There’s definitely nothing wrong with falling in love in your teenage years, until it begins to take a toll on your studies, your relationships with the people around you, and/worse, someone gets unexpectedly pregnant.
And that’s what we were able to witness in the well-loved afternoon soap opera Angelito: Batang Ama, which we can watch again on ABS-CBN Entertainment’s official YouTube Channel via YouTube Super Stream.
This coming-of-age romance-drama series revolves around the life of the titular character astoundingly portrayed by JM De Guzman, who has to face the huge responsibility of fatherhood after impregnating her girlfriend Rosalie Dimaano (Charee Pineda) while they were still in high school.
As their relationship was highly objected by her family, they decided to hide it, more so when she unexpectedly got pregnant. However, no secret can be hidden for a long time as both their families later on found out about it, which caused an intense altercation between them. As things get complicated because of her rebellious older brother Rolan’s (Matt Evans) violent behavior over what happened, as well as the Dimaano’s plans of moving out of town, Angelito and Rosalie agreed to elope.
Struggling to raise their newborn child Angelito Dimaano-Santos Jr. (or Junjun by nickname), they went back to their families who supported them emotionally and financially, though the Dimaanos still expressed their disapproval of Angelito. Thus, when a relative of theirs expressed her interest to adopt Junjun, they agreed in order for Rosalie to pursue college and the kid to have a better life.
This did not sit well to Angelito, so he brought Junjun with him to Manila. Rosalie was supposed to follow them, but failed to do so after her father had a near-death heart attack and Angelito’s grandma Pinang (Elizabeth Oropesa) hindered her. Thankfully, there were people who helped them cope from the difficulties of living in Manila, such as Jenny (Kaye Abad), a single mom who assisted him in taking good care of Junjun.
Five years later, Rosalie and Angelito got reunited with the former now a Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET) topnotcher and a successful flight attendant. Unfortunately, she was already in a relationship with a pilot named Andrew (Tom Rodriguez), making it impossible for them to be a family again. Rolan, who got imprisoned for five years after attempting to kill Angelito’s sister Tere (Devon Seron), also got reunited with his family and was able to score a job with the help of Andrew. However, Rolan’s wrath against Angelito still remained, and even involved his nephew Junjun.
As Angelito refused to fully allow her to take good care of their unico hijo, this prompted her to take their custody battle to court, which later on favored her. But that didn’t last long as she realized Junjun’s pain of being away from his father, so they settled on letting him spend time with both of them by agreeing to a schedule. Just when everything had gone better for them, Rolan executed his vicious plan against Angelito and Junjun by taking the latter as hostage, which ensued to Rosalie getting accidentally shot by him after catching the bullet that was supposedly for Angelito, and him being shot by the police as he brushed off the pleas for him to surrender.
Despite parting ways for a very long time and being in new relationships, their feelings for each other remained. Thus, not long after, Rosalie’s romance with Andrew went on the rocks, while Jenny chose to let go of Angelito. The titular character also made amends with the Dimaanos and Andrew.
In the finale episode, Angelito and Rosalie went back to their hometown and were seen giving advice to a young student couple from their school on how to have a happy and healthy relationship and warning them on the dangers of premarital sex and young parenthood. They then had an intimate moment at the waterfall quarry where he used to hang out with his barkada.
Produced by Dreamscape Entertainment, Angelito: Batang Ama is considered the breakthrough of JM de Guzman after starring in a slew of indie films and in the 2011 remake of Mula Sa Puso. It was directed by Theodore C. Boborol and Neal Felix del Rosario and written by Mary Rose Colindres, Kay Brondial, Jurey Mirafuentes, Mel Abaygar, and Marga Labrador.
Also part of the powerhouse ensemble cast were Al Tantay, Snooky Serna, Sue Ramirez, Eliza Pineda, Mariel Pamintuan, Joshen Bernardo, Bea Basa, Felix Roco, Sam Concepcion, Dennis Padilla, Jason Francisco, Beauty Gonzalez, Josef Elizalde, Aldred Gatchalian, Kyra Custodio, Lemuel Pelayp, Jobelle Salvador, and Matthew Mendoza.
Relive the joys and challenges of young love and parenthood as shown by Angelito and Rosalie in Angelito: Batang Ama on YouTube Super Stream for free and for a limited time only! Don’t forget to subscribe to ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube Channel!