Minsa'y Isang Gamu-gamo (English: Once a Moth)[1] is a 1976 Filipino protest drama film directed by Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara[note 1] from a story and screenplay written by Marina Feleo-Gonzales.

[4] Set in 1969, the film tells the intertwined stories of a couple and their families, both of a lower-middle-class background, living near Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

She hopes to one day get a green card that would allow her to stay in the United States, gain immigrant status, and eventually bring her family there so they can lead a better life.

The young couple's dreams begin to break down after Yolanda is wrongfully accused of theft, strip-searched, and humiliated by a Filipino merchandise officer working at the Base.

A group of American officers attend the funeral and offer a donation to the de la Cruz family, adding that the serviceman had thought Carlito was a wild boar.

During the funeral procession, Inkong's memory of World War II is triggered and the film cuts to historical footage of the Bataan Death March.

During the hearing, the lawyer representing the American base notifies the court that there is lack of jurisdiction as the corporal responsible for Carlito's death had returned to the United States upon the termination of his tour of duty.

Walking down the steps of the courthouse, the base lawyer attempts to give Corazon an envelope filled with dollars from the corporal, reiterating that he thought her brother was a wild boar.

Producer Digna Santiago and director Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara were interested in working together on a political film addressing the American military presence in the Philippines.

Feleo-Gonzales had previously worked with Aquino-Kashiwahara on the 1975 historical drama Lakambini at Supremo, about Andres Bonifacio and his wife Gregoria de Jesus, which was produced by Armida Siguion-Reyna.

Both producer Digna Santiago and director Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara agreed, the latter saying the casting "gave authenticity to the searing scenes of grief, pain and loss.

The film has been described by film historian Jose Capino as belonging to the "cinema of decolonization" along with Lino Brocka's PX and Augusto Buenaventura's Sa Kuko ng Agila, all explicitly addressing the issue of the American military presence in the Philippines during the Bases era, as the 1970s saw growing political and legal debates over Philippine sovereignty and the American bases.

[10] In particular, towards the end of the film, Corazon de la Cruz struggles to perform the traditional tinikling dance during her farewell party, and the scene is juxtaposed with her brother flying a red, blue, and white kite (the colors of both the American and the Philippine flag) over Crow Valley near Clark Air Base.

At the point where Corazon errs in the tinikling, her leg caught between the bamboo poles, the film cuts to Carlito falling after being shot by an American officer.

Carlito dies when his family is busy celebrating Corazon's departure for the United States, so the "juxtaposition of the tinikling and kite scenes forms a rather pedantic image of cultural conflict.