The opening scene of the Cinemalaya short film ‘Kay Basta Angkarabo Yay Bagay Ibat Ha Langit (Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky)’ hits audiences right in the face – it is a display of how the country’s fishermen grapple with the territorial aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
For its director and writer Maria Estela Paiso, it is a manifestation of her anger toward the ongoing issue. ‘Dahil hindi ako nag-film school, sinulat ko ‘to dahil sa galit. Sa totoo lang. Sinulat ko ito as a response sa ‘Ampangabagat nin talakba ha likol (It’s Raining Frogs Outside).’ Kailangan nating lawakan ang lente natin sa pagtingin kung saan tayo nanggagaling,’ she told Inquirer Entertainment in an interview.
(Since I wasn’t able to go to film school, I wrote this short film out of anger. If I have to be honest with you. I wrote this as a response to my other short film, ‘Ampangabagat nin talakba ha likol.’ We need to widen our lenses when it comes to telling stories of where we come from.)
Paiso, who finished Communication Arts at De La Salle University-Manila, was referring to her 2021 short film, which screened at the QCinema International Film Festival in the same year, and the 2022 edition of Cinemalaya. It tells the story of Maya returning to her childhood home in Zambales as the world is about to end, wondering why frogs are literally raining down from the sky.
This time, ‘Kay Basta Angkarabo Yay Bagay Ibat Ha Langit (Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky)’ revolves around Sita and her mother turning into half-fish, half-humans, as they navigate through their youth in Zambales amid the ongoing territorial aggression on the West Philippine Sea.
‘Docu-fiction siya, pinagsama ko siya sa mga kwinento sa’kin ng mama ko sa pagkabata niya sa Zambales, territorial aggression na dinadanas ng mga mangingisda sa Masinloc sa West Philippine Sea,’ Paiso explained. ‘Ilang admin na ang dumaan pero wala pa rin tayong solusyon. Mas malala na siya ngayon.’
(It’s a docu-fiction short brought together by the stories of my mom’s childhood in Zambales, and the territorial aggression that fishermen go through in Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea. Many administrations have come and gone, but there is still no solution. It even got worse.) Throughout the entirety of the short film, stop-motion animation was used to explore the narratives of Sita and her mother, combined with compilations of fishermen and the country’s past presidents sharing their take on the issue.
To bring ‘Kay Basta Angkarabo Yay Bagay Ibat Ha Langit (Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky)’ to life, Paiso compiled sentiments from fishermen, before ‘structuring them together.’ Also included are quotes from her mother and other related soundbites, before adding in the visuals.
‘Noong nakausap ko ang ilang interviewees ko, hindi pa rin sila nakakapunta sa Panatag Shoal. Banned sila within 14 nautical miles ng shoal, so mas malala pa. Dati, nakakatakas sila pero ngayon naka-barricade na talaga. Hindi ka na makalapit,’ Paiso said, reiterating that topics on the West Philippine Sea aggression need to be discussed.
‘Importante siya pag-usapan kasi may karapatan ang mangingisda natin sa sarili nating katubigan. Tayong mga Pilipino ang dapat makinabang sa likas na yaman natin. Ang isa sa narratives na gusto kong ibahagi ay [to counter] ‘yung claim na issue lang ito ng pamimili between magkaibang bansa in case magka-guerra, hindi siya issue ng pamimili ng kakampihan. Ang dapat nating kinakampihan ay ang mga kababayan natin,’ she said.
(My interviewees shared that they haven’t been to the Panatag Shoal. They are banned within 14 nautical miles, so it got worse. Before, they were still able to find their way through, but there is a barricade now. You really can’t come close to it. It’s important to talk about it because our fishermen have the right to their own waters. Filipinos have the right to our own resources. One of the intentions in my narrative is to counter the claim that we must choose a country to stand by in case of war. It is not an issue of choosing our allies. We must choose our own countrymen.)
Paiso is aware that funding is one of the biggest challenges filmmakers face, especially when it comes to certain ‘political’ topics. Or in her case, ‘kung anong ibig sabihin ng political sa mga institusyon (what being political means depending on the institution,’ but she hopes that it serves as a reminder of why the public should never stop talking about the aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
The short film, which ends with the glaring phrase, ‘Atin ang Pinas (The Philippines is ours),’ is an official entry to the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, which runs until Oct. 12.