MANILA — Mario O’Hara, who succumbed to leukemia last Tuesday at age 68, was “a giant in film,” the National Commission for Culture and the Arts said. Various actors and other industry stalwarts with whom he worked over the years uniformly praised him as they paid their last respects to the Filipino actor-writer-director.



Filmmaker Brillante Mendoza, who has won acclaim from several international film festivals, told ANC that O’Hara was one of the few who made it a point to watch his fellow directors’ films.



O’Hara was an award-winning screenwriter of such Philippine cinema classics as “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” (1974) and “Insiang” (1976). He also helmed, among other titles, “Ang Babae sa Breakwater” (2003) and the 2010 Cinemalaya entry “Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio.”



The Young Critics Circle Awards held a tribute for O’Hara at the University of the Philippines. — Agencies