“Jordan? You don’t look as geeky as I thought you would.” These were the first words spoken to me by Peque Gallaga when we met in person. He thought only a ‘geek’ from another country would be so interested in an , as of then, obscure part of Philippine folk beliefs. It was late October 2008 in the City of Bacolod, Negros Occidental and my life was about to change.
A month earlier, I was ready to give up on my third feature length film, a documentary exploring the aswang. I had been working on it for two years and was exhausted with all the dead ends. I had reached out to Philippine historians, anthropologists and folklorists with lukewarm receptions and tragically boring discussions. I needed artists, the ones who actually impact culture. I needed a fearless, opinionated sociologist that could express and explain the supernaturalism that shapes us. Although I didn’t know it yet, I needed Peque Gallaga.
I was very familiar with his work, ‘Oro, Plata, Mata’ and ‘Virgin Forest’ are among my favourite foreign films. When I became interested in Philippine folklore and mythology I explored the contributions he, along with tandem directing partner Lore Reyes, made to the genre – particularly the early entries in the ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ franchise (Episodes I-IV) , and their feature films ‘Tiyanak’ (1988), ‘Aswang’ (1992), and ‘Sa Piling Ng Aswang’ (1999). I had met Maricel Soriano the previous year where she talked about working with Peque, so I reached out to see if he may be interested in talking about his movies. I was given a phone number by Maricel’s assistant, which turned out to be his daughter Michelle, who then put me in touch with her Dad. After a brief phone conversation, I knew I had to meet him and capture his expressiveness on camera. I made the trip from Canada to the Philippines specifically for it.
I arrived in Bacolod and was met by Peque and his friend Jack Trino. We went back to his home, set up, and away he went. As a filmmaker, with a dying project, I was reviving and rescuing my film with every sentence. When the interview ended, I knew I had a film. His use of words as colour accentuates his societal commentary and draws you into the various levels of the story he is telling. He’s a documentarian’s dream interviewee.
I am a notoriously slow documentary filmmaker – a stark contrast to my churning out 3-5 commercials a week as a director and producer for Canadian television. So it was a year or more before I sent Peque a cut of the film. When he received it, he phoned me with notes! I couldn’t believe that I was lucky enough to be getting feedback from one of the greatest creative minds around. After discussing his thoughts, I incorporated everything he had suggested with the exception of one note that I didn’t agree with. Soon after, ‘The Aswang Phenomenon’ was released and copies were sent to him. He wrote me the following message:
Hello Jordan,
Your DVDs came in today and I sat down to watch it with my wife Madie and my son Wanggo. I want to thank you, first of all, for being so gracious as to accept some of my “tweaking” as far as it went and for making me a part of such a well-thought out and rational enterprise. I congratulate you, Senor Jordan, for such an intelligent and deep study of us as a people and a country — and considering that you are using a monster as a take-off for your theories, the scope of your ambition is breath taking. And to top it all, both my wife and son, extremely critical sonsofbitches, loved it. Kudos.
Kag madamo gid nga salamat,
pq
Not only was Peque responsible for saving the documentary, but he also fed a resolve to continue my passion in exploring Philippine myth and folklore. More than 4 million people have watched ‘The Aswang Phenomenon’ on various platforms and it has been used in universities all over the world. It gave me credibility to explore more about a culture I love and it opened doors that were previously shut tight.
Peque and I would collaborate again for a, yet unfinished (I mentioned I was slow, right?) 6 episode webseries on ‘The Creatures of Philippine Mythology’. I also launched ‘The Aswang Project’ blog where I get to share my thoughts and findings on the study of folklore and mythology. Make no mistake, if the aswang documentary had not been completed, I would not have launched this blog. So, like us or not, you have Peque Gallaga and his unique and infectious storytelling to thank. His encouragement is incorrigible.
I’m very happy in knowing that I do not write this entry as a posthumous love letter to Peque. I never let him forget how much his influence has meant to me.
When you interview someone for a documentary, you become intimate with their inflections and intonations – of which Peque had many. My favourite of his expressive and artful punctuations was when he would end a sentence with “dammit”. As I read through all the messages flooding Facebook, I love seeing all his sayings and the stories people relay. I can hear him telling us every word written. I can’t say Peque Gallaga and I were great friends – an acquaintance is all our time spent together could justify – but that is not how you feel when you spend time with him. Peque makes you feel seen, heard and important.
Peque Gallaga was a literal giant of Philippine Cinema, but above that, he was a champion of passion and art. Thank you for helping me remember how to put one foot in front of the other.
I wish you were still here, dammit! You are missed.
Jordan Clark is a Canadian born descendant of Scottish immigrants living on the homelands of the Lekwungen speaking peoples. His interest in Philippine myth and folklore began in 2004. Finding it difficult to track down resources on the topic, he founded The Aswang Project in 2006. Shortly after, he embarked on a 5 year journey, along with producing partner Cheryl Anne del Rosario, to make the 2011 feature length documentary THE ASWANG PHENOMENON – an exploration of the aswang myth and its effects on Philippine society. In 2015 he directed “The Creatures of Philippine Mythology” web-series, which features 3 folkloric beings from the Philippines – the TIKBALANG, KAPRE and BAKUNAWA. Episodes are available to watch on YouTube. Jordan recently oversaw the editing for the English language release of Ferdinand Blumentritt’s DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS (Dictionary of Philippine Mythology) and is working on two more releases with fellow creators scheduled for release later this year. When his nose isn’t in a book, he spends time with his amazing Filipina wife of 20 years and their smart and wonderful teenaged daughter.
