De-Lata

Someone opens a box and takes two cans of sardines from it. The cans are placed on a table and then transferred to a foodpack already filled with a kilo of rice and some noodles. The canned sardines remain visible through the thin plastic pouch. A campaign sticker is placed on the pack and then, it is stacked on top of the rest. This happens inside a Barangay Hall. The foodpacks are picked up and delivered to a checkpoint, where a weary crowd is already waiting. The first pack is almost given to an old woman when KAP, 50 y.o., arrives and interrupts the distribution. The food items are then transferred to a car trunk and driven to a warehouse. While the car is leaving, it could be seen from a distance that the people have become unruly and some Tanods have started hitting some guys violating the social distancing protocol. At the warehouse, the driver orders the caretaker, RED, 18 years old, to transfer the packs inside the building where a huge pile of food items are already hoarded. After a few moments of pondering, Red secures some foodpacks and puts them inside a bag. Red meets up with Brey, 18 y.o., leader of a group of teenagers in an abandoned building. They remove the food items from the plastic bag with campaign stickers, throw away the stickered bags into the trash and pool the food items for repacking. Eventually, the Barangay Captain’s henchmen discovers their hideout. An argument ensues between the Barangay Captain and Brey. The former loses his temper and orders a summary execution. One of his men, gets a gun. A flash of light, a gunshot and a blood splatter lands on Brey’s face. A few can of sardines scatters off the ground. As The henchmen leave the scene, one of them gets a sachet of shabu and throws it beside an open can of sardines. It’s red sauce oozing thick like blood.

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