MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – It was one of the most powerful, fist-clenching scenes ever seen on Philippine cinema, with a true-to-life character played by multi-awarded Filipina actress Nora Aunor.

The scene:

Aunor calling for the resignation of President Noynoy Aquino in a stirring speech at a rally by Migrante International, a support group for overseas Filipino workers.

In her strongly worded speech delivered in Filipino, Aunor lambasts the chief executive for the government’s labor export policy and called him “a puppet and the scourge of migrant Filipinos.”

But wait.

This is no longer just a scene from a movie. It is for real. It is the real Nora Aunor participating and speaking at a rally commemorating the 20th death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, the domestic helper who was controversially executed for the alleged murder of another Filipina maid in Singapore in 1995.

Aunor portrayed Contemplacion in Joel Lamangan’s “The Flor Contemplacion Story” that same year. She won Best Actress in the Gawad Urian, the Film Academy of the Philippines, the Star Awards for Movies, the Young Critics Circle, and the Cairo International Film Festival.

Last year, Aunor was snubbed for the National Artist award despite being nominated by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts following a three-year vetting process.

Asked by reporters about his reaction to Aunor’s speech, President Aquino said, “Eh, sour grapes!”

Meanwhile, presidential sister Kris Aquino said she was withdrawing her earlier offer to pay for Aunor’s airfare to seek surgical operation of her vocal cords abroad. “She’s either with us, or against us,” the younger Aquino said about Aunor.