Avid viewers of FPJ’s Batang Quiapo were indeed taken to a rollercoaster ride of emotions in the last week’s episodes, July 1 to July 5, as we saw ourselves getting hooked on the drama, thrill, and comedy that they offered.
The week commenced with Lucio (Ronnie Lazaro) promising Augustus that the next time they’ll meet, Amanda (Lorna Tolentino) is already with them. Augustus ensured his subordinates that while the Red Phoenix have them in their hands now, things will go the other way around, implying that they are going to betray them and let them suffer. So, they only need to be patient. Meanwhile, Lucio and his minions received a whopping amount of cash as reward and appreciation for a job well done.
On his way home, Santino (Ronwaldo Martin) was mauled by his recent boxing opponent Tisoy (Zeus Collins) and his two friends as they sought revenge after what his Kuya Tanggol did to him. Despite being hit on the right hand, as suggested by Lawrence (Paolo Gumabao) who was watching their altercation from afar, Santino still managed to retaliate at them with the help of his Kamao Gym coaches.
He may get annoying sometimes, but the ever-overbearing and dramatic Roda (Joel Lamangan) earned the admiration of audiences with how he showed all-out support to his “frenny,” Marites (Cherry Pie Picache) this week. From giving him some “real talk” and sound pieces of advice regarding her marital woes and stiff competition with Lena (Mercedes Cabral) to getting her all dolled up for the pinning ceremony of her philandering husband Rigor (John Estrada) for his promotion, Roda proved that he may always be extra loquacious and too brash, but he can definitely be a dependable and loyal friend.
Since it was Marites who Rigor chose to be his companion in the pinning ceremony, Lena brooded and attempted to downplay the glow-up of her rival after her makeover. However, she had no match against her and her allies as she only ended up going back to her bedroom after receiving insults and clapback from them that really hit her to the core.
Just when we thought that she’s not going to the event anymore, as what Rigor asked her to do, she surprised the Dimaguibas with her sudden appearance. She appeased Rigor by telling him that she wouldn’t make a scene since she was there as a friend supporting her former colleagues on their promotion.
Meanwhile, at the market, Nita (Susan Africa) and Marcing (Pen Medina) forced Roda to move to the smaller stall adjacent to Marites, so that they could use the space to accommodate the new items that they’re about to sell, which were actually illegal substances delivered to them by their son, Edwin (Ping Medina), earlier that day. Roda tried to object and bargain for the rental feel of his new area, yet those fell on deaf ears of the couple.
Seeing how Bubbles (Ivana Alawi) was still hurting and traumatized by what happened to her, Tanggol was really eager to exact vengeance at Pablo (Elijah Canlas), who they strongly presume is the ruthless culprit behind her ravishment. Bubbles tried to stop him from carrying out his plan for she didn’t want him to destroy his life and go back to his delinquencies anew because of her.
Tanggol furiously went to the bar of Baste (Niño Muhlach) to see if Pablo was there to no avail as he only got to talk to Boss B and Obet (Neil Coleta) and relayed to them what had transpired. As he roamed around Manila City in quest of Pablo, the latter was still at their home, having some pep talk with his Mamita, Señora Bettina (Tessie Tomas), who was totally weirded out by the affectionate behavior of her favorite grandchild. He then accompanied his grandpa, Don Facundo, in his meeting with the Montenegros, wherein he learned that his lolo used the money entrusted by the Montenegros to them to fulfill his plan of putting up their own drug laboratory.
As they’re about to dabble in a new business venture, Don Facundo (Jaime Fabregas), earlier, ordered Marcelo (Nonie Buencamino) to coerce the man who they helped to get out of jail, none other than Tanggol, to finally join them since they’ll need more men for their operation.
While he was at their casino, Pablo was oblivious that Tanggol was there and able to sneak at the parking space, disguising himself in a full-face mask and brandishing a pipe wrench and a hammer. In the end, he was able to singlehandedly beat up all of his bodyguards and the security officers of the establishment, as well as his right-hand Ruben (Yce Navarro). Pablo attempted to escape using his car but to no avail, as Tanggol was able to catch him and repeatedly hit him with a hammer on the head until he died.
The news regarding Pablo’s tragic demise immediately reached his family as a group of police came to their house. That, of course, broke the hearts of his beloved grandparents and younger sister, Katherine (Ara Davao), with Bettina urging Facundo to go after Pablo’s murderer. Facundo vowed to use all their resources and connections in order to exact vengeance not only to the culprit, but to its family as well.
Tanggol, on the other hand, went straight to Quiapo Church to express his anger towards God for all the bad things and challenges that have been happening to him in spite of striving to live a renewed life. That was where Marcelo (Nonie Buencamino) and his friend, Dante (Dan Alvaro), as well as Berting (Joey Marquez) and Ben (Mark Lapid) chanced upon Tanggol. With Tanggol being in his “revenge era,” it seemed that they were able to convince him to finally join them as he told Berting and Ben that they would need their help in order to carry out their vengeful schemes against their enemies.
On his way to the pinning ceremony of Rigor, David (McCoy de Leon) saw Tanggol at a street and attempted to run him over with his car. But Tanggol was alert and agile enough to evade the speeding car and was about to assail the driver with the bolo he got from a buko cart. He was taken aback to find out that it was David, who accused him of doing horrible things that he actually didn’t do while pointing a gun at him. Since there were three of them (Tanggol, Ben and Berting) against him, David backed off and vowed to finish his brother off in their next encounter.
At the pinning ceremony, PLT Luis Jacobe (Victor Silayan) and PLT Mario Samonte (Jorel Ramirez) threw shade at Rigor, which Marites and Rigor were able to evade. David arrived afterwards, relaying to Rigor his encounter with Tanggol but altering the narrative by telling him that that it was Tanggol who pointed a gun at him. This, of course, got Rigor fuming mad, along with the viewers whose annoyance at the notorious father-and-son got triggered anew, yet David pacified him by handing him his gift, which was a brand-new gun.
Ben and Berting warned Tanggol about letting his emotions stir him, as he told them that he no longer cares whoever their enemies are going to be. Amanda (Lorna Tolentino) and Supremo (Lito Lapid) did the same as he approached them to apologize for what happened during their clash with Alberto aka Ramon (Christopher de Leon). He also talked to Supremo about joining forces with the group of Marcelo in order to finally defeat the enemies and expressing his willingness to go back to his bad ways if that will be the only way for him to give justice and protection to their loved ones.
Supremo warned him about completely putting his trust on Marcelo just because he was nice to him while they were inside the jail, but Tanggol firmly believes that he could be trustworthy and that his group could help them carry out their vengeful plans. Thus, he’s determined to still accept the offer amidst their oppositions. Supremo simply walked out of their conversation and left Tanggol without any further comment.
Rave comments from netizens
Amidst everything that had happened in FPJ’s Batang Quiapo, it was the portrayal of Joel Lamangan and his colorful character that still won our hearts of everyone because of how totally funny and entertaining he could be. Thus, many netizens have hailed him as the “New Primetime Queen of ABS-CBN,” with others even requesting for award-giving bodies to give him at least one “Best In Supporting Actor Award.”
Of course, Rigor, David, and Lena once again got into our nerves because of their being constant source of annoyance with just everything they do. At the same time, we were left in total shock and with a broken heart with the unforeseen and tragic deaths of Pablo and his most trusted aide Ruben.
Here are some of the tweets posted by Kapamilya netizens on X:
Will Tanggol really become part of Don Facundos henchmen? Well that’s for us to find out in the upcoming episodes of FPJ’s Batang Quiapo, weeknights at 8PM on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, TV5 and A2Z.