Like many other Filipinos, the multiawarded actor John Arcilla has had brushes with such life-threatening events—when fire engulfed the house across the street from the family home and when fire occurred just behind their walls. Seeing the big flames, feeling the heat, and hearing the commotion that the emergencies elicited, he felt powerless and trapped. 

“You can try to reassure yourself that ‘at least our lives were spared.’ But it is not that easy. They were emotionally and psychologically devastating, even traumatic, experiences,” he told CoverStory in an exclusive interview. “And that was for myself, who was not directly affected. How much more for the people who lost their loved ones and properties?” 

But while many others would just go on with their lives and hope the tragedy doesn’t happen to them, Arcilla took a decisive step. He found a way to contact the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to offer his talents and star power so that fires can be prevented. 

“If I can help educate someone to be more cautious, to save themselves or a whole community, then I commit to being an advocate of fire prevention activities,” he recalled telling the BFP. 

Dramatizing the message

Arcilla has proved his mettle in acting, and holds the distinction of being the first Filipino to win the Volpi Cup for Best Actor in the 78th Venice International Film Festival. But for his advocacy project for the BFP, he stepped into the role of director.

He is, after all, a mass communication graduate, and his thesis was a screenplay written under the guidance of the writer Roy Iglesias. He also studied under the director Soxy Topacio and the scriptwriter Ricky Lee. 

He brought this experience and expertise, working with the BFP’s Senior Fire Officer 3 Ace Carolino and Inspector Arvien Alcazar, to produce the 12-minute film “Baldado.”

With very little audible dialogue, the film tells the story of a small community that is at high risk of fires. Everyday Filipinos would be able to relate to the experience of small cramped spaces and various incessant noises.  

The title describes the main character, Arcilla, who is immobile and has to be wheeled around, subject to the whims of the able-bodied people around him. As the tension builds, the desperation on his face heightens the drama. 

Most vulnerable

According to SFO3 Carolino, persons with disability are among the most vulnerable in our society to the dangerous effects of fires because of mobility issues or difficulties in decision-making. 

“We intended to bring the plight of PWDs front and center by portraying the rawest form of this plight possible, appealing to the emotional aspect of such public concern,” Carolino said. “Mr. John Arcilla, as director and main actor of the film, transformed the script into a compelling message.”

The fire hazards portrayed in the short film are familiar to many communities: lighted cigarette butts, overloaded electrical outlets, unattended open fires, and kids playing with flammable objects. 

The Directorate for Fire Safety and Enforcement has trailed its attention on PWDs for 2025, putting in place the Standardized Public Fire Education for such special care individuals, as well as members of vulnerable groups (senior citizens and pregnant women), and their caregivers (including family and relatives), and also support workers (teachers, barangay staff members, therapists, and the like).

The education drive includes “the setting up of safety systems within the household all the way to the development of evacuation plans for them,” Carolino said.

Everyday prevention

March is Fire Prevention Month, but it has been shown that the heat and humidity make Filipinos more susceptible to fires during the summer months, or indeed as long as soaring temperatures persist.

From Jan. 1 to April 20, 2025, there have been 5,021 fire incidents reported in the Philippines, 1,833 of which occurred in Metro Manila—the area with the highest number.

Said Arcilla: “I want people to be more cautious and aware of their responsibility to prevent incidents of fire. Fire does not only affect one household; it can destroy a whole community. It can do huge and irreparable, irreversible harm to everyone in a split second due to negligence.”

Arcilla was declared Fire Prevention Month Ambassador for 2025, but he is motivated to continue to work for this advocacy beyond this year. He serves as one of the judges for the “BFP’s Apoy at Lente: The Reels Story Film Festival,” portraying the personal experiences of firefighters, volunteers, and civilians. He is also in several short infomercials on common fire hazards at home.

“I want to commit myself to assist any organization to be an advocate for fire prevention in my lifetime,” he said. “This volunteerism is, for me, an act of paying it forward. My mother is already elderly and some of family members have some special needs that require attention. I wish to give myself and my loved ones positive karmic energy, so I can spare them from such incidents and help more people to stay safe from incidents of fire.” 

Arcilla is also president of the Capable (Care and Protect Life on Earth) Foundation, whose community programs for physical fitness (for adults) and workshops and tutorials (for students) are all supported by volunteers.

Fire prevention tips

• Keep a fire extinguisher accessible and make sure everyone in the house knows how to use it.

• Avoid smoking indoors. Or better yet, for good health, stop smoking.

• Regularly inspect electrical wiring to make sure these are free from damage. Do not overload circuits.

• Make sure that all exits are free from obstruction at all times. 

• Call 911 for fire emergencies.

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Since it was established in 1976, the Manunuri has changed shallow notions of what Philippine cinema is about and has pursued its mission consistently, as gleaned from the 45th Gawad Urian at the Cine Adarna, University of the Philippines’ Film Center, in Diliman last Nov. 8.  

The group gave nine of the 15 Urian awards to the internationally acclaimed Filipino filmmaker Erik Matti’s “On the Job: The Missing 8,” a story of the local media’s crucial role in the political landscape of a town in the Philippines, where a journalist investigates the disappearance of his colleagues and the murder of a publisher-editor of a community paper.

According to the Manunuri’s criteria for Best Film, Matti’s film “reflects the creative integration of the elements of cinema to an eminent degree.”

‘Truthful portrayal’

“Films should be judged on how effectively they fuse content and form,” the Manunuri said. “The content of the film is considered effective if it is a truthful portrayal of the human condition as perceived by the Filipino experience to which the greater number of moviegoers can relate.”

“OTJ: The Missing 8” also garnered awards for Best Director (Matti), Best Actor (John Arcilla), Best Supporting Actress (Lotlot de Leon), Best Supporting Actor (Dante Rivero), Best Screenplay (Michiko Yamamoto), Best Editing (Jay Halili) in a tie with “Walang Kasarian ang Digmang Bayan” (Gerone Centeno and Jay Altarejos), Best Music (Erwin Romulo, Malek Lopez and Arvin Nogueras), and Best Sound (Corrine de San Jose).

The other awards were for Best Actress (Yen Santos in “A Faraway Land”), Best Cinematography (Carlo Canlas Mendoza in “Big Night”), Best Production Design (Whammy Alcazaren in “Kun Maupay Man It Panahon”), and Best Short Film (Arden Rod Condez in “Dandansoy”). 

Filipino animator Roque Federizon Lee, also known as Roxlee, was presented the “Natatanging Gawad Urian,” or the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Just for entertainment?

Despite the Manunuri’s avowed social responsibility, the sad reality is that most Filipinos fail to grasp the critics’ objectives because of the lingering orientation that watching films, along with their subliminal effects, is simply for entertainment.

And how can one ignore the fact that the likes of actors Joseph Estrada, Lito Lapid, Ramon Revilla and his son and namesake Ramon Revilla Jr., and Robin Padilla won by wide margins in past nationwide elections because the voters, mostly of the hoi polloi, believe that their screen heroes are actual saviors who can, as political leaders, deliver the nation from oppression and injustice?

As critics, the members of the Manunuri aim to “examine Filipino films, bolster the interest of the masses and the Philippine film industry, study and celebrate the achievement that will help define the good Filipino film, and cultivate the knowledge and skills that the film medium was designed for.”

For them, the cinematic work is “a medium of communication and expression of our culture according to the standards and conditions of filmmaking in our country.”

Thus, the Gawad Urian is a social responsibility to the Filipino people.

Mirroring social realities 

Sadly, however, the Gawad Urian is still mistakenly likened by most Filipinos to the Famas or Star Awards. Movie awards are still considered glitz and glam, hardly for enlightenment and social change.

Evidently, it is predominantly in Gawad Urian that an atmosphere for and occasions of protest and truth-telling occur.

At the Manunuri’s recent awards ceremony, Altarejos, in his acceptance speech for winning Best Editing in “Walang Kasarian ang Digmang Bayan,” gave voice to certain realities, saying that the film nominees mirrored Philippine society and its quest for reforms. 

Altarejos didn’t mince words. “Filipinos have undergone this deal, not only during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte but also since the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.,” he said. “It’s saddening that after the [May] elections, we didn’t talk about EJK (extrajudicial killings)! We talked about Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. but we didn’t talk about EJKs.” 

Matti had spoken about the relevance of his film even before it was shown at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. In more ways than one, he said the Philippines is what it is today because of corrupt political leadership.

Boy Villasanta writes a column for the weekly OpinYon (https://opinyon.net). —Ed.

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