The Philippines, 1898. Fifty Spanish soldiers arrive in the small village of Baler to rebuild an outpost. Although the war against the Filipinos and their American allies is almost lost, as is the Spanish Empire, the garrison will endure a cruel siege for eleven months. They will be the last to surrender.
Senator Gabriel Alcaraz is preparing to deliver a privilege speech alleging corruption in the highest levels of government. On his way to the Senate, he gets wind of a plot against him. The police seek to arrest him for his part in an operation decades ago. Suspecting that the administration isn’t willing to give him a fair trial, Alcaraz goes into hiding abroad, hoping to find a way to clear his name and eventually return to his family. Back home, an old colleague is put in charge of finding him, and his family suffers under the pressure of public scrutiny.
This is a story of the journey of 3 souls heading towards healing and redemption. RINGGO is a 16-year old boy who works as a dog-shooter (the one who assists in mating the dogs with breed -- he will see to it that the private parts of the stud and bitch will be locked during the mating and no sperm will be put to waste in the process). Ringgo works for BONG, a 40-year old lesbian who is a breeder of dogs. One of Bong’s dogs is I’nca, who is a troubled Doberman. Things will get complicated when Ringgo, I’nca and Bong developed a relationship as if they were really mother and child, and get entangled in each other’s personal issues and becomes each other’s protector and defender. The one that ties the three of them is that invisible umbilical cord... the cord of love and sacrifice.
A young woman by the name of Dalisay, known as Daly, lives in a small hamlet in the Filipino countryside. She’s an observant, smart and intelligent girl who through an unfortunate accident lost both her father and mother. Her older sister Anne works in a nearby city as a waitress in a restaurant. Her modest income allows for both of them to live sparingly. Every day Daly passes in front of the Sari Sari or general store owned by Nida, a woman that lives not far from her. Nida is an artist, and a solitary never-been-married artist. Daly, hungry for knowledge, often spends time with Nida, the older woman feeding the natural curiosity of the girl. Nida ultimately teaches Daly what higher love is and how the rhythm of nature affects each of our souls.
Three stories, one day in EDSA. An opportunistic entrepreneur develops a bond with a street kid trying to help him get to his business meeting in Makati, after losing his cellphone to a snatcher. A teacher from the province haggles with a former OFW, turned taxi driver, whether the country should follow world standards in basic education requirements. And a snatcher trying to reform himself with the help of a nurse by trying to return what he stole. Three stories all asking the same thing: what matters most, the collective or the individual gain?
A story about Fred a kid janitor that substitutes for his mother who has kidney disease. Fred listens from outside the classroom of Ma’m Ami, hoping to give his mother a better life in the future.
A frustrated, ambitious, self-centered and narcissistic filmmaker named Hapi has finally finished writing the screenplay of his first ever indie film which he believes is a masterpiece. Overeager, he enlists the help of his best friends, the comical Caloy and the voice of reason, Onyok, to make his dream movie. The only problem is, they have no budget to produce it.Residing in a poverty stricken community that is highly dependent on the Indian 5-6 cash loan system, which includes his own sister Rowena, Hapi, out of desperation, finally resorts to borrowing money from the community’s main Indian lender, Alfajor. However, things become worse for Hapi when his nemesis, the neighborhood midget thug named Oblax, steals his borrowed money. Deep in debt, burdened by his father, his dream movie project put on hold, and a seemingly bleak future with his current love interest, Cherry.
The Philippines is being geared up to be interconnected through a system called One Wired Nation (OWN). This would allow faster and easier access to information across the country, from the smallest barangay to Malacañang. With OWN, progress is inevitable, says Bert Javelo from Prime Connections, the company who won the contract to build and manage OWN. Bert promises instant service and progress to the country. But Pia Gorospe is not convinced and smells something wrong.
An Aeta from Baytan village in Zambales makes a living from cutting down and burning of trees and hunting on the foothills of Mt. Pinatubo.
An ordinary taxi ride takes Jun, a young executive, into the unusual story of Ben, a 35 year-old taxi driver in Manila on how he became a lanzones farmer in Camiguin island, Mindanao.
Chito is the son of the owners of a lodge in Coron, Palawan. Because of a shortage in eggs in the town, he gets encouraged to go into growing organic chickens.
Dreaming of a better life, Balong counts the sacks of rice they have left, the money they need, and the little moments that led to an inevitable departure that will leave them all affected.
Linda, in her 70's, is a Chinese citizen who has been living in the Philippines since the Japanese occupation of their homeland. For a while, it was like she was building the perfect Chinese Family raising three children together with her Husband, Felipe, and a business tycoon who worked hard to increase their wealth to millions. A mysterious phone call from the unknown shaken their home that leads to their bankruptcy. Tragically, Felipe went in coma for 7 years and left Linda devastated. She tries to keep her family together until a revelation totally broke their home apart.
After years of separation and longing; Ramon visits Doroteo, his brother, hoping to make up for the lost time that they could have spent with each other.
Confined to a life that cycles from taking care of his aging, widowed father and phasing through a listless job and day to day routine, Nanding, an introverted bachelor spends his late afternoons at the family farm with a cup of coffee and the fleeting company a young stranger that regularly passes through the property.
Arman and Leo, two young boys and best friends living in the province, share a common past-time: writing down any dreams that they have and discussing them together for no reason at all. On his way to their next meeting, however, Arman realizes that he is being followed by someone who might be haunting the dreams he refuses to reveal.
A story of a woman miner from the mountains of Benguet, who struggles to balance life as a miner and a single parent. “Butas” takes you to a journey in the life of a mother who struggles to make ends meet but is hopeful to provide a better life for her son. Due to poverty, she is forced to work in a foreign country but comes back to the Philippines after her husband dies from a mining accident.
Minjae is a Korean-Filipino teenager who is often discriminated against for being mixed-blood. His utmost desire to belong to the homogeneous and hierarchical Korean society is tested when his single Filipina mother decides to send him to the Philippines one winter day.
A lesbian couple, Pat and Karen, know fully well that their relationship won’t last For good. So they decide to draft a contract binding them together for a limited period of time, which starts out as a monthly contract, then becomes yearly, until they are together for 7 years. On their 7th anniversary, Pat makes a plan to surprise for Karen.
Based on a true story, from the accounts of Rodrigo Morelos’ (aka Boy Tokwa) friends, the movie sees Boy’s grandson, Andy Morelos Woods, head back to the Philippines to search the truth about his grandfather.