A dancer, a model and a fighter dream of overcoming their harsh realities to achieve wealth and success beyond the slum.
Staying fit and healthy is not easy in a slum, and many residents must perform a delicate balancing act to get by.
During election season in Manila, politicians are out fishing for votes, but the locals are not all convinced.
Sandwiched between a polluted harbor and a busy highway is the charcoal- making a community of Ulingan- in Manila, with a population of 40,000. Husband and wife team Judy and Babes Barines have operated a charcoal pit for the last nine years. They invested all their savings in charcoal-making but have to make some difficult decisions when their investment is wiped out by a tropical storm that hits the south of the country. A few kilometers east of the Barines' charcoal pits, corn seller and mother of nine, Bebe, is starting work. But she has not managed to escape the storm either. She has to repair her makeshift home under a bridge and work out how to make a living as her supply of corn dries up. Meanwhile, Pilipinas Got Talent superstar, Frankendal, is also feeling the effects of the typhoon. He has not heard from his mother and grandmother since the storm, so he heads to the region to look for them. As a former slum dweller, he knows just how precarious life can be.
Fifty years from now, one in three people worldwide will live in slums like Tondo in the sprawling megacity of Manila- built without proper sanitation, lacking medical facilities, and packed to capacity. Ricky Fuertes makes his living sorting through rubbish- tonnes of it, every day. He earns $2.50 a day scavenging so he can feed his family of five. But he faces his biggest challenge when his slum is burnt to the ground. Nearby, Chito Barquin dives for his money. He normally makes a living working salvage jobs, but times are tough so he now dives in polluted waters for old tyres he can sell to feed his wife and children.
As a birth attendant advocating for family planning, Remy is on the frontline of Tondo's battle with overcrowding.
