Farewell of iconic teleserye logs record 536K live viewers on YouTube alone

MANILA — After a seven-year broadcast that made a mark on pop culture, the iconic teleserye “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” concluded Friday with the title character portrayed by Coco Martin returning to the province and starting anew, marking the end of an era for Philippine television.

Aptly titled “Mission Accomplished,” the final episode saw Cardo (Martin) achieving Task Force Agila’s goal of ridding the country of the terrorist threats of Renato (John Arcilla) and Lucio (Raymond Bagatsing), killing them both.

But that accomplishment did not come without sacrifice. After the deaths of Delfin (Jaime Fabregas), Victor (Raymart Santiago), Roxanne (Shaina Magdayao), James (Jay Gonzaga), Dante (Bassilyo), and Marsial (Smugglaz), the rest of the members of Agila were wiped out.

Hogtied by Lucio’s gunmen and garbed to look like them, Jerome (John Prats) and Rigor (Marco Solis) were both mistakenly shot by Ramil (Michael de Mesa) and Patrick (CJ Ramos).

Outnumbered and attempting to fallback, the surviving members of Agila prioritized the safety of Cardo and President Oscar Hidalgo (Rowell Santiago). They willingly stayed behind to fend off Renato and his men, accepting that it would likely result in their deaths. Diana (Angel Aquino), Billy (John Medina), Greco (Sancho delas Alas), Ramil, and Patrick died protecting their two leaders.

Insisting that the President’s life is more valuable than his, Cardo similarly tried to lure their enemies to a different direction, to give Oscar time to escape. The plan, however, resulted in Cardo getting surrounded, with Renato seemingly shooting him dead.

Circling back to help Cardo, Oscar found an advantageous spot that allowed him to fire away and finally kill Renato, who had long schemed to steal the presidency from him.

While triumphant in their mission, the president found himself laying to rest the slain members of Agila, all of whom were given a hero’s burial.

Cardo, who appeared dead, was later shown recovering in a hospital. He, however, was met with the tragic news that not only his comrades were gone, but so too was his grandmother, Flora.

Lola Flora, as he was fondly called by Cardo, was portrayed by the late screen icon Susan Roces for over six years, until she passed away in May. While in the story, Flora’s death was not explained, her tombstone, which reflects Roces’ real birth and death dates, was shown being visited by Cardo in the final scenes.

Deciding to return to the province, Cardo was reunited with last semblance of family he had left — the children whom he and Flora had taken in, including Onyok (Onyok Pineda), one of the original characters of the series when it premiered in 2015 — in a full-circle moment for the hero cop.

In Manila, Oscar, whose family was massacred early in the series, similarly had a new start as he married Aurora (Sharon Cuneta), his first love. Cardo appeared to find new love, too, with the revelation that Mara (Julia Montes) — Oscar and Aurora’s daughter — survived being thrown at sea.

CARDO’S LEGACY

The Philippines’ longest-running teleserye and with an ever-evolving story that resembled current events, “Ang Probinsyano” made a mark on local pop culture over its seven-year run. Martin, its lead star who later became its creative head, also cemented his status as TV and action king, following in the footsteps of his idol, Fernando Poe, Jr., whose 1996 movie inspired the series.

• 3 presidents, 3 Maja series: What happened during 'Probinsyano's' 7 years on air

According to Kantar Media, “Ang Probinsyano” was the Philippines’ undisputed No. 1 TV program for five years until mid-2020, when ABS-CBN was forced off free television.

Migrating to digital platforms after the network’s broadcast shutdown, the series steadily regained its wide viewership. Over the last two years, “Ang Probinsyano” led ABS-CBN titles in marking successive audience milestones on Kapamilya Online Live. Leading up to its conclusion, it logged successive record viewership, with the final episode setting an all-time high 536,543 concurrent live viewers.

The mammoth audience was also seen in the trending topics on Twitter on Friday night, with #FPJsAngProbinsyano and #FPJAP7MissionAccomplished ranking No. 1 in the list at different points. Related terms that also made the top trends were Cardo, Lola Flora, Mara, Hipolito, and Agila.

“Hindi ko akalain na ito pala ‘yung lawak ng mapupuntahan ng show,” Martin said in a farewell interview released ahead of the series’ finale. “Nakapakalaking misyon pala ang gagampanan namin para makapagserbisyo sa mga tao.”

“Ang layo-layo ng napuntahan ng show. Si Cardo, lahat ng characters, nabuhay sila sa araw-araw na buhay din ng mga tao,” he said.

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For Martin, the seven-year run of “Ang Probinsyano” has always been driven by the mission of entertaining and inspiring viewers, fueled by the camaraderie and family that were formed among the series’ cast and creative team.

"It was sad for me, even though we were very tired. He's not just a show, eh. It's all very special to us, because we're so obsessed with doing it," he said.

"We've got a hundred per cent of the workforce, we've got a lot of work to do," he said. We knew we had an obligation to the audience."