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
