Jose Rizal, a film released in June 1998 which was directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya, was one of the highly acclaimed movies in the country. Despite the horrible historical inaccuracies pointed out by critics, this award-winning movie gathered numerous awards and nominations on different awarding bodies such as the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival, 1999 FAMAS Awards, 1999 Gawad Urian Awards and 1999 Star Awards for Movies. It was also one of the most expensive films in the history of the Philippine movie industry with a record-breaking 80 million pesos budget.

I have seen Muro-Ami when I was in my junior year in high school. It was a requirement of our Filipino class to watch the film and make a reaction paper. At that time, I was not very interested to watch it. I am into fantasy films and thus a movie like Muro-Ami does not suit my taste for movies. But since it was a requisite for juniors, I did not have any choice but to watch it.

I expected the film to be boring and thought that I would fall asleep while watching it but while the film was rolling, I realized that I was gradually hooked up to it.

Amidst the crashing of waves and the raging seas against the cliffs and the sonorous voices of the winds, lies a serene and majestic place in the northernmost part of the country. The magnificence of Batanes captivated the amazing tandem of filmmakers Adolfo Alix, Jr. and his Co-Director Dave Hukom. They both agreed that this wondrous place is the best location for a powerful and heart-warming love story and it led them to do the film Batanes which was inspired by the place itself.

It was revealed that while Alix was shooting his previous film, Kadin, in Batanes, he got inspired to do a love story set in the place. He learned about Vietnamese and Taiwanese fishermen who sometimes get stranded in the islands during typhoons. He thought that it was the perfect material to explore thus he brought with him the writer, Arah Jell Badayos, who did interviews with the Ivatans and came across a Vietnamese who got lost in the sea and found his way to Batanes and eventually married a local.

The movie Batanes was somehow inspired by that idea. The love story revolves in the character of Pam (Iza Calzado), a woman who decided to give up her urban life in Manila to marry a fisherman, Rico (Joem Bascon), in Batanes. They had an ideal marriage but their happiness was cut short when Rico was lost in the sea leaving Pam in anguish. She wanted to leave Batanes to forget the pains of losing her husband but she decided to stay and face her sorrows.