The Rise of the Queer Chinese-Filipino Son: Mano Po 4 (I am the Legal Wife) and the Political Economy of Queer Chinese-Filipino Liminality

Abstract

The 2000s saw an influx of mainstream Filipino films that featured the lives of Chinese-Filipinos. These films came at the heels of critical junctures in the life of this important demographic in modern Philippine society: the participation of Chinese-Filipino businessmen in managing or owning much of the archipelago’s infrastructure (basic utilities, telecommunications, transportation, among others) as well as the rise of kidnapping incidents of middle class and wealthy Chinese-Filipino family members. The most prominent of these films were the Mano Po films which were screened during the Metro Manila Film Festivals. The focus of this study will be Mano Po 4: I am the Legal Wife. Unlike its predecessors, Mano Po 4 is a comedy that chronicles the colorful and hilarious ways two wives and one mistress try to win over the heart and wealth of their husband/lover, an affluent patriarch. At the core of this conflict is the heir apparent, a closeted gay man, Hamilton, whose decision to not marry would cause serious effects on the family’s fate. I explore the ways in which the procedure and compromise of Hamilton activate the queer potential of Chinese-Filipino liminality. This is consistent with how Chinese-Filipinos, throughout the course of Philippine colonial and post-colonial history, have always been characterized as economic and political middlemen. Unlike in the earlier films where the power of the Chinese father is central to the advancement of the familial politics, here, it is the queer son who is empowered and who functions as the final negotiator of Chinese-Filipino economic power. Towards this, Mano Po 4 makes legible the ambiguous position of Chinese-Filipino queer identity: “liberation” and thus abdication of familial duty are possible but only after ensuring that the structure that maintains the political power of the Chinese-Filipino capital is preserved and advanced.