“Believe me”

Clara is a lower-class laundress naïve girl who lives in the village belonging to the administrative
district of Basco in Batanes, with her disabled brother Paco and his wife Luciana who hates her
for no reason. She was raised in God-loving before her dad died. Clara plans to marry her
childhood love Diego, a farmer/fisherman. She only waits for Diego to earn money to finish their
house construction before marriage, in some cases, Diego tries and forced Clara to have sex
with him, then she said: - “sex is a gift from god to give us pleasure since my dad died, I signed
the pledge to wait to have sex until marriage”.
Meet De La Vega Family, the rich upper-class businessman, and political social elites. The De
La Vega family is in Basco Batanes for the Engagement ceremony of the elder son Matias De
La Vega to the daughter of a politician. Mateo his brother and Nicolas and Jaime his cousin. All
these four spent their childhood in Batanes but as the businessman of their fathers grew, they
moved to Manila. They have a childhood friend in Basco, whom they meet on a yearly basis.
They come there for summer vacations. This fifth friend of theirs is Samuel Serrano.
Samuel Serrano is a well-mannered boy, good looking man, a welder by profession, who lives
with his aunt Lourdes Lopez, known as “Tia”, who is a homeopath. Samuel was orphaned
during childhood, so Lourdes brought him up as her own son. He has sideline work as a
carpenter in the workshop of his father’s friend. Samuel, unlike his rich friends, feels intimidated
by their presence. He considers himself important to them and hence enjoys their company.
Clara is desperate to be married off to Diego, not only because she loves him but also to get rid
of her nagging sister-in-law (Luciana). The big event of this story is the engagement of Matias,
the daughter of a Politician (Isabella Velasco) While in Basco, Batanes Matias, Mateo, Nicolas,
Jaime, and Samuel see Clara and the four rich men tease her. Samuel doesn’t like this. Then
after Matias’s engagement, Samuel looks for the girl she saw earlier, when he saw her working,
he stared for many minutes to come face to face to apologize for what they did to her. After the
party celebration. All five go for a drinking and drug binge near the lighthouse. Diego is leaving
for the night fish catch. Clara is coming to see him off. She passes by the area where the drunk
boys are singing. Samuel sees and recognizing her shouts to his friends “Guys! It’s the same
girl! Then when she tries to run, Samuel gets hold of her while the other four come near her. Her
last message was -"No, please stop! may god forgive you."
The dreaded tragedy occurs, and Clara is gang raped. The five boys are shown to be involved
in the crime as she faints when Samuel comes on her. The next morning, a traumatized Clara is
discovered by Tia Lourdes when she is going to the market. The five boys are already left at the
crime scene. Samuel is left deeply disturbed by the event and is even more distressed to know
that the girl has been rescued by his mother. He feels guilt and remorse - "I should have
protected her." – Samuel to himself. While the four rich boys are confident in the power of their
rich fathers and are sure to be saved. Luciana approaches De La Vega threatening to give their
name to the police. The De La Vega saves their sons and forcefully marries Samuel to Clara.
Samuel accepts all the blame for raping Clara solely for protecting his friends and also because
he believes himself to be guilty. Diego is hurt primarily because his fiancé was raped. He burns
their half-finished house in front of Clara because he believes De La Vega’s false stories that
Clara has been having an affair with Samuel from the beginning. "You are nothing. You will
always be nothing." Diego to Clara. Clara’s decision to marry Samuel- "I have no other option." -
Samuel’s vow to protect Clara - "I will never let anything happen to you again.". Clara and
Samuel’s families sell their properties and move to Manila to start a new life.

The story develops in Manila City, Clara hates Samuel, she insults him, abuses him, spits at
him, tries to kill him, etc. -"You raped me! You and your friends! And I will never forgive them.
But I will make them pay." Samuel is not sure whether he really raped her, as he was drunk and
drugged. But Clara believes that he did it as he was the last face she saw before fainting. Then
Mateo, who is having little trauma of guilt, tells Samuel what he knows. Mateo tells Samuel that
the latter did not rape Clara. In fact, when she lay there and fainted, he just sat beside her.
Samuel tells Clara. She believes it but it is of no reason importance to her as she hates him and
considers him as much of a culprit as the other four.
Months Later, Things become complicated due to the exploitations of the De La Vega and their
unscrupulous lawyer, who wants to protect them, as well as Diego, who seeks revenge on
Samuel. As a result, both De La Vega and Diego start harassing Samuel, Clara, and their
relatives. Samuel realizes his presence causes Clara a lot of pain and prepares to leave and
divorce her as she desires. Just before he leaves, Samuel realizes that he loves Clara. And that
is love at first sight. He writes a letter to her, telling her to move on in her life and that one day
he will come and ask for forgiveness from her "I never thought I could love someone like this." -
Samuel to himself
Clara reads this letter. Later on, at this moment, Clara fell in love slowly with Samuel as his
words softened her heart for him and she believed him. Samuel returns and Clara gradually
begins to trust him more.
One day, Mateo overhears Matias’s plan to get rid of Diego and Samuel forever. He requested a
meeting with Samuel to warn him. Clara, on a passing bus, sees Mateo hug Samuel goodbye,
and her trust in Samuel dissolves. She believes he is still conspiring with her rapists. In order to
prove his innocence and love for her, Samuel files her rape case and asks the police to arrest
him. Before the trial, Clara said to Samuel "I believe you. I will always believe you." During the
first trial, the De La Vega falsified their testimonies. Clara also starts going to a therapist to
overcome her trauma. Diego finds out the truth and asks Clara to forgive him, but she rejects
him. Clara walks out and runs to Samuel and confesses her love for him. “I never thought I
could feel this way again." – Clara to Samuel
Diego Against Clara, abducts her, stating he loves her more than Samuel and that he regrets
leaving her. “You left me when the time that I needed comfort only Samuel was there by my
side, you didn’t believe me”. Clara to Diego Samuel eventually rescued his wife and they
escaped. Diego is arrested and imprisoned for his crimes. They rewed, At the wedding of
Samuel and Clara, Diego intentionally tries to escape from police custody and is therefore shot
to death. Meanwhile, Matias, Nicolas, and Jaime surreptitiously move to where they briefly hide
from the authorities. However, they are extradited to Manila after Nicolas engages in a fight at a
nightclub and is arrested.
Eventually, Clara confronts them in court, and they are charged for their part in her rape,
essentially bringing down the De La Vega empire. - "We won. We got justice." – Clara to
Samuel. The story ends with Clara and Samuel expecting their first child, they walk down the
streets in Manila Bay holding hands, expressing that their love cannot be shaken despite the
difficult challenges they faced and that when a woman is as strong and resilient as Clara and
has the support of an understanding husband like Samuel, justice is always served. Sometimes
it’s better late than never.