Our weekday afternoon viewing has indeed become more scorching ever since Nag-aapoy na Damdamin premiered in July 2023. Throughout its six month-run, we’ve witnessed the almost incessant showdowns, altercations, and vengeful schemes among its lead characters Olivia, Philip, Lucas, and Melinda, compellingly portrayed by seasoned thespians Jane Oineza, JC de Vera, Tony Labrusca, and Ria Atayde, respectively.

And now that it’s coming to its highly anticipated finale dubbed “The Final Checkmate,” let us reminisce some of the mind-blowing scenes that we had seen, which truly left us all appalled, in this special feature!

The truth behind Severino’s death

One of the mysteries that immediately hounded us just on the first few episodes of this teleserye was the unforeseen death of Dr. Severino Salazar (Jeffrey Santos), the father of Philip. It was initially ruled as suicide, but due to Philip’s inquisitiveness and persistence in finding out the truth, he eventually found out that there was actually foul play. 

With the help of Police Staff Sergeant Tommy Paras (Elyson de Dios), a morally upright officer who was part of the team in charge of Severino’s case, it was discovered that a hitman snuck into their house that night and strangled Severino until he lost consciousness. The hitman tied a rope around his neck and pushed his body off the veranda, which caused the death of Severino – just like Philip’s presumption.

And the mastermind behind it was none other than Victoria Buencamino (Maila Gumila), the widow of Severino’s best friend Javier (Richard Quan) who believed that the late doctor intentionally killed her husband in order to get the money that he promised to give his hospital after he died. It was also she who murdered the mute father of Olivia, Luis (William Lorenzo), who was the sole witness to the crime.

She was able to successfully execute both crimes with the help of PCOL Santiago Quijada (Simon Ibarra), a.k.a. Matias, who also helped her hide it for a long time. 

Elias finds out that Javier is his father

For sure, many were bewildered in the sudden entrance by Ejay Falcon, who played the role of Elias. Just when it was assumed that he’s simply a random character met by Olivia and who helped her get out of the psychiatric facility where Victoria sent her, it was later on revealed that he’s actually the illegitimate son of Javier Buencamino.

Elias also only learned about it after his mother’s death, as she detailed her relationship with Javier and Victoria in their younger years through the letter that she kept in a chest, along with several news clippings and pictures regarding the Buencaminos. 

And it seemed that Severino also knew about this, yet he chose to hide it in order to protect the reputation of his best friend, Javier. 

Lucas wants her marriage with Olivia be annulled

We all know how much Lucas loves Olivia, to the point that he didn’t easily give up on finding her when she got into a fatal accident and was presumed to be dead. He might have gotten married to Melinda (Ria Atayde), but it was still Olivia who was in his heart and mind. And when they crossed paths again, he did everything he could in order to fight for their marriage. 

While Olivia did come back to him after regaining her memory, their relationship had never been the same again. Apart from the circumstances that had taken a toll on their marriage, her love for him had also faded. Thus, even though he still had feelings for her, Lucas made the huge decision to initiate their annulment for the sake of both of them.

Olivia was surprised by this move and commended him for finally mustering the courage to decide for himself. However, she didn’t accept it, which totally got him so perplexed. She told him that she would not easily give it to him and Melinda as she still wanted them to pay for all the nasty things they did to her. Besides, she warned him that she was not yet done exacting revenge on them because she was just beginning. 

Olivia finds out that Philip was not the cause of her accident

Another event that appalled us in the first few episodes of Nag-aapoy na Damdamin was the horrible accident that almost killed Olivia. Just when we thought that it was Philip who really caused it, PO3 Tomas found out through his investigation at the crime scene, he recovered another bullet that actually didn’t come from the gun Philip used that night as he attempted to murder Lucas. 

It isn’t known yet who was the real culprit behind it, but PO3 Paras told Philip that it could be someone so powerful as it once threatened the life of his late mother. And the identity of the real suspect is one of the things we’re looking forward to finding out in the remaining episodes. 

Lucas got accidentally shot by Victoria

Throughout its run, the series astonished us with a lot of twists and turns in its narrative. And one of the biggest – and the one we really didn’t see coming – was when Victoria accidentally shot her son after he tried to stop her from shooting Olivia. As she aimed her gun at Olivia, Lucas swiftly ran to her in an attempt to take it from her. Unfortunately, she got him unintentionally shot in the abdomen while they struggle to grab the gun from each other. 

Now, we just can imagine how Victoria will become more vicious and ruthless in exacting revenge at Olivia and Philip, who both have been large thorns in her chest.

Watch out for more appalling scenes and revelations in the remaining episodes of the highly anticipated “The Final Checkmate” finale of Nag-aapoy na Damdamin, Monday to Friday afternoon, Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, TV5 and A2Z.