MANILA, Philippines ? Actor-politician Ramon ?Bong? Revilla Jr. offers simple advice to boxing champ Manny Pacquiao when it comes to making movies.

While ?Ang Panday,? Revilla?s entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), zoomed to No. 1 at the tills and won a lion?s share of awards (including Best Actor for Senator Bong), Pacquiao?s ?Wapakman? floundered, critically and commercially.

?I think Manny just needs more time to prepare. If he really wants to make it as an actor, he needs to devote time to each project. He needs to be hands-on. That?s the most important advice I can give him. He needs time to shoot and promote a movie properly,? Revilla told his fellow Kapuso.

He is ecstatic about the strong performance of almost all entries in this year?s MMFF, now on its 35th year.

?I?m happy because all the entries, except for one, made money. I believe it?s only because Manny?s movie encountered production problems. I heard that they weren?t able to finish the special effects. Na-delay [It was delayed]. So they didn?t have enough time to promote it well.?

He insisted that he was not obsessed about being No. 1 at the box office.

?I don?t mind even if they say another movie is No. 1,? he explained. ?It?s just friendly competition. It doesn?t matter if we?re No. 1 or No. 2. What is important is that we are able to entertain the viewers.?

At press time, his action-fantasy flick, which emerged Best Picture as well, has earned over ?P40 million after only four days.?

?There?s a big increase in earnings compared to last year?s record,? he said.

It?s a close fight among the top moneymakers ? with only a few thousand pesos separating each film.

To what does he attribute the strong showing of almost all the entries this year?

All-star cast

?The festival had an all-star cast. Major stars, all good actors, from Tito Dolphy and Vic Sotto to Sharon Cuneta, joined the festival. Even the directors in this year?s fest, the veterans and the newcomers, were all good,? he noted.

This early, there is talk of a ?Panday? sequel.

?We discussed the sequel at the cast party after the awards night [on Monday],? he said. ?We really want to devote a lot of time to the sequel.?

Since he will be busy with the senatorial campaign and politics, the ?Panday? team, composed mainly of Rico Gutierrez and Jay Santiago of the visual effects outfit Riot Inc., plans to start shooting the complicated scenes in the first quarter of the new year.

Perfecting the original

?Since I?ll be ready to shoot after the election, they?ll only need to add my scenes to the special-effects shots taken earlier,? he said.

This year?s MMFF Best Actor said the productions teams in Imus and GMA Films have learned a lot from working on ?Panday? for over a year.

?Whatever mistakes we made in the first one, we want to correct in the sequel. It?s all about improving and perfecting the original, which is a tough act to follow,? he said.

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