Balweg, The Rebel Priest

This documentary on a rebel group in the Philippines delivers a certain amount of propaganda along with inadvertent information on the kinds of issues inherited by President Corazon Aquino’s new government in the mid-’80s. The rebel group in question fought dictator Ferdinand Marcos for years and were joined in 1979 by Father Conrado Balweg. One year later, Father Balweg was defrocked for taking up arms against Marcos. After the dictator was deposed and Aquino elected president, she sent a representative (her brother-in-law) to talk to the rebels about their demands. This meeting is recorded in the second half of the documentary. The first half contains the usual stock phrases about Third World problems, and explains little except that this rebel group wants independence from the Philippines for the region they control.

In the war which ensued with the arrival of the military forces, Father Balweg was forced out of his parish and into the mountains, where he later became one of the most charismatic of leaders, admired by the masses but hated by the government forces.

Directors: Tikoy Aguiluz, Butch Perez
Writer: Amado Lacuesta (story & screenplay)
Stars: Phillip Salvador, Rio Locsin, Johnny Delgado, Tetchie Agbayani, Pinky Amador, Bebong Osorio, Mon Godiz, Baldo Marro, Jose Romulo, Eddie Infante, Ray Ventura, Lucita Soriano, Gwen Colminares, Alex Toledo, Apol Salonga, Ding Salvador, Rene Hawkins, Nemie Gutierrez