John Lapus is now a director

FILE: Comedian and TV Host John Lapus with Magandang Buhay hosts (Photo: korekkajohn/Instagram)

From making the stomach of his audience ache due to his hilarious punchlines, the comedian and television host John “Sweet” Lapus is now taking a new role in the entertainment universe.

This time, Sweet did not appear on-screen or portray a character in a television story, instead, he directed the cast and crew of a film entitled, Pang-MMK.

“Ako po ang sumulat at nagdirect ng pelikulang ‘Pang-MMK’ na malapit na nilang mapanuod. This October 12 na po, isa po siya sa nine finalists ng Cinema One Originals 2018 (I wrote and directed the film ‘Pang-MMK’ which will be shown soon. This October 12, it is one of the nine finalists of Cinema One Originals 2018),” Sweet said on Wednesday, September 27, in Magandang Buhay where he was the guest celebrity.

The film almost has the same name as the longest-running drama anthology in Philippine television, Maalala Mo Kaya or MMK, which airs every Saturday evenings and is hosted by ABS-CBN’s Charo Santos-Concio.

One of Magandang Buhay’s hosts, Melai Cantiveros-Francisco, then asked Sweet if Charo also took part in his film, the director answered, “Oo (Yes)!”

“Si Ma’am Charo ang una kong sinicure kasi sabi ko kung ‘Pang-MMK’ ang title ng pelikula ko, dapat nandoon si Ma’am Charo. And I’m so happy and honored na pumayag siya na mag-guest sa pelikula ko (I secured the role of Ma’am Charo first because I said since the title of my film is ‘Pang-MMK,’ Ma’am Charo has to be there. And I’m so happy and honored that she agreed to be a guest in my movie) ,” Sweet told Melai.

Pang-MMK was starred by Neil Coleta, Nikki Valdez, Cherry Pie Picache, Joel Torre, Ricky Davao, among others.

According to Sweet, the film took “20 years” in the making, which began in one of the episodes of Charo’s MMK that was aired in January 1999. The tile of the episode, he said, was ‘Origami’ where Cherry, Nikky, and Joel were also the stars along with Alwyn Uytingco.

“After 20 years parang continuation ‘to nung nangyari sa pamilya na ‘yon. After 20 years, ‘yung pamilya na iniwan ng tatay, ito na ‘yung nangyari, namatay ‘yung tatay (After 20 years it is like the continuation of what happened to that family. After 20 years, that family was left by their father when he passed away),” the comedian shared.

“So ‘yung (the) estranged family wala silang (they have no) choice but to take care of the funeral, especially ‘yung (the) son. Parang aasikasuhin niya ‘yung lamay at burol ng tatay niya na hindi niya nakilala, hindi niya nakasama ng 20 years. So ano ang mangyayari (He will take care of the funeral of his father who he was not familiar with since they were not together for the past 20 years. So what will happen next)?” he added.

What’s good about it is that, even after so many years, Sweet was able to get Cherry, Joel, and Nikki in the lead role — except for Alwyn.

Pang-MMK is Sweet’s first directorial movie project. In a report by Philippine Entertainment Portal (Pep.ph) published on July 10, Sweet’s film replaced Irish Lee’s Palibhasa Babae in the 2018 #C1Originals Festival main feature category according to Cinema One’s Ronald Arguelles.