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Celio

Directed by Mike Cabardo (aka M. Bonifacio)

A team of human rights investigators arrives in the town of Tigbao, a town believed to have been a torture site and dumping grounds for suspected dissidents nabbed by the military during the Marcos dictatorship. Mang Celio, one of Tigbao’s locals, continues to live in this town where military transgressions and oppressions are still far too common. As the opportunity to find his long-lost son is presented, he finds himself battling an overcoming numbness from pain, and unable to feel any emotions towards the light as he traverses the deep, dark tunnel of his loss. Will Mang Celio rise above hopelessness and search for his truth, no matter how painful, and at any cost? It has been 16 years since Mang Celio’s son Jerome disappeared without a trace, and 16 years of unanswered questions and denied truth. How can justice prevail when there are no certainties? How can there be hope when there is no truth? How can there be life when there is no healing?


Born as a political detainee inside Fort Bonifacio to anti-dictatorship activist parents during Martial Law, M.Bonifacio has had the unique experience of seeing freedom and its costs in a different light, and perhaps from a more thoughtful perspective. This has instilled the themes to his most important personal projects.

Some of his past works involved developing, producing and directing TV programs such as GMA News TV’s Top 10 News Musical Show – Remix Report, as well as functioning as Executive Producer and Director for the acclaimed documentary TV show, Reel Time.

M. Bonifacio studied Fine Arts (Visual Communication) and Music (Percussion) in University of the Philippines

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