Film on Sabah factor in Marawi siege planned
Published on: Sunday, November 11, 2018
SHARJAH (United Arab Emirates): Controversial Filipino writer and filmmaker Alvin Yapan is looking for a producer to make a movie about the five-month siege of Marawi City in Mindanao by jihadists last year.He said what would make the movie interesting is that it was the first time that terrorists had attempted to establish a foothold on Filipino soil and engaged in combat with government troops for several months with many casualties."Besides some of these terrorists belonging to the Maute and Abu Sayyaf comprised both foreigners as well as Filipinos suspected enjoying dual identities from neighbouring Sabah," he said.
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Both the Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorist groups are active in the Philippines south and have sworn allegiance to Islamic State that is notorious for massacres and beheadings of civilians in areas that they control in Iraq and Syria.IS was hoping to set up a caliphate upholding only its brand of Islam and were controlling large areas in both middle eastern countries until Russia stepped in using ground forces and air power to wipe them out but pockets still remain.It was long suspected that many Filipinos in Sabah's east coast with ties to these groups have managed to get their hands on Malaysian documents and played a key role as informers in the many cross border kidnappings of tourists, locals and lately Indonesian fishermen in Sabah waters.The issue of Filipinos obtaining Malaysian documents, including one introduced as IMM13, is a hot potato issue in Sabah as the real identities of the holders are unclear.
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In the past, Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, including Commander Robot who led the Sipadan kidnapping in 2000 where many local resort staff and a mixture of foreign tourists were taken hostage, bragged that they had Malaysian documents. "I will need about 25 to 30 million pesos (US500,000) to produce the film on Marawi. It will have to be a full production and a bit costly because of re-enacting the bombings, location and production design," he said.
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"The Sabah factor and how these foreign jihadists managed to wage war on Filipino soil also gives the story an international flavour," he said.Alvin was speaking to Daily Express at the Sharjah International Book Fair here where he was invited to share his experiences as an award-winning independent filmmaker and novelist back home.One of his films, Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe (The Rapture of Fe), won the Best Digital Feature award at the Cairo International Film Festival recently."That was my biggest achievement and it discussed the issue of violence against women in the Philippines. It was shown worldwide."Alvin said he manages to complete at least one Tagalog movie every year but funding is a problem. The winning Cairo film was funded by a UN women's group. "I mostly depend on grants," he said, adding he has about 11 films to his credit so far.They get aired on Netflix and Airflix.Another of his films, Ang Sayaw (Dance of the two left feet), was picked to represent the Philippines in last year's Oscars but lacked the funds to mount a campaign in Hollywood.Last year, he ran into problems with the Duterte government and received death threats for making a movie about the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects."Because of this, I became a very controversial figure in my country. The problem is your personal security when you deal with sensitive issues and your work goes out into the public space."I stopped because it was not worth my life."He said he decided to do the film because the families of a group of minors who were massacred at gunpoint approached him."There was a news blackout on the incident and they wanted the country to know what happened to these kids."They were crying and begging me to make their stories heard," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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