How does a regional filmmaker fare in the landscape of the Philippine cinema industry?
“Mas magaling ang mga taga-Maynila. Pero kami, magaling din kami (The filmmakers from Manila are better. But we are also good),” Editha Z. Caduaya directly and wittingly qualified.
“Pero kayo, mga press, malaki ang maitutulong ninyo sa amin (But you, the members of the press, you can help us very much),” she added at the presscon for the movie “Sa Likod ng Tsapa: Beneath the Badge,” a documentary drama, at the B Hotel recently.
Editha, better known as Edith, is the writer, director and producer of “Sa Likod ng Tsapa: Beneath the Badge,” a Pop Moviehouse and Newsline Philippines co-production.
According to Caduaya, the state of regional filmmaking in the country is dismal. “Umaasa lang kami sa mga grant. Halimbawa ng Cinemalaya, Sinag Maynila at iba pa. Pero ‘yong sa sarili naming bulsa, wala (We only depend on grants like, from local film festivals and other granting institutions),” she lamented.
“Sa Likod ng Tsapa: Beneath the Badge,” though, is a collaboration between her Newsline Philippines, a local news dispatch and production in Davao City and Pop Moviehouse.
It is Caduaya’s initiation into national if not mainstreaming filmmaking when the film has earned a nationwide theatrical exhibition.
“Kaya tulungan sana ninyo kami para naman kumita kami at makagawa pa ng ibang proyekto (So, please help us so that we can make more projects),” she requested the press.
“Sa Likod ng Tsapa: Beneath the Badge” is a story in the battlefield by the controversial Col. Hansel Marantan, the key figure in the Atimonan, Quezon shootout in 2013.
Because of the encounter, Col. Marantan was incarcerated for five years for multiple murder of suspected drug syndicates and their cohorts among the law enforcement agencies in the country.
The police officer was also involved in high profiles cases as the serving of warrant arrest and raid of the house of the embattled Negros Oriental Third District Congressman Arnulfo Teves, Jr., the operation leading to the capture of Apollo Quiboloy, founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), the Valle Verde encounter and a lot more.
“Ang ‘Sa Likod ng Tsapa…” ay hindi para kumuha ng simpatya mula sa publiko. Ito ay para mailahad ang katotohanan, ang betrayal at ang redemption (The film is not to solicit sympathy from the public. It is to present the truth, betrayal and redemption in my life journey),” Marantan quipped.
The film as a documentary is a mix of archival footage and reenactments of the scenes through the eyes of some resource persons including Marantan and his fellow policeman, Col. Mario Mayames.
Another colleague, Lt. Col. Stefanio Andrenicus Rabino plays the younger Marantan in the reenacted scenes.
The filmbio hits nationwide screens on August 13, 2025.
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