city's wholesome image
"I want one place I can go that is not going to be lewd, and I'm not sure there is anything left."
Matt Drudge
 |
| REGENT THEATER before World War II |
By Alex P. Vidal
Giant malls are now equipped with state-of-the-art digital theaters and 3D cinemas, virtually erasing from the map dilapidated and archaic downtown movie houses in major cities all over the country.
In Iloilo City, the only remaining downtown theater that operates outside three gigantic malls, is located right at the heart of where cultural and religious festivals are held regularly.
Interestingly, Regent Theater (formerly Cine Palace or Palace Theater) is housed in a building on J.M. Basa Street downtown, City Proper with a neo-classical facade, and is believed to be the oldest existing movie house in the Philippines built in 1928.
During the Dinagyang festival held every third week of January in honor of Senor Santo Nino at the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand, (if the camera is facing from the grandstand side) the most visible and conspicuous edifice aside from the adjacent Cine Eagle building is Regent Theater.
GLORY
But instead of providing additional glory and prestige to the city that has garnered national and international recognition due to its rich heritage, architectural building designs, cultural and religious treasures, Regent Theater has deteriorated into a symbol of shame and scandal for Ilonggos.
The theater, classical in character and it’s detailed facade of Corinthian capitals on fluted columns form the portico, continues to operate normally and provides entertainment to adult patrons.
Films being shown in public, however, don't have redeeming values and were mostly pornographic by nature--or lewd old Tagalog films containing materials that disturb sensibilities and scandalize women. Ironically, the theater's pediment is adorned with symmetrically arranged ornamentation of female figures, putti and floral flourishes.
PREDATORS
Dingy and squalid, the place is reportedly being frequented by sexual predators, prostituted women, call boys, and sometimes teenagers who cut classes.
City hall and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) should do something to repair the moral decay wrought by this theater in the populace, restore the building's old glory and save its tattered reputation. Health authorities must also get involve in order to arrest the possible spread of communicable sex-related diseases.
City officials squabble for pedestrianization of Calle Real, but ignore this alarming moral eyesore right in the front door of the metropolis. Beautification should not be limited only in the facade of the city but in the citizens' moral fiber, as well. A citizenry with a healthy mind makes a healthy city or nation.
Mystics say super-typhoon "Yolanda" spared Iloilo City because Ilonggos are "deeply religious" and devotees of almost all patron saints in the Roman Catholic church. The "City of Love" is also home to "born again" Christian sects and other Bible-toting religious cults and organizations.
MORALITY
Dyed-in-the-wool preachers and doyens of morality build small "churches" and organize fellowship prayers in the metropolis because they find the Ilonggos "pure" and "spiritually inclined."
"Earthquakes and super-typhoons avoid Iloilo City because we are near heaven," volunteered Alberto Lopez (not the former congressman of Iloilo's second district), a self-proclaimed messiah, who preaches the Bible but cavorts with his neighbor's wife.
Let's help cleanse the Augean Stables and eliminate from our system remnants of indecent shows and lurid films in burlesk screens. Let's speak, write, think good and be wholesome. Let's think God.
No comments:
Post a Comment