Ilocano Defenders is set to promote the revival of martial arts in Philippine cinemas as it makes waves of discussions on urgent societal issues with their latest movie. Entitled ‘War on Rape,’ it is scheduled for release on December 15 in Philippine theaters.

The movie ‘War on Rape’ is a gripping action-thriller film that relentlessly tackles head on the plight of human trafficking and rape victims in the country. Directed by Marvin Leyson, the movie follows the story of the lead cast — Michael Say, Morgan Say and Solomon Say — as they abolish a syndicate that abuses the rights of women and innocents.

“There is an ongoing tumor in the society and a repeating history of abuse on women and numerous acts of rape. Amidst the pandemic, many societal issues are set aside but are still rampant. Our goal is to shed light on these issues with our movie,” Morgan Say said in an interview.

Cases of abuse and harassment on women and children have inspired the team of Ilocano Defenders to produce and create a fictional movie that mirrors this societal issue. Thus, the movie ‘War on Rape’ was made with the incorporation of fighting arts and correct assimilation of legal actions used to combat villains.

As a matter of fact, Michael, Morgan and Solomon are all black belters in Taekwondo. Packed with fight scenes, Morgan directed the choreography using fighting arts through Taekwondo, a campaign to promote the use of effective and non-lethal weapons against sexual harassment.

“Taekwondo and other non-lethal fighting styles, once used responsibly and put into good use, can be an effective and helpful guard against violence and abuse,” Morgan added.

Just in September of this year, a report presented by Quezon City Police Department showed that the number of cases of rape and violence against women and children in Quezon City increased by 66.67 percent, while rape cases increased by 21.54 percent for the first eight months this year compared to the same period last year.

The movie Ilocano Defenders: War on Rape is rated-16 by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).