Bernardo Bernardo (BB) breathed his last early Thursday morning on March 8.
When you are BB’s friend on Facebook, you get free access to him as a stand-up comedian on the internet with his endlessly funny and witty one-liners. When he turned 69 in 2014, for example, he wrote: “Mahirap pala mag-69 nang mag-isa.”
In the late ’80s, co-staffers in the Observer (writer Ding Nolledo was our lifestyle editor) would frequent BB’s entertainment hive along West Avenue called BB’s Music Inn. Once, spotting me with the group, he announced to his audience: “Bigyan natin ng masigabong palakpakan ang pagdating ng stepmother ni Cecile Licad, Ginoong Pablo Tariman.”
My life as music writer must have rubbed off on him, as I exchanged lines with him on FB.
When he found out I would cover an event he would emcee, he posted lines like, “Pablo, nakuha ko na entrance music mo sa presscon: Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man.’”
Mythic role
Reading my write-up on his Berlin sojourn—for the premiere of Lav Diaz’s “Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis,” with him in the cast—he messaged me: “Salamat sa good word on ‘Hele,’ Pablo. I hugged Meryl Streep for you. Magkita tayo sa isang piging at kakantahan kita ng ‘Salve Regina.’”
In that memorable Berlin film festival, the Lav Diaz film ran for eight hours, with only a 45-minute lunch break for jury and cineastes. The only cast member who just had three hours of sleep but was raring to answer questions after the screening was BB, who was elated by the positive reception to the film.
From his hotel, BB gushed, “With only three hours of sleep, I am still smiling. I can’t help it. The reviews have come out mostly in German and Italian, but from what I heard, they were quite positive. I just heard that the members of the jury (headed by actress Meryl Streep) watched the film in an isolated area at the balcony of the theater. Now I can finally say I breathed the same air as Meryl Streep and Clive Owens that triumphant night.”
BB, who won the Urian Best Actor for Ishmael Bernal’s “City After Dark,” said he met Diaz at the Sinag film festival in Taguig, and later got word he was being considered for a role.
“The role, as it turned out, is that of a Tikbalang, the mythic man-horse and Master of Misguidance in Filipino folklore who plays tricks on the unwary, so they are misled,” he recalled. “I would later appreciate that in Lav Diaz’s awesome genius and fertile imagination, ‘Hele’ is the forest of the mind where mythology, Philippine literature (the lost pages of ‘El Filibusterismo’) and history converge—with each character caught up in searching for something they consider urgent and life-changing. But maybe, just maybe, Lav is the Tikbalang himself, a playful, well-meaning catalyst for change, prodding napping searchers to wake up to what is truly important—because history repeats itself. In many ways, it was a timely film for me, considering the current state of our country.”
More than half of BB’s 73 years were devoted to acting in theater and film, doing stand-up comedy on the side and conducting endless workshops for theater beginners.
Purpose and values
Recalled singer-actor Carlo Orosa who, like BB, had a long stint with Repertory Philippines: “BB mentored many of us in the industry, from actors to singers, etc. In OPM (Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit) in the ’80s, headed by Celeste Legaspi, he gave workshops for up-and-coming singers. I was one of them. I already knew Bernie because my friends and I used to frequent a sing-along bar in West Avenue. In his workshops, he was funny, informative and collaborative. He put so much fun in the workshop that it didn’t feel like we were working. He made things interesting and allowed us to discover for ourselves what more we could do with our talent… He taught us purpose, and how we should tell a story through our songs.
“I will never forget him when he defended a student who was being laughed at. So, even back then, he taught us how to be respectful of others. I admired him for his values.”
Actor Nonie Buencamino said BB was very much fun to work with onstage. “He was Albin in ‘La Cage aux Folles’ and I played his son. He made me feel comfortable during our scenes together.”
‘Pilyo’ online
Inquirer’s Alya Honasan worked with him in Dulaang UP’s “Othello,” where he was the Iago to her Emilia: “In that play, BB stabbed me (her character). We reconnected in recent years when he was very open about bouts with depression, and would message me advice. We were not close friends, but social media enabled us to reach out to each other. And he was always, always pilyo online—and very vocal about his political leanings. I was so happy he received more recognition as an actor in his later years. He was an expert in living in the moment and relishing life. The world is a little less delightful with his passing.”
Actor director Anton Juan was beside himself with grief at BB’s passing, writing, “How difficult it is to part with someone you have shared—or unshared—histories with. From early morning walks or haunts in young, wild years in a dark bar with old tango music at the back of the Met, to the long walks from Indios to Luneta where the café of the hearing and speaking-challenged was the last station of our Manila nights before dawn, to our Aurelio Tolentino’s ‘Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas’ where he played Bagong Sibol—tall and imposing, Americanizing the accent of the classical verse and swooping on the audience in burlesque that is yours alone, to Brooklyn’s Kabayans’ comedy bar and New York’s Italian cafés. I embrace you now with love and whisper prayers for your soul rising to the light.”
Also a writer
A former editor of the Varsitarian, BB also shared his talents with young writers.
“So very sad to learn of the passing of my dear old friend and UST schoolmate,” wrote Cristina Hidalgo. “We in the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies were fortunate that he accepted our offer to be a Senior Resident Fellow, and to teach in the UST Graduate School and be part of the teaching panel in our National Writers’ Workshop. He brightened our lives!”
Isay Alvarez, who was singing with the Manila Symphony Orchestra at Holy Angel University in Angeles City when BB passed away, said she got close to the actor during the election campaign. They both rooted for President Duterte.
“We were a bunch of artists with the same ideals and political leanings. We were together in the campaign trail, and even after the elections, we would get together and laugh about the things people were saying about our breed. Our bonding was over food, and our talk revolved around dreams for a better Philippines and how art and culture can be part of it. I have always been a fan. He was a big brother and a great friend.”
Co-actors
Actor Joel Saracho was a young journalist in the ’80s when he crossed paths with BB at the latter’s music bar. They would eventually be co-actors in Diaz’s eight-hour opus shot in Sorsogon in 2015.
“We spent three weeks in Sorsogon. It was there that I realized how passionate he was about theater, acting and being Filipino. He’d discuss the myth of Bernardo Carpio in history and on film. The other extreme was his being gross (bastos) in a funny way. He would blurt out for-adults-only jokes. Alessandra da Rossi would call him Lolo Bastos, and he loved the label even as he regaled us with his life and times in theater and film. One day, after a day’s shoot when we were resting, he suddenly asked, ‘How do you want to be remembered when you’re gone?’
“He said he is writing his story where he will write everything that he remembers while he still can. He didn’t want to be forgotten. But who will forget BB? That laughter, that sharp mind and tongue combined, that Lolo Bastos label? In that sense, he was the only one of his kind. He is unforgettable to people whose lives he touched.”–CONTRIBUTED