The first to speak was his longtime friend, former DTI USec Ernesto Ordonez who produced Gil’s acclaimed film, “Saranggola”, followed by Dir. Laurice Guillen who first worked with Gil in his PTV4 drama “Huwaran” in 1974, then in his very first full length film, “Tiket Ale, Tiket Mama, Sa Linggo ang Bola”. Dir. Joel Lamangan talked about his close friendship with Gil and how proud Gil is of his two sons, Carlo and Justin. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre who's from Mulanay, Quezon, shared his recent text messages with Direk Gil who's about to be do a new movie about doctors in the barrios. He previously did a movie about the same subject matter, "Mulanay".
Two screenwriters who worked with him in several films, Sennedy Que and Eric Ramos, also paid tribute to Gil as their mentor, also editor George Jarlego who edited many of his films. Three stars who won awards and made many films with him also gave touching homages to Gil: Ricky Davao who won best actor awards for “Saranggola”, Gina Alajar who won awards for his “Mulanay” and “Andrea”, and Alessandra de Rossi who did “Mga Munting Tinig”, “Homecoming” and “The Liars” with him.
Then his sons Carlo and Justin and wife Stella or Telly responded and shared their own poignant moments with their dear departed loved one, also thanking everyone who showed love and care to Gil while he's working here doing movies while all his family lived in New York. Also present at at the tribute were Director Mel Chionglo, screenwriter-actress Raquel Villavicencio, actors Marc Abaya and Kiko Matos and producer Dennis Evangelista. Director Gil Portes will be laid to rest today, Monday, in his own hometown which was the location site of many of his movies.
