The Guys from Paradise 2000

Kohei Hayasaka, a Japanese businessman with Sanyu Trading, is arrested in Manila for possession of a kilo of heroin and sent to a local prison.

In Manila, Umino, a restaurant owner, introduces Yoshida, a former underworld figure who has chosen to stay imprisoned to escape his enemies, and arranges for Kohei to act as Yoshida’s business representative in exchange for permission to use Yoshida’s private toilet. Yoshida bribes the guards to let him escort Kohei to a hotel where Kohei hopes to purchase a kilo of heroin, but Kohei seizes the opportunity to escape and heads to the hotel where his wife is staying—only to discover that she did not return there the night before. Yoshida catches up and makes it clear that he will kill Kohei if he betrays him again.

Yoshida begins vending drugs through the warden, who insists that Kohei must generate money for bribes to win his case. The pedophile Jun Sakamoto takes Kohei to a club, drugs him, and plans to have his organs removed for sale, but Yoshida intervenes to rescue him. Kohei also finds that his wife has aligned herself with the company’s lawyer, prompting Kohei to abandon the relationship. At his trial, Kohei is sentenced to life in prison.

During the next drug deal, Kohei is ambushed by members of Yoshida’s old yakuza clan, who reveal that Yoshida’s real name is Murakame. Kohei escapes and is driven back to the prison by Brando, a prisoner who once had a legal dispute with Kohei’s company. In the chaos, Yoshida’s assistant Belila is shot dead by an attacker while she shields him.

When the poorer inmates unite against the privileged Japanese inmates who work with Yoshida, Brando creates a distraction by showering the ground with money, allowing the Japanese captives to slip away. As they flee, they pause to help an injured woman and carry her to her village, where the recluse Taro, a comic book artist who meditates and talks to himself all day, is revered as a god by the villagers.

The pursuing yakuza Yabumoto closes in on Murakame, killing Sakamoto and then aiming at Kohei before Murakame arrives to surrender himself. Namie Mishima, a convicted embezzler from the women’s wing of the prison, throws gemstones worth millions at Yabumoto as Kohei pulls a gun from the back of her shorts and shoots Yabumoto. The yakuza open fire on Kohei and Namie, but Umino jumps in front to shield them and save their lives.

Murakame decides to return to prison, while Taro remains in the village. Re-emerging under the alias Mabini, Kohei wins the Philippine presidential election, with an aim to turn around the country’s economy for the sake of its people.