Pamamayani ng Kasamaan

***"Pamamayani ng Kasamaan"*** **(The Predominance of Evil)** is the first episode of the F/S Channel TV series *Maskarang Agimat*.

## Plot

The episode opens with the town of San Barabbas under siege by a terrorist battalion.  From a secluded area, an unidentified man puts on a strange black mask, recites a Latin incantation, then emerges from his hiding place to take on the armed men.  Alone and unarmed, he fights the enemy with apparent superhuman strength and seems to be impervious to bullets.  But he stops in mid-battle when the battalion leader threatens to shoot a female hostage. With the masked hero distracted, one of the other terrorists decides to put his invulnerability to the test by firing a rocket launcher at him.

The scene shits to another battle that occurred sometime in the past. During an encounter between government military forces and the armed insurgent group *Armadong Masa* (Armed Masses) or ARMAS, army ranger Abel Cordero is injured and permanently crippled in his right leg. Discharged from duty, he returns to his home province of San Barabbas, only to find it much changed.  The once-sleepy rural town has been marching towards city-hood, but its sudden progress has come at the price of its soul. People have been evicted from their lands, and large forest areas have been razed to make way for urban development. Casinos, nightclubs and other establishments of vice have spread throughout town.  Crime is running rampant on the streets, and corruption reaches as far high as City Hall.

Already depressed over his forced retirement, Abel’s inability to help his community due to his handicap makes him feel even more useless.  Moving back to the family farm, he is consoled by his father Rodante, himself a retired police officer, who relates that there is more than one way to be of service to others.  Abel reconnects with a childhood friend, Clarissa Ramirez, now a radio reporter trying to cover the crime and corruption in San Barabbas.  Her efforts, however, are constantly frustrated by the station management, which generally downplays any negative news that sullies the town’s reputation (such as it is), as well as any criticisms of the local government or the town’s most prominent citizens.

Clarissa is currently investigating reports of ARMAS rebels raiding farmlands on the outer edges of the province and extorting “revolutionary taxes” from their owners.  Coinciding with this, Don Nemecio Del Rey, one of the wealthiest men in the province, is offering protection to the landowners in exchange for the deeds to their property.  Clarissa suspects that the Don is in cahoots with the ARMAS rebels in an elaborate protection racket/land-grabbing scheme.  But Abel thinks it doesn’t make sense for the socialist ARMAS to be working with a capitalist like Don Nemecio.

While a number of people take up Don Nemecio on his offer, there are many still who voice their objection, including one Luis Masangkay.  A respected community leader, he rallies the other landowners against the Don for taking advantage of the ARMAS attacks for his own benefit.  Then one evening, a group of armed men in ARMAS facepaint descend upon the Masangkay residence and open fire, practically wiping out the entire clan. Or so it seemed.  It turns out that the youngest son, Baste, had escaped the massacre and is later found hiding out in the Cordero farm stables. He is brought to the police, but is unable to speak, severely traumatized by the experience.  The Cordero family takes temporary custody of the boy and are placed under police protection.

Scar-faced police lieutenant Teofilo Pelaez (derisively nicknamed “*TInyente Pilat”* (“Lt. Scar”)) reports to Don Nemecio, to whom he is secretly working for.  As it turns out, the Don did order the Masangkay family slaying, and is furious that one member had survived, albeit too traumatized to talk.  Not wanting to leave any loose ends, he hires a hitman to eliminate the boy.  Sealing the deal with a handshake, the hitman feels a mild electric shock from the Don’s hand.

Later, Don Nemecio goes to a secret meeting in an unknown cavernous location.  Donning a black robe with a face-obscuring hood, he is met by a gathering of other similarly-garbed cultists.  They are presided over by a man they address as Maestro Malakai, who leads them in worshiping a massive demonic stone statue, the *Anitong Itim* (Black Idol). As they chant mystical gibberish in unison, glowing cracks start to appear on the Idol’s surface.  Meanwhile, at another undisclosed location, an old man in gray rags is meditating in a dark chamber when he suddenly snaps out of his trance, as though awakened by the chanting of the cultists.

At the Cordero residence, the hitman arrives disguised as a cop and relieves the police-appointed guard from his post.  He finds Baste asleep in a bedroom, points a gun at his target and is about to pull the trigger.