Maceren, Armond Royce R. Olivia Anne M. Habana, Ph.

D HI 165 F El Presidente del camino hacia la independencia El Presidente, or The President, embodies the journey of former President Emilio Aguinaldo in achieving independencia in the Philippines. His image exemplifies a leader who accepts the opinion of the majority and thinks critically before doing an action for things which can lead to Philippine independence. Compared to Bonifacio, Aguinaldo overpowered his emotions and ruled with his critical thinking skills. Aguinaldo focused himself on how to drive away the Spaniards from the Philippines, with the help from what he studied when he was student. As Aguinaldo said in the film that Iisa lamang ang makakapagtungo sa atin sa kalayaan ang independencia, it may imply that he was one-hundred percent loyal to the Philippines. On the other hand, due to lack of knowledge and education, Bonifacio had problems on controlling his own temper, especially when he aimed the gun to someone who is against on his elected position for the total rebellion for the Spanish governance. Jeorge ER Ejercito Estregan plays the role of Emilio Aguinaldo in the film. He was able to play his role well, because his job as a governor perhaps helped him to portray the role of a leader like Aguinaldo. Cesar Montanos role as Bonifacio gave me an impression that Andres Bonifacio was really overacting and desperate in taking the risk of building his own government with the lack of his education. As a student, who is not an expert in history, may think that the historiography of things learned in the past is accurate. Since I could not have witnessed on what actually transpired, perhaps the actors and actresses were able to show the virtual emotions of the role they are playing; however, their make-up and other factors disturbed the essence of understanding the movie. The characters in the film were played by mostly old actors, yet in reality, the real people were only in their 20s up to their 40s. Moreover, the Inang Bayans makeup was funny and horrible. Perhaps it would be better if Nora Aunor, who portrayed the role of Aguinaldos second wife, and Alicia Mayer, who portrayed the role of Inang Bayan, exchanged roles. Overall, the cast of characters did a great job not only in performing their roles, but also letting the audience to feel how was it going during the time when the Philippine independence was not yet achieved. The film obviously shows the perspective of the peoples positive views about Aguinaldo; however, it also shows bias about Aguinaldo that hes far better than Bonifacio. Most Filipinos often neglect Aguinaldo as a hero and consider him underrated. They even think that Bonifacio deserves more admiration than him. Moreover, a lot of people concludes and sees Aguinaldo as the suspect who killed Bonifacio. A scene in the film opposed the common belief of pro-Magdiwang, where the Bonifacio brothers are about to be exiled because of planning to murder Aguinaldo. Bonifacio was shown to be desperate in achieving to lead his own government and let his emotions rule over him. If he didnt let his emotions overpower him, Aguinaldo cant help himself but to arrest Bonifacio mandatorily because of majoritys decision. As shown in the film, Aguinaldo represents an ideal leader who is straightforward in planning decisions; thus, making tasks of each one of his people organized and flow smoothly. Ergo, the Treaty of Biak-na-Bato, where the Spanish government and Aguinaldo agreed, was planned very well. They agreed that the revolutionaries will surrender their weapons and Aguinaldo will leave the Philippines in exchange with the certain amount of money. Alas, Aguinaldo used the money for buying new and advanced arms from the Americans. Furthermore, he has a high conscientiousness when it comes in dealing with the feelings of others. Perhaps, his thoughtfulness made the Filipinos become more united in achieving the main goal of the Philippines the independencia and freedom from the Spaniards. Indeed, the film El Presidente was able; not only to entertain the people, but also to inform and let the people view concretely on how Aguinaldo contributed a lot compared with Bonifacio. It helped to raise Aguinaldos name from being underrated and let people inform the El Presidente del camino hacia la independencia.