The Facebook post from the 501st Legion Philippine Garrison, an organization of Star Wars fans in the country, looked like this: 




As it was packaged as breaking news and coming from a legit organization, the post quickly made its way out of the local fandom’s circle to the feeds of random people who picked up on it in the hopes that they, too, could deliver the punchline of the joke. It was, after all, April Fools’ Day and the Coco Martin-in-Star Wars breaking news had all the elements of a classic prank. 


AO dropped a note to the guys of 501st commending them for a job well done, asking for the story behind the prank and if Coco Martin had already dropped them a message asking if any of their characters, maybe the Stormtroopers, could possibly guest in an episode of Ang Probinsyano to be shown in a far, far distant future in a galaxy far, far away, that is already being shot now (because they plan way ahead for a teleserye that has no ending). 


“We hope Coco Martin has seen it! If he's game, we can at least do a real photo shoot with the troopers!,” says Marc Macalua, Garrison PR Officer in a message exchange with AO. The whole prank was conceived in the classic way pranks are done. “It helps to have a few creative types on the Pinoy 501st officer pool. Everything was planned and completed in about four hours,” Macalua adds. 


But honestly, for a while there we were ready to believe it was true. No, we actually thought it was true and had to ask our sources for confirmation. If you ask the people of the 501st Legion Philippine Garrison, it’s about time we had a Pinoy character in the Star Wars empire. And they knew exactly who to pitch.


“The officers [of the 501st Philippine Garrison] wanted to put more effort to our April Fools' prank attempt this year. We knew we wanted to push a Pinoy casting story because after Indonesia and Vietnam, we really believe we should be next! Cardo was an easy target LOL! His name needs no introduction and we really think Cardo has what it takes to be the first ever Philippine-born actor who can be cast for Star Wars,” Macalua says. 


The actors from Indonesia who made it to Star Wars: The Force Awakens were from the cult film The Raid: Yayan Ruhian, Iko Uwais, and Cecep Arik Rahman.


Photo from BBC

The Vietnamese actresses who made it to Star Wars: The Last Jedi were Kelly Marie Tran and Veronica Ngo.




So what’s to stop us from lobbying for Coco Martin? He can singlehandedly lead the Rebel Alliance to defeat the Galactic Empire. In fact, he could probably do it alone. 



But Macalua clarifies that it’s not like Star Wars has not had a Filipino working for the franchise. He points us to Filipino-American Nilo Rodis-Jamero, assistant art director for visual effects for Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, and costume designer for Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.


The next time we will be hearing from the 501st Legion Philippine Garrison will be when they celebrate Christmas on May 4. 


“May The Fourth Be With You—that’s Christmas for Star Wars geeks,” Macalua says. 


The 501st Legion is an international fan organization, with more than 13,000 members in over 50 countries. Their activities involve the building and wearing of Star Wars costumes, volunteering for charity, and attending collectible or other related conventions. 


“When requested by Lucasfilm, we wear our costumes to promote officially licensed Star Wars activities, events and products. We are a non-stock, not-for-profit volunteer organization. Please note that we are not mascots or cosplayers, but professionals whose hobby happens to be wearing movie-quality, screen-accurate Star Wars costumes in order to raise funds for charity. Some of the institutions we have donated to are: Tuloy Foundation, PGH Silahis ng Kalusugan School, Kythe, Inc., HERO Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation Philippines, and many others. This year the Philippine Garrison is celebrating our 15th year serving the Empire,” Macalua says.