Mangawang, Lliyah Nicole Alexandra M.

2015-46092

Ang Panghi naman nung Panti​:

The Problematic Representation of Queer Identities in the film Panti Sisters

On the day of August 13, 2019, issues arose when trans woman Gretchen Custodio Diez

was reportedly prohibited from using her preferred bathroom at a mall in Cubao, after she was

told that the comfort room was only for women (Abad, 2019). This issue sparked outrage

amongst the community and later on became an avid point of discussion during the hearings for

the approval of Senate Bill No. 689, which seeks to penalize discrimination on the basis of

sexual orientation and gender identity or expression (SOGIE).

Exactly a whole month after the said event, the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino was set to

open with a showcase of ten different films, one of which was entitled ​Panti Sisters​ (2019), a

loud, openly queer narrative following the lives of three siblings from the LGBTQ+ community

(Rappler,2019) . This proceeded to become the highest grossing film of the line-up, having

gained 213 million pesos in sales, and was found to have won a number of awards during the

festival’s ​Gabi ng Parangal.​ Amongst the awards it had garnered was Best Actor (won by

Martin del Rosario) and Best Production Design. However, the most prominent of which was for

Audience choice.
 The juxtaposition of the said events could not be more interesting to note, especially if

one were trying to understand the current state of the LGBTQ+ community, and attempting to

assess the current level of gender equality in the country. A study has shown that around 73

percent of Filipino respondents are under the belief that modern society should be more

accepting of homosexuality (UNDP, USAID, 2014). This perhaps manifests in the particular way

the film was received by moviegoers during its release. On the other hand however, a number of

LGBTQ+ Filipinos have expressed skepticism at these results, and are saying that this seeming

“acceptance” is actually conditional to their ability to conform with given stereotypes dictated by

society (UNDP, USAID, 2014).

History has shown that the Philippines has had no shortage of gay films over the years.

However, that is not to say that these films presented progressive representations of gay

characters. If one were to understand that the cinema is not merely a product of one’s culture, but

is actually a conduit for actively shaping the discourse and perceptions held within it, then one

would find great interest in analyzing the message being presented by the film ​Panti Sisters​ and

what it could mean for our current socio-cultural stand on the LGBT community (Inton, 2017.

Panti Sisters​ (2019) is a film directed by Jun Lana, following the story of three siblings

who are called back by their father after he finds out that he is terminally-ill, and could in fact die

at any minute. It features the characters of Gabriel (Paulo Ballisteros), Daniel (Martin del

Rosario), and Samuel (Christian Bables), who are members of the LGBTQ+ community and

have been disowned by said father in the past. As they come to convene around a grandly set
dining table, the tension is high amongst the family members as they wait to hear their father’s

last demands. After finding out that 100 million pesos of inheritance money was up for grabs

under the premise that they each provide him with a grandchild, the three siblings each set up

elaborate plots to get their money and outrank one another. The biggest hitch to most of their

plans of course is the fact that they each have no desire whatsoever to sleep with women.

The overall course of the film presented an interesting look into different queer

narratives, as each one of the three siblings had their own presented identities. Each sibling

varied in terms of their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, and it is one of

the reasons why I believed the film was taking a bold step in the right direction. A direction that,

by the end of it all, I no longer had high hopes for.

The film itself was an amalgamation of all the good and bad things that you could ever do

to a seemingly progressive queer film. On the one hand, it was refreshing in its boldness, making

the more open minded members of the audience smile at its understanding of its character’s

gender and sexualities, while not being afraid to throw this at the faces of the more reserved

members of the audience. On the other hand, it was downright depressing in its ability to make

what seemed to be amazing leaps at representation and just decide to throw it all, soiled panties

and everything, into the toilet. Such an outcome ultimately gave the more reserved, tolerant, yet

overall “accepting” members of the audience content at the films outcome.

 The earliest gay films can be tracked back to the time of Dolphy who became the

prevayor for a lot of the stereotypes attributed to ​Bakla​ characters even and up to the present

times (Inton, 2017). The ​Bakla​ as it is more commonly known as, is an archetype in Philippine

cinema that is identified with concepts like effeminacy, transvestism, and internalized femininity,

and is associated with “aesthetic industries and beauty pageants” while being tied to a

lower-class status (Garcia, 2000). What this paper aims to argue is that ​Panti Sisters​ is at the

very end of things, a misguided attempt at making a progressive queer narrative while presenting

to its audience new queer identities and characters hoping to spark new ideas and discourse, it

falls back on its safety net of stereotypes and tropes, which are what ultimately pushes the

narrative forward.

Despite its many shortcomings that will be discussed later on, one of the ways the film

had actually broken away from convention, was by clearly letting the audience understand that

the three characters possessed distinct sexualities. One of the downfalls of the early Dolphy

Bakla​ stereotype was that it had made sure to remove all signs of the character’s

(homo)sexuality, rendering the character almost sexless in its portrayal (Inton, 2017).

In ​Jack and Jill​ (1954), Dolphy plays the character of Goryo or Glory who over the

course of the film, can be seen cross-dressing and acting in an effeminate manner, yet is never

vocal about his attraction over any of the men in the film. His sexless portrayal may be attributed

to the film’s nature as a comedy yet, this has not hindered more recent queer films like ​Ang

Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros,​ which also presents a stereotypical effeminite gay

characterization, to express attraction to other men. All the queer characters in the film ​Panti

Sisters​ expresses attraction and desire towards members of the same and opposite sex which

affords the characters with a sexuality far removed from past conventions set by the Dolphy

Bakla​.

Another development to note is that, while there is a distinct lack of representation in

Philippine cinema of queer characters barred from the most commonly portrayed ​Bakla, t​ he film

Panti Sisters​ places a genuine effort to provide the audiences with a new and more diverse

understanding of what gender and sexuality could encompass. It is notable to mention that not

much could be found about narratives regarding lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and other queer

experiences and in the case of the film, the three main characters to be discussed have made

leaps and bounds in terms of expressing their different SOGIE.

Gabriel, the oldest of the three siblings is the closest to the stereotypical representation of

a ​Bakla​ in Philippine cinema. Loud and obnoxious in his introduction, he wastes no time in

letting the audience know from the very start of the film that he is one to be looked at and

admired. Coming off a jeep in platform heels, a body hugging dress with a trail that spans at least

a few feet in length, dazzling make-up, and a wig meticulously placed on top of his head, his

gender expression is immediately identifiable. Even during the times wherein he was not in his

drag persona as ​Vukaka Panti,​ Gabriel can be found wearing heavy make-up, choosing to present

himself in a more conventionally feminine manner. Aroung the begining of the film where he
looks back on his sad past, we find him coming out to his parents, and expresing his sexuality as

gay, further highlighting his point by saying that he was attracted to his coach at school.

The second of the three children, Daniel, had the loudest presentation of their SOGIE out

of the three siblings. Soft spoken and sweet, they were the most effeminate out of the bunch.

They often wore their long haired wig, and subtle make-up, preferring to wear skirts and tight

tops over the louder dresses of Gabriel. During a flashback of their own, they describe their

gender identity to be neither male nor female. According to them, they were a demigirl or

alternatively a “​Chicksilog, chicks na may itlog​”. For the majority of the film, the subtitles

described them as “she" or "her”, and is even referred to as “sister” by Gabriel during a number

of times over the film.

With regards to her sexuality, she expresses attraction to men and is actually the only one

of the three to be in a steady relationship with one. However, she also expressed the most

willingness to become intimate with women as she was the only one of the three who took

initiative to go and find a woman she can have sex with. They even went as far as dancing and

kissing with women on a crowded dance floor in hopes of bringing one of them home. While it is

readily apparent that she prefers men, the film makes no clarifications in saying that she was not

capable of feeling attraction to women which complicates fully identifying her sexuality.

Finally, Samuel identifies herself as a transgender woman. The film shows her hoping to

get her portion of the inheritance in order to become a real woman or “​maging tunay na babae”​ ,
a fact that was repeatedly mentioned over the course of the film. She also describes herself as the

“Queen of Tondo”, with wildly colored hair, sharp make-up, neon clothing, and a bitching

attitute, while presenting herself in a rather butch manner. Even as she is being pursued by one of

her longtime friends and most loyal supporters, Samuel is addamant in saying that she is

attracted to men, refusing to even consider it when she was told to “act like a lesbian” in order to

maintain the relationship she had with the woman she got pregnant so as to get her inheritance

from her father.

The three characters were almost similar in their gender expression, prefering to present

themselves in a more effeminate manner, even as it varied in degrees of femininity. Their gender

identities and sexualities varied the most as they defined themselves differently from one

another. There was a diversity in the way the film chose to let their characters present themselves

and this was something that I must admit, not a lot of Filipino films often do. The film was brave

in how clearly it let the audience know that the feminine looking man they were seeing on screen

was actually in fact a woman, and that the extremely beautiful looking woman presented in front

of them fit neither of the categories of what necessarily made a woman or a man. It did not hide

behind the comfortable labels that were already being utilized by films at present and it actually

gave time in trying to show the audience the differences in the three characters rather than just

clumping them under the same presentation with a few minor differences. The film broke away

from normative categorization of gender and sexuality and gave a much more deviant

presentation of what is commonly just the ​Bakla s​ tereotype. This is however, where most of the

good things about their representation ended.

 Despite what may be the progressive decisions the film made in trying to discuss gender

and sexuality, it all fell short when one identifies the numerous gay stereotypes and tropes it fell

back into. Although it gave time towards giving their character different representations that do

not only fall under the category of gay or homosexual, I find that in the narrative choices that the

film made, it had actually confined these different sexualities and gender identities to make it

seem as if they were only stereotypically gay all along.

One of the most common and used up gay stereotypes is that they are primarily shown on

screen as entertainment or comic relief for the masses (Inton, 2017). Their whole being as gay

characters are used as the brunts of most jokes whether through slapstick humor or deliberately

overused campy behaivior. Numerous times over the course of the film, their appearances and

mannerisms were repeatedly made fun of by people in the film. During a fight that broke out

along the street of tondo, Samuel gets taunted and teased for “being gay” as she tries to get past

the crowd of fighting people. During another scene were the three siblings were trying to help

their cousins who were in trouble, the gang they were confronting scoffed at their faces while

dismissing them as merely being “​mga bakla​”. Such a reaction caused offended shock among the

siblings, driving them to perform and overdramatized re-enactment of the Sailor Moon intro

before fighting the men themselves. Over the course of the film, the three siblings each get a

chance to perform a short monologue about specific points in their lives, packed with jokes at

their expense, it is further highlighted when they express their disdain and misery by their

breaking the fourth wall.

Another stereotype the film fell into was by utilizing the conversion trope often seen in a

lot of early gay films (Inton, 2017). As the ​bakla​ in a lot of Dolphy’s films is forced to change
into a more masculine persona by whatever means necessary, one may believe that the siblings in

the film are undergoing the same process as well. Flashbacks and multiple pieces of dialogue

among the siblings show that their father has been trying to turn them into “real men” for the

longest time. In a last ditch attempt at doing so, he dangles an incredibly irresistible carrot in

front of the sibling’s faces in the form of their inheritance. By forcing them to have sex with

women and fathering children of their own, he emphaizes that they must act like real men if they

even wish too get a part of the 300 million that he is offering. Desperation and need forces each

one of them to let go of aspects of their sexuality in order to meet the terms set by their father.

A more identifiable way the conversion trope was used is by looking at the development

of Gabriel’s character as the film comes to an end. After finding out that his best friend and the

woman he had tried to get pregnant over the course of the film was left alone by the man who

actually got her pregnant, he makes the choice to take on raising the child with her. A brave

move most would say, and is not exactly stereotypical in the way it converts his sexuality.

However, he later on also decides to marry her of his own accord, putting question on whether or

not he has decided to change his sexuality over the course of the film.

Finally, the film’s decision to present the stereotype of the tragic gay character was what

ultimately felt like the worst thing it could have possibly done (Inton, 2017). After the last fight

of the film, the siblings came together to try and bring their injured cousins to the nearest

hospital. Given the lack of space in the car, Daniel was left alone in the empty parking lot to

follow them on her own. A few moments would pass and their attackers which they had beat up

would come up to her and shoot her in the chest. She dies a few moments later into the film. The

killing of Daniel’s character was treated as an almost spectacle wherein the choice of her death
was utilized as shock value without actually serving a definite purpose in driving the narrative

forward (Hulan, 2017).

While the characters themselves did not all identify themselves as gay in the film, I

propose that given the narrative choices excecuted and the ways in which these characters were

presented at the end, shows that there is perhaps an unconscious bias towards more conventional

gay representation in the film ​Panti Sisters.​ The efforts it gave in building a progressive narrative

crumbled to dust around the third half of the film where one after another, the characters started

making choices, or rather, were removed of the opportunity to make such choices, that would

defend themselves from the scars brought about by the gay stereotypes enforced onto them.
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