ONLY a few people know the town Magdalena in Laguna. But its church, municipal hall, sprawling plaza, old houses and river and fields somehow look familiar. We have actually seen Magdalena countless of times in movies, TV shows, commercials, magazines and print ads, because it is a favorite location for projects requiring Philippine rural scenes.

The late action king Fernando Poe Jr. was also a regular visitor to Magdalena because he shot several of his films there. That emotional scene in the 1971 Celso Ad Castillo movie “Asedillo” was said to be shot in the town of Magdalena. In the film, FPJ played an idealistic teacher-turned-rebel against the American colonial government and said this memorable line: Hindi ako maaari magtaksil sa inyo. Kayong mga tao ang batis, ang ilog at ang dagat. Ako ay isda! Paano ako mabubuhay kung wala kayo [I could not betray all of you. You are the stream, the river and the sea, and I am the fish. How can I live if all of you were gone]?” FPJ’s character was killed on the final scene and the fans didn’t like it causing uproars in several theaters, particularly in Mindanao. From there on, no character of FPJ died in the next movies.