Not a laughing matter
It was a hot day in the first week of July when I visited director Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan, screenwriter Abet Pagdagdagan Raz, producer Geo Lomuntad, and cinematographer Neil Daza at Barebones Inc. in Tomas Morato as they were color-grading their upcoming Cinemalaya full-length film, “2 Valid IDs.”
“2 Valid IDs” is a politically charged drama about Sylvia (played by Marietta Subong—more popularly known as Pokwang), whose husband Ramon (played by Joey Marquez), is in the hospital for severe respiratory illness. They are farmers from the province, and without proper healthcare systems in place there, they were sent to Manila to treat Ramon’s sickness.
Even at a public hospital, the medical expenses are rising. Sylvia receives money from a relative working abroad, but she needs two valid IDs to withdraw the cash. But Sylvia is from the province, and her PhilHealth ID is not considered valid.
The film follows her journey trying to apply for two identification cards in a country whose system is heavily bureaucratic and labyrinthine in its processes.
A personal tale
“2 Valid IDs” originated from a personal story experienced by Raz. His mother was hospitalized, but he is quick to point out that while the film is set in a government hospital, the real-life situation the narrative is built on was different.
“We were in a private hospital in the province,” he says. “Our services were premium.” But it wasn’t until his mother passed away that he had to work on the death certificate and other papers that he became aware of what it was like for other people.
He went to one building at the hospital where all the other departments were, like accounting, and saw the number of people lined up there. “I realized how desperate the situation was,” he recalls. He thought that many people don’t die of the sickness. They die because the situation was dire and the financial strain was a really serious burden.”
After his mother died, he couldn’t write. He says he was “like a corpse.” To get back to his work and to serve as some form of therapy, he joined a workshop at the Mowelfund (Movie Workers Welfare Foundation). He originally wanted to write about his mother and her experience in the hospital right before she died. But he wasn’t sure if that was the story he wanted to share.
Then he saw a meme on Facebook that stated, “kukuha ka ng ID pero hihingian ka ng dalawang valid ID.” And that sparked an idea.
“Naisip ko, di ba nakakatawa,” he asks me rhetorically. “Parang g*go, di ba? Then I thought, what if it wasn’t funny? What if we were the joke? That’s how I was able to shift the story.”
Raz was able to finish two scripts at the workshop—one of them being the original script of “2 Valid IDs.” He applied for a grant at the Mowelfund, but wasn’t able to get it.
Two unlikely collaborators
Before then, he had already approached Asuncion-Dagñalan about directing it. Asuncion-Dagñalan and Raz met in 2011 when they both worked in TV5 on “Mga Nagbabagong Bulaklak.”
“Abet approached me about the project in 2024,” she recounts. “When he pitched it to me, of course, I was attracted to it right away. It was sociopolitical, and at the same time, the protagonist is a woman.”
They then submitted it to Cinemalaya after they failed to get the grant from Mowelfund, but unfortunately, they did not make it to the first round. But Asuncion-Dagñalan was sure it was going to get in, so they met up again and pitched it the following year.
And the rest, as she says, “is history.” The film will now be making its premiere this coming August. “It would be Abet’s first time working in the independent scene,” she says.
“Most of my work has been in teleseryes and comedies,” explains Raz. “I have done some films, but mostly rom-coms. This is the first that’s political. I have done two biopics that had strong political elements to them, but I’ve been mostly working in television and doing very commercial work.”
“So when I was working with Ma-an, I was so open to their suggestions because they knew this world,” he adds.
The politics, front and center
Asuncion-Dagnalan made a breakthrough with her last Cinemalaya film “Blue Room.” She has been vocal about her politics on her social media, and she talks about this film with so much passion.
But when asked, she cannot pinpoint exactly when she began to become politically aware. “Coming from Pampanga, I was very sheltered,” she recalls. “I wasn’t political. It wasn’t until college when I moved to Manila and started commuting that I got exposed to the ‘real world.’ Filmmaking was also a big help in exposing me to this real world.”
She continues by saying, “Those kinds of stories are really important to tell because it raises awareness and educate people. That’s why we want a theatrical release and why we try to make it a bit more commercial so that we can attract a bigger audience.”
She recalls that it was her first TV gig as a writer, and her process was very different.
I’ve seen the initial edit of “2 Valid IDs,” and despite the narrative space for it to become a biting satire or play into its comic potential, Asuncion-Dagnalan and Raz made it a point to keep it serious and refrain from making this into a laughing matter. Subong and the rest of the cast also do an exemplary job of keeping this film grounded and real—making it a biting commentary on the failure of our political and administrative systems to make our lives easier for us.
The struggle is evident in almost every scene. Everything about this film—from its ambitious opening long-take to its finale—exposes how our country has continued to fail us in so many ways.
Like Raz said earlier in the interview: “What if this wasn’t a laughing matter?”
