“Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” is a 2005 Filipino film directed by Auraeus Solito and written by Michiko Yamamoto. It is about Maxi, a 12-year old gay whose family’s livelihood depends on illegal practices like selling snatched phones, stealing wallets and dealing jueteng. One night, when he was on his way home, two men tried to harass him and managed to take off his clothes. A young policeman named Victor came like a knight-in-shining-armor to save Maxi. Since then, Maxi had a crush on Victor and they became friends, until Maxi witnessed the death of his father through a gunshot by the new chief of the police, who seems to be not in good terms with Maxi’s father in the past, and along with Victor at that time. Cinematic codes play a big role in the exposition of the film alone. JD Domingo, the sound editor, uses songs and musical scores while Nap Jamir, the film’s cinematographer, used a lot of montage to convey the messages better. The story unfolds in a slum where garbage almost filled the body of water while Yoyoy Villame’s “My Country, Philippines”, a patriotic novelty song exalting the country’s beauty, was playing on the background which makes the scene ironic. A pink baby dress that stands out from old clothes on the clothesline was also shown and used as a montage before Maxi was exposed in the scene. It wants to emphasize how Maxi’s sexuality was different from his companions’ at home. Later on, another musical score was heard as Pepe Smith played the piano