When asked for her real name, the feisty woman in a rural whorehouse would quip, "Ligaya. It means joy. And that's what I sell." Yet the small-town prostitute is not resigned that she would be in the flesh trade forever. She still harbors the dream of getting out of the job someday. She saves money and fancies that someone would come and marry her as if she were clean and never been a whore. That becomes almost a reality when a hardworking farmer enters her life. Under some problematic circumstances, her chances get blown away-but not exactly of her sole doing.
This is the life story of Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo, a Chinese-Filipina nun who founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Religious of the Virgin Mary.
The planet’s busiest maternity hospital is located in one of its poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. There, poor women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative Catholic ideologies.
A whirlwind romance blossoms between Ginny, an architecture student, and Marco, a professor at her university. Over the course of a decade, dreams get bigger and circumstance brings them apart… yet against all odds, they find each other again—will they make the most of this second chance?
Beneath Hong Kong's glittering facade, Filipina domestic helpers work in relative anonymity and for near-slave wages. In a beauty pageant like no other, five helpers give themselves makeovers for a day and gleefully reclaim their dignity.
The film is about the lives of simple folk caught between the crossfire of Kapitana accused of political patronage, and Patrol Kalikasan using the environment as a front for their own political and economic interests on the small mining community.
A Filpino family deals with hooded people who are involved in extra-judicial killings and other abuses in Philippine society.
Mariano and Andres are balut vendors who fortuitously save Rosa's life. They adopt her and care for her as their own daughter. One day a lawyer confronts Mariano and Andres and claims that Rosa had inherited a large sum of money.
A story of a married couple brought together by the illness of their child.
Philippines, 1570, the early years of the Spanish colonial regime. Marta, a Native Priestess, convinces her Spanish master that she is possessed by the spirit of his dead bride, in order to manipulate him into returning the farmland that the Spaniards seized from the native community.
After taking up with a charming cab driver, a wild and hedonistic teenage girl returns home to succeed her mother as a prayer woman.
The story about a teenage boy, Antonio, whose emerging gay sexuality alienates him from his friends and family, until his libertine uncle, Jonbert, comes to live with him and his mother.
Erika and Cecil are twins who were separated by poverty right after they were born. Each of them is caught up in her own existence, not knowing that somewhere not so far lived a twin. But one day, fate intervened and found a clever way to bring them together.
Critical investigation of The World Bank and IMF. Too hot for PBS, but prime time TV everywhere else. Do the World Bank and IMF make the poor even poorer? Are the Bank and IMF democratic institutions? Why do people demonstrate against the Bank and IMF? For the first time, a documentary global investigation of major criticisms of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), two of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. Five country case studies are presented, each concentrating on a different aspect of critics' charges: 1. Bolivia: Debt, Drugs and Democracy 2. Ghana: The Model of Success 3. Brazil: Debt, Damage and Politics 4. Thailand: Dams and Dislocation 5. Philippines: The Debt Fighters. The charges, including those related to structural adjustment, are controversial and provocative. Some go to the heart of the power and policies of these institutions.
A heartwarming story about nine kids who had run away from their homes.
Two women who are unrelated and have never met but very much alike found their lives intertwined when people close to them mistook them for one another. Angela Pelayo was an innocent girl from the province trying to find a better life with a good job in the city while Anita Cornejo was a prostitute and girlfriend of a cold-hearted pimp. Both their lives are in danger but only one will be saved.
An Army colonel leads a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.
Fe returns home to the Philippines after several years of working overseas, her job a victim of global economic shifts. Fe is initially greeted with affection by her husband Dante, but he has a long history of domestic violence fueled by rage and long-term impotence, and Fe quickly discovers her time away has not changed him. Dante works in a factory making baskets, and Fe soon joins him there; she becomes the lover of Arturo, the man who manages the basket company, but while Arturo treats her well, he's still under the thumb of his father who owns the factory. Meanwhile, an unknown admirer sends her parcels of strange black fruit on a regular basis. Torn between two men who cannot give her what she needs and wants, Fe's frustration leads to take desperate steps to establish her independence.
Paula and Edmund are peacefully married until she meets Nicanor, a composer who happens to be their neighbor. Edmund feels troubled after seeing Paula seeing interest in Nicanor. Could it be that Nicanor is the man who will destroy their lives?
Dra. Baby Holmes is a veterenarian who left her long time boyfriend after she discovered he has been deceiving her. Realizing that her biological clock is ticking fast, she desperately searches for the perfect guy who will mary her. Roberto “BOY” Reye is a single fireman with a son born out of wedluck. Generous to a fault, Boy is considered a small town hero. Every time someone needs help, the entire neighbourhood runs to him. By chance, Baby saves Boy’s life and to show his gratitude, he offers her anything in return, She then asks Boy to give her a child. Boy thinks she’s just joking but Baby is dead serious. However, Boy discovered that he is beginning to love Baby and her many quirks. Unable to bear the guilt, Baby suddenly leaves him.