Jerrold Tarog’s Quezon turned the 9th Entertainment Editors’ Choice Awards into a night of historical reckoning, while Jericho Rosales and Maris Racal emerged as the evening’s top acting winners in a ceremony that placed both grand political cinema and intimate personal storytelling at the center of Filipino film.
Held on July 5 at the Ceremonial Hall of the Marriott Grand Ballroom, Newport World Resorts in Pasay City, the 9th EDDYS honored the year’s standout films, performers, and creative workers, with Quezon taking home the night’s biggest prize: Best Picture.
The historical epic won five awards overall, including Best Director for Tarog, Best Actor for Rosales, Best Screenplay for Tarog and Rody Vera, and Best Production Design for Monica Sebial.
The victory marked a strong awards-season statement for Quezon, the final installment in Tarog’s acclaimed Bayaniverse trilogy, which began with Heneral Luna and continued with Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral. Unlike a conventional hero portrait, Quezon examines the machinery of ambition, persuasion, rivalry, and compromise behind the rise of Manuel L. Quezon.
Rosales’ win affirmed his transformation into one of Philippine cinema’s most complicated political figures: charismatic, combative, eloquent, flawed, and relentlessly human.
In his acceptance speech, Rosales turned personal, dedicating the award to his mother, who he said is living with Alzheimer’s disease, and to his family.
“This is for you, mama. I love you so much,” Rosales said, before addressing his family as his “greatest mission.”
While Quezon dominated the major categories, Sunshine produced one of the night’s most emotional moments as Maris Racal won Best Actress for her performance in Antoinette Jadaone’s coming-of-age drama about a young gymnast whose dreams are upended by an unplanned pregnancy.
Racal’s win carried added weight because Sunshine had already traveled beyond the local festival circuit, earning recognition abroad for its unflinching treatment of teenage pregnancy, bodily autonomy, shame, survival, and the difficult choices faced by young women.
Accepting the award, Racal connected her own experience of public vulnerability with the story of her character.
“Sunshine is a girl who had so much promise, who had big, big dreams, who had such a bright future—pero nadapa, nagkamali,” Racal said.
She dedicated the award to women fighting to reclaim themselves after failure, judgment, or loss.
“This award is for all the Sunshines in this world,” she said. “Sa lahat ng nadapa, bangon lang.”
The supporting acting categories also reflected the range of the year’s nominated films. Rochelle Pangilinan won Best Supporting Actress for Child No. 82: Anak ni Boy Kana, while Best Supporting Actor ended in a tie between Will Ashley for Bar Boys: After School and Rico Blanco for Manila’s Finest.
Manila’s Finest also performed strongly in the technical categories, winning Best Sound, Best Musical Score, and Best Theme Song for “Sandalan.” Sunshine added another win through Benjamin Gonzales Tolentino, who was named Best Editing.
Other technical winners included Moises M.M. See for Best Cinematography for Salvageland, and the visual effects team of Bien Michael Caralian, Vincent Cheng, Jimmy dela Cruz, and Santelmo Sudio for Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins.
The EDDYS also paid tribute to veteran artists and industry figures whose careers have shaped Philippine entertainment. John Arcilla, Edgar “Bobot” Mortiz, Rio Locsin, and Janice de Belen were recognized as Eddys Movie Icons.
Donny Pangilinan and Chaye Cabal Revilla received the Isah V. Red Award, while director-songwriter Joven Tan was named the Joe Quirino Awardee. Longtime entertainment reporter Lhar Santiago received the Manny Pichel Award.
The ceremony also recognized box-office performers, naming Vice Ganda, Maricel Soriano, Joshua Garcia, Richard Gutierrez, Kim Chiu, and Paulo Avelino among the year’s Box Office Heroes.
But the night ultimately belonged to two very different kinds of performances: Rosales’ sweeping embodiment of a political titan in Quezon, and Racal’s raw, wounded, and defiant turn in Sunshine.
Together, their wins showed the breadth of current Philippine cinema—one looking back at history to interrogate power, the other looking inward at a young woman’s fight to survive the consequences of a world quick to judge her.
At the 9th EDDYS, the biggest trophies did more than reward performances. They recognized films willing to ask harder questions about leadership, womanhood, ambition, shame, and the cost of becoming whole.