Repost: Peque Gallaga Supports Complaint of Talents Against Female Director

Image courtesy of www.interaksyon.com

Source: www.interaksyon.com

A cast member of the defunct television series “Forevermore” who posted a Facebook rant exposing the alleged maltreatment of the show’s bit players by director Cathy Garcia-Molina has found an ally in outspoken veteran filmmaker, Peque Gallaga.

Gallaga shared the post of Rossellyn Domingo last Thursday, December 31 asking Garcia-Molina to apologize for an incident that took place on the set of “Forevermore” in October 2014. Domingo, who played Celia in the teleserye, posted that she had recommended her boyfriend Alvin Campomanes, an academician at the University of the Philippines, to play the minor role of Makoy when the original actor became unavailable.

In what appears to be a scene straight out of the acclaimed film “Ekstra,” Campomanes wrote a letter-complaint to ABS-CBN Broadcast Head Cory Vidanes detailing how Garcia-Molina repeatedly cursed at him apparently as a result of his inability to correctly follow her instructions during his scenes. Campomanes’ letter accompanied Domingo’s post.

After narrating instances when he was verbally abused and humiliated by Garcia-Molina as well as by talent coordinator John Leonardo and a certain Ms. Jeng, Campomanes demanded that disciplinary action be meted out against the three.

In her post, Domingo said that instead of heeding her boyfriend’s grievances, one of the network’s bosses, who she did not identify, merely replied that Garcia-Molina is “known for cursing [on] the set” as it is supposedly her way of coping with job-related stress.

“Sharing. Let the power of social media unearth these pathological bullies. And, of course, ABS CBN didn’t lift a finger to help, or to even address the issue,” Gallaga posted last Saturday as he shared Domingo’s rant on his own Facebook page under the name Nelson Bakunawa.

Although Campomanes recalled that Garcia-Molina was actually courteous and deferential to the lead and veteran supporting cast of “Forevermore” even as she was the opposite to extras, the director has in fact never denied that she has a short fuse or “masungit” in the vernacular.

She was reported to have her own issues with the popular love team of Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo on the set of the teleserye “Got To Believe”.

As of posting time, Garcia-Molina, who is regarded as one of the top country’s top box office directors and now owns the record for the highest grossing Filipino film of all time with “A Second Chance,” has yet to respond to the issue on her own social media accounts. Domingo herself is hoping that the director will still apologize for the incident.

“Forevermore” was a hit teleserye that aired on ABS-CBN from October 2014 to May 2015.

Journalist turned character actor Joel Saracho, however, has a different assessment of the incident and blames the talent coordinator for casting someone with no acting experience.

“Syempre hindi alam ng director yun. Ang alam ng director, pag talent ka at humarap ka sa camera, binabayaran ka para umarte,” Saracho pointed out as he also agreed with the suggestion of filmmaker Chris Martinez to professionalize the current casting system.

“Yung talent providers, sana mag-organize ng workshops at training para sa mga talents na ibinibigay nila (tutal pinagkakakitaan nyo naman sila). Sana magkaroon ng listahan ng accredited talent providers at roster ng talents. Yung may pagsasanay mula sa pag-arte, pagbibihis ng sarili, pagme-make-up,” Saracho further posted.

But the alleged maltreatment of bit players seems to be not just limited to Garcia-Molina’s case.

Saracho admits that even he was yelled at by an assistant director when he was starting out while a certain Louie Santiago who lists his work as talent/talent scout on his Facebook profile posted this intriguing comment on the timeline of “Ekstra” director Jeffrey Jeturian.

“(S)a aming mga talents si direk Jeffrey Jeturian lng ang nakitaan kong tao kme itinuring at hindi basura…kaya mabuhay ka direk Jeffrey jeturian.. at sana pagpalain ka pa ng poong maykapal.”