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MANILA, Philippines?The issue on human trafficking is like a song whose lyrics and melody everyone knows but which still remains unsung. Unknown to most city dwellers, even in the Philippines, human trafficking is very much rampant particularly in Mindanao.
A young independent filmmaker from Zamboanga gives a voice to the untold stories of Filipinos who seek greener pastures in Sabah and go through the ?backdoor.?
In his award-winning film ?Halaw: Ways of the Sea,? Sheron Dayoc tells the story of a group of Filipino illegal migrants who were on their way to Malaysia. The film won Best Full-length Film for the New Breed category of this year?s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, it won Dayoc the award for Best Direction, and actor John Arcilla won the award for Best Performance of an Actor for the New Breed category. Halaw?s Lester Olager and Chuck Gutierrez also won the Best Editing award for the same category.
The film trail the following characters: Jahid and his younger sister, Daying who were going to Sabah to look for their missing mother; Hernand, an illegal recruiter and his new recruit, Lydia, who was clueless of the fact that she will be working as a prostitute; Mercedes (played by Maria Isabel Lopes), a veteran sex worker on her way back to her work; two young men who left their homes hoping to find employment in a foreign country; and a smuggler out to get more merchandise.
The film narrates the story of how they cross the dangerous borders of Bongao, Tawi-tawi, Philippines to Sabah amid the risk of being caught by Malaysian authorities hoping that they will find better lives in an uncertain land. The trip costs P2,500 per head and takes 24 hours to complete on board an tiny, old, shabby pump boat.
In the film, it was mentioned that due lack of documentation, the exact number of Filipinos crossing the backdoor borders are still unknown. It was also said that thousands of illegal Filipinos migrants are deported annually from Malaysia but most of them still return despite the risk due to lack of opportunities in their homeland.
In a forum after a special screening of Halaw at the Philippine Daily Inquirer office in Makati, Dayoc said that the title of his film is a Malay-Bahasa word which translates to ?driven away? and is the term used for Filipino deportees from Malaysia.
A documentarist by nature, Dayoc said that he chose the topic because he believed it is a matter that needs to be immediately addressed.
"We always wanted a greener pastures, it has always been a Filipino culture, it does not have to be in Sabah," Dayoc said.
?It is my advocacy to tell stories on social issues,? he added.
Dayoc added that the characters in his film were based on real people who were part of the case study done by Dr. Derlie Fernandez on the issue of human trafficking and illegal immigrants.
For his part, Arcilla said he hopes the film will pave the way for a solution to the problem on human trafficking and white slavery.
?Hindi lang kami nagwa-wallow sa poverty nila. Sana itong pelikulang ito magbukas din ng pintuan para ma-solve yung problema, hindi lang namin ini-exploit yung poverty nila para gumawa ng mga obra mastra na ikakarangal (We are not wallowing in their poverty. I hope this film will open doors to solve the problem, we are not exploiting their poverty to make works of art that will be lauded),? Arcilla said.
