INT. BAYANIHAN ARCHEOLOGY OFFICE - DAY
The excited chatter of the RADIO ANNOUNCER is nothing short of annoying. It fills the entire office, battling with LINAO’s furious typing at his computer. The radio sits on his desk next to a framed wedding photo of Linao and his fellow state archeologist, BATID.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
300 years since the Cleanse of 2020!
Where has the time gone, comrades?
Linao finds himself at his computer looking up Area-89, a barren piece of land in the northern region of Bayanihan and their current research project. He shifts to another window on his computer and finds that Area-89 was so heavily bombed during the Cleanse of 2020 that no vegetation grew in its stead. Linao loses focus as the radio does not allow him to think in peace.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O)
As you may know, comrades, the nuclear war
called the Cleanse of 2020 almost wiped out
90% of the entire Earth’s landmass,
including the once hellish Philippines,
a war-torn land full of disobedient pagans!
LINAO
(mutters)
Here we go again.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
But our Great Leaders, a dynasty from
the Philippines, blessed by Bathala for their incredible faith in Him, survived the attack and founded Bayanihan on their own obliterated country! Now we celebrate 300 years since the Philippines was cleansed—
LINAO
On purpose?
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
(hesitant)
Cleansed! Yes, cleansed and—
LINAO
“And from the rubble rose our Great Leaders
and established our beloved country of the
Bayanihan.” Okay, I get it.
He reaches to lower the volume of the radio.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Stick around for our next song,
“Bayanihan Kong Mahal.”
LINAO
As if I have a choice.
A sharp electric spark flashes through his body so strong that he is knocked off his seat. He glares at a blinking red light on the radio.
LINAO
(mocking)
A little patient today aren’t we, comrades?
As the country was able to keep up with the New World’s race of technological advancement, the state-provided radio was programmed to keep citizens in check through a hidden microphone that allows verbal communication to be monitored, and through an electrocution system that only required air particles to send a shock to anyone at any distance.
Batid enters their office with a small item in hand. She places it aside before rushing to help her husband back onto his seat. She glares at the blinking red light for a second.
BATID
Breathe, comrade. Can you please control
yourself? You’ll get us both in trouble.
LINAO
Why can’t we turn that damned thing off?!
Another spark hits him and he groans in pain. Batid wraps her arms around him until his breathing steadies.
LINAO
Apologies, comrade. It’s just—
There’s been zero progress on Area-89
for weeks.
As with previous archeological digs, they were tasked to find as many items in Area-89 as possible. No artifact was found until today.
BATID
I beg to differ.
She hands him the content of the package. It’s a cassette tape, faintly bearing the label “Hotdog 1976.”
BATID
Found 21-feet deep at the site.
Linao turns the item in his hands, fascinated by its odd shape. He goes to his computer and holds the cassette to its camera. The computer scans it. Batid reads out its classification on the screen provided by the Bayanihan Database.
BATID
“Cassette Tape. Audio content. 1976.”
Hotdog’s 1976 hit “Manila” starts to play from the COMPUTER, competing against the music from the radio. Linao and Batid are taken by surprise.
BATID
(entranced)
I’ve never heard any kind of music
outside the radio broadcast.
COMPUTER (V.O.)
“I keep coming back to Manila…”
BATID
Manila?
LINAO
Sounds like a person. This might be
some kind of love song.
COMPUTER (V.O.)
“Simply no place like Manila… ”
BATID
It’s a place?
Linao turns to his wife.
LINAO
What if Manila was a place in Bayanihan?
I mean— What was it called before?
BATID
The Philippines?
LINAO
Yes, what if Manila was a place in the Philippines before it was bombed in the Cleanse?
BATID
Now that you mentioned it, the song
did use Old World Tagalog.
Linao freezes. He scans the cassette tape again.
BATID
What’s wrong?
LINAO
If the Censors reject this—
He then clicks the Censor Checker on the computer. Like a nightmare come to life, the screen flashes in blinding red ‘REJECTED’.
LINAO
I knew it.
BATID
Rejected! But why?
Linao tosses the cassette next to the radio.
LINAO
(coldly)
What year is this cassette from?
BATID
- Comrade, what’s going on?
LINAO
Anything we find that’s dated before the
Cleanse of 2020 is rejected from public viewing,
then incinerated.
The radio’s volume gradually increases with no one touching it. An electric spark hits Linao. His body jerks but he ignores it.
LINAO
Remember that book from 1887? Rejected.
That stuffed animal from 2016? Rejected.
BATID
(realizing)
And yet the Censors accepted that phoning
device from 2197.
LINAO
Exactly! And what happens to the items dated
before the Philippines was completely bombed
in 2020? Rejected!
BATID
I thought the Great Leaders only had
subversive items rejected.
LINAO
But they had that 2016 stuffed animal burned too!
It seems like our only job is to find junk from the
Old World Philippines so that we can erase its history.
A stronger electric spark hits Linao. He only yelps in pain but continues.
BATID
Lin—
(beat)
Comrade, stop.
LINAO (CONT.)
So that we can believe that the Philippines
was a primitive hellscape before the “Great Leaders”
took control of the land and established a “civilian paradise”. It’s all a lie!
The radio is reaching top volume. The announcer begins to sound a bit distressed.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Hail to our great leaders! Hail!
LINAO
The Philippines was probably just a normal
country from all the artifacts we’ve seen.
But the Great Leaders are using us to erase
history to secure their power! They probably
bombed their own country!
BATID
Linao, stop!
The radio finally reaches full volume when a powerful electric spark hits him, sending him to the ground. He collides with his desk, which knocks off their wedding photo. It shatters on the ground beside Linao. Batid drops to her husband and tries to help him stand. The radio gives no pity.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Let us celebrate 300 years since our Great Leaders
founded our beloved Bayanihan!
It is no use. Linao is unable to stand and Batid cradles him in her arms. As if hit with a reminder, her head shoots up and her eyes quickly move from Linao to the red light on the radio. Her blood runs cold. It has stopped blinking. Their location has been targeted.
BATID
No. Dear god, no! They’re coming!
LINAO
(struggles to speak)
They used the war, Batid, to start over—
BATID
Linao, stop! Please!
A march of heavy footsteps crescendos in the hallway. Batid freezes. This is a moment she has been avoiding her whole life. A group of Peace and Order Officers bursts into the office and seizes Linao from her arms.
LINAO
Liars! All of you!
Batid is frozen as she and Linao watch an officer smash the cassette to bits with a baton. The husband and wife share one last frightened look before the same baton strikes Linao on the head. The radio has gone silent. The officer then speaks to a dumbstruck Batid.
OFFICER
Nothing is to leave this office.
BATID
(quietly)
Yes, comrade.
She silently watches her limp husband being dragged away. At the corner of her eye, she spots the fallen wedding photo on the floor. With steady hands, she separates it from its broken frame, not minding the glass pieces digging into her skin. She places it in her pocket before the radio comes to life.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Comrades, let us raise our voices to hail our Great Leaders! Hail! Hail!
Five minutes ago, she would have obeyed. But now she takes the radio in her hands.
BATID
(to the radio announcer)
Lose the script, kapatid.
Batid hurls the radio away from her, not flinching once when it crashes to the floor. There is no point in caring anymore. She now knows what happens next can never be avoided. Once again, heavy footsteps rush into the office.
END.
