DELIKADO – Filipino for Delicate, as well as Dangerous

These defenders of the environment contend with violent and ruthless forces both smaller and larger than them. During the film’s opening, the audience is immersed in Chan’s very delicate and dangerous operations as the camera follows them catching illegal loggers in the act. As they confiscate their chainsaws, Chan and Tata know these smalltime bandits are being supported and controlled by bigtime magnates. Meanwhile, Rosento is in an uphill reelection battle against an opposition candidate supported by her political arch-enemy, the very wealthy and powerful Palawan governor Jose Alvarez, a onetime logging magnate and land developer, who is supported by President Rodrigo Duterte. Conveniently, as part of his drug war, Duterte has accused Rosento of being a narco cartel member. Unfazed, Rosento wages war against a dirty election campaign supported by land developers and the wealthy opposition party. In the meantime, a spokesperson for Alvarez has made their own death threats against Chan and his renegade group. The film’s central breaking point is a death among its members as the pressures from above are out to break the film’s protagonists. This incident nails the coffin to a Global Witness report that the Philippines is the most dangerous country for land defenders.