First is the origins of Mayor Lim who was given up for adoption by his mom at the Hospicio de San Jose and later raised by his grandmother, Gloria Romero. Second is his family life with wife Amalia (Alessandra de Rossi) and their four children who he had to send to the States later to protect them from the proliferating death threats he’s been getting from his enemies. These first two areas provide the drama sequences in the film, especially the scenes of Fred as a young boy (Migs Cuaderno), yearning for the love of his mom. This thread of the story ends with him reconciling with his repentant aging mom (Gina Pareno.)
Third is his fight against three kingpins: first is the bank robber Charlie Zaragoza (Marc Abaya), then Charlie’s associate (Alvin Anson) and a corrupt wheeler dealer who has ties with the press club (Noni Buencamino). The film is also presented as a whodunit as Fred Lim (Cesar) is shown searching for the killer of his colleague cop and good friend, Gameng (Carlos Morales), who was treacherously murdered in cold blood. This last aspect of the movie is the one that provides the obligatory action scenes, all well staged. The acting is also generally good.
An added attraction to the movie is the presence of Krista Miller, the neophyte actress linked to Cesar who was the object of jealousy of his wife, Sunshine Cruz. Krista plays quite a lengthy role as Marita, the girlfriend of Marc Abaya with whom she has a comic love scene. When Marc gets arrested, she is shown smuggling a gun to help her brother, Alvin Anson, escape from prison. Later on, she becomes the paramour of Noni Buencamino who leads the cop to his fatal showdown with law enforcers. She’s a fairly good looking mestiza actress who can really give Sunshine enough reason to be jealous. The question now is: will she be attending tonight’s premiere night? Go to SM Manila and find out for yourself.
