MANILA — “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” made a pivotal turn on Friday with the death of a main character who nearly killed Cardo (Coco Martin), and the arrival of a new one who has taken up the mission to bring him to recovery.

In the episode titled “Ganti,” a bloodied Cardo finally avenged his late wife Alyana (Yassi Pressman) as he bested Lito (Richard Gutierrez) after exchanging blows and bullets.

“Para kay Alyana!” Cardo shouted as he dug a knife deeper into Lito, whose obsession with his childhood sweetheart led to her demise.

While he did survive Lito, who now appeared dead, Cardo, too, had near-fatal injuries including a stab wound and several bullets in his body. Their clash, which ended with the explosion of their vehicles, fortunately drew the attention of nearby farmers.

By a stroke of luck, the farmers, led by the mysterious Ramona (Charo Santos-Concio), recognized Cardo and hurried to save him — indicating a new alliance.

In teasers introducing the acclaimed actress’ character, Ramona’s speech hints she is the leader of a patriotic group whose crusade dates back centuries and who now sees Cardo as the key to reclaiming the Philippine government, after being taken over by the crime syndicate of Lily (Lorna Tolentino), Renato (John Arcilla), and Arturo (Tirso Cruz III).

The events leading up to “Ganti” marked a new record for the series, which logged its all-time high concurrent live viewers on June 16, with the episode titled “Habulan.”

“Ang Probinsyano,” which was the Philippines’ No. 1 TV program for nearly five years until ABS-CBN was forced off free television, has steadily grown its online viewers since mid-2020, when the network migrated its programming to digital.

Over the last two years, the Coco Martin starrer has led ABS-CBN titles in marking successive audience milestones on Kapamilya Online Live, with the latest being a scripted drama crossing the 300,00-mark in concurrent viewers.

Aside from Kapamilya Online Live, “Ang Probinsyano” can be watched via Kapamilya Channel, A2Z, TV5, CineMo, iWantTFC, WeTV, and iflix.