Award-winning filmmaker Gil M. Portes was found dead in his Quezon City apartment on Wednesday. He was 71.
The cause of death was still unknown at posting time pending an autopsy. But fellow directors Joel Lamangan, Mel Chionglo, and Armand Reyes, who attended to Portes’ body at the morgue of a hospital in Quezon City, believe he died of a heart attack.
As of Thursday morning, no funeral arrangements had been made as Portes’ relatives from Quezon Province awaited the arrival of Portes’ family from the U.S.
Portes is survived by his wife Telly, a college math teacher based in New York City, and his two sons, Carlo and Justin, both successful hedge fund managers in the U.S.
With a distinguished career that spanned four decades, Portes was best known for such acclaimed films as “Sa Piling ng mga Sugapa” (1976), “Pabonggahan” (1979), “Miss X” (1980), “High School Scandal” (1981), “’Merika” (1984), “Andrea, Paano ba ang Maging Isa?” (1990), “Mulanay: Sa Pusod ng Paraiso” (1996), “Saranggola” (1999), “Markova: Comfort Gay” (2000), “Mga Munting Tinig” (2002), “Two Funerals” (2010) and most recently, the historical epic “Ang Hapis at Himagsik ni Hermano Puli” (2016).
A native of Pagbilao, Quezon and a Journalism graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, Direk Gil, as he was fondly referred to in the industry, started his career as an advertising copywriter. After deciding that he wanted to make movies, he worked in television initially as a production assistant for ABS-CBN.
At 24, Portes went to the U.S. to study filmmaking, ultimately earning his masteral degree in television and film production from the City University of New York.
After returning to the country in 1972, Portes was assigned by ABS-CBN to work on a new horror-anthology series called “Limbo.” The declaration of Martial Law and the subsequent closure of the network halted his directorial career before it even began.
Direk Gil went on to work for Ferdinand Marcos’ propaganda arm, the National Media Production Center. His boss, Information Minister Gregorio Cendaña, eventually gave him a study grant for a training program at the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom.
After that, he went on to direct his first drama anthology for the government’s network, PTV-4, the award-winning “Huwaran.” By 1976, he directed his first feature, the independently produced, “Tiket Mama! Tiket Ale! Sa Linggo ang Bola.”
“I consider myself the original indie director. Although I also worked for major studios like Regal and Viva, most of my films were independently financed,” he declared in a 2015 interview with the Philippine Star.
His films were known to tackle relevant socio-political issues including poverty, drug addiction, illegal recruitment, teenage pregnancy, the American Dream, prostitution, insurgency, corruption and in the case of “Markova,” even comfort gays.
Throughout his career, Direk Gil was nominated as Best Director 25 times, winning 12 including his victory at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in 2003 for “Mga Munting Tinig.”
Portes also had the distinction of of having the most number of films — three — submitted as official Philippine entries to the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language film category. These are “Saranggola” (1999), “Gatas sa Dibdib ng Kaaway” (2001) and “Mga Munting Tinig” (2002).
His 1979 Pinoy Rock documentary “Pabonggahan” was considered ahead of its time and remains a cult favorite by music fans.
An actor’s director, Direk Gil’s films were also known for the stellar performances of its cast members. Among his favorites were Ricky Davao and Lester Llansang in “Saranggola,” Bembol Roco in “Sa Piling ng mga Sugapa”, John Arcilla in “Mulanay,” Dolphy, Eric Quizon and Epy Quizon in “Markova,” Nora Aunor in “’Merika” and “Andrea: Paano Ba Maging Isang Ina?,” Gina Alajar in “Mulanay,” Vilma Santos in “Miss X,” and Alessandra de Rossi in “Mga Munting Tinig.”
Although Portes is an underrated screenwriter himself, he collaborated with noted writers like Doy del Mundo, Ricky Lee, Tony Perez, Jehu Sebastian, Senedy Que, Eric Ramos and Butch Dalisay.
As a fan of movies himself, he expressed admiration towards the works of emerging indie filmmakers like Mes de Guzman, Arnel Mardoquio and Jerrold Tarog.
Until his untimely demise, Direk Gil remained very active in the industry and was set to start shooting his new film “Mindanao,” which he planned to enter in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.
His last finished film, the romantic drama “Moonlight Over Baler,” was released in February.
