‘Oro’ director Alvin Yapan: One dog slaughtered for wake

MANILA, Philippines – Director Alvin Yapan said only one dog – not two – died during the filming of his movie Oro, and that the slaughtering was for a wake being held in the area where they were filming.

This is in contrast to the claim of one of the movie’s actresses, Japo Parcero, who played a minor character in Oro. Parcero previously said two dogs died and that the filmmakers bought the dogs specifically for butchering.

“In fact, two dogs died, one accidentally and one deliberately,” Japo wrote in a Facebook post dated January 3. “The production bought the first dog, and the owner, in his excitement to deliver the dog and receive his payment, tied the dog in a sack and unknowingly killed him by suffocation. The production, bent on shooting the scene which apparently was in the script, bought another dog for butchering.”

In an interview with GMA’s News To Go, Alvin and Oro star Irma Adlawan explained that a local had died while they were filming the movie, which was why the community slaughtered dogs for consumption.

“The day before that, ‘yung scene na ‘yun [dog slaughter scene], may nanonood sa shoot namin na isang local tapos siguro inatake siya sa puso sa excitement, etc, o sa pagod… Nagkaroon ng commotion at hinimatay siya at pumanaw nga siya. So kung baga ‘yun ang naging occasion kung kaya’t nagkaroon ng kahingian na pumatay nun (aso),” said Alvin.

(The day before that, that scene [dog slaughter scene], someone was watching our shoot, a local, and I guess he suffered a heart attack from the excitement, etc, or from being so tired… There was a commotion and he fainted and he died. So that was the occasion for which there was a need to kill a dog.)

Oro was filmed in Gata, Camarines Sur, the location of the true story that the movie is based on – the Gata 4 massacre, where 4 miners were killed by an environmental group acting under the government.

When asked if it were true that they paid for a dog, Irma said Japo may have mistaken their monetary contribution to the community as payment for the dog.

“‘Yun po yata ‘yung akala niya binili, kasi ‘yun pong lamay kung saan pinatay ang aso, nagbigay ng pera na abuloy at pasasalamat doon sa ginawa nila,” said Irma. “Kung baga kasi parang, ‘Naistorbo namin kayo, dapat ginagawa ‘nyo ‘to nang ano, napaghintay kayo, naganito. Ito po ‘yung abuloy para sa ano.'”

(I think she thought we bought the dog because at the wake where the dog was killed, we gave money as a contribution and as thanks for what they did. It was like, “We disturbed you, you should have been doing this, but you had to wait. Here is our contribution for your trouble.”)

Earlier in the interview, Alvin was also asked if the scene had been directed. Japo had said that an actor killed the dog, as he was following orders from the team.

Alvin said, however, that the scene was not directed and a dog butcher from the community did the slaughtering. “Reality-style po talaga siya. It wasn’t directed. Kasi ni hindi ko po alam kung paano pumatay ng aso.” (It was shot reality-style. It wasn’t directed. Because I don’t even know how to kill a dog.)

Responding to a question about why they couldn’t use prosthetics, Alvin said: “Naunawaan ko na may mga na-offend talaga kaming sektor sa Pilipinas and I apologize for that, na may mga na-offend kami. Pero ‘yun nga, puwede nga gumamit ng prosthetics. Pero ‘yun ay kung wala kami sana nakita doon na dog butcher talaga na papatay ng aso on that day itself na mag-shu-shoot kami.”

(I understand that we offended certain sectors in the Philippines and I apologize for that. But here’s the thing, we could have used prosthetics. But that is if we hadn’t met a dog butcher who was going to slaughter a dog on the day itself that we were going to shoot.)

He added: “Ito po ay independent. Nasa Pilipinas po tayo. Ang hirap nung prosthetics.” (This movie is independent. We’re in the Philippines. It’s very difficult to do prosthetics.)

Oro, one of the movies in the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival, was stripped of one of its festival awards and pulled out of theaters early due to the controversy.

Aside from the Fernando Poe Jr Award, which was withdrawn from the film, Oro also won Best Actress for Irma and Best Ensemble Cast at the MMFF’s Gabi ng Parangal.

Alvin and the producers have also been suspended from joining the festival for a year. – Rappler.com