God’s Movie Company

By Ben Yalung

He is driving the helicopter through the clear sky when suddenly, an enemy chopper comes out from nowhere. Burly men in the chopper aim machine guns at him. They shoot and hit the engine of his helicopter. They chopper is exploding any minute now! Quickly, he checks the parachute strapped on his back. Then in a second, he jumps out of the chopper. The men at the other chopper. The men continue to fire at him, but he escapes their bullets and he lands safety on the ground.

“Cut” I shout and everyone applauds. Yes, this is not real. It’s only for reel. The man who jumps out of the helicopter is one of our most popular action stars. For a moment, he savors the applause of actors and actresses, cameramen, production crew members, and fans watching us. Then, he runs to me giving me the credit for this yet another fantastic scene of a film which, undoubtedly, will become another box office hit. It will earn me more money and make me more popular.

In this world of make believe, it is easy to lose one’s hold of life’s realities and easier still to live an ungodly life. The lights, the cameras, the extraordinary human being vulnerable to life’s temptations.

I happen to be a successful businessman I earned a BS Economics degree from Letran College and after college, I engaged in various businesses, I was in financial services, agriculture, telecommunitions, real estate, and electronics. I put up a film laboratory which provided film editing and sound mixing services for movie companies.

I met Elizabeth in our school’s prom night party in 1966. We married on January 14, 1969, and we were blessed with seven children.

I started as a film producer in 1985. I was then in my early 30’s very young in the industry. But I was able to make my way through the industry. My first film, Cain at Abel, which was directed by Lino Brocka and starred Philip Salvador and Christopher de Leon, bagged the FAMAS Best Picture and eight other awards including the Best Actor Award.

Inspired by this instant success, I decided to pursue a career as film producer and director. I made anything that would make money. At that time, sexy films were making good at box office. So I made a number of them. Then action films became popular. Every time I found a good action story, I directed the film myself. Unlike other directors who relied on the services of stunt directors. I did my own action choreography. I made such blockbusters as Commander Dante, Philip Salvador’s first money-maker. This was followed by a series of action films for such actors as Fernando Poe Jr. and Bong Revilla, all of them making money at the box office.

With my success came the intoxicating material rewards. I bought every material comfort money could buy – a mansion, cars, a yacht, a helicopter. Then came starlets hovering around me hoping to land a role in the films I was making. Naturally, I had any woman I wanted, betraying my wife.

Money, women, fame. I had all of them. Yet, I felt a gnawing emptiness deep inside me. I tried to find meaning in my life by reading spiritual books. But the inexplicable longing in my heart could not seem to be satisfied. That’s why an invitation from a friend, Cherry Pie Lazatin sounded interesting to me.

She came to me one day in 1986 while I was making the movie Moises Platoon, which starred Bong Revilla. She said there was this seminar for spiritual renewal designed for the movie producers like me to be held in Tagaytay, and would I like to attend? It happened that my movie was just about done and I had time to spare for the seminar. So I went up to Tagaytay for what I for what I later found out was the Life in the Spirit Seminar.

On the first day, I found the seminar boring, what the speakers were saying I had already read in my spiritual books. I was glad I brought along my radiophone, so then, I made use of my time communicating with my secretary in Manila to check on my businesses.

But then, on the second day there were speakers who narrated their story of conversion. One of them, Bingbong Crisologo, founder of the Loved Flock Community, impressed me with his story – how he grew up a spoiled son of a powerful politician in Ilocos, how he was involved in the burning of an entire barrio, the residents of which were his father’s political rivals, how he was sentenced to life imprisonment for this crime, and then, how he found the Lord in jail and received His forgiveness, and how he amazingly obtained his freedom from prison. I thought, my life was a lot simpler that Bingbong’s. Yet, if God forgave this man and gave him a chance to live a new, decent life, how much more would God grant me a chance to live a more meaningful life!

As the seminar progressed, I realized that everything I had – my talents. My money, my fame – all of them came from God. Every good thing that happened to me happened because He allowed it.  Yet, I had failed to acknowledge Him, let alone thank Him for everything tht He had done for me.

A final portion of the seminar was the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Facilitators laid their hands on me, asking the Holy Spirit to dwell in me and give me a new life. ans as I sat there, I closed my eyes and asked God to forgive me for neglecting Him. Then, I distinctly heard it – a clear Voice telling me, “I will use you.”

“Use me, Lord.” I answered. And right there and then, I made a 180 degree turn from my old life to a new one. I promised God I would stop womanizing and being too materialistic and that I would use the talent and resources He gave to me to bring people to Him.

After the Life in the Spirit Seminar, I was led to the Oasis of Love Community, a group of people in the movie industry who have had a spiritual renewal and have dedicated their lives to serve God even as they continued their careers in show business. Here, I learned more about living a Christian Life.

And this paved the way for the meaningful experience I so longed for. May association with renewed showbiz people led me to financing Kristo, a film about the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ which starred mostly the renewed actors and actresses in Oasis of Love. They did the movie at 50 percent lower than their usual asking fee.

I myself did not expect substantial return of my investment in this movie, I thought. I couldn’t possibly make a killing at the tills like my action or sexy films had done for me. But you know Kristo, shown for 15 days during the Lenten season, grossed P33 million in Metro Manila and P5 million more in provinces! From then on, the movie has been re-run during the Lenten season. It is, to date, the longest running film ever in the history of Philippines movies.

I donated the profit I earned from Kristo to Oasis of Love which used the money to put up a retreat house in Tagaytay. I used the capital money I earned back from the film to pout up a Cinepost, a post production dedicated to making wholesome movies that promote Christian values. Cinepost is the only movie company in the country with state-of-the-Art sound technology sound technology like the Ultra Dolby. It’s the Lord’s movie company, so it might as well have the best facilities. It has produced Ama Namin, starring Christopher de Leon. And I am now looking forward to following this up with Our Lady of Fatima Story and some religious movies for television.

This, at last, is the meaningful work I had inspired for, the meaningful life I so wanted to live! There may be no business like show business. But there is nothing like God’s show business.

In this world of make believe, it is easy to lose one’s hold of life’s realities.

Salamat sa Kerygma!