KATIPS Movie - Synopsis, Cast and Crew

When his University of the Philippines Professor was abducted by the government-controlled Metropol during a demonstration of different groups in the mountainside that was Mendiola, Greg, a medical student and the leader of the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP), along with other freedom fighting groups stood their ground and began a vigil until the Metropol came back and used force to subdue the protest. Despite the blood and gore, the burning desire for freedom grew within the hearts of those who were brutally subjugated. But their fight did not stop there.

In a safehouse aptly named the “Katips House” owned by Alet, a 30-year-old activist, we are introduced to Panyong, a subversive writer for the underground newspaper, “Ang Bayan”, and other characters that keep the fight for freedom. After the Declaration of the Martial Law, during a strike for the welfare of workers, two other students were seized; Art, a freshman student and photographer to the school paper and Estong, leader of the worker’s union. Soon after, Alet was also snatched and all three were separately tortured and became part of the statistics of desaparecidos, the unaccounted radicals branded as insurgents during the days when the Writ of Habeas Corpus was no longer in effect. When the decaying corpse of Alet was found beside a ditch in a far-flung area in Bulacan, the fight for freedom took Greg and Panyong to the mountains for safety, while Lara looked after the Katips Home, she was a former New York actress who just recently took up the cause after learning that her father, Greg’s captured professor, was killed by no other than the government she used to idolize. 

Producer, Writer, Director Statement By Atty. Vince M. Tañada About KATIPS THE MOVIE

As lawyer who pursued my artistic passion by starting the Philippine’ Stagers Foundation Inc. (PSF) back in 2001 with the intent to educate as many youths as we can and train as many artists with the passion and talent for theatre, I am proud that it eventually grew into the Philippines’ premiere and biggest touring theatre company. The pandemic greatly affected our dedication to bring our Musical plays that at the time was averaging at least 500 performances a year. It  was part of our artistic thrust to educate audiences all over the country - not only in the power of the arts but in teaching the young and old alike of the explosive force that knowledge of history has, in whatever form it will take. 

But the Arts will always have a way to manifest even in times of difficulty. Last year, in the heat of the ongoing pandemic, Philstager’s Films was born as a web-based media outfit in our way to keep our passion burning and to somehow give work to some of our more displaced talents. For almost one year, with an ever-growing viewership and engagement, we believe that the time has come for our small film outfit to grow.