Veteran actor Cesar Montano didn’t want one of the most memorable props he used in his career to be taken by someone else.
During one of the episodes of Jayson Luzadas’ online show, “Pinoy Pawnstar,” Cesar’s nephew, John Manhilot, tried to sell the goggles used by the actor on his award-winning 1999 film Muro Ami.
John said that he wanted to sell the said prop for P1.5-M, justifying the value of the prop in the film history of the country.
It can be recalled that Muro Ami won most of the awards during the Metro Manila Film Festival in 1999, and it was also the highest-grossing entry of the event that year.
Recognizing the importance of the goggles, Jayson called Cesar to personally authenticate the prop as he was the one who used it.
When Cesar arrived, he was surprised as he thought the goggles had gone missing a long time ago.
Due to its sentimental value, Cesar personally offered to buy the goggles for P1.5-M.
“Okay na ‘yan 1M. Hindi na ‘yan tataas sila. Akin na ‘yan. Tulong ko na lang sa ‘yo ‘yon,” he said.
His nephew agreed to sell it, which made Cesar glad.
“Galing ‘to sa frame ko, kasama noong ‘Rizal.’ Natutuwa ako na nakita ko uli ito. Hindi ko alam na buhay pa ‘to. Sa tagal kasi akala ko nawala na, natapon na. Ipa-frame ko ‘to,” he stated.
The episode coincidentally happened 38 weeks after Cesar took a photo with John while announcing the production of Muro Ami 2.