Champ Green

In a small farming town, a graduating high school girl struggles to convince her distrustful father to allow her to continue her studies in college after her older sister gets pregnant while being sent to the same university.

Tekbong loves to smoke despite his worsening cough. His favorite brand – Champ. His cough, however, horribly escalates, forcing him to finally quit smoking

One morning, after completing his routine at the farm, he notices Jengjeng, his younger daughter, so engrossed in a university brochure. Apparently, Jengjeng is a graduating high school student and wants to pursue a college degree at a university. Tekbong, however, is against this plan after his older daughter, Pedit, got pregnant while in her final year in college. He instead intends to send Jengjeng to work at a local factory – an opportunity which he thinks is a timely fit for a graduating daughter. Stubborn just like her father, however, Jengjeng continues to prepare for the admission exam, an undertaking that Tekbong persistently resists at first but eventually concedes on the condition that Jengjeng delivers her chores on time.

One Saturday morning, as Tekbong arrives home from the farm, he sees Jengjeng in a dress holding a brown envelope which he thinks is for the job interview at the factory. Jengjeng approaches and cautiously tells her father she’s going to the city to take the admission exam. A short moment of silence brews in the air. All of a sudden, Tekbong pulls a cigarette pack out of his dirtied pants and hands it to Jengjeng, who is surprised to see a stash of soiled cash pressed inside. All along, Tekbong has gradually learned to appreciate her daughter’s commitment to education and has been saving his money after he quit smoking. As Jengjeng hops on the motorcycle, she looks again to the cigarette pack – a green pack, the brand – Champ.

CHAMP GREEN is my tribute to the unwavering aspiration of the many Bukidnon people towards education. I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to enroll in a university. I’d like to acknowledge, however, that this remains to be a privilege not available to many – including a number of my childhood friends. Most of them had not survived high school. If they did, they either now have a family of their own or are working in a factory or a poultry farm somewhere in my hometown. Every time I visit home, I return to a memory I had with them, years ago, when we were just kids innocently sharing our plans in life, unsophisticated and naive to the unfolding of fate. Champ Green is my way of empowering those unspoiled ambitions in hopes that it may kindle such an inspiration to those whose candles have not yet flickered.

Champ Green is a story about hope, second chances, and the belief in the power of education to change our lives.