Tom Anthony: An American novelist in Mindanao

Thomas “Tom” Anthony is not your typical American author. He writes about the Philippines as if he's a Filipino by birth. His first, best-selling novel is about Mindanao, a place which most Filipino authors don’t write about. 

 

In his recently-released novella, “Sabine,” the characters are so Filipino that they seem to be the people in your neighborhood living just next door.

 

Anthony may be American by birth and citizenship, but he now lives in Davao City with his Filipina wife, Emalyn Otakan-Anthony, and two beautiful daughters. 

 

“I love Davao,” Anthony admits. “My wife is from here; our kids go to school here. We have been going back and forth for 16 years now. We keep our home in Huntington Beach, California, just south of Los Angeles. We like that our daughters keep their Filipino heritage.”

 

Anthony graduated from West Point and spent as an Army officer in Europe and Asia. He had the opportunity of coming to the Philippines several times. In fact, for three years, he lived in Mindanao, where he had close contact with military and political leaders of high position. 

 

His personal observations of the struggle became the basis for his novel, “Rebels of Mindanao.” It became a best-seller and earned him the Book of the Year award from “Forward” magazine.

 

According to Anthony, his agent is currently working with some Hollywood producers to have a movie adaptation of the novel and, if he can have his way, he wants the movie to be filmed in Mindanao.

 

“I think ‘Rebels of Mindanao’ is a better movie than book,” he points out, adding that he has already written the screenplay. Currently, he has written three more movie screenplays: “Warsaw Triple Cross,” “Mindanao,” and “The Twelfth Angel.” Another in the making is “Field Rep,” sort of “Death of a Salesman” updated.

 

Anthony loves to write scripts. When asked if he were a scriptwriter from the past, he replies: “I think it is important to be original and egotistical. So only [for] myself, but I wish I had the skill to take Christopher Koch’s story of ‘The Year of Living Dangerously,’ the script of ‘Indochine,’ crush them together, set the scene today in Mindanao and have Quentin Tarantino’s courage.”

 

His newly-released novella, “Sabine,” was first written as a screenplay and then made into a book. The movie will soon have its world premiere at Gaisano Mall in Davao City. It features Dabawenya actress Valerie “Bangs” Garcia in the title role and Felix Roco, Gwen Garcia, and Hollywood actor James Monson in suport roles.

 

“'Sabine' is the first movie I am aware of to be filmed in Davao City, about Davao City, in English and intended for a mainstream, international market,” Anthony says.

 

 

Anthony indeed has come a long, long way. He started writing when he was about six-years-old – and has never stopped. 

 

“I wrote to convince other people of my ideas and to achieve something,” he says. “I wrote to my congressman to appoint me to West Point and later to Firestone to get a job, to customers to sell something. . .I just write.”

 

On what makes a good novelist, he declares that, “I think a writer has to have experienced pain, joy, desolation, elation and other emotions over time before he can write anything interesting.”

 

When asked if it's harder to write a novel or a script, Anthony replies: “Neither is hard if you love doing it. If you do not love doing it and cannot stop yourself from writing, you should be doing something else.”

 

Anthony says he has friends in Manila and all over the world. “We visit and travel but return here (to Davao City),” he says. “My American friends seem a little bit envious and wish they could trade places with me.”

 

But one thing's for sure: he will keep on writing. His advice? “Pick up a pencil, start pushing it across a piece of paper, and do not stop.”  — KDM, GMA News