Standard News

Hide Advertisement
  • Business
  • Culture
  • News
  • Technology
  • Trending
Site logo
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Philippine actress’s win at Cannes ‘providential’ for Duterte’s drug fight

By Reuters 2 min read
Advertisement - Continue reading below
Actress Jaclyn Jose, Best Actress award winner for her role in the film "Ma' Rosa", reacts on stage next to her daughter actress Andi Eigenmann during the closing ceremony of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes

By Manolo Serapio Jr and Neil Jerome Morales

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s vow to root out crime and drug abuse will get a boost from the country’s first-time acting win at the Cannes Film Festival for a drama on a small-time drug dealer, a senator and anti-crime advocate said.

Advertisement

Filipino actress Jaclyn Jose won Best Actress for her role in “Ma’ Rosa”, a brutal dive into the Manila underworld directed by Brillante Mendoza.

“It will strengthen the fight,” Senator Vicente Sotto III, who used to head the policymaking Dangerous Drugs Board under the Office of the president, told Reuters.

“It’s not only coincidental, but it’s providential,” said Dante Jimenez, head of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, of Jose’s win in a film that tackles drugs and how to eradicate them.

Set in Manila’s slums, “Ma’ Rosa” tells the story of Rosa Reyes, portrayed by the 52-year-old Jose, who owns a small store and sells drugs with her husband to make ends meet.

Both are detained at a police station after their home is raided, leaving their three children to find the money needed to pay off corrupt police officers in order to free their parents.

It was the first acting honor for the Philippines at Cannes, and also the first international win for Jose. Mendoza, 55, won the Best Director award at Cannes in 2009 for “Kinatay”.

Jose’s victory comes weeks before Duterte is sworn as the Philippines’ 16th president. Duterte, who vowed to crush crime, corruption and drug abuse, has a huge lead over his rivals in an unofficial vote count by an election commission-accredited watchdog of the May 9 election.

Citing a government report, Jimenez, whose own brother was killed by a drug syndicate in 1990, said 93 percent of the Philippines’ 42,000 villages were “drug-infested”.

Duterte, who is pushing to reimpose the death penalty by hanging, promised to wipe out drugs and criminality within six months of taking office.

Duterte’s often outrageous comments have won him huge support and his tirades about killing criminals and a joke about a murdered rape victim do not appear to have dented his popularity in the largely Roman Catholic country.

(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr. and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Nick Macfie)

tagreuters.com2016binary_LYNXNPEC4M0NF-VIEWIMAGE

Advertisement - Continue reading below

Watch what Happens When This Man Finds a Baby Dolphin Stranded on the Beach
News
Danielle 2 min read

Watch what Happens When This Man Finds a Baby Dolphin Stranded on the Beach

Wall Street scion Caspersen pleads guilty to $38 million fraud
News
Reuters 2 min read

Wall Street scion Caspersen pleads guilty to $38 million fraud

Chicago deficit narrows despite pension uncertainty-city analysis
News
Reuters 2 min read

Chicago deficit narrows despite pension uncertainty-city analysis

The Story Behind The Most Haunted Place In Wyoming Will Give You Nightmares
Trending
David Clarke 2 min read

The Story Behind The Most Haunted Place In Wyoming Will Give You Nightmares

Trump gets skewered, Clinton finds support at TV’s Emmy awards
Entertainment
Reuters 2 min read

Trump gets skewered, Clinton finds support at TV’s Emmy awards

Uber drivers, if employees, owed $730 million more: U.S. court papers
News
Reuters 2 min read

Uber drivers, if employees, owed $730 million more: U.S. court papers

Welcome To The Land Of Oz, An Eerily Abandoned Wizard Of Oz Theme Park
Entertainment
David Clarke 3 min read

Welcome To The Land Of Oz, An Eerily Abandoned Wizard Of Oz Theme Park

Virginia town mostly unfazed about arrival of Reagan attacker Hinckley
News
Reuters 4 min read

Virginia town mostly unfazed about arrival of Reagan attacker Hinckley

Convicted spy Pollard urges reversal of U.S. parole conditions
News
Reuters 2 min read

Convicted spy Pollard urges reversal of U.S. parole conditions

Trevor Noah on balancing comedy and current affairs for ‘Daily Show’
Entertainment
Reuters 2 min read

Trevor Noah on balancing comedy and current affairs for ‘Daily Show’

load more Loading posts...

sidebar

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

sidebar-alt

  • About Us
  • Imprint
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • For Advertisers