Synopsis: In order to scratch a living from the earth’s bowels, Lupe Velez (Sharon Cuneta) scrounges for saleable junk in the mountain dump and carries Metring (Loretta Marquez), her lame mother, to beg around churches. Their meager earnings are sponged by Kadyo (Raoul Aragonn), an inveterate gambler and her mother’s paramour. Her mother is forever thankful to him for letting them stay in his house when her husband died and taking care of her when she got sick.
Lupe curses her numbing poverty and vows to marry the person who can take her out of the slums. Kadyo has a girlfriend, Bunny (Deborah Sun), who cheats on him by having an affair with Greco (Mark Gil), a slum toughie. In turn, Greco is in love with Lupe but can only express his affection through coarse actions.
Lupe’s friends are Luming (Princess Punzalan), whose family owns the neighborhood store, and Carding (Tonton Gutierrez), a waiter in a nightclub. Carding lives with his mother, Aling Memay (Anita Linda).
Lupe has potential as a singer. She often wins in the amateur contests of the neighborhood. One evening, she handily wins the Barangay San Roque Amateur Singing Contest and is spotted by Tony (Rey Abellana), a musician in Carding’s nightclub. She is asked to audition for the nightclub manager and is taken as a replacement for the alcoholic and unreliable star singer, Ruffy (Marilen Martinez).
Lupe is now succeeding as singer. She is able to hit back at Kadyo whom she whips when he steals her life savings. But her mother is still faithful to him and refuses to leave the shanty for a better place.
One night, as Lupe is asleep, a stranger walks in and presses a handkerchief drenched with chloroform on her. The stranger returns some days later. This time, Lupe is prepared and surprises the intruder. It is Greco. She chases him out of the house.
She finds herself pregnant and asks Luming to help in the abortion. Luming advises her against it and Carding offers to give his name to the child. Lupe lives with Carding for the duration of the pregnancy.
Lupe is discovered by Don Ignacio Aboitiz (Mario Montenegro) who offers her a recording contract with Golden Records and a marriage proposal. Although he is carrying on in age, Don Ignacio fits the description of the husband who could lift her from her depressing status. They plan to marry. For the meantime, Lupe moves out of Carding’s house and into a new home given by Don Ignacio. However, Carding refuses to give the baby to her. He starts to drink as he thinks he is losing her. One night, Luming brings him inside his room. He starts to caress her but he only mutters Lupe’s name.
Everybody in the neighborhood believes that Greco is the father but he denies it repeatedly to Bunny. She tells him to be smart and claim the child as he could use it for extortion. He tries to shake up Carding’s household but is beaten up.
Lupe and Don Ignacio arrive just in time for Greco’s confession. He is not the father of the child. Carding admits to the wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Metring has been persuaded to live in Lupe’s new home. Kadyo visits her when she is away. One day, he refuses to leave when Lupe arrives. There is a struggle. Kadyo is in the act of strangling Lupe when Metring grabs a kitchen knife and stabs him. He turns around and also stabs Metring with it. Lupe takes a gun and shoots him. Metring is buried. Lupe has changed. She is less contemptuous of the slums and more sympathetic of the people who live there. She decides not to marry Don Ignacio. Instead she goes to Carding and their child.
(Source: Lino Brocka: The Artist and His Times)
"Pasan Ko ang Daigdig" (1987)
Viva Films
Release Date September 30, 1987
Serialized in Aliwan Komiks
Story Pablo S. Gomez
Screenplay Rene O. Villanueva and Orlando Nadres
Edited by Ike Jarlego, Jr.
Cinematography Rody Lacap
Production Design Edgar Littaua
Music Willy Cruz
Executive Producer Vic del Rosario, Jr.
Supervising Producer Tony Gloria
Produced by Ramon Salvador
Direction Lino Brocka
Cast Sharon Cuneta, Tonton Gutierrez, Loretta Marquez, Mark Gil, Rey 'PJ' Abellana, Mario Montenegro, Princess Punzalan/ Also Starring Raoul Aragonn, Anita Linda, Deborah Sun and Marilen Martinez
