Tanggol (Coco Martin) has already kickstarted his journey to renewal, as seen in the previous week’s (April 8 to April 12) episodes of FPJ’s Batang Quiapo! He has successfully scored a job and a promotion just on his very first day at work as a janitor-turned-head bouncer at the bar where Bubbles (Ivana Alawi) and Jelly (Kim Rodriguez). While he has already moved forward in life, he apparently has not moved on yet from his ultimate love, Mokang (Lovi Poe), even though she’s already gone.
As Don Facundo (Jaime Fabregas) caught Tindeng (Charo Santos) cleaning the glass panel of their fishpond all by herself as ordered by Señora Bettina (Tessie Tomas), he came up with a bright idea to stop her overly pious wife from picking on their poor nanny. He reminded her that her “langit points” or will diminish if she continues to punish other people, which indeed worked as Bettina asked Tindeng how she was after doing her chore and even gave her a few of her old clothes.
Seeing the unsatisfactory performances of the representatives of the gym to the upcoming amateur boxing invitational tournament, which includes the arrogant and scheming Lawrence (Paolo Gumabao), Head Coach Gary (Levi Ignacio) told his sub-coaches Joel (Badong Domasian) and Roberto (Luisito Espinosa) that he already foresees their looming defeat. As they suggested to let Santino (Ronwaldo Martin) play for them, Gary disagreed since Santino hasn’t spoken to her parents about it yet. So, before fully deciding to back out, Gary talked to Santino once more before allowing him to fight.
Aside from treating the wounds that he sustained after being assaulted by Rigor (John Estrada) and David (McCoy de Leon), Bubbles (Ivana Alawi) and her loved ones also helped Tanggol to start anew in life by and giving him food, clothes, and temporary shelter for free. Bubbles and her bestie Jelly (Kim Rodriguez) then brought him to the bar where they both work as waitresses in hopes that their boss, Baste (Niño Muhlach) would hire him as a janitor.
While in transit with the authorities, the convoy involving the remaining members of the Red Phoenix Group Angkong (Joonee Gamboa) and Roy (Jeffrey Tam) got ambushed by the henchmen of his business rival Mr. Salazar (Johnny Revilla). Lucio (Ronnie Lazaro) and his new group, the Tondo Gang, were around the area and seized the opportunity to catch what they assumed are a “big fish” that they can take advantage of.
The Red Phoenix Group and the Tondo Gang agreed to save Angkong and Roy from the men running after them in exchange of the fulfilling their wishes. The Tondo Gang were able to annihilate them and took the two fugitives with them to their hideout. There, the two groups were able to get to know each other further and, at the same time, Roy and Angkong expressed their strong desire to hunt Tanggol down and kill him after what he and his group did to them that led to the demise of Christine (Marina Benipayo) and Aurora (Odette Khan).
Apart from giving them the money and job that they promised them, Angkong and Roy also offered the Tondo gang to stay with them at their safehouse. After finalizing their deal, the two were picked up by their minions.
Meanwhile, Lucio’s former friends Primo (Lito Lapid) and Amanda (Lorna Tolentino) almost got caught by the police as they did a random inspection at the bus they boarded going to Nueva Ecija. The officers were able to recognize them, which prompted Primo to fight back and caused a hullabaloo. In the end, Primo was able to singlehandedly gun down Augustus’ (Julio Diaz) men and he and Amanda were able to escape and went back to their hideout.
At the Caballero mansion, Tindeng tried on the clothes given to her by Bettina at night as encouraged by her excited brother Noy (Lou Veloso) before they go to bed. They were caught by Don Facundo having a little fun at the kitchen, so Tindeng took it as an opportunity to ask for his help regarding Tanggol’s case. Unbeknown to her, her beloved grandchild was already emancipated and it was Facundo who provided him the lawyer who helped him be cleared from the charges filed against him.
It was also that night when Marcelo (Nonie Buencamino) and Dante (Dan Alvaro) were able to accomplish the first mission given to them by Don Facundo. Marcelo conveyed his eagerness to recruit Tanggol into their syndicate as they’re about to take on more missions.
The Caballeros, on the other hand, didn’t have an idea that their heiress Katherine (Ara Davao) met with David (McCoy de Leon), a.k.a. Fake Tanggol, at a restaurant to supposedly talk about the damages she had to pay after crashing her car to his. The meeting turned into a romantic date as David tried to woo her by shutting the whole restaurant down in order for them to have some privacy.
As Santino attempted to talk to Marites (Cherry Pie Picache) about seeking her permission for him to fight in the upcoming tournament, she told him to postpone it yet for she was still busy preparing a sumptuous dinner for Rigor. Unfortunately, all her efforts were put into vain as her husband headed to the house of his colleague-slash-mistress Lena (Mercedes Cabral) to eat and spend the night with her.
Bubbles’ charms successfully worked its magic on Baste as he hired Tanggol, as well as their friend Emong (Nikko Natividad), on the spot. However, the thing Tanggol had been fearing of happened as he got enmeshed in trouble anew for singlehandedly defending their boss from being mobbed by the rude customers who harassed Bubbles. Impressed by his bravery and fighting skills, Baste decided to promote Tanggol as head bouncer instead of kicking him and Bubbles out even after finding out from the blabbermouth Emong that both of them are ex-convicts. Bubbles was able to persuade Baste, who admitted being smitten by her.
As Obet (Neil Coleta) observed how close Tanggol and Bubbles were, he was able to convince Baste to talk to Tanggol regarding the real score between them. Tanggol clarified that there’s nothing romantic going on between them and they’re just friends, as well as imparted to him how their friendship began inside the correctional.
After their shift, Tanggol, Bubbles, Jelly, and Emong headed to a popular pares place in Ermita to celebrate Tanggol’s promotion. As they passed by the park where he and Mokang (Lovi Poe) used to have their date, he couldn’t help but reminisce about that time he serenaded her in front of a crowd. He also bought the bunch of sampaguitas offered to him by a kid and gave all of them to Bubbles, much to her delight. Bubbles apparently found it difficult to conceal her jealousy as Tanggol mentioned Mokang in their conversation, especially when he related how much he still loves her even though she’s already dead.
Comments from netizens
It was indeed an exciting week for avid viewers of FPJ’s Batang Quiapo as we’d witnessed a lot of thrilling ganaps not just in Tanggol’s journey back in the outside world, but to the other characters as well.
But among everything that we’d seen, netizens were shocked the most with the reappearance of Angkong and Roy, played by Joonee Gamboa and Jeffrey Tam, as some of them have apparently forgotten or missed that they’re able to survive the ambush executed by Tanggol, his friends, and Bubbles. Furthermore, they are also thrilled that they forged allegiance with Lucio and the Tondo Gang as they aim to once again rebuild the Red Phoenix Group after the deaths of their two allies, Aurora (Odette Khan) and Christine (Marina Benipayo).
We also got to see several romantic scenes between Tanggol and Bubbles that truly left viewers kilig and hoping that their ship will continue to sail. At the same time, not everyone was completely happy about it as he still kept on thinking about Mokang while they were together. Regardless, we can all agree that Coco Martin and Ivana Alawi have palpable chemistry.
Many are also amused by the almost incessant quips and bickering of Jelly and Emong, impressively played by Kim Rodriguez and Nikko Natividad, through which they’re able to showcase their innate sense of humor and comedic chops.
Here are some of the comments posted by avid viewers on X (formerly Twitter) who got to watch the previous week’s episodes:
Will Tanggol’s journey of renewal progress or there are going to be circumstances that would hinder him from fulfilling that goal? Let’s find out in the next episodes of FPJ’s Batang Quiapo, weeknights at 8PM, on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z, and TV5.