MANILA, Philippines – Jericho Rosales bagged the Best Actor/Outstanding Acting Achievement award at the Newport Beach Film Festival held from April 25 to May 2 (April 26 to May 3 in Manila) for “Alagwa” (“Breakaway”), a film about human trafficking which he also co-produced.

Directed by Ian Loreños, its plot revolves around a popular urban legend about a child’s disappearance in Chinatown in Binondo, Manila.

Rosales plays an impoverished single father who brings his young son to the penny mall for a treat but, after turning his back on him for just a moment, finds him gone. Surveillance video reveals an older man leading away his son. After police fail to locate him, Rosales’ character dives into the depths of Manila’s back-streets in search of his son.

The 33-year-old actor is now in Los Angeles for an interview with LA Times. He will fly back to Manila on May 10.

According to Examiner.com, this is Rosales’ second time to win a Best Actor award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. He bagged the prize in 2011 for his lead role in the drama romance film “Subject: I Love You.”

Rosales told Examiner.com in January that he was very excited about “Alagwa.”

“I’ve been wanting to work on a story like this. I’m a great fan of Will Smith’s ‘Pursuit of Happiness’, and I’ve been praying for a project like that. This came with a heavier content. It’s about human trafficking. Not content but a greater problem. It’s a little bit political. It really happens so I said, ‘Let’s Do It!'”

Rosales tweeted on May 1 that he plans to bring “Alagwa” to Manila theaters soon. The film was screened at other international film festivals such as the 17th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea and  24th Palm Springs International Film Festival in the US. – Rappler.com