The works of Playwright Bienvenido M. Noriega, Jr. varied in scope and content but the depth and intensity undeniably enriched the Filipino audience. Bienvenido Noriega’s Palanca award-winning play, “Batang Pro” was written differently according to the writer. It is a touching classic story on child prostitution and abuse. It is about three friends who seasoned the challenges and difficulties in life together.
Doreen Fernandez wrote in her review that the play took the child prostitute characters through a world of hellish experience.
“ Piercing is the tight skill with which the playwright unfolds the grim realization that the young are scourged, scarred and destroyed by a society in which child prostitution exists.”
In another review of the Palanca prize winning play, Butch Dalisay wrote “that the play has a bizarrely metaphorical setting and backdrop - a fire rages in the city’s interior. To Noriega, the fire functions as the play’s central metaphor; nobody really fights it but everyone takes the best advantage of it; social evil is something no one can stamp out by himself alone so why not and take the loot and run?”
Batang Pro was staged in Bulwagang Gantimpala at CCP in 1985 where the playwright directed the play himself. It was likewise staged in UP, La Salle and other venues. It was turned into a movie in 1999.
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