It is a supernatural melodrama of a woman's misfortune and suffering interwoven with the legend of the Pasig. The legend itself is inspired by the immortal kundiman of the director's brother, Nicanor Abelardo.
A happy marriage goes wrong when the husband is accused of raping his stepdaughter who eventually died. The wife, feeling hopeless from the courts, takes justice into her own hands.
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.
The story delves into what is supposed to be a victorious day for Boy whose first born — Jemjem, graduated from elementary with honors. Throughout the story, bits and pieces of fighting against oppression of losing his main livelihood as a vendor, of fighting for his winnings in a bet to game fowls, fighting for his honor as a family man, and eventually fighting for his own life against fate will be revealed.
Love in the time of hyperthymesia.
Ferry owner Benjamin has a regular passenger, Chedeng, who is studying to become a midwife. Chedeng has a friend and neighbour, Maria, and without either of them knowing about it they both have a relationship with Benjamin. When Mary finds out she’s pregnant, things get difficult.
A woman fell in love with a Japanese soldier, during the Japanese Occupation in the Philippines. The whole town turned against her.
A subtle and brilliant sexual awakening of a boy, who is torn between following his wishes or away from them, even though the world that opens before it is too powerful to be ignored in this way.
An ambitious reporter and his cameraman attempt to get their big break by venturing into the mountains by themselves to get in touch with a group of rebels. But what they find leads them into a living nightmare, as the very limits of their humanity are tested.
A family falls into turmoil as the son defies his abusive father in order to protect the people he loves.
Mark is a high school senior who makes a personal problem out of his parents break-up when his mother leaves home for another woman. The thought of being the butt of jokes for "having two fathers" horrifies him. All these worries and angst take the backseat when a new teacher comes to campus. Her name is Connie and she is an instant hit among the boys. It is love at first sight for Mark. However, Connie has an affair with Vincent, a married man.
A spouse discovers her better half's savage room style unsettling and she begins to think about whether he's undermining her, and when this makes her waver into the edge of mental issues, she is "spared" by her male specialist companions with whom she starts an undertaking.
A Filipino worker is on the death row for killing his employer. Because of a lady reporter who is bent on doing a full story about him, government officials are now trying to help him. But Fidel insisted that he killed his employer on purpose. Vega learned about his past- a boy-next-door type of person who grew up with a loving family. His profile doesn't fit the picture of a killer. Sister Lourdes, the Filipino nun who visits Fidel regularly wants to know the truth too.
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty pre-teen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadly assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begin to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.
Quizz West is conscripted into the United States Army in late 1940. Prior to being shipped out first to San Francisco, then the Philippines, Quizz and his hometown girlfriend Janet discuss their future plans.
A farm girl mistakenly shoots and kills an endangered Philippine Eagle. When authorities begin a manhunt to track down the eagle’s killer, they stumble upon an even more horrific discovery.
A journalist investigates a woman with the name of China Doll. Soon, he discovers his knowledge of her turns out to be dangerous.
The episodically connected lives of four college friends unfold throughout the incipient martial law years, as they struggle to define their sexual and professional desires and how best to attain them.
Two filmmakers try to create a film venturing on the life of Jose Rizal. Before they do that, they try to investigate on the heroism of the Philippine national hero. Of particular focus is his supposed retraction of his views against the Roman Catholic Church during the Spanish regime in the Philippines which he expressed primarily through his two novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The investigation was done mainly by "interviewing" key individuals in the life of Rizal such as his mother Teodora Alonso, his siblings Paciano, Trinidad, and Narcisa, his love interest and supposed wife Josephine Bracken, and the Jesuit priest who supposedly witnessed Rizal's retraction, Fr. Balaguer. Eventually, the two filmmakers would end up "interviewing" Rizal himself to get to the bottom of the issue.
On Christmas Day, 15 year old David finds out that his boyfriend, Jonathan has taken another lover. The discovery leads him on the brink of depression making him think of ways to have him back at all cost. He has invited Jonathan to see him on this day for the last time.