Dharna (Christian Bables) was a friendly neighborhood beautician. One day, a leaked document showed his real name Panfilo Macaspac Jr. to be among the suspected drug addicts in the watch list of their barangay. He learned that this list will be turned over to the Phil. National Police the next day. So for the rest of that day and night, Dharna went around to various area leaders in an effort to get his name out of the dreaded list.
Their barangay chairman Cynthia (Eugene Domingo) sent Dharna to see school principal Mr. Roja (Soliman Cruz), the president of Area 2 where he now lived. His father Lando (Ricky Davao) recommended Dharna to see midwife Melba (Janice de Belen), the president of Area 5 where he grew up. He was also told to find action star Donato Rapido (John Arcilla), the president of Area 8, the only area which allowed accusations via dropbox.
Dharna's situation was understandably very desperate. He only had one overnight to alter an unfortunate event which will affect his life forever. There were so many people to see, and so little time. These local politicians all asked him to do them favors for their own little private businesses. On top of all that, Dharna had issues with his boyfriend Zeus (Nico Antonio), an aging macho dancer at 30 who desperately wanted to win a pageant that same night.
The central character Dharna just had to be an openly gay guy, who just happened to have two similarly gay brothers Vholta (VJ Mendoza) and Ghalema (Awra Briguela), and they all just happened to speak Tagalog with a thick Visayan accent. These elements made sure that there was a healthy dose of humor throughout to keep things light, but not too much as to totally dispel the seriousness of the important political commentary being made.
Christian Bables has this gay persona pretty much second nature for him, and his dramatic chops for his serious scenes remains excellent. All the big name supporting actors gamely play their wacky characters, with Janice de Belen, John Arcilla and Gina Alajar (as Dharna's sainted mother) giving most memorable turns. Writer-director Jun Lana hits a homerun once again, even if this topic of tokhang may somehow oddly dated now. 8/10.
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