I might add that commentary asked Tsai if he borrowed the image in The Hole from Scorpio Nights, but he apparently forgot to ask (I think that's what happened).
Peque and Celso share this flaw, that they often toss the script out the window in favor of a heedless, all-balls visual style. The difference I think is that 1) Celso is a marginally better storyteller, or at least is more insistent on his writers that the script makes a little more sense, and 2) that Celso's more talented, is all.
That's hard to explain, without a dvd player and tv set to show what I mean. His imagery flows more, is more smoothly cut, is more lyrical, I think, and I'm not the only one who thinks this; Mario O'Hara considers Celso the single most talented Filipino filmmaker around, with an eye superior to even Gerardo de Leon (?!)--I don't know what to think about that, but I think I know what he means.
Part of it is, I can so often see what Peque's influences are--Oshima, Bertolucci, Tarantino, so on and so forth. Celso's aren't as obvious. Is Burlesk Queen borrowing from Fellini? Bresson? Is that a homage to Gerry de Leon smack dab in the middle of his Pinakamagandang Hayop sa Balat ng Lupa remake (which I like even less than the original, which is a Ryan's Daughter ripoff)? And what the hell is Lihim ni Madonna--pretentious crap, or a neglected masterpiece?
I don't know. He's out there, and 98% of his stuff is sh*t, but that 2%--holy mother of god, I don't know anyone who can touch that 2%.