A young Filipino man recounts his older brother’s two-term career as their town’s mayor. After returning home from serving in the military, the older brother, Osong, campaigns to become the mayor as a result of his father’s insistent encouragement. Once the town elects Osong as mayor, his father advises him to come up with a scheme to win the hearts of the townspeople and guarantee reelection. The father-son duo builds a new cemetery and a monument honoring Osong, all the while secretly using the townspeople’s money in the treasury. Osong wins his reelection, but he realizes he has drained the treasury of money to complete his projects when a market in the town burns down. At a loss for what to do, he turns again to his father, who suggests building gambling houses to take more money from the townspeople, so that they can make repairs. While this plan succeeds, gambling addictions surge in the town; the men have created yet another problem. Osong plans to run for a third term to combat the gamblers, but his father urges him to reconsider, saying that he has already improved their town enough. In the end, Osong does not run again, and his father leaves the town. Later, the father returns to visit, the gambling problem now eradicated by the new mayor, and claims that he has always dreamed of residing in an “honest” town.