Movie Title:   CARMELA V. RETURNS

STORYLINE

Maria Carmela Valmonte or Maricar as her friends and neighbors called her in the impoverished neighborhood of Santo Quiterio in Manila, Philippines was a combination of brain and beauty graduating Valedictorian from elementary school.  Her grandmother raised her to be a bright and beautiful girl when her parents left her at a young age of 8.

Her grandfather who used to teach Filipino martial arts called Arnis de Mano earlier died of an old head injury which he suffered in a martial arts competition in Batangas.

 In search of a better life abroad , her mother named Ester accepted an overseas job in Saudi Arabia as a domestic helper but came back dead inside a coffin after being brutally raped by her Muslim employer ; her father Mauro worked as a seaman in a Greek ship but had a fatal accident while doing repair work on the ship’s lower deck.

One night, her sickly Lola needed some medicine for a persistent coughing. Maricar had to scoop some coins in her piggy bank and rushed to a neighborhood drugstore for a cough medication. Wary of the drug addicts and drunkards loitering at night around the neighborhood, she carried a butterfly knife, a gift from  her late grandfather who taught her self-defense in case of an attack. 

Santo Quiterio is a squalid community marked by dilapidated shanty houses  populated mostly by sidewalk vendors, drug addicts, gang members, petty thieves, professional beggars, scavengers, and other low life persons. Despite the presence of a local governing unit called Barangay, the officials were all corrupt from top to bottom allowing themselves to be in the pockets of  the drug lords and gang leaders.

Maricar’s family was one of the first residents of Santo Quiterio before it became a Godforsaken place.  They originally came from Bulacan and Batangas. It was a peaceful and clean neighborhood before the influx of other migrants from Mindanao and the Visayan islands some of whom were victims of natural disasters as well as political unrest in their former residence.

Coming back home from the drugstore located near a lot of drinking places and dark alleys where drug pushers hanged around, she was spotted by the driver of a black colored SUV waiting for his friends buying drugs called “shabu” in a dark alley.  When his friends came back with the drugs, he tailed Maricar walking hurriedly back home to give the medication to his sick grandmother. In one swoop, two of the SUV passengers grabbed Maricar and shoved her into the back of the vehicle. The four young thugs were all high in cocaine as they restrained Maricar covering her mouth to prevent her from yelling. With her hands free, she took out her butterfly knife known as “balisong” in Batangas cut the throats of the one covering her mouth and then cut the femoral artery of the other guy seated with her and the other seated in front of the driver. She told the driver to stop the vehicle with her knife on his throat. She slit his throat as the SUV came into a stop near a cemetery.  Then she jumped out of the vehicle leaving the four thugs on drugs bleeding to death. Maricar was only 13 years old but could be mistaken for a 20 year old because of her bigger built and long legs.

As she ran back home, she remembered her grandfather’s advice to defend herself to the death from would-be rapists who kill their victims.  Just a month ago, a pretty high school girl from another neighborhood was found raped and murdered. No suspects were arrested since the local police or law enforcers were all in the pockets of the drug lords and gang leaders.

After treating her grandmother with the medication, she washed herself and her clothes  from the culprit’s blood. 

The local press dismissed the killing of Maricar’s would-be rapists as victims  of a gangwar.  The four were actually scions of prominent families of Quezon City and Makati.  Using their influence, a  massive investigation was conducted by the Philippine National Police to capture the assailants.  Even with the help of the National Bureau of Investigation of the Philippine Department of Justice, no clue was found and no detective speculated  that the killings could be the work of a young girl, a would-be rape victim.

Maricar was truly a pretty and bright student. Her high school principal recommended her to represent the school in a National Spelling Bee Contest.  The winner of the contest would represent the Philippines in a World Spelling Bee Contest to be held in Washington, D.C. in the United States.  Maricar came out as the overall winner of the Spelling Bee Contest.

Maricar together  with her grandmother who acted as her guardian, left for the United States to represent the Philippines in the World Spelling Bee Contest.  But she decided not to show up at the contest   and chose to stay in the United States illegally.

When offered an opportunity to be an instant citizen by birth, she bought a fake Hawaiian Birth certificate from a Chinese guy who befriended her at a price of one thousand dollars. The Chinese vendor said that his document must be the same document Barack Obama used to make him a natural-born U.S. citizenl. She told the Chinese guy to her name on the certificate as MARIA CARMELA VENDETTA.  

She obtained a Certificate of High School Completion by passing a test called G.E.D. in the United States.  She applied for a U.S. passport to enable her to travel anywhere in the world.

After the death of her grandmother, she left for Toklyo, Japan to pursue a career in Martial Arts. She was then thinking of opening a Martial Arts School in New York specializing in Ninjutsu. After two years of training in a School of Ninjutsu in Tokyo, she returned to the New York to open a school she originally planned.

She was able to attract a lot of students who are interested in Martial Arts for fun and for self-defense. As a Filipino at heart, she was aware of everything happening in the Philippines particularly the corruption in government, proliferation of dangerous drugs available to anybody controlled by drug lords in cahoots with Police and Military officer,  and rampant abuse of young girls and boys at the hands of the crooked wealthy families, increasing number of dead victims of human traffickers.

She also browsed the internet reading and downloading news about the Philippines. One evening after a long day’s work at her school, she came across a story of a grieving father whose wife and two young daughters were savagely raped and murdered by a gang of drug addicts belonging to the rich families in Manila.  There were 9 suspects led by a son of a prominent politician who were initially arrested and prosecuted. Through the intercession of influential personalities in the Police and the Courts, the only evidence implicating the gang’s leader disappeared from the government laboratory.  All of the suspected rapists and murderers were set free at the stroke of a judge’s pen.

Maricar was able to compile several similar stories of rape and murder committed by persons with money, influence, and power.  But this one story struck her nerve because one of the victims carried the name of Carmela.  The victim’s father also told the press that her daughter Carmela kept appearing to him in many forms and demanding justice for the murder of her mother and older sister.

Maricar just turned 21 years old, still single, wanting to pursue a career in law enforcement. Ever since she was attacked by  would-be rapists and killers, she became obsessed with the idea of punishing the culprits one way or another, legally or illegally.

Using her  U.S. passport, she booked a roundtrip ticket to the Philippines intent of talking to the father of the murder-rape victim who died at age 13 whose name is also Maria Carmela.

The victim’s father appeared resigned to his fate of expecting a miracle from heaven to deliver justice for her murdered family. He told Maricar at an interview held at his family’s graveyard that he was against a wall of power and he just could not fight anymore. He actually has been living in terror in the Philippines but refused to leave the Godforsaken country because of the pleadings of her dead 13-year old Carmela who kept appearing in his dreams.

Finally the victim’s father whose name is Lorenzo gave her copies of court records  and proceedings and copies of police reports of the rape-murder case.  He also gave her the names of the convicted rapist-murderers who were later acquitted due to disappearance of evidence while in  police custody.

Maricar began tracking down the whereabouts of the released convicts.  Upon learning that the lead convict named Alfredo who is the son of a politician wants to have a movie about his life, Maricar called him and pretended to be a movie producer interested to film his life story.  She set up a meeting with him at a hotel room in Las Pinas,  a suburb of Manila.  As soon as she opened the door for him, she pulled him in quickly and knocked him out with a hand chop on the back of the neck. She injected him with a truth serum. 

As he was recovering from the knock-out, Maricar dressed up like a ghost of the dead 13  year old victim Carmela asked him why he killed her. her mother, her older sister, and also raped them.  He at first got very scared and later said that he and his gangmates were on drugs  and the devil made them do it.  So Maricar gave him a pen and paper to write his confession addressed to the President of the Philippines and his Secretary of Justice.   After signing his confession, Maricar cut his throat to death as real punishment for his crime.

In span of 24 hours, the other members of Alfredo’s gang who were similarly released from jail were found dead with their throats cut with a butterfly knife or “balisong.”  A piece of paper with the words “The wages of sin is death,” written in blood was left on the face of each dead rapist-murderer.

On the following morning, Maricar packed her luggage and boarded a flight to JFK International Airport beset with an afterthought that justice was not completely served on the perpetrators. She vowed to return to the Philippines and go after “the powers that be” that set free convicted criminals as well as condone the “evil” in high places in the Philippines.

End of Carmela V. Returns 1