“TATAY knows best. Trust in Tatay. Trust no one else.”
A father’s seemingly innocent loving lines from Tanghalan Pilipino’s (TP) stage adaptation of the 1981 drama film Kisapmata that, however, hide issues of domestic violence, incest and the struggle to freedom.
I first saw the suspense thriller Kisapmata in the late 1980s during my college days at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.
Almost 40 years later, I watched its TP’s theatrical version last weekend which coincided with the celebration of International Women’s Day.
Kisapmata is a 1981 drama film directed by Mike de Leon, written by de Leon, Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., and Raquel Villavicencio based on 1968 reportage “The House on Zapote Street” by National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin.
Kisapmata follows Mila’s struggle to break free from the smothering grasp of his father, retired police officer Sergeant Dadong Carandang, by marrying her co-worker Noel.
It is the story of a tyrannical father who feels an incestuous love for his daughter and hatred for his son-in-law while terrorizing his meek wife who looks on with horror at the events unfolding in their household.
Everything gets chaotic after the wedding, where Dadong still intends the couple to live in their home and the couple is put into situations that separate them.
What follows is a disturbing picture of a father’s deranged attempt to keep the couple away from each other and ultimately, to keep Mila for himself.
It showcases a “perfect” Filipino family where tension and drama of love and fear collide within the confines of a seemingly idyllic household.
Joaquin’s original story was published in 1961 Philippines Free Press. It chronicled how Ilocano police detective Pablo Cabading committed familicide by shooting his own wife, daughter, and son-in-law before blowing his brains out.
He was married to the soft-spoken Anunciacion. They had a daughter, an only child named Lydia Cabading-Quitangon. At the time of the crime, she was a medical intern married to Dr. Leonardo Quitangon.
In the film, Mila was played by Charo Santos, Dadong by Vic Silayan, Noel by Jay Ilagan, and Dely by Charito Solis.
In the stage adaptation, the cast included Jonathan Tadioan as Dadong, Lhorvie Nuevo-Tadioan as Dely, Toni Go-Yadao as Mila, and Marco Viaña as Noel. Understudies for the roles included Arjay Babon (Dadong), Sofia Sacaguing (Dely), Sarah Monay (Mila), and Mark Lorenz (Noel).
Kisapmata was first shown during the 1981 Metro Manila Film Festival and reaped a total of 10 awards, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Picture, and Best Director.
Kisapmata shows how men are dominant over women in the old days. From the typical image of a domestic space as a symbol of security, the home becomes a representation of threat.
The play featured videos of Martial Law under former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. as an unnerving microcosm of the Filipino society’s power struggle.
With acts of violence and wrongdoings done behind closed doors in the Carandang residence, Kisapmata brings to life the shady criminal acts of the Marcos regime through Dadong’s character as a downright representation of a dictator who uses violence and fear to keep everyone in order, and murder, when they dare to stand up against him.
More than a film about the taboo of incest, de Leon narrated in his 2022 memoir “Last Look Back” how Kisapmata is an “allegory” or a symbolic story of Filipino life under fascism.
He said: “Kisapmata explores the concept of strongman rule as exemplified by the character of Dadong, ang Tatang, the psychotic padre de familia rendered monstrous by the unforgettable performance of Vic Silayan. The father has incestuous relations with his daughter — the ultimate corruption. That the film was interpreted as an allegory of the regime of Ferdinand Marcos was no coincidence, though the crime happened in 1961. Nevertheless, many elements in this allegory were present in the original story. The policeman was an Ilocano, and so was Marcos. He ruled with an iron fist and subjected his family to unmitigated terror, just as Marcos did to the country.”
Kisapmata (1981) as well as Batch ’81 (1982), and Sister Stella L (1984), which De Leon directed and co-wrote, captured life under Martial Law through their allegorical insinuations.
Martial Law was formally lifted on January 17, 1981 through Proclamation No. 2045.
Directed by Guelan Varela-Luarca, Kisapmata will be staged from March 7 to 30, 2025, at the Tanghalang Ignacio Jimenez at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay City.
In the words of TP artistic director Nanding Josef, the 38th season theme “Revolt” is a reminder that one can “do a revolution or social change formation, because you love somebody, your family, the community, you love your country or you love God.”
“You have to be more selfless, you have to be more concerned with other people through pakikipagkapwa (empathy), especially those who have been victims of oppression or poverty,” Josef said.
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“Peyups” is the moniker of University of the Philippines.
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Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0908-8665786./PN
