Show town partied twice in the past week.
On Saturday, filmmaker Elwood Perez celebrated his 67th birthday with family and friends at the Imperial Palace Suites in Quezon City.
Regal Films producer Lily Monteverde organized the bash for Elwood, who invited relatives from his home province of Pampanga. Guests from the industry were: movie queen Amalia Fuentes; producer Marichu Maceda; actors Ronnie Lazaro, Sheryl Cruz and Vangie Labalan; actress-scriptwriters Raquel Villavicencio and Bibeth Orteza; writers Joe Carreon, Iskho Lopez and Claude Tayag; fellow directors Joel Lamangan, Behn Cervantes, Gil Portes, Manny Valera, Raya Martin, John Torres, Sherad Anthony Sanchez, Bong Ramos and Ed Lejano; archivists Teddy Co, Marti Magsanoc and Monchito Nocom; Cinema One’s Ronald Arguelles; and Solar’s Wilson Tieng.
An impromptu “roast” was given by Elwood’s friends, led by his “idol,” Fuentes.
“People think I’m a diva, but Elwood is a bigger diva than I am,” Fuentes quipped.
Villavicencio recalled how Perez “traumatized” her on the set of their first film together, “Ms. Dolora X”: “On my first day, he threw me in the middle of a hair-pulling catfight with Charo Santos and had Roy Alvarez beat me up.”
Batangas boom
Singer Madonna Decena performed a cappella for the filmmaker, who was playfully described by Orteza, a frequent collaborator, as “master of kitsch and purveyor of all things illegitimate.”
On Monday, Mother Lily, as Monteverde is known in the biz, mounted another shindig—this time, at the Imperial Hotel and Resort in Tulo, Taal, Batangas.
Mother Lily asked Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto and Cultural Center of the Philippines president Raul Sunico to grace the inauguration.
Gov. Vi gamely acted as the ninang of Mother Lily’s latest “baby.”
Mother Lily said she had wanted to have her own home and resort in Taal since she first visited the quaint town where Perez’s “Summer Love” was shot over two decades ago.
“Batangas is booming,” said Gov. Vi. “I want to encourage more entrepreneurs like Mother to invest in the province. We need more hotels to accommodate tourists. Years ago, Mother Lily advised me to put my earnings in real estate, which she said was always a smart idea.”
Mother Lily invited guests all the way from Manila like Maceda, Perez, talent manager Ethel Ramos and Tape Inc.’s Malou Choa-Fagar, among others, to witness the blessing of the dream hideaway in the middle of a coconut plantation.