Roselle Monteverde recently reflected on the enduring legacy of her mother, Lily Monteverde, as she marked the second death anniversary of the late Regal Films matriarch on August 4, 2026.
“I'm really very, very proud that I'm the daughter of Mother Lily,” said Roselle during the SINE x Cinemalaya event held on August 10, in Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City.
As the lady boss of Regal Entertainment, Roselle Monteverde was delighted to see her mother credited for 17 films included in the list of the 100 greatest Filipino movies of all time, featured in the 100 SINE. FILM. PELIKULA book unveiled at the event.
These movies are: Salawahan, Manila by Night, Pabling, Relasyon, Hinugot sa Langit, Sister Stella L, Under-age, Virgin Forest, Scorpio Nights, Sinner or Saint, Bilangin ang Bituin sa Langit, Curacha, Signal Rock, Tuhog, Hesus Rebolusyonaryo, Hubog, and Broken Marriage.
”She's always in my mind kasi we've worked together,” Roselle continued, reminiscing her time with the legendary film producer.
She admitted that it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
“Of course, I'm her daughter, but iba naman yung daughter and mother when it comes to work. Iba yung dynamics. May days na talagang nag-aaway din kami. May things na we don't agree on. And then there are things that, you know, we agree on.”
Roselle also recalled a time when she didn’t fully understand the world her mother had built.
“Growing up. Wow. Okay. She puts more attention to them, right? I mean I can speak on behalf of our family because she spends most of her time doing, you know, producing, producing, and to the point that siguro na-guilty din siya, ginawa niya, yung trabaho niya, dinala niya sa bahay.
"Pero ganun din, mas gumulo,” she explained.
Yet she’s thankful to have learned from Mother Lily.
“She's really my mentor. I'm very, very, I mean, kulang ang ‘very, very’ proud. I don't know how to express it, but I'm very, very proud to be a daughter of Mother,” said Roselle.
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MOTHER LILY: FEARLESS PRODUCER
Roselle also hyped up Mother Lily’s passion for Filipino film.
“I would say she's very fearless to be able to produce that much. And hindi naman kami maraming pera, alam mo. But because she's very passionate about it.
"I would say na even those films and filmmakers and stories that I would think that there are, you know, when it could be like a movie that no one wants to produce, but she's willing to gamble. She took so much risk,” she said.
She even stood her ground in the face of threats to her own freedom.
When Ishmael Bernal’s Manila by Night premiered in 1980, then-First Lady Imelda Marcos ordered the film banned.
Starring Charito Solis+, Lorna Tolentino, Alma Moreno, Rio Locsin, Cherie Gil+, and Gina Alajar—the film is an unflinching portrayal of Manila’s problems with crime, prostitution, and drug use during Martial Law.
Mike de Leon’s Sister Stella L. in 1984 was another politically charged Regal film that drew the Marcos regime’s disapproval.
“She told me at one point, na parang huhuliin na ba siya, di ba? And she needed to keep the film intact at hindi niya talaga ibibigay. So yun ang, I think, it's not really a headache, but it's more of a, something that you fight for. And she fought,” she said.
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