Vince Tañada’s directorial film debut pays homage to new heroes of democracy

Without invoking slogans or hashtags as “Never Again” or “No to Martial Law,” stage, film and television artist Vince Tañada objectively weaved his personal anecdotes and national accounts of the terrors of Martial Law during the Marcos dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.

In his directorial film debut in “Katips: The Movie,” Vince peppered the whole narrative with his first-hand information about the horrors of the military rule.

“Totoo pong nangyari ‘yan. Lahat po ng aking inilagay sa pelikula ay tunay na mga pangyayari bagamat may mga cinematic license. Huwag nating bale-walain (They all really happened. All that I included in the film are real events although there is what we call cinematic license. Please don’t take them for granted),” said Tañada, a lawyer.

Vince was referring to the fascist military torture that those opposing Martial Law suffered.

Tañada said he was already a grownup guy when martial rule was imposed by Marcos.

“Saksi po ako sa mga nangyari sa aking pamilya. Nagtatago po kami sa ilalim ng kama para sa sekuridad namin (I was a witness to what our family experienced during that time. We would hide under beds for our security),” quipped Vince, producer, director and one of the members of the cast of the movie produced by Philstagers Films.

“Ito po ang tribute ko sa mga bagong bayani ng ating bayan, ng ating demokrasya (This is my tribute to the new heroes of our country, of our democracy),” Tañada proudly beamed.