The Baguio residence of actor and artist Mike Parsons. The house, built in the 1950s, resembles a hunting lodge. (Photo by CARL KUNTZE)

Mike Parsons recently sprang back into public attention when a newly restored film he acted in was screened lately. The movie, “Passionate Strangers,” was directed by Eddie Romero in 1966. Although targeted for international release, it never found an appropriate audience. Eddie Romero had limited clout then. He had cultivated an association with Kane Lynn, a New York film distributor who purchased foreign films for the lower bill of movie theatres, then tacking his name on as “executive producer,” because US theater-owners were more comfortable with a familiar American name.

Parsons is now based in Baguio City, where he lives in a house that seems to have been plucked out of an American suburban neighborhood. He now indulges in another form of art, which is “handmade paper.” He has constructed handmade paper from many sources, from flax to abaca. He has used weeds, and waste product from plants like banana and rice stalks, and bagasse from sugar cane.

His paper was so fine, it attracted world attention, and apprentices from all over the country were anxious to learn the craft.  He was their guru for more than two decades, until he suffered a series of strokes 17 years ago, forcing him to relinquish his papermaking studios in Baguio to his wife while he relearns how to walk. A former US Marine, his determination is not surprising.

He’s also deflected to other branches of art, writing unproduced screenplays, and shooting a few commissioned documentaries.  He learned to paint in oils, sculpt in different mediums, and assembled stained glass mosaics. He discovered paper in his search for an optimal material for his marbling prints. 

One of the films he played in during the 1960s was almost prophetic. He was cast as a crippled haciendero, bound to a wheelchair. It was “Ako  Ngayon, Ikaw Bukas,” which co-starred Bernard Bonnin, Maggie De La Riva, Aura Aurea, and Eddie Garcia.

If he is asked what his lasting legacy to the country would be, his response would be the handmade paper, which has made him renowned  all over the world.  Born with a dual citizenship, he was forced to relinquish one because of the complexities of foreign property law ownership in The Philippines.