MANILA -- "Ang Probinsyano" continued to keep at bay rival show "Mulawin vs. Ravena" with episodes centering on the death of Joaquin (Arjo Atayde), the series' longtime baddie who killed off one of the major characters early on.

The cop drama drew a national television rating of 43.3 percent and 42.7 percent for its Tuesday and Wednesday episodes, respectively. Both numbers were more than double that of GMA-7's newest fantasy series, according to Kantar Media.

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Interest in the episodes was no doubt driven by the question of whether Joaquin will succeed in his revenge plot against Cardo (Coco Martin) and Alyana (Yassi Pressman).

The ratings were higher than the show's average for the whole of last year, which stood at 40 percent. Many harbingers of doom have been speculating for quite some time that the prolonged storyline might prove to be a death knell for the show.

But there is very little evidence to suggest that, as a bumper number of viewers tuned in to witness the death of Joaquin, and with ABS-CBN renewing the serye until January 2018.

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"Ang Probinsyano" is set to continue as Cardo tries to live a normal family life with now-wife Alyana while still pushing his war against corrupt police officials and big-time criminals.

Lito Lapid and a host of other actors are set to join the cast.