MANILA, Philippines?ABS-CBN has acquired 71 titles from late actor Rudy Fernandez?s film collection, according to Joy Bautista, manager of the network?s Program Acquisition division.
?He was already ill [with periampullary cancer], when he signed the contract in December 2007,? Bautista recalled. ?Daboy (as he is known in show biz circles) said he wanted to ensure the safekeeping of his (film) library. He considers the collection his legacy to his family.?
The collection came in four batches and the last one included his favorite, ?Bitayin si Baby Ama,? released in 1976. Bautista recalled that Fernandez had difficulty recovering the film.
?Days before his trip to the US last March, he called to say that he finally found ?Baby Ama,?? Bautista related.
The collection include ?Star,? ?Hoodlum Killer,? ?Death Row,? ?Riot,? ?Pretty Boy Segovia, ?Engkuwentro,? ?Bilang na ang Araw Mo,? among others, said Bautista.
Throughout the negotiations, Fernandez also shared precious movie anecdotes.
?The films that won him Best Actor awards (?Batuigas ? Pasukuin si Waway? and ?Victor Corpuz?) were closest to his heart,? Bautista pointed out. ?But he loved ?Somewhere? because it was during the making of that movie that he and wife Lorna Tolentino decided to push through with their wedding.?
Mary del Pilar, head of the ABS-CBN Archives, related that Fernandez became all the more convinced of entrusting his collection to the station upon learning of the network?s state-of-the-art storage facilities.
Apart from storing the films (mostly on Betacam format), the network also holds local free TV and international broadcast rights for the movies.
This week, Cinema One, ABS-CBN?s all-Filipino movie channel on cable, launched a retrospective of Fernandez films, ongoing until tomorrow (11:30 p.m.). ABS-CBN earlier acquired the film libraries of Fernando Poe Jr. and LVN Pictures.
Fernandez passed away on Saturday after a two-year battle with periampullary cancer. His burial is set today at the Heritage Memorial Park.
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