Canon Decampment: Ike Jarlego Jr.

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Tigasin

English Translation: Masculine
Year of Release: 1999
Director: Ike Jarlego Jr.
Screenwriter: Mel Mendoza-del Rosario
Producer: Star Cinema

Cast: Eddie Garcia, Victor Neri, Alma Concepcion, Alvin Anson, Peque Gallaga, Lito Legaspi, Manjo del Mundo, Rez Cortez, Jean Saburit, Amy Perez, Roldan Aquino, Archi Adamos, Gino Paul Guzman, Augusto Victa, Dexter Doria, Ester Chavez, Ogie Diaz, Idda Yaneza, Gandong Cervantes, Robert Talby, Ed Aquino, Archie Ventosa, Nikka Ruiz, Janet Diaz, Gloria Garcia, Joseph dela Paz, Janice Manuba, Eric Jimenez, Kevin Cabaluna, Dianne Sandico, Apolinario Reyes, Jenny de Guzman, Danny Celis, Reggie Sison, Tom Olivar, Polly Cadsawan, Ding Mendoza, Banjo Romero, Diego Salvador, Joe Jardi, Kim Laurel, Joe Lpid, Nemie Samson, Alberto Wahing, Freddie Elasigue, Jay Bermundo, Nonoy de Guzman, Jake Madrigal, Mon Confiado

Greg Marcial looks forward to a well-earned leave of absence after busting a crime ring, but his superior requests one last mission from him. Several elderly men have been suffering cardiac arrest while engaging in sexual intercourse, but in order to conduct an investigation, Marcial has to pick out a new partner for field work. Police trainers discourage him from selecting Ramon Ignacio, whom they find insufferably arrogant; Marcial though appreciates his sharpshooting skills and straight talk, and Ignacio proves crackerjack enough in helping him track the victims’ cause of death to a locally manufactured synthetic version of Viagra. They arrest promo salesladies who push the product along with skin cream, and subdue resistant van operators. But as they celebrate their mission accomplished, their superior arrives to inform them that more deaths have occurred. They ascertain that the victims pick up their escorts at a riverside restaurant that specializes in aphrodisiac preparations, run by a high-living proprietress named Jessica, who endangers their operation when Ignacio finds himself falling for her.

Ike Jarlego Jr. might have had a short directorial career, but he’d actually grown up in the film business. Since his father Enrique was the preferred editor of First Golden Age master Gregorio Fernandez, he literally first showed up as a child actor before following his father’s footsteps and proving himself worthy of the family profession. Ironically, his early filmmaking attempts—specifically Andres Manambit: Angkan ng Matatapang (Clan of the Brave, 1992) and Nena (1995)[1]—were greeted with acclaim that they had difficulty sustaining. His decades-long stint as editor though provided him with a healthier orientation than formal film training would have inculcated. Tigasin would be proof of value in any commercial filmmaker’s oeuvre, if not for the unfairly high expectations that industry observers imposed on Jarlego. He had enough good sense to infer that Eddie Garcia’s late-career focus on action material could benefit from the actor’s sex-comedy chops (a colloquial translation of the title would be “priapic,” which needs no further elaboration), and relies on newcomers to deliver crucial support; Victor Neri supplies the right measure of interactive chemistry, although the rarity of successful May­–December buddy-cop films even in overseas cinema proves how distinctive the achievement is. Alert to the homoerotic implications, Jarlego stages a love-motel investigative foray where the partners masquerade as a queer couple, with Garcia reviving his tacky-queen persona, still scandalously effective after all this time.

Note

[1] I had been a founding member of Kritika, the organization that selected Andres Manambit, which also won top prize at the yearend Metro Manila Film Festival. Nena later won the Young Critics Circle’s best-film award—though I was also a founding member of the group, I’d already started US graduate studies by then. I am grateful to police officer Juan Miguel B. Manansala for clarifying some dynamics in Philippine National Police operations.

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