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The memo from President Fidel Ramos was handwritten and
businesslike to the point of being curt. It commanded: "Take all
necessary action to defer public showing of said movie due to
anticipated extremely negative impact on Philippines-U.A.E.
relations and risk of failure in negotiations to save John Aquino."
Those few words, penned mid-March while the president was on an
official visit to Bahrain, put an end to the "said movie" - for the
time being at least. It seems Filipino film fans will have to wait
to see the much-anticipated and oft-delayed The Sarah Balabagan
Story. By all accounts, the retelling of the harrowing experiences
of the young domestic helper who in 1995 was sentenced to death in
the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) is too prickly for the Manila
government.
Balabagan, a Muslim teenager from Mindanao, had been convicted of
knifing to death her employer's father after he tried to rape her.
A plea by the Philippine government resulted in the sentence being
reduced to a year's imprisonment and 100 lashes. After President
Ramos appealed for clemency to the U.A.E. president, Sheikh Zayed
bin Sultan Al-Nahayan, the girl's jail term was then cut by three
months. Balabagan returned to the Philippines a national heroine.
For many, she is now an icon - personification in diminutive form
of the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos forced
to seek work overseas, often in menial jobs.
But the Manila authorities, while often expressing concern about
the treatment of Filipinos overseas, are not just worried that the
screen version of Balabagan's story will sour relations with the.
United Arab Emirates. They also fear it could cause legal problems
for Philippine national Aquino, who is in jail there awaiting trial
tot murder. Aquino was sentenced to death for slaying an Indian in
1989, but last December the Emirates Supreme Court ordered a
retrial Another consideration, say insiders, is the welfare of
about 80,000 Filipinos working in the U.A.E.
Ramos's instructions, to the Movie and Television Review and
Classification Board, effectively put release of The Sarah
Balabagan Story on hold. What happens now is not known. What is
clear, however, is that even before the president's intervention,
the film had encountered a series of obstacles.
The premiere had been scheduled for Feb. 17, with the opening two
days later. But the makers, Viva Films, yielded to a request for a
postponement from the Department of Foreign Affairs. According to
unconfirmed reports, the Philippine government had received a
protest from the United Arab Emirates. The premiere was rescheduled
for March 6, but postponed again - this time after the Muslim
Screenwriters' Club reportedly complained that the film was
potentially damaging to the public's perception of Muslim culture
and traditions.
The film's award-winning director, Joel Lamangan, seems perplexed
and irritated, particularly by the criticism from the Muslim
screenwriters. He told the Philippines Free Press magazine: "I am
very secure in the way I told [Balabagan's] story, in the way I
portrayed the Middle East, in the way I portrayed Islam. It is
unfortunate that our Muslim brothers are fighting a movie they have
not seen." Writer and film critic Iskho F. Lopez adds: "It is not
as if Sarah's story is the first movie dealing with Muslims. It
may even be one of the few that treats Muslim culture with
particular sensitivity. How many action films supposedly set in
Mindanao have we seen where the unflattering focus was on the
Muslim as an aggressive war-freak macho? Was there any protest?"
The Sarah Balabagan Story opens with the attempted sexual assault,
moving to Sarah as a young girl in the Philippines, burdened by a
life of grinding poverty in a household where the parents
constantly squabble in front of the children. From there the tale
edges toward the present, from Sarah's decision to work in Saudi
(the overseas workers' term for all Arab states), through her lying
about her age (she was 14 at the time), to her problems with her
Emirates family, including when her employer's father offers her
jewellery in exchange for sex.
One controversial scene relates how a woman doctor examines
Balabagan and advises her to testify that the rape was successful,
"to make it easier for you in court." The doctor then changes her
evidence, leaving the maid open to the charge of murder, rather
than the less serious offense of manslaughter.
Balabagan is played by young entertainer Vina Morales, who gives a
creditable performance in her most challenging role to date.
Producer Vie del Rosario had reportedly wanted Balabagan to play
her-. self, but she declined, saying it was against Muslim beliefs
for women to appear in the movies.
While The Sarah Balabagan Story will have to wait to hit the cinema
circuit, it has already premiered in the political arena. Congress
now wants a screening, says director Lamangan. Sen. Tito Sotto, a
one-time actor, has already seen it - and he says he cannot
understand why it is being blocked. His view: "It is wholesome and
entertaining, and does not put anyone in a bad light." In 1995,
when the young maid was sentenced to death, the Philippines rang
with the cry of "Save Sarah Balabagan." Stand by for the sequel -
"Save Sarah Balabagan, the movie."
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