What got John Arcilla singing ‘p*nyeta’
Just how much did “Heneral Luna” change John Arcilla’s life? For starters, his talent fee increased tenfold, and he didn’t even have to ask. On just about every set he’s on, the director, his costars, and the crew call him “Heneral.” Outside, he would bump into students who—he’s not so sure if it’s a good thing—ask him, “Sir, murahin mo naman ako.”
More than a decade after the film’s release, Arcilla’s name continues to be synonymous with Antonio Luna. And he’s not complaining. It was a role of a lifetime that brought him accolades and mainstream recognition—and opened the door to more high-profile projects. The impact was “major, major,” he quips.
Still, he hopes other facets of his artistry can get some of that attention, too. Unbeknown to many, especially his younger fans who know him primarily as a hot-tempered revolutionary leader, Arcilla is also a singer. And if it weren’t for a very “traumatizing” childhood experience, he might have had a different career trajectory.
Facing his fear
As a child, he regularly joined—and won—amateur singing competitions. But at 13, puberty hit, and his voice changed. In one particularly grueling contest, Arcilla had to perform five songs in a row. His voice cracked on the last one, and he was so distraught that he swore off singing for several years.
But while the will to sing deserted him, the desire to express himself through art remained. And so he sought other outlets—oratory, declamation, and eventually, acting. Theater was his first training ground. It was also there, during an audition for the Actors Company of Tanghalang Pilipino, that he realized he had to finally face the fear that kept him from singing.
“I insisted on singing. I wanted to sing in front of people again,” he recalls. “So when they told me to go ahead, I performed one of my own compositions.”
From then on, he would become part of various plays and musicals, including the zarzuela “Walang Sugat”—a work he first read in the colorful, hardbound book he received as a gift from his sister when he was just nine years old. He played Tenyong, a character he had only encountered in its pages, and became a vessel through which he could “marry his fears with the character he was building.”
“Normal na normal sa ‘kin ang pagkanta noong bata ako, pero ngayon takot na takot ako. What happened to me?” he recalls. “They didn’t know that I was healing myself until, slowly, I left the trauma behind.”
A nod to “Heneral”
Now, Arcilla has returned to his first love. At 60—“or let’s just say 30s,” he jokes—he has released a new single, “Ano Ba ‘Yan, P*nyeta,” a nod to the signature “puñeta” expression he popularized as Luna through his fiery outbursts. But while the title may sound like a novelty track, the song itself is anything but.
True to form, his self-penned track is a social commentary born from the division among Filipinos from all walks of life. It reflects on how ordinary citizens end up turning against one another amid a system that allows dishonesty and injustice to persist.
But it also asks: What role do we play in allowing these things to happen?
“Baka kaya natin napapayagang lokohin tayo ng malalaking tao ay dahil tayo rin ay may kanya-kanyang guilt o kalokohan sa buhay, kaya hindi natin sila mapuna-puna,” he says. “So maybe it’s time for us to introspect and discern ano ang kailangan nating baguhin bilang isang tao at isang bansa.”
“Kung ano man ang nangyayari sa atin, hindi iisa, dalawa, o tatlo lang ang may kasalanan,” he adds. “Tayong lahat ina-allow nating mangyari. Tayong lahat ay may kanya-kanyang dapat ayusin sa sarili natin para ma-realize natin kung anong klaseng society ang gusto nating mangyari.”
Humanity and authenticity
Before an artist, Arcilla considers himself a “citizen of society and the world.” As such, it comes as no surprise that the way he approaches music is similar to the way he approaches acting. More than a commitment to a character or one’s costars, he says acting is also a responsibility to the audience.
So even when playing a villain, an element usually necessary to drive the plot, he still searches for the character’s humanity—the trauma and experiences that keep the character from becoming a caricature. For it’s humanity and authenticity that compel viewers to think critically instead of merely seeking escape.
“I try my best to make the audience think more critically when it comes to observing around us,” says Arcilla, the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to win the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice International Film Festival in 2021.
And that might already be happening without him realizing it. Every so often, parents would come up to him and ask for a photo. “Favorite ka kasi ng anak ko. Idol ka nila,” they would tell him. When he asks how old they are—10?—he does a double take. What about the character’s infamous outbursts? After all, the “puñeta” that rolls off Luna’s tongue is something Arcilla is actually quite conservative about in real life.
“Siguro sila mismo nakita nila ‘yong value ng pelikula, more than the swear words,” Arcilla says. “And looking back, baka mas malaki ‘yong naibigay ng pelikula kaysa sa inaakala ko.”
