By Ronald Constantino
FPJ AVENUE – Highspeed readers were probably wondering why a photo of Fernando Poe Jr. came out last Sunday in this column when there was no item about him. Well, the paragraph where this columnist suggested that an avenue in Quezon City be named after FPJ was cut due to space limitation.
Perhaps the QC Council led by Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and Mayor Herbert Bautista himself could initiate it.
Why not an FPJ Avenue somewhere in San Francisco, QC, where the actor (and producer, director, and writer) grew up?
To date the studio built by his father, Fernando Poe Sr., still stands there, maintained by his widow, Susan Roces.
But the Poe mansion has long been bought by businessman.
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NATIONAL ARTIST – This columnist noted that aside from being “batang Frisco” and King of Philippine Cinema, FPJ is also a National Artist, to date the only actor to be so honored.
Nora Aunor would have been the second, having passed a few years back the rigid screening of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and Arts, but then President Noynoy Aquino didn’t give his consent. The office of the President has the final say on the matter.
Hopefully, in time, Nora will get the long-delayed and much-deserved honors.
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FILMS – At this point, Highspeed recalls some of the films of FPJ, starting with those directed by Gerry de Leon, a National Artist himself, in the late ‘50s, ‘60s, and in early ‘70s. One of them is the unfinished masterpiece “Juan de la Cruz.” FPJ was urged to finish the movie himself, but he said no way, “I refuse to touch the work of The Master.”
Two other National Artists directed FPJ, Eddie Romero in “Aguila” and Lino Brocka in “Santiago.”
The late Celso Ad. Castillo directed FPJ in the memorable and powerful “Asedillo.”
FPJ himself directed one or two versions of the enduring legend “Ang Panday.”