“There were no changes,” he says. “From the start, the show’s creator-writer, Suzette Doctolero, made it clear to me that this feministic show will have two strong women clashing in the end, Marian as Amaya and Gina Alajar as Lamitan. But we couldn’t reveal it right away. That’s why when we were starting and Gina was asking me if she’d be killed right away, I can’t tell her na siyang makakalaban ni Amaya hanggang ending. And now, heto nga, tine-tape namin ang huling sagupaan nila ni Amaya and don’t miss this very big scene with hundreds of extras. Nagkaroon lang ng additional characters when we were told extended kami so nadagdag yung Manobos with Aljur Abrenica.”
What are the challenges he encountered in doing “Amaya”? “Naku, ang dami. We started pre-prod in January last year, then taping in March, airing in May. So bale one year na kong living and breathing ‘Amaya’ everyday. It has so many characters. Some stayed, some left. We got so many theatre actors from the CCP and Gantimpala Theatre to play important roles as part of the ensemble kasi sanay na sila umarte, hindi mo na tuturuan pa. May mga aksidente sa fight scenes, nagkakasugatan talaga, hindi maiwasan kaya lagi kaming may medical crew sa set. We never had problems with the stars or the staff kasi, we’re all very cohesive. Nagkaproblema kami sa mga insekto sa gubat na nangangagat. Dahil sa extension, wala kaming holidays. Pasko, New Year, we were working. We shot in various locations like Pagsanjan in Laguna where we built an entire village of 21 houses, Calatagan in Batangas, Morong in Bataan and Bolinao in Pangasinan. But the biggest challenge was the weather kasi napakamaulan ang taong ito at ilang bagyo ang dumaan sa amin. Sinira ang sets, ni-rebuild namin, sinira uli, nilubog kami sa putik, wala kaming laban sa kalikasan. But now, heto, patapos na, and this will now serve as a manual for GMA on how to do their next epicseryes dahil sa dami ng learnings that we gained from doing ‘Amaya’.”
