PAMPANGA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

College of Education
EL102

Sanchez, Jamielle V. July 12 2021

BSEd English 1-A Prof. Karina Peña

INSIANG
Directed by Lino Brocka.

Lino Brocka directed Insiang, a full-length drama film released in 1976. It was the first film from
the Philippines to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival. It’s about a poor young woman who seeks
vengeance on people who have damaged her life. Hilda Koronel, Mona Lisa, Ruel Vernal, and Rez Crotez
star in the film.

The film depicted Insiang, the title heroine, as a lady who typified the treatment of poor women
in the 1970s; a repressed, oppressed, and abused woman. When compared to women of a different
socioeconomic status, women in poverty were more vulnerable to harassment and oppression by the
military and police. Stories and stories circulated at the time that people apprehended by the police in the
slums after curfew were frequently wrong, imprisoned with no prospect of bail, forcefully raped, and
thrown out the next day.

These women were more firmly entrenched in their gender roles as housewives and caregivers, as
depicted in the film. When a lady was able to marry herself out of poverty and into a good life, it was
fortunate. As seen by the male characters in the film pursuing Insiang for her beauty rather than genuine
love, women were sexual objects and pursuits at the time (it can be argued that this is still prevalent now
but not as terrible as it was back then).

Women in poverty have been driven to work in the “hospitality industry” related to tourism and
rest and recreation that has arisen around old US military sites for the same reason. They did not
explicitly mention it, but strongly hinted, that the site to which Bebot transported Insiang was a love hotel
for such activities.

Following up on my study, I discovered that the emergence of the manufacturing for export
business in the Philippines in the early 1970s created jobs for thousands of young women. R&R and
tourism are two other areas that have employed a significant number of women since the 1970s. The
R&R business began with the development of US military bases in the Philippines at the turn of the
century, when the US took over as colonizers from Spain.

During this time, however, this was not the case for middle- and upper-class families. Despite
widespread abuses and violations of freedom under Martial Law, the Philippine government began
implementing an abroad employment program in the 1970s to absorb the growing number of Filipino
workers. As a result, many married women have elected to go abroad to work, while their husbands stay
at home to care for the children, resulting in new conceptualizations of the Filipino family and shifting
gender roles.

Most Filipino families nowadays have transnational household links and networks that they
sustain and reproduce. In these new and changing circumstances, the Filipino family has remained
adaptable and functional.