Santa mesa

Following the death of his mother, 12-year-old Hector arrives in Manila to live with his grandmother. Experiencing culture shock and isolation, Hector befriends Sel, a neighborhood girl and Miguel, a petty hustler who belongs to the local street gang. Falling in with the wrong crowd, he becomes a gangster, but on his gang initiation night things go terribly wrong. He is caught stealing while in the home of 60-year-old Jose, but instead of turning Hector in, Jose mentors him.