Bonifacio P. Ilagan
IN THE LATE 1960s and early 1970s, those who wrote plays for the activist theater groups remained nameless. It was an unwritten rule that took off from the collectivism that pervaded the so-called committed art scene in the Philippines. When martial law was imposed in 1972, the more that these playwrights became nameless. Then, on the fifth year of military rule, after a stint in a Camp Crame prison, one nameless playwright resumed writing, taking on the name “Rev. J Elias” with his “Pagsambang Bayan.” It was a daring anti-dictatorship play that shattered the silence of martial law. On its first night at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater in UP Diliman, the one who acknowledged the work as his own, together with Director Behn Cervantes, was Bonifacio P. Ilagan.
Ilagan persisted with the kind of plays that did not exactly endear him with the military. In fact, not only did he do away with being nameless, he also did away with noms de plume, using only these because it was required in the contests that he joined, but eventually acknowledging the works as his. And the plays, though liturgical and historical, were actually thinly veiled assaults against martial rule.
Perhaps what somehow provided a shield to Ilagan was the recognition that his series of political plays acquired: “Pagsambang Bayan” (1977) won in the Palihang Aurelio V. Tolentino; “Katipunan,” retitled “Sigaw ng Bayan” (1978) won first prize in the Palanca; and “Langit Ma’y Magdilim” (1979) was first prize in the Cultural Center of the Philippines contest. Even as his subsequent plays continued to garner awards, what was more fulfilling to Ilagan was that the plays were actually produced and came out alive onstage to be experienced by audiences.
As writer for television and the movies, his scripts have won in the Catholic Mass Media Awards (Best Television Historical Drama, “Bisperas ng Kasaysayan,” 1985; “Heneral Antonio Luna: Pag-iimbot o Paglilingkod?,” 1984; “Duyan ng Magiting,” 1983; and “Panagpo sa Pasong Tirad,” 1982); the Philippine Movie Press Club Star Awards (“Bisperas ng Kasaysayan,” 1995) the Film Academy of the Philippines (“The Flor Contemplacion Story,” co-written with Ricky Lee, 1996); and the Gawad CCP (“Bisperas ng Kasaysayan,” 1995).
Two of his plays are featured in the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art as major works in Philippine theater.
During the commemoration of the centennial of Philippine independence, Ilagan was
conferred the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts, one among the 100 awardees chosen from among “the most outstanding Filipino artists and cultural advocates in the last 100 years for their contribution to the development of the nation through cultural work and the arts.” Ilagan was UP Creative Writing Center National Fellow for Drama in 1989.
In the just concluded sarswela writing tilt of the College of Arts and Letters of the UP, Ilagan, together with music composer Lucien Letaba, was given a Special Prize for “Ang Señorita at ang Hukbo,” the only entry that seemed to come up to some standard set by the jurors who decided that no one deserved the grand prize.
Ilagan awaits the judgment of the audience when his latest play is finally mounted.
