When the cinema king of
Tagum, the late Ben A. Gonzales, the owner of Twin BAG Cinemas located at Abad
Santos Street had invited a band of Manila- based actors and actress, the whole
town went frenzy. Almost all day, as early as six o’clock in the morning,
people had thronged outside the gate of the king’s residence just beside his
twin theaters to have a glimpse of actors Jess Lapid, Jr. and the giant Bomber
Moran and actress screen named Liz Alindugan. It was a grand day for a town whose
settlers’ early days’ luxury was going to movie houses. Tuesdays are intended
for premier shows because viewed reels from Davao City will be delivered in
Tagum after a week of showing on that metropolis, and if one happens to be in
Davao City, they would be lucky to view films that were soon to be viewed in
Tagum. This was in the early 80s.
Cinemas had been around the town as early as 1960s, one gray-haired moviegoer told me. He enumerated those movie houses, some of it were still around during this writer’s childhood days in the 80s. That ubiquitous Filipinas Theater, the DJ Cinema, the twin cinemas of BAG, the lovers’ nest Lovel Theater and the pioneering Dalisay Theater. The townfolks had mobbed on these movie houses, it temporarily suspended all their pummel resistance on the economic difficulties during those days, and it was literally their momentary escape from the pressing realities of agrarian town life back then.
Our local cinemas’ extinction could be attributed to the evolution of film showing technology, the reel projector has mutated into a series of upgraded forms such as the VCR, the VHS and the VCD. The transmutation of film viewing from public cinemas to private homes was an inevitable consequence that many cinema operators had never expected to happen. The continuous emergence of film showing technology had finally displaced and closed down not just our local theaters but also the entrepreneurial Video Rental Shops.
On that peak and valley cycle of film showing mutation, many had thought that the large memory -capacity DVD was already the local maximum. At the turn of the century, literally, the whole world was surprised when a new medium of film showing has emerged. The Internet as a new medium of film showing has literally brought down the house of the film making industry itself. New films on their premiere showing thousand miles from us were being downloaded on the internet in less than an hour, transmitted by hosts of movie pirates, undetected and way beyond the apprehension of trans-national cybercrime busters, even the Interpol is powerless to track and prosecute these fearless film bandits.
Today, the city folks’ option of viewing films is getting wider, from their narrow choice of hopping from one local cinema to another during the 60’s up to the 80’s to our present spectrum of options, either through private home viewing or the revival of public viewing in our local modern cinemas that are making a comeback in the city. These cinemas’ larger- than- life screens and the state-of-the-art digital sound systems have brought new experiences to our city dwellers. And the city gradually regains its old fame as the entertainment capital of Davao region.
Does the private individuals initiative of reviving the local cinema could be one enough proof of the city's unending ascent towards joining the circles of those enduring metropolis of Southern Philippines? The private sector's investment here could be a hint of their inflexible confidence to this city of promise.
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