Riles

The couple Eddie and Pen, their three adopted children and two kids of their own live in a shabby little house right next to a railway line in the Philippine capital Manila. They are not the only ones who live dangerously close to the tracks; many poor families have settled here. Between the rails, children play, self-made carts are driven around, the men gamble and the women get together. When a train approaches, everybody steps aside for a moment and when all carriages have rumbled past, life resumes its normal course. Eddie and Pen have serious worries, because the landlord has announced that their house is to be demolished. They owe a great deal in back rent, Eddie earns too little selling duck eggs and the mere pittance that Pen gets as a maid does not get them anywhere either. Moreover, Pen is in an advanced stage of breast cancer. Her right breast has been amputated, she is in pain and tires quickly. They each cope with their anxieties in different ways: Eddie converts his hard-earned cash into booze whenever he gets a chance and when Pen finds her husband drunk, she flies into a rage. These people need not look to the government for help: when the elections are at hand, politicians come here to canvass votes, but otherwise most parties do not care about the fate of these citizens at all.