Lusong: A Case Study on an Impoverished Community and a Compelling Argument in Favor of the Controversial R.H. Bill in the Philippines

In the Philippines, there are families whose dwellings are literally set on the waters. And I’m not talking about rich and famous people living in fancy yachts and boat houses. I’m talking about destitute families whose makeshift shelters are laid on waters. The foundations of their dwellings are laid on the bed of the sea. The families living in these houses are constantly subjected to the mercy of the nature’s whims. A storm, which is rampant in the country, could easily wipe them away in a jiffy. Because of their economic condition, these families have to catch clams and fish in order to survive. They are also largely dependent on the garbage that finds its ways in the waters—trash waiting to be scavenged and recycled for their subsistence.

Lusong (Live to Dive, 2011), directed by Nash Ang, is a documentary about two families living in Baranggay 20, Isla Puting Bato, Tondo, Manila. This documentary is a good case study on the lives of people dependent on the generosity of polluted waters for their day to day survival. Its narrative weaves together clashing moments of acceptance of fate, denial of realities, and hanging on to eroding dreams. Lusong is an example of how documentary films can raise social awareness and be a potential catalyst for social change.

The opening scenes of Lusong show the troubled co-existence of beauty in the form of nature and ugliness in the form of poverty. These scenes show the crimes of man against nature and society; how man’s actions have defiled nature and how state apparatus have failed to ensure that its citizens enjoy a fair and reasonable chance to succeed in life. A montage of shots depicting life in Baranggay 20 and the outcome of the state’s negligence to protect the welfare of its constituents introduces the film—kids playing with dirt where trash is scattered around, barefoot naked boy stepping on wet ground, a child being fed with milk (most likely powdered milk) from a plastic bottle, dirty feet of children, shirtless young girl lingering in the open, etc. The camera goes on to give us a glimpse of the living conditions at the place where the documentary is set.

Children immerse themselves in water filled with trash as if it is a normal thing to do—like it is nothing. After the opening montage, the film invites us to have a privileged look at a family whose head of household, Rolando Pantas, could barely walk because of his deformity which prompts him to constantly twitch. We become witnesses to his day to day struggle with life. Despite his physical condition, he  has to find ways to feed his family and send his children to school. One morning Rolando summons his son Ronald “Pirot” Pantas to get up and go to the sea to fetch water. After having seen how polluted the waters are in the beginning of the movie, one can’t help but cringe.

Pirot tells the audience how he sometimes swallows water when he dives, and that the garbage in the waters does not bother him anymore. He has gotten used to it. He also tells us that sometimes he catches sea creatures, like clams and fish, that he would either sell or eat at home. And yes, that’s fish from the waters filled with garbage. His father, Rolando, recounts that his deformity started when he was in second grade. I can’t help but ask: Was his sickness caused by the pollution?  Isn’t he worried about having the same thing happen to his children? Do they have options other than to depend on what they could get out of the polluted waters?

One of the most emphatic moments in the film was the part when members of the crew interview a number of kids about a recent death of a child. The kids seem to genuinely believe that the death was caused by the curse of a merman. There is a folklore going around in their neighborhood that a merman lives in the waters and that he takes the lives of people who gets into his bad side. Arnulfo "Totoy" Neru tells the film crew: “My cousin died a week ago because he accidentally hit a merman … A merman looked like a black small dwarf. My cousin was cursed, his face got sore.” The mother of the child who passed away rejects the idea that the water’s pollution caused the death of his child. Rather, she reaffirms Totoy’s fantastic story.  She says:

“They said my son was taking a bath in the sea.

[People thought that] he [might have] had drunk

the contaminated water

The doctor said that he got tetanus

for he was having fever then.

I don’t believe so because the water here is clean.

They didn’t bath here where the water is dirty.

I saw them on the middle part of the sea

because my son knows how to swim.”

Because of poverty, a number of kids in Baranggay 20 have lost their lives. Those who remain alive live in cycles of deprivation. While Lusong only focuses on the stories of Pirot and Totoy, we see a significant number of children living in poverty. Each of them, I would not doubt, has his or her own heartbreaking story to tell. I could not help but think that this film, perhaps outside of the filmmaker’s intent (which I will never know), is a good argument for the controversial R.H. Bill in the Philippines which supports state intervention in educating the people about birth control and responsible parenthood. This is one of the things that documentaries do—they become case studies relevant to social issues. For instance, in the documentary, Rolando’s wife Arlene Pantas is once again pregnant—and this, despite the couple’s inability to support the kids that they already have.

Pirot tells us that he takes care of house chores every morning before joining other kids to play. At a young age, he has to take on adults’ responsibilities before he can immerse himself in his childhood. Totoy echoes the story of Pirot. They both dive the polluted waters to make a little bit of cash and they both help their parents out at a very young age. Totoy is asked by one of the interviewers in the film if he would rather play or work.  He answers that he would rather work because it is his source of livelihood. He dives the polluted waters to find scrap for recycling. He digs canals, against his father’s wishes, to find loose change. Totoy also talks about paying his father’s debts when he gets some extra cash out of scavenging. He goes to school, but it seems that he is resigned to the fact that after completing sixth grade, he will be abandoning school. 

Rolando has given up on his dreams for a brighter future for his son Pirot.  He is painfully aware that he cannot afford to send him to college.  He said that he is already old and that nothing will come out of his dreams. While most people are aware of the importance of going to school in building one’s future, most kids couldn’t go because they do not have the resources to do so. It is already a gargantuan task for most families to put food on the table, buying basic school supplies such as notebooks is a luxury that they could not afford. In the Philippines, there is very scarce to completely zero practicable effort from the government to help families such as Rolando’s. Even at school, the teacher seems to be completely aware of the predicament of the children. She has no illusion of pretending that given their condition, they would be able to enjoy their youth without worries. While every child deserves a time to grow, life is harsher to others. Equality is an ideal that is very elusive. In dealing with the reality of her pupils, the teacher tries to make the discussions relevant to the children’s living conditions.  She asks the class: “How do you help your family to make extra money?”

Totoy’s father, Roberto Neru, does not have a stable source of income. He says he is not worried because he has a lot of families around him—extended relatives with whom he could count on. He also admits that he mostly depends on his son Totoy. However, he also says he never forces Totoy or asks him to do things for him. Totoy helps on his own accord. Roberto explains that he used to be a construction worker but that at age 47, he is no longer able to engage in heavy labor. Totoy confides that if his mother were alive, she would not have allowed him to work at his young age. Roberto disagrees. He insists that even if his wife were alive, she would have allowed him to work because there is nothing wrong with working. He emphasizes that he would not allow his son to take on physically demanding work since he is aware that the kid is not ready for it. Families like Totoy’s and Pirot’s are not alone. There are many households in the Philippines that are stuck in such abhorrent conditions. Documentaries like Lusong raise social awareness. Hopefully, these films would someday prompt the state to take some action. Politicians and lawmakers should keep the welfare of the people in mind when they engineer state budgets, laws, policies, and regulations.

The final scenes in Lusong emphasize the movie’s point with a very powerful imagery. The ending unfolds with the kids playing in the waters. This is followed by a child who dives into the sea. The camera pans on a sign board stating that “water is life.” These children have no choice but to dive into their source of life, no matter how polluted and unhealthy that source might be. Then, Totoy waves at the children as if to suggest his acceptance of their fate. They might as well greet it with an open heart. 

This powerful imagery is punctuated by a very insightful song Bata Pa Ako (I am still a child) by Julie Abueva in the closing credits. The lines of the song go like this: 

‘Di ka ba nagtataka … Ako’y nasa lansangan

At ikaw ay nasa sasakyan papuntang paaralan?

(Aren’t you wondering … I’m on the streets

And you’re in a car on the way to school?)

Lusong reminds us of the uncomfortable divide in society between the haves and the have-nots, the rich and the poor, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, the 1% and the 99%.  And while this divide is much more pronounced in less economically stable countries like the Philippines, it does exist everywhere. Lusong, although set in a small community in the Philippines, tackles a universal problem.