A former school teacher leads a movement to fight for the rights of the working class.
Based on the true-to-life story of Teodoro Asedillo, Fernando Poe Jr. plays the role of an idealistic school teacher from San Antonio, San Pedro, Laguna who became a revolutionary leader against the American Commonwealth government. Dubbed "The Terror of the Sierra" and one of the most feared guerilla fighters during the American Occupation, he fought against the oppressive system that prohibited the use of the Filipino language as a medium of instruction and prevented Filipinos from entering the Department of Public Instruction and for every Filipino's right to determine the future of his country and of generations to come. Founded the labor movement Katipunan ng Mga Anak Pawis in 1929 to protest the unfair labor policies of the government, he was killed by the government forces in his hideout in 1935.—Anonymous
"Asedillo" is perhaps the quintessential Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) film; it was the picture that established FPJ's image as expert gunslinger and defender of the poor. The film tells the story of Teodoro Asedillo, a nationalistic public school teacher turned rebel hunted by the Police Constabulary in the Sierra Madre mountains in the 1920s, at the time of the American Occupation.
Dismissed as Chief of Police of Paete, Laguna in 1929, Asedillo founded the Anak Pawis, (Child of Sweat) a communist inspired organization in San Antonio, Longos, Laguna. He went into hiding after the Minerva cigar factory strike in Manila in 1934 where two policemen were killed in a riot. He later joined the forces of Encallado, active in Laguna-Tayabas provinces.
It was Major General Vargas, chief of staff, then a lieutenant, who ended the life of the mustachioed and goateed bandit leader on New Years Eve, December 31, 1935. Vargas killed Asedillo in the latters hideout near the Maladiangaw Falls of Sampaloc, Tayabas (Quezon). Two of Asedillos henchmen, Vicente Anerela and Juan Delantar were (also) killed by the men of Vargas while a third follower, Valentin Blaza, hurled himself into a rocky stream and escaped but later surrendered in Cavinti, Laguna.
The corpses of Asedillo and his men when they were brought to the poblacion and paraded in the streets later, displayed at the town plaza.
