"Weird" was how the author described his feelings at the launching of the special edition of “Si Tatang at mga Himala ng Ating Panahon:Koleksyon ng mga Akda ni Ricky Lee” Sunday at a standing-room-only section of Power Books, SM Megamall, complete with Noranians punctuating the air with cheers every time Nora Aunor’s name was mentioned.
"Weird" because he never thought that the book, which has gone into third printing since it was first published in 1988, would enjoy popular, not just critical, success despite its unconventional format with no demarcations dividing Lee’s reportage from his fiction and screenplay of “Himala.”
More than upsetting conventional storytelling forms in Filipino and ridding many feature articles of traditional punctuation marks, Lee, 61, has been able to enjoy something rare among writers: financial success and independence. Much of this has been due to the box-office appeal of his more than 150 produced film scripts, five plays, even a best-selling first novel “Para kay B.”
An early memory of his name being mentioned at a humanities conference at the University of the Philippines Faculty Center in the 1970s flashed in this writer’s head. Theater-film director Behn Cervantes recounted how he was pitching a story treatment done by Lee to a producer. The producer asked, “Ricky Lee? Any relation to Ricky Lo?”
Sometime in the late ’70s, this writer also saw Lily Chua, an English graduate and Lee’s friend, turn over his letters addressed to her while she was in the US. She had come home for a short reunion with friends at the UP Diliman home of Dr. S.V. and Nieves Epistola. She was due to marry and begin a new life in the States.
Lee sat in a corner, reading his old letters and laughing silently. Among his written observations was how he pestered Lily to buy him a long list of books he wanted to read and how he was spending a lot of his time inside movie houses after his release from political detention.
He was so turned off by the poor quality of the movies that he vowed to Lily he would make those producers pay one day for the valuable money he spent watching badly scripted, poorly shot movies. He had more unspeakable words about the kind of acting being done by the actors.
Dr. Epistola snorted, “And now they (the producers) are paying through their noses.”
In the feature story “Tiririt ng Yvonne,” excerpts of which were read by actress Jean Garcia, the subject of the profile, a bold star, said, “Ewan ko, pero para sa ’kin, pag virgin ang isang artista hindi makakaarte ng husto. Dahil when it comes to sex nandiyan lahat—comedy, drama, lahat. Pa’no sila magri-react sa sexy scenes, paano sila makakapag-aaahh, ganyan? Tapos, virgin pa sila? Saan, sa tenga?” (Somehow the piquant remarks of Yvonne get lost in translation.)
Comedian-singer-composer Ogie Alcasid brought the house down with his reading of another excerpt from a report, “Ang Paggawa ng Himala,” through the eyes of Joel Lamangan. Lamangan was assigned as casting and crowd director of the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines-produced movie. But director Ishmael Bernal made exacting demands on him like bringing truly ill and infirm extras.
To get a flavor of the living theater of the absurd that was the set of “Himala” in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, here is Lee’s account with Lamangan as narrator (again these lines are not quite as funny when translated in straight English):
“Si Ishma ang naturo sa akin how to crowd direct. At kung paano maging magaling sa pagka-cast. Pag kailangan ng mga extra, kumukuha ako sa iba’t ibang barangay. I need 50 sick people, sasabihin ni Ishma
“I want to see the sickness, sasabihin pa niya. I have to see the disease!
“Di puwede ang me hika lang, o sakit sa puso. Kailangan nakikitang malaki ang ilong, o me cerebral palsy. Isa-isa pinahilera ko ang mga maysakit sa harap ni Ishma. O ito, sabi niya, puwede. O ito, disapproved. Hiyang-hiya ako! Sorry iho ha sabi ko sa isang maysakit, hika lang kasi ang sakit mo e!
“One time nagpahanap si Ishma ng batang maraming galis sa mukha. Para ito doon sa eksenang karga-karga ng pulubing si Aling Pising ang isang bata habang sumisigaw siyang Elsa, pagalingin mo ang anak ko!
“Ayaw ni Ishmang prosthetic lang. Gusto niya laging totoo. Nakahanap kami sa napakalayong barangay. O ayan, Ishma, sabi ko, me langib-langib pa ang ulo!
“Nang panoorin ko naman later sa rushes, full shot pala! Di naman nakita! Momsy, sabi ko ke Ishma, ba’t di mo pinakita ang sugat? It’s not necessary, sagot ni Ishma.”
Later, Lee expressed his gratitude to his circle of friends, especially the ones he met at UP Diliman and spent time with in the underground movement and in prison.
He said, “My friends were the ones pushing and inspiring me to write. I was a thin naive provinciano then who didn't know much about the world. They were always helping and protecting me, telling me I wrote well.”
Friends Jo-Ann Maglipon, Flor Caagusan, Aida F. Santos, Fanny Garcia, Lilia Quindoza and the late Romulo Sandoval encouraged his early writing attempts.
Lee was a political prisoner for one year with now National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera, Caagusan and Maglipon. He recalled, “Immediately after I was released from prison, I lived at the Protestant Chapel, then later with Ninotchka Rosca and Luis Teodoro in their house at UP.”
Lee told this reporter, “Most of the short articles and journalistic pieces in ‘Si Tatang at mga Himala’ I wrote at UP, either at the Narra dormitory or in Area 1 in one of the boarding houses there. I was a working student, first as a waiter, then as proofreader and later staff member of Asia Philippines Leader while studying AB English at UP.”
He considered UP his refuge after all these years from the time he ran away from his hometown in Bicol. Every time he has a book launch, he goes to the UP Catholic chapel to hear mass first and make an offering.
A constant presence at his launchings are people who are the products of the free scriptwriting workshops Lee has been conducting since 1982. His other payback gesture is sending donations of books and similar educational items to his hometown.
In the works is a reprint of his scriptwriting manual “Trip to Quiapo” to be combined with his memoirs. Somehow, despite his success, he has managed to look homeward.
“Si Tatang at mga Himala ng Ating Panahon” is published by Writers Studio Philippines Inc. and distributed by Anvil Publishing Inc.
In a photo taken by FLOR CAAGUSAN, Lee (in white shirt) poses with Aida Santos, the blogger, Jo-Ann Maglipon and Anvil's Karina Bolasco.
A shorter version of this report appears in the June 4, 2009, issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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