Herrera, James Arvin M.

Cable News Network Philippines is a Philippine commercial broadcast, cable, and

satellite television network. The CNN Philippines news article named 'Maid in Malacañang,'

which was released on August 5, 2022, discussed the Maid in Malacañang Movie entitled 'Maid

in Malacañang,' which was defended by the MTRCB. "Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August

5) — The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) defended the film

"Maid in Malacañang" amid criticisms of its alleged attempt to distort historical facts." The film

depicts the last three days events in the late President Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos'

administration during the 1896 People Power Revolution before they went to Hawaii. The film

was directed by Daryll Yap a Filipino film director, screenwriter and producer. The main casts of

the movie are Cesar Montano plays Ferdinand Marcos Sr., Diego Loyzaga plays Bongbong

Marcos, Christine Reyes plays Imee Marcos, Ruffa Guiterrez plays Imelda Marcos, and Ella

Cruz plays Irene Marcos in the film, on August 3, 2022, the film was released in theaters around

the country by Viva Films.

The film gained a lot of criticisms from its audiences and from the country’s historians.

“While the Filipino people should be strongly encouraged to support the local movie industry,

the right to free expression is not absolute, when tsismis and distortion of actual events are

presented as a historical fact, and disrespect, insults, and lies as a form of entertainment. In

particular, I am referring to how the movie Maid in Malacañang not only erroneously, but also

very maliciously and with utter disrespect pieced together, in its second teaser and in the movie,
the former President Corazon Aquino and the contemplative nuns with mahjong.” (Ferrer, 2022)

According to the news article, the movie itself does not reflect a documentary, but it was a

dramatization. Documentaries are intended to educate the audience, whereas dramas are intended

to entertain.

The film is not established on factual evidences and is not based on the history that is

taught to us in our history books and classes. As I heard about the film, and because his son

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. won the 2022 Presidential election, I was fascinated about all

the hearsay regarding his family background, as I was not voting for him during the election. So,

I seized the opportunity to view and observe the film's flaws with my own eyes. I felt skeptical

and dubious of the situations in the film while watching it. I frequently ask myself, "Is that what

truly happened at that time?" Especially when "Biday," one of the maids present, tells the

incident of how former first lady Imelda Remedios Visitación Romuáldez-Marcos "tiptoed"

knowing her as a fine and sophisticated woman. In the final section of the film, when former

President Corazon Aquino was playing mahjong with the nuns, "the cloistered nuns had

previously released a statement earlier in August denying that they played mahjong with Aquino

and her daughter Kris when the country was on the edge of a revolution" (Rappler, 2022). As a

result of the absence of historical data from that time period, the film is just a dramatization. The

film seems to attempt to entertain rather than literally distort or modify history.

Reference:
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-maid-in-malacanang-made-with-

malice/?

fbclid=IwAR2WfG9GL0oDQ0VzLC0ywFipVB3WVvFNKD9HuS2CIdIxvV8ALIIBcrQk2cc

https://www.rappler.com/nation/visayas/voices-regions-episode-truth-cory-aquino-nuns-

mahjong/?fbclid=IwAR1H9q7YIPRUPdTrBocqoX-

yZwtPo_cK4rLKfVXQWgBSfs2NpuCBGsdQFeI