Shooting of El Verdadero Decalogo Mabini Reader & The Silent Steps

Finally! After so many delays and postponements, a segment in the short educational documentaries that I am currently doing about one of our great heroes, Apolinario Mabini entitled “The Sublime Paralytic” / “PULE: Utak ng Rebolusyon” was finally shot. Mabini, first prime minister of the First Philippine Republic, and the first Minister of Foreign Affairs is the icon of Persons with Disability in the Philippines. I have in this film  the participation of Deaf, Blind and Physically Impaired individuals. I just wish Tumtum Mendoza, a person with autism who graduated from the UP College of Music joins us as music scorer…

Shooting with Decalogo reader Abner Manlapaz, President of Life Haven, a PWD organization guided by the Independent Living Philosophy

El Verdadero Decalogo / Ang 10 Tunay na Utos was read by Abner Manlapaz who happens to have “Guillain Barre Syndrome,” said to be the cause of Mabini’s paralysis according to a recent research by Dr. Jiggs Gilera. Along with his reading, I shall be editing the Filipino Sign Language interpretation of the same piece. Mabini’s Decalogo is the preamble to Programa Constitucional de la Republica Filipina written in 1898. The segment is part of presenting Mabini’s bio. It was especially conceived to help promote and advocate for the use of Filipino Sign Language while at the same time showcasing the talents and capabilities of potential Deaf artists-performers. The films are intended for the general audience especially the students — both Deaf and hearing, also for history teachers and interested laymen. Silent Steps performed under the direction of Myra Medrana… while jolly Nelson Demetillo, an excellent makeup artist rejoined us. We worked together in Project Rizal.

Myra Rehearses Silent Steps [foreground] while waiting for us as we shoot “Mabini”
[background].

Project Mabini Production Crew Members with Silent Steps Performers

The docus are being made in collaboration with De la Salle-College of St. Benilde School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

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