resurrecion, Jericho is a half-Indio, half-Spanish soldier who is part of the 57-man rifle battalion that holed up in the church of Baler. He and the other soldiers refused to believe that the war was over and in the process, they suffered from malnutrition and malaria.

Anne is cast as Echo's leading lady, Feliza Reyes, who is the daughter of Nanding (Phillip Salvador). As the head of the rebel group, Nanding is angry at Celso and the Spanish invaders. He cannot accept the fact that his own daughter could betray him by falling in love with the "traitor" Celso.

"The movie tells the story of Spanish soldiers who defended Baler in Quezon province against Filipino forces for 337 long and grueling days in 1898. This battle, now referred to as the Siege of Baler, is the setting of a forbidden love between an Indio soldier and a young Filipina who lived at the end of the 19th century," recounted Angara who is instrumental in making this project possible.

He further cites, "this story is so well-known in Europe and was made into a film in 1945, titled "Los Ultimos de Filipinas", the name given to the Spanish soldiers who fought at the Siege of Baler against Filipino forces during the Philippine Revolution and Spanish-American War.

'Baler' is a war story, directed and written by Mark Meily and award-winning scriptwriter Roy Iglesias respectively.

Angara expressed confidence yesterday that the movie 'Baler', the official entry of Viva Films to the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival, will become a hit and will reap awards both from international and local award-giving bodies.

"I am positive that this movie will be liked by everyone," revealing that it's theme song, 'Ngayon, Bukas at Kailanman' will be sung by no less than Sarah Geronimo, his campaign endorser.

The other cast members of Baler are: Baron Geisler, Bernard Palanca, Carlo Aquino, DJ Durano, Joel Torre, Mark Bautista, Michael de Mesa, and Ryan Eigenmann. Baler is one of eight Metro Manila Filmfest entries opening on December 25, 2008.

Baler, a third-class coastal municipality in Aurora, nestled between the Philippines' longest mountain range of the Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean. It is the hometown of Commonwealth President Manuel Luis Quezon, his maternal cousin First Lady Doña Aurora Aragon Quezon and Senator Edgardo Angara.

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