Doc Edge 2025 Craccum Coverage | Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea

Sa manlulupig, 'di ka pasisiil / Ne'er shall invaders trample thy sacred shores

Seen from a distance as a Filipino myself, the seeds of Philippine nationalist deference subtly plant themselves throughout Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea, albeit not without justification. With a political issue as contentious and ongoing as territorial ownership over the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea, one can easily forget the existing on-the-ground stakeholders and native Filipino inhabitants who rely on the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands for sustenance and financial stability thanks to its bountiful supply of fish. For most of Food Delivery's runtime, two stakeholders are put into sharp focus: the Philippine Coast Guard and Navy officers and the local fishermen hailing from the nearest Philippine province, Zambales.

We are first introduced to Philippine Navy soldiers out on duty patrolling the West Philippine Sea, oftentimes comforting themselves with self-deprecating jokes about the sacrifices they've had to make to earn a living. One complains about the lack of cell signal to send money to his family; another reflects on the routine nature of getting up early in the morning for work with his wife and children fast asleep in fear that they have to watch him leave home wide awake. The pay may be fine, but separating from their family members hundreds of miles from the mainland is arguably the most significant cost of this ongoing territorial dispute.

The fishermen from Zambales fare no better either. Horror stories abound as the local community reminisces on all of the negative interactions they've had at sea from Chinese authorities. Arnel, a fisherman chased down by a Chinese patrol boat and whose encounter made national headlines across the country, shares his surprising calmness and levity of the situation. His son corroborates:

The first time I saw it, I knew right away it was you who got chased in the news. I screamed. I screamed! Mama ran to me… When the news report was over, our fear was replaced with joy… Yes, the first time that we saw it was you, it was scary… Sister Tere was about to cry. Then after a while, we started laughing when the reporter asked, "What was your reaction, Arnel, when you were chased by…" You said, "I just laugh at them." When you said that, everyone burst into laughter. Even the grumpy Auntie GangGang went outside… She was also laughing so much.

During a fishing expedition in November of last year—amid poor weather conditions due to the winter season—four fishermen went missing by the Scarborough Shoal. The seriousness of the situation also does not deter these fishermen from cracking up jokes about seeking help from folkloric monsters to alleviate their supposed powerlessness stopping Chinese occupation of their livelihoods:

We can't go up against China, you know… We have nowhere else to go. Only Capiz. Let's order some Aswang there. Maybe that's what we should use to fight against them. We can deploy them as jet fighters!

If allegiance to the motherland is inseparable from economic necessity, it makes sense why Filipinos decidedly put all their eggs in one populist presidential basket that promises radical change for the working class every election season. But the dialectic stops there—or at least in Food Delivery—how much is the motherland willing to extend its guarantees of safety and prosperity beyond the 'main'-land and into the sea? The answer is an affirmative and uplifting "YES!", but only for a brief and triumphant moment as we witness Philippine Coast Guard officers providing food and supplies to fishermen on a rescue mission in search of the four missing fishermen. The swelling, inspirational music slowly fades, and the film's coda of an overhead drone shot of the sea reminds us how atomistic, stratifying and stupefying such a conflict is for the average working Filipino. You can't see a Nine-dash line or an Exclusive Economic Zone boundary in the water.

The once vast, mysterious, and liberating capabilities of the oceans of the pre-colonial past are now treated as arbitrated property up for grabs. Who owns the property? Definitely not the fishermen or the Navy officers. No, this is a matter of 'national pride', echoed by every single Filipino leader for the past 15 years, with nothing to show for except continued aggression and antagonism. The fishermen remain helpless and the Coast Guard left in limbo stationed in atolls for an indiscriminate amount of time until they receive further orders. That is Food Delivery's cruel, cyclical irony of a countrymen's squandering sacrifice, however deliberate or accidental its intentions are. Whatever sense of 'resilience', 'unity', and 'the fight for freedom' one reads about this film, there is nothing dignifying about seeing a bigger country bully a smaller country for its resources. There is also nothing dignifying seeing this smaller country scurry to the imperialist lap of America for military support—whose Defence Secretary was in the midst of a controversy for accidentally leaking plans to bomb Yemen (no surprises there).

Much like the fishermen in Zambales, I, too, am uncertain about the future of this conflict. A 2016 United Nations arbitration case ruled that although China's historic claim over the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea and their continued construction of artificial islands violated international maritime law, the ruling does not intend to stake any definite sovereignty claims for China and the Philippines on any territories and land. Despite this, both countries operate on such absolute, unwavering certainty that they will eventually retain all the islands they claim are theirs. Amidst all the closed-door governmental pitter-pattering, our beloved fisherman Arnel bestows us a no-nonsense perspective of the conflict that inspires resolute and confidence:

Let's fight for it. What happens if we just allow things as they are? We will end up nowhere if we give up Scarborough… That's why sometimes the neighbours tease me, "China is looking for you!"

So find me.

Doc Edge Festival is in Auckland from 25 June through to 13 July. The festival will also be showing in Christchurch and Wellington (16 July - 27 July).

Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea will be premiering in Auckland on the following dates:

30 June 2025 - 8:30pm - The Capitol Cinema
4 July 2025 - 8:30pm - Bridgeway Cinema

Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea

An exposé of the risks faced by Filipino fishermen, Coast Guard, and Navy delivering food to communities in the contested West Philippine Sea while defending their livelihoods and national sovereignty.

Doc EdgeJohn Lau