He worked his way up in film production as a production assistant,
script continuity, art director, production designer and assistant
director over a 15-year span. His debut film as a director, "Enter Love
- Sana Pag-ibig Na", is a love story between a mistress and her
deceased lover's son: shot on a meager budget of US$50,000, it bombed
at the box-office but reaped acclaim from the local critics. His second
film was "Fetch A Pail of Water - Pila Balde", a socio-realist
observation of the plight of slum dwellers and their struggle for
survival. This film was both a critical and commercial success and won
the NETPAC Jury Award at the 1st Cine Manila International Film
Festival in 1999 and a Gold Award at the 2000 Worldfest International
Film Festival in Houston, Texas.
