“Despite its harmless-sounding title, Food Delivery has extraordinary fangs”
IF YOU type the words “food delivery” in an online search, chances are, the results would contain restaurant delivery services. The results would be the same even if you capitalized the F and the D. This is how safe and harmless the title of the movie Food Delivery sounds.
In truth, the documentary directed by Babyruth Villarama has extraordinary fangs. From its making to its eventual Philippine premiere just last Sunday, July 27, the filmmakers have faced considerable peril as the movie tries to deliver an important message to Filipinos: what is ours is ours, and must be defended.
The movie follows members of the Philippine Navy in their patrol mission to areas of the West Philippine Sea, well within our Exclusive Economic Zone. Food and other supplies are delivered to them in blue drums, and then they are left by themselves on the mission. They talk about their concerns – having to earn for their families, failing to communicate with loved ones or gain access to financial services because they are somewhere so remote it does not have signal, and braving harassment from the Chinese.
And then the movie focuses on a fishing community in Zambales. It zooms in on the life of Arnel Satam, who in September 2023, onboard his fishing boat, was chased by the Chinese boats and driven away from his usual fishing ground near Scarborough Shoal. The chase lasted several minutes; in subsequent interviews, Satam said he just laughed at the Chinese who were desperate to scare him.
But of course, this is not a laughing matter. In Food Delivery, Satam, fellow fisherman Paulo Panicpic, and their peers give firsthand accounts of the harassment they have been experiencing from the Chinese. These acts compromise their livelihood and their safety. The film concludes with the continued search for four missing amid frantic, days-on-end efforts by other fishermen to look for them.
They are still missing.
The documentary was supposed to be part of the Puregold Cinepanalo 2025 Film Festival, but it was eventually excluded from the lineup. The producers then ventured to make their film part of the Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand. Upon getting wind of this, China’s Consulate-General in Auckland made a formal request to the organizers to refrain from showing Food Delivery. “This documentary disregarded history and facts and is designed to amplify the Philippines’ wrong position on the issue concerning the South China Sea and deliberately distort and hype up the maritime situation,” said the Consulate-General.
Doc Edge stood its ground. The movie went on to win the Tides of Change award at the festival in early July. And now, after being shown and recognized elsewhere, Food Delivery is home – albeit in a limited capacity.
VIPs were in attendance during Sunday’s premiere – defense officials, politicians, members of the diplomatic community, and Satam and Pumicpic who were roundly applauded for their stories, bravery, and candor.
There will be limited screenings at Powerplant Mall this first week of August, and ways to secure tickets are available online. Whether or not the movie will be shown commercially in other popular, more accessible cinemas nationwide remains a question. Powerful forces still wield enormous influence.
But this is a message that must be delivered to as many Filipinos as possible. The Philippines has a legitimate right to areas within its EEZ, and must resist all attempts to bully us – fisherfolk or soldiers, bancas or bigger vessels – out of an area that is validly ours to begin with. We have the power of international law and the support of many other countries behind us. This is affirmed by the July 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that decided in our favor.
The WPS is not disputed territory – it is already ours, even as our giant neighbor to the West refuses to acknowledge, much less abide by, this.
So please, if you can, go watch this movie. And then create a clamor so that more theaters would be brave enough to be the bearer of a message that strikes at the core of who we are.
