‘Mamasapano’: Why its victims’ lawyer made the movie

Lawyer Ferdie Topacio is the producer of Mamasapano: Now It Can Be Told, one of the eight entries to the 2022 Metro Manila Film Festival which opens today, 25 December in cinemas.

Daily Tribune (DT): Why did you produce the movie?

Ferdie Topacio (FT): I produced Mamasapano to fulfill my promise to the grieving parents of the SAF 44, for whom I tried to get justice as their lawyer, after we were thwarted at every turn by technicalities and the inherent limitations of legal procedures. I told them that if justice is long in coming from the courts, perhaps at least in the bar of public opinion, we can attain some measure of it.

Hence, the movie, which is based on only three reliable sources: The report of the Senate Public Order Committee chaired by Sen. Grace Poe; the report of the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry chaired by then Gen. Benjie Magalong; and interviews with persons who have factual knowledge of events before, during and/or after the massacre.

DT: The movie has the tag line Now It Can Be Told. Are there specific details the public still don't know yet about Mamasapano?

FT: In general terms, we included the tag line to impress upon viewers that, seven years or so after the sordid incident, passions have sufficiently cooled in order to afford a more dispassionate and objective assessment of what went wrong in Mamasapano that fateful day on 25 January 2015, and who were responsible for the deaths of 44 of our elite police officers. But in particular, we believe the full story of the massacre could not have been possible whilst Aquino was still president, since key witnesses who have been less than forthcoming before the Senate and PNP hearings were understandably reluctant to tell the whole truth.

With Aquino out of power and most — if not all — of those who actually saw the events as they unfolded having retired from the police and military service, there were no more legal and ethical obstacles to these witnesses giving their narration of what really happened. Thus, we have that sequence where surviving SAF troopers, in a closed-door bull session with Aquino, showed their extreme displeasure over his finger-pointing, blaming the slain officers for the fiasco in Mamasapano. So intense were the words uttered against him that he walked out of the conference room.

There are many more details in the movie relating to the massacre that have seen the light of day only very recently that the public can look forward to.

DT: What other aspects of the movie do you want moviegoers to look forward to?

FT: With respect to the story arc, while we have chosen to tell the tragic tale of the SAF 44 in a non-linear fashion — alternating between the battle scenes and the proceedings before the Board of Inquiry in order to underscore the confluence of blunders and misjudgments that sealed the fate of the policemen — we have striven to present the narrative in a manner that the audience can easily follow.

We also wish to point out that we have spared no effort and expense in making a movie that is as accurate as possible when it comes to costumes, props, location and special effects. We have done considerable research on the uniforms used by our actors (even employing the services of the company that supplies the SAF with actual uniforms), and securing the services of military consultants, both retired and in active service, about the firearms and tactics used by the SAF. In fact, some of our actors even trained with the SAF on how to move during combat and the hand signals and commands used in battle.

We also did not scrimp on blank bullets, squibs, explosives, the use of working firearms, prosthetics, extensive sets (we had to build a replica of the bridge in Mamasapano and Marwan's hut, a "rebel camp" consisting of numerous huts and houses, and a small mosque, among other elaborate sets. And our visual effects, modesty aside, are topnotch.

DT: How much did the movie cost?

FT: Much more than I would have wanted. The onset of the pandemic in March 2020 wrought havoc on our estimated budget, as some preparations were totally wasted due to the lockdown.

But after seeing the finished product, my partners and I have no regrets. Whether we turn in a profit or not, we are fulfilled that we have made a movie of singular beauty, that will immortalize for future generations the heroism of the SAF 44 and shown the results of official inaction and poor judgment that cost the lives of ordinary public servants. Mamasapano is verily a cautionary tale that has to be told.