Lawyer Jose Malvar Villegas, Jr., founder-chairman emeritus of the two million strong Citizen Crime Watch (CCW) and the grandson of national hero Gen. Miguel Malvar, said during the Christmas party of the CCW at Max’s Restaurant Ermita, Manila that he has decided to be the producer of the all-star cast movie Malvar because the idea of doing it 20 years ago did not materialize.
There was a hesitation because they did not want to offend the American Government, as the Malvar, the true-to- life story of Gen. Miguel Malvar, shall show the atrocities committed by the American Forces.
The story is set during the 1899-1902 Philippine-American War where Gen. Malvar led the Filipino Forces as Supreme Commander of the 1898 Philippine Revolutionary Republic after replacing Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo as head of the First Philippine Republic in Asia.
According to Villegas it is only now that many are supporting the production of the movie on the Philippine-American War because of Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte’s advocacy for an Independent Foreign Policy that will “cut the strangle-hold of the Americans on the lives of the Filipinos.”
According to Camarines Sur Vice Gov. Imelda Papin, president of the Actors Guild of the Philippines and the line producer of Malvar, Sec. Salvador S. Panelo, presidential chief legal vounsel and presidential spokesman, has accepted the invitation to be the keynote speaker in the JMV Film Production headed by Villegas.
Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who will play the lead role as Gen. Malvar, will join the producers and other key people in the film in an event to be held at Aberdeen Court, Quezon City on Dec. 22. with Batangas Gov. Hermilando I. Mandanas as the Guest of Honor and Speaker.
Jose “Kaka” Balagtas, the film’s director,, said that the movie will show how hundreds of thousand of Filipino civilians were massacred by the American Invading Force, notably the Balangiga Massacre in Samar, which after having been denounced by Pres. Duterte, the American Government finally returned the three Balangiga Bells, after refusing to do so for more than a century as a symbol of the atrocities they committed during the Philippine-American War.
Villegas who is also Chairman-President of the Labor Party Philippines (LPP), the fifth major political party in the Philippines, said that the Filipinos continue to fight foreign intervention on the affairs of Government and the democratic lives of the people in the choice of their leaders, destroying our culture, heritage and nationalistic spirit all-together.