Directed by Kip Oebanda, Ballot (or Balota) is a Filipino political drama centered around a schoolteacher and her desperate attempt to conduct her duties as a citizen and an election inspector well. The film highlights the rampant corruption that has taken over the country. The citizens often feel helpless, and they are left with no other choice but to vote for the lesser evil. Ballot poses an important question—will the country ever be free of corruption? And is there any hope for the future?
Emmy, a small-town teacher, always stayed true to her principles. She was disappointed to see how political parties were bribing citizens to win votes, and she did not hesitate to express her discontentment with the present mayor, Hidalgo. The mayor had been accused of murder three months back, and she was known for punishing those who expressed dissent. Even though factory workers had been demanding an increase in their wages, Mayor Hidalgo did not take any action. Contesting against the mayor in the election was Edraline, who promised to bring changes. Was Edraline a good politician? Or was it all just a farce? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Why was Emmy attacked?
In her local precinct, Emmy was appointed as an official inspector for the Board of Election. Other than a few challenges, the voting went smoothly at her booth. After the voting procedure was completed, Commissioner Rodrigo arrived at the booth and asked for a volunteer to help him transport the ballot to the government hall. Emmy volunteered to help, and Professor Wak decided to accompany her. They were attracted to each other, and on their way to the government hall, Wak asked Emmy out. But things changed immediately after the commissioner tried to bribe them in exchange for the ballot. The teachers did not know how to react, and after they showed hesitation with the whole arrangement, the man pretending to be the commissioner pulled out his gun. Emmy was handcuffed to the ballot, a tradition that was meant to ensure that the ballot reached its destination. She used the metal box to hit the commissioner, but that resulted in Wak’s death. The ‘commissioner’ had pulled the trigger when Emmy attacked, and Wak was shot in his chest. With his dying breath, Wak begged Emmy to run away before it was too late, and she had no choice but to leave him in the car.
Emmy had to spend the night in a nearby forest, and when she was contacted by her son, she tried to explain the situation. Enzo, her son, guessed Hidalgo’s men were after Emmy because Edraline had won in their precinct. They assumed after buying the ballot, she could manipulate the votes and declare herself the winner. Emmy strictly warned her son not to contact the police since they too were involved in the plan. Their only hope was to ask for help from Edraline, but before Enzo could reach out to the opposition party leader, the police arrived at his place and arrested him. They told Enzo that his mother was a suspect in a double murder case, and he must confess if he had any information on her. Enzo chose to remain silent; he was not ready to take chances, especially after his mother had warned him not to speak to the cops. Enzo texted his mother from prison, asking her not to worry about him. Emmy felt a little relieved reading his text. The next morning, she tried to find a way out of the forest, and she had to come up with a solution to deal with the ballot box. Meanwhile, a gang of goons arrived at Emmy’s cousin’s house; they knew how close Emmy and Enzo were to them, so they pressured her cousin and nephew to contact Emmy. Jimbo, her nephew, had a gun pointed at him when Emmy gave away her location. He did not have a choice, and he asked his aunt to forgive him. The goons killed Jimbo anyway before they started searching for Emmy.
What did Edraline offer Emmy?
The leader of the goons decided to take matters into his own hands. The reward for finding the teacher was PHP 250,000, and now that he had her location, he refused to share his reward. The gang leader shot his two companions, but when he finally located Emmy in the forest, instead of running away from him, she confronted him. She tried to get physically close to him and attempted to attack him when he was vulnerable. But she was dealing with a criminal, and he could already predict her moves. The man attempted to strangle Emmy, but she managed to grab hold of a sharp object, stab him in the neck, and push him into a ditch.
Meanwhile, the cops threatened to kill Enzo after they found he was hiding a cell phone. They asked Enzo to say his final goodbye to his mother, and Emmy assumed that because of the mess she had gotten herself entangled in, her son had been killed. But the cops decided to spare him—one of the cops, Pastor, was about to plant drugs on Enzo so that he remained behind bars for good, but the other cop, Morales, was one of Emmy’s ex-students, and he was extremely fond of his teacher. Since he did not have a choice, Morales shot Pastor to help Enzo. Enzo immediately contacted his mother and assured her that he was safe. They decided Emmy must ask Edraline for help, and she arrived at his doorstep. While Emmy thought Edraline would do the right thing and hand over the ballot to the governor’s office, instead he too tried to bribe her.
How did Enzo help his mother?
When Emmy entered Edraline’s house, she was surprised to see the lavish decor. The opposition leader was quick to stop Emmy from touching his expensive vase and asked her to take a seat. She assumed he would contact people in the governor’s office to take the ballot box, but instead, Edraline offered her a bribe too. It soon became obvious that it was Edraline’s men who had been chasing Emmy and attempting to kill her. They were also responsible for Jimbo and his mother’s deaths. Edraline was no different; he too bribed voters to win the election and did not hesitate to murder people for his own benefit. Emmy realized that if she rejected his offer, she would be killed, so she tried to delay the process of handing over the ballot box. She texted her son, asking him not to enter Edraline’s house.
Enzo and Morales had to come up with a plan to rescue Emmy, and they decided they must seek help from the people of the precinct. They approached the union leader for help with their cause, and even though she was hesitant at first, she ultimately decided to unite the townspeople, workers, laborers, farmers, teachers, and the members of the queer community.
During Ballot’s ending, a crowd gathered in front of Edraline’s house and demanded the release of teacher Emmy. Edraline realized that Emmy had been intentionally wasting his time and had planned a way to walk away from the mess without giving in to his demands. Emmy believed that even though Edraline might be acquitted of the murder of her cousin and nephew, he would not manage to prove his innocence if he decided to kill her because there were too many witnesses. Edraline had to let go of Emmy, but before she left, he asked her to accept that their country would change for the better. He strongly believed people would not care about what was morally right as long as the parties handed them cash every now and then. He wanted to live under the assumption that politicians like him were the reason why people were not starving, and he hoped someday Emmy would get down from her high horse to acknowledge her privilege that allowed her to make the morally right choice.
Even though Edraline tried to reason with Emmy, he couldn’t deny that he was a corrupt politician who cared only about filling his own pockets. Before leaving, Emmy stated that one day evil politicians like him would have to pay for their wrongdoings, and she would wait for the day to come. Edraline was arrested by the police, and Emmy finally reunited with her son. Emmy, Enzo, and Morales agreed to testify against Edraline, and presumably, he’d be charged with multiple murders, and hopefully, he would have to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Does The Film End On A Hopeful Note?
In Ballot’s ending, Mayor Hidalgo, known for her land-grabbing schemes, won the election. She was well ahead by votes, and the ballot box Emmy had did not affect her count. In the hopes of capturing the limelight, Hidalgo arrived to offer support to Emmy and the crowd that she gathered at Edraline’s house. But Emmy did not hesitate to state that neither Hidalgo nor Edraline were worthy of becoming leaders. Hidalgo did not let it get to her and requested Emmy to testify that the ballot box was not tampered with. In return, she was ready to offer Emmy whatever she demanded. Since the workers had been requesting higher wages, Emmy urged Hidalgo to meet their demands, and she had agreed to the terms outlined in the collective bargaining agreement.
It was time for the next election, and we found out that Edraline did not give up on his dreams and continued to run for elections from prison. Nothing much has changed, but there was a ray of hope: Babista was running for councilor, and they had the support of not just the queer community but also the common people. They believed voting for them was a step towards change. This time voting machines were purchased to make the election a smooth process, but in the final moment, the machine stopped working, and once again they had to go back to the manual ballot system. Of course, someone must have been behind the malfunction, simply because it was easier to tamper with the manual ballot system. The ending suggests that change was still a far-fetched dream when the system had been corrupted to the core, but politicians like Babista and common people such as Emmy were working towards making the system more effective, but that will take a long, long time.
