Maurice Ruiz de Luzuriaga Gallaga, better known as Peque Gallaga, was a multi-awarded Filipino film-maker. His most significant achievement in film was "Oro, Plata, Mata", which he directed after winning a scriptwriting contest sponsored by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. He has received an award from the International Film Festival of Flanders-Ghent, Belgium in 1983; a Special Jury Award from the Manila International Film Festival; and the 2004 Gawad CCP Para sa Sining.
Education
Gallaga spent his elementary and high school years at De La Salle University in Manila, then finished his bachelor's in commerce and liberal arts at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod. He taught theater and film at the University of St. La Salle.
Career
Rise to prominence
Upon moving back to Manila, he got involved in television musicals and eventually co-directed the film Binhi with Butch Perez. He also directed the movies Virgin Forest, Scorpio Nights, Unfaithful Wife, and the "Manananggal" episode of Shake, Rattle and Roll I. In 1986 he started co-directing films with Lore Reyes, with whom he shared directing credits for Shake Rattle & Roll 2, Shake Rattle & Roll 3, Shake Rattle & Roll 4, Baby Love, and more than twenty other films to date. In the animated movie Dayo, Gallaga voiced the character of "Lolo Nano," the resident sage of Elementalia. Gallaga and Reyes won Best Director and Best Screenplay for Magic Temple in the 1996 Metro Manila Film Festival. Gallaga and Laida Lim-Pérez won Best Production Design for Eddie Romero’s Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? in the first 1976 of Gawad Urian awards. In 1980, he won the same award for Ishmael Bernal’s City after Dark. During the 1980s, Gallaga served as member of the Film Academy Classification Board.
Later career
In 2009, Agaton & Mindy, directed by Gallaga, started its theatrical run. In 2013, saw the release of several of Gallaga's directorial efforts. On his own these include the film Sonata, and the documentary Botong Francisco: A Nation Imagined. With Reyes they directed Seduction. Also that year, the documentary film The Search for Weng Weng started its film festival run, where Gallaga is interviewed. It is about the actor Weng Weng who was Philippines' first international star and a unique figure in cinema being a short person who performs death defying stunts. In 2014, Gallaga and Reyes collaborated on their final motion picture T'yanak.
Personal life
Gallaga lived with his wife Madie in Bacolod. They were married for 52 years. They have five children: Gines, Michelle, Datu, Jubal and Wanggo.
Death
Gallaga was hospitalized in Bacolod City on May 5, 2020, due to complications from his past health conditions. Two days later on May 7, Gallaga died in hospital from cardio-pulmonary arrest.
