This was the angry voice of awarded filmmaker Joel Lamangan last Saturday during a press conference held at the Imperial Cafe of the Imperial Suites in Tomas Morato Quezon City.

The press conference was held because Regal Films’ matriach Mother Lily Monteverde was very disappointed with the result of the 31st Metro Manila Film Festival Awards Night held last Friday at the Aliw Theater. Mother Lily was saddened because she felt the giving of awards was manipulated by an influential entity in the MMFF.

"I’m not questioning how good Joey Reyes is as a director but more on the process of the selection of the awardees. I’m against their process. If they have chosen ‘Kutob,’ they should have backed it up na dapat Best Picture, Best Story, Best Screenplay awardee din. They should back it up para hindi ma– question yung director kung bakit. This is the first thing I’m protesting about, not Joey or the movie ‘Kutob,’" Lamangan said.

Joel added that he pities the film because the film should speak for itself. He stressed that the process was questionable and was the root cause of the annomalies.

"Mali ang proseso, mali ang pamantayan. Open sa manipulation. Open sa dishonesty. Open sa pandaraya!"

When asked if Joel Lamangan believes that the Best Director must come from the Best Picture winner, he replied, "Dapat supported ka pa ng major awards like Best Screenplay, Best Story and Best Picture. Kung hindi ka maging Best Director, paano ka naging Best Picture?"

The press statement of Regal Entertainment questions how and why the Best Director was given to "Kutob" director Joey Reyes. They stated that "On the Best Director Category; the quality and excellence of a motion picture largely depends on the skill and performance of its director. ‘Blue Moon’ exemplified excellence and technical superiority as shown by the fact that it was awarded Best Picture, Best Story, Best Screenplay, Most Gender Sensitive Picture and texters’ vote awards for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress. Considering the numerous awards of ‘Blue Moon,’ it was unusual that it did not bag the Best Director. What were the standards considered by the jurors for this category?"

"Kutob’s" winning the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award was also questioned in the said press statement because of the criteria for the award. Because "Kutob" is a film about a psychotic young man, they are questioning what Filipino values are depicted in "Kutob."

The criteria for the selection of the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award is as follows: It is given to a film that best depicts Filipino historical and cultural values. While the criteria for Best Festival Picture are: Artistry, creativity, technical excellence, innovativeness and thematic values; commercial viability and global appeal; and Filipino historical and/or cultural values.

"In principle, if I will be the one to say, I’m returning it (the award). Maybe it’s in the abstract but I’m returning the idea of me getting the Best Picture for ‘Blue Moon,’" Joel Lamangan declared if he felt that his film didn’t deserve the said award.

The other things Regal Entertainment were questioning were "Mulawin," despite being the only film graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board never won a single award, giving color to the standards used by the MMFF jurors in contrasts to the standards of Cinema Evaluation Board.

Regal Entertainment was also disturbed by the comments made by a juror, published in a daily newspaper that praised "Kutob." This juror’s neutrality was being questioned because jurors shouldn’t be biased.

"It is because of these people na matagal na sa MMFF ang dahilan kung bakit wala ng nanunuod ng mga pelikulang Pilipino dahil niloloko nila ang mga tao. Ang pagsisinungaling ay isang panloloko," Joel Lamangan interjected.

In closing the press conference, Mother Lily stated that she wanted to return the awards they won last night. She felt "they deprived me and my colleagues involved in the creation of the motion pictures ‘Mulawin’ and ‘Blue Moon’ of recognition due us," she said.

Though Mother Lily was advised by their legal counsel to uphold the decision of the Awards Committee, they reiterated that their concerns are critical and serious that should merit discussion, debate and consideration.

Despite the surprising turn of events last Friday night during the MMFF Awards Night, it seems Mother Lily Monteverde still stands to win in end with all her movies making money at the box– office. But whether it would be a good consolation over what they believe as awards annomalies they experienced, is still to be seen!

Mother also declared that she is not joining the Metro Manila Film Festival anymore unless justice is served them.

As for "Kutob," producer Orly Ilacad has this to say: "I just hope we focus on the positive result of the festival. We should just be happy with the results because the festival generated a large gross in the box office. We should work on the upliftment of the Filipino movies...we have nothing to do with that (referring to the anomalous process that Regal is alleging). We were just the recipients (of the awards)."