NEGROS BEAT
By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
“LOVE CHILD” is a movie. It is about a boy born to Negrense parents and diagnosed with autism when he was two years old.
He’s Oyen, and he’s 16 years old now living in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Over the weekend, “Love Child” made Bacolod and Negros Occidental abuzz, and relatable to my case, too.
On Facebook, netizens have very good comments about this Cinemalaya film shown in theaters since last week till yesterday (September 3).
Many said they cried. Others said the movie is quite a challenge for fathers with or without a child on the autism spectrum.
Negrense photographer and film critic Andrew Altarejos said “Love Child” is a must-see movie for parents with special kids.
For Altarejos, the movie is touching, telling us how really difficult it is to manage an autistic child, especially on the financial aspect.
Intrigued by what Andrew had told me, I took effort to get in touch with the director of the movie, Jonathan Jurilla, who is also a Negrense.
Good thing he responded to my call, and to my astonishment, Direk Jonathan is Oyen’s dad.
In a no-holds-barred phone interview, Jonathan confided how he started drafting the story of his second-slash-younger child 14 years ago.
He confessed that it was really challenging for him to wrap up the story because “every day there’s a problem, there’s a challenge.”
But the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 gave him the best opportunity to conclude such with an open-ended coda (prone to sequel).
Being a prized movie script writer-slash-director, Direk Jonathan lobbied Oyen’s story for a short film. But his fellow, Direk Arden Ron Condez of ABS-CBN, insisted that it should be for a full-length movie.
A ‘LOVE LETTER’
Mother Lily Monteverde’s Regal Films, Southern Lantern Studios and Cinemalaya Foundation gambled for “Love Child” directed by Direk Jonathan himself.
Hooray, it became a hit.
For Direk Jonathan, directing “Love Child” was indeed beyond inspiration.
“It’s beyond a movie, it’s my personal ‘love letter’ to my son to let him know that he is special to us – his loving and supporting family. Oyen’s heaven-sent,” Direk Jonathan confided.
Moreover, he said the focus of the movie is not just about Kali (the character of Oyen) dubbed as a “gifted child” or the “untapped genius”. It also dwells on the family struggles raising him, especially on the economic aspect, which is quite an income-draining challenge. More so on the “acceptance” of the family and of the society with kids with special needs.
A CRUSADE
Furthermore, Direk Jonathan said “Love Child” is kinda a crusade as well. It’s a point of reawakening for government to employ interventions on providing safer places for special kids, free from bullying.
According to the Program International Student Assessment (PISA), in year 2019 65% of Filipino students were reported as being victims of any type of bullying at least a few times in a month, while 40% were being bullied frequently (once a week or more).
In 2022, PISA said cases of bullying worsened; one out of three Filipino students are being bullied in schools.
Aside from bullying, “Love Child” also wants the government to make viable programs for professional supports (like therapies) as well as specific career provisions for someone with special needs.
To be clear, we already have the following statutes with regards to persons with disability (PWDs), including kids with special needs:
* Republic Act (RA) No. 9432 (Magna Carta for Disabled Persons)
* RA No. 7277 (Expanded Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, and for Other Purpose)
* RA No. 10524 (An Act Expanding the Positions Reserved for Persons with Disability)
* RA No.10533 (Enhanced Basic Education Act or Student Inclusion Program)
But for Direk Jonathan, these are not enough as bullying of kids with special needs persist.
PINCHER
“Love Child”, too, serves as a pincher for government to help Filipino parents with kids with special needs as the synopsis of this film revealed that one in every 100 Filipinos, or 1.2 million people in the entire country are now on autism spectrum.
Let us also take the case of Down syndrome. Remember the movie “Star ni Van Damme Stallone”, a Filipino true-to-life film of a boy diagnosed with Down syndrome and who wanted to be a famous actor.
Like “Love Child”, “Star ni Van Damme Stallone” also highlighted the parents’ economic struggles to make their (special kids’) ends meet. Family’s acceptance, too, was the “very gist” of this movie.
Both “Love Child” and “Star ni Van Damme Stallone” were aimed at raising awareness about autism and Down syndrome meant towards societal acceptance.
A reading from www.cspilipinas.org said that approximately one in every 800 newborn Filipinos are diagnosed with this kind of chromosome abnormality, or there are over 100,000 Filipino households now caring for a family member with this condition.
Aside from autism and Down Syndrome, there are also other diagnosis or diseases.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA
Direk Jonathan said that among the come-on of “Love Child” is the relatable psychological trauma for young unmarried couples – full of dreams but were given an immense challenge: a special child. Just imagine the psychological effects of this.
But all these in the story of “Love Child” are learnable, Direk Jonathan said.
In sum, “Love Child” is a must-see movie not because we need to empathize but because we need to learn the many worthwhile lessons embedded in this indie Pinoy film.
Having kids with special kids is no ordinary ordeal. I myself is a living witness. My son, Sab, is a special child (diagnosed with Down syndrome). He’s 14 right now.
Initially, I asked: WHY?
But later, I realized that I am “special” too, destined for a special mission: to take care of Sab.
And believe it or not, every day is not a challenge for me, but a lesson to learn how to make Sab better or the best of his own version….leading to a near normal condition.
I do admire Direk Jonathan for writing and directing a movie that narrates his and Oyen’s story.
In my case, I am more than inspired, too, to make an article for Sab, and the “overflowing blessings” he is bringing to our family./PN
