In a 2016 debate, presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte promised to jetski to Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and plant a Philippine flag. He said, “I am ready to die a hero.” This promise helped him win votes from millions of Filipino workers and fishers. But filmmaker Baby Ruth Villarama’s documentary Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea shows he did not keep this promise. “He would make excuses that the jetski has broken down. Eventually there was an official pronouncement that it had just been a campaign joke. From then on, the fisherfolk were really enraged,” Villarama said. The film follows fishers and soldiers in the West Philippine Sea, part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Villarama spent 60 days capturing their harsh, dangerous life and ongoing harassment from the Chinese coast guard. The documentary features stunning underwater shots and shows the fishers’ struggles, including separation from family and health issues. However, after being set to premiere at the Philippines’ CinePanalo film festival, Food Delivery was pulled two days before screening. The Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland asked New Zealand’s Doc Edge festival not to show the film, calling it “rife with disinformation and false propaganda.” Villarama says the harassment of fishers “cannot go on.” She noted, “The bullying, and boats being chased every week. If we are to live in a stable society, we have to respect certain boundaries. This 200-mile exclusive economic zone is a gift to every country.” Coast guards from both China and the Philippines avoid direct violence, but incidents of ramming and rope cutting happen. Villarama’s crew was once rammed by the Chinese coast guard. “I am not a good swimmer. I can float – but I am not a good swimmer,” she said. Villarama’s past includes work as a Reuters stringer and the documentary Sunday Beauty Queen, which explored the lives of Philippine migrant workers. Now, she says, “It’s not just about fishing livelihoods – national food security is at risk.” She explained, “Who would want to make a film that would go against a superpower like China? But when I realised there are actual threats to our freedom and our food security, we had no choice but to embrace the story.”