A HOUSE leader on Wednesday called for a congressional investigation into what he described as the blatant “revisionism” or “fallacious” portrayal of small-scale mining and pro-environment activities in Camarines Sur in 2014, which was presented in the controversial movie “Oro.”
Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said he will file a resolution calling for a joint inquiry by the committees on public Information and on Metro Manila Development Authority to demand an explanation why the MMDA Film Festival Executive Committee included “Oro” among the official entries.
Worse, Villafuerte said the movie was even given granted an award despite its gory dog-slaying scene and its depiction of supposedly everyday life in CamSur that was “the exact opposite of what actually happened as well as the real protagonists and antagonists in a barangay in Caramoan Island.”
Oro is an official entry to the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival and whose award was later on withdrawn by the organizer itself in belated protest over its depiction of an act of animal cruelty in violation of the law.
“The film is nothing but political propaganda masquerading as art in which the highly respected actors that took part in it plus the film crew were unwittingly used to present an alternate universe of events that have never happened in Caramoan Island in CamSur two years ago,” Villafuerte said.
“There is such a thing as artistic license but it does not justify the misinterpretation of events for political ends,” Villafuerte said. “This was a blatant case of historical revisionism that the camp of former Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella had committed as a political hack job against the incumbent provincial government leadership.”
Villafuerte said the withdrawal of the award over the animal cruelty issue is the best proof of sloppy work by the filmfest committee, which explains why it was haphazardly included among the official entries despite its grossly inaccurate depiction of reality in CamSur. “They should not just stop screening till the dog-killing scene is edited out, but to ban its screening altogether for being a prime example of a poster movie in the post-truth era.”
Villafuerte said instead of just suspending the movie’s showing until such time that the dog-slaying scene is edited out, “the Metro filmfest committee must ban its showing altogether as an act of contrition for its dismal failure to exercise due diligence in including it among last year’s official entries despite its depiction of animal cruelty and distorted presentation of reality in CamSur.”
He said that on top of the controversial scene depicting animal cruelty in the movie, another serious violation committed, this time by its producers, was the distortion of the facts and events that transpired in 2014 in the small-scale gold-mining community of Barangay Gata in CamSur.
“What is terribly wrong with this movie is that it has elevated to the pedestal certain characters supposed to be environmental champions when the truth is these people are the ones who have been raking in money by engaging in or condoning illicit gold-mining activities that harm the environment,” Villafuerte said.
He pointed out that the supposed heroine in the movie—the barangay chairperson—was in fact charged with illegal mining and has a pending warrant of arrest against her, contrary to what was depicted in the movie.
The movie’s producers, as told by the movie’s director in several interviews, are the Fuentebellas of CamSur’s fourth district better known as the Partido District.
