A 12-year old Anita falls in love with the new woman in town; years later, a girlhood crush blossoms during the Fiesta of Santa Clara in Obando, Bulacan.
Tour guide Berta is having a tough time making ends meet. She’s forced to let her son Omel travel to the big city to take a job at an electronics store. Luis is studying to be a seaman, but can’t seem to pass his exams. His girlfriend Dolores is working as an intern at a resort, and dreams of going abroad as well. Sandra, following a painful event back in Manila, returns to her native Bohol, taking her spoiled son Eric with her.
The film splits itself between two timelines. In 2006, Ada is basing her thesis on a massacre that occurred twenty years prior in a village called Acacia. Her mother Cecilia was part of a fact-finding mission into a massacre, and Ada’s inquiries bring up her history as a member of the NPA. The other timeline traces the relationship of Ka Felix and Ka Jimmy, two rebels who fall in love, despite the movement’s laws against such a pairing.
Teresa (Rustica Carpio) has worked for the Bautista family since she was seventeen. She was the nanny of siblings Stella, Vince and Andre (Jackie Lou Blanco, Bobby Andrews and Ryan Agoncillo), and their mother. The three have all moved abroad in their adulthood, but all reunite back at home with the passing of their mother. With no one left to stay in the country, it is decided that all of their properties will be sold, including the house they grew up in. But they are faced with the problem of what to do with the elderly Teresa, who has no money saved, and little contact with her relatives.
The death of tycoon Ernesto Benitez left behind two daughters by different mothers.
A story about a separated woman and the challenges she encounters when she faces the real world alone with her son.
A story of an endless agony of two best friends who faced the unexpected ending of their relationship.
A seamstress turned beauty queen turned seamstress once more recounts her ascent and subsequent descent in the local beauty pageant scene.
Desperate to provide a comfortable life for her children, Ina willingly takes all kinds of jobs available to her. But what happens when Ina's family continues to fall apart despite all her sacrifices?
A young woman works as a secretary for a high class escort service, and is drawn into the intrigues of a client and the man who has fallen in love with her.
A self-made farmer and rice mill owner who faces a rebellion by his two sons when he installs his young mistress as the new woman of the house immediately after the death of his wife. Complicating matters further is the fact that the older son is already living with his common-law wife in the same house.
While on a trip to Thailand, a successful American businessman tries to radically change his life. Back in New York, his wife and daughter find their relationship with their live-in Filipino maid changing around them. At the same time, in the Philippines, the maid's family struggles to deal with her absence.
An indigenous family, one of the last forest people of old, copes with the unusual changes in their environment including the imposing lifestyle and customs of the more sociable tribes on the plains.
Mikey, a young, discreet, gay man from the affluent class, spends five years in a city jail while hearing his case for drug pushing. Inside prison, Mikey holds back to adapt to the culture and stratification among inmates. Eventually, Mikey becomes a ‘Mayor’ (ring leader) to a group of gay inmates called “Gang-da”. Together, they thrive to survive the dangers of several gang riots, the mundane, and the decay of human dignity.
A woman returns to the village of Kagbunga in the Bikol region carrying the ashes of her only son via the old train that circles her universe like the tandayag, the primordial serpent. In a filial act of mourning, she will reckon and reconcile the thin line that exists between tragedy and transcendence and prove and that even the most broken life can be restored to its moments.
Two women in a remote Muslim community confront an escalating blood feud and reach deep into themselves in hopes to undo the feud stretching back generations.
A story of Ilyong, recently-dead man killed by the police, after he was caught stealing. This is the beginning of his story, his death. Soon after, he was brought into a sleazy funeral home, run by Violet, a greedy homosexual who has learned to survive by renting out the dead bodies in his funeral home to Simon. Along for the ride is Jojo, a police officer who is under the payroll of Simon and who supplies the dead bodies for Violet to take care of and make money from. Violet has two workers, On-on and Dyograd.
A story of an over-the-hill prostitute whose life savings are stolen during the Holy Week.
A young boy frequently visits an old man who lives alone, keeping him always in good company. One night, he chances upon the old man watching a dated clip of himself as a cross-dressing boy. This sparks within the young boy an interest to find out more about the old man's past. What he ultimately discovers aids both him and the old man towards a richer understanding of how the weight of life and identity should be carried.
Mara is scared of water. She has a rare condition that keeps her from touching any forms of liquid. As a single mother, her only pearl is her frisky son Elim, who was later on diagnosed with a life threathening disease. The boy’s only request is to learn how to swim.