The previous week (February 10 to February 14) was indeed special for “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” and its avid viewers, as it was the anniversary week of the undisputed, top-rating primetime teleserye, which premiered on February 13, 2023.

It might be the week of Valentine’s Day, but there was no stopping the show from providing viewers with heartbreaking, provoking, and gripping scenes that were truly anticipated by more than 700,000 audiences online and were highly talked about by Kapamilya netizens on social media.

Ardent shippers of the Primo (Lito Lapid) and Amanda (Lorna Tolentino) tandem were indeed heartbroken when the couple faced their tragic deaths during the riveting four-way clash among the Mamba Cartel group, Tanggol’s (Coco Martin) “Wating,” Primo’s squad, and the platoon of PMGen. Augustus Pacheco (Julio Diaz). 

In spite of their past conflict, Primo was able to prove until his very last breath that he’s indeed a genuine friend and father figure to Tanggol, as he chose to save him from being killed by Julio as he heroically caught the bullet that was supposedly for him. Devastated by what happened to their friend and ally, Berting (Joey Marquez) and Ben (Mark Lapid) expressed their disappointment at Tanggol and swore to get back at him in due time.

As Tanggol and his friends remembered the journey they shared with Primo and Amanda, as well as all their contributions to their group, Divina assured her group that Primo and Amanda’s sacrifices were not in vain. She showed them the “Blood Titan,” the precious gem they took ahold of during the shootout, which was supposed to be Mamba Cartel’s payment for their transaction. Since this makes their group approximately half a billion richer, Tanggol thought of it as a great means to find his real-life father.

Following Lucio’s (Ronnie Lazaro) shocking decision to choose the neophyte Santino (Ronwaldo Martin) to be the second-in-command of Red Phoenix, Edwin (Ping Medina), who was highly against the appointment, incited the violent tension among their group. Unfortunately for Edwin, their other members sided with Santino, who was subsequently rewarded by Lucio with a hefty amount of cash for helping him get rid of Angkong (Joonee Gamboa).

While Rigor (John Estrada) went home all by himself, Marites (Cherry Pie Picache) agreed to go with Ramon (Christopher de Leon) to get answers to the questions that were beleaguering her. It truly perplexed her that “Tanggol” was vehemently mad to find out that Rigor is not his biological father and even desperately asked her who his real father was—when all along he and Ramon had been living under one roof for quite some time. As Ramon remarked that “Tanggol” has known for a long time already that he is his father, Marites told him that their son only found out that Rigor isn’t his real father when Olga (Irma Adlawan) told him during their face-off at the hospital.

As they figured out that the stories of the respective “Tanggol” they were referring to weren’t matching up, they agreed to go to the Montenegro mansion to confront “Tanggol” and find the answers themselves. However, that didn’t happen as David (McCoy de Leon), who pretends to be Tanggol, managed to escape even before they got the chance to talk to him. Unfortunately for David, Ramon was able to take hold of his phone after he left it in his closet, and through the wallpaper, they finally figured out the truth.

Ramon flew into a rage upon realizing that Olga and David connived to trick him and his dad Don Julio, more so when Marites told him about the brown jacket and high-caliber gun that she and Santino retrieved from the bag owned by David. Marites tried to downplay it as mere coincidence, but Ramon firmly believed that it couldn’t be since David and his attacker were both limping when he last saw them.

Worried for her son’s safety as Ramon threatened to kill David, Marites begged Ramon to spare his life and to just pin the blame on her for not being able to raise him well. But Ramon consoled her that it’s not her fault and asked her to bring David to him; then he will decide what to do with him.

Tension mounted in the Dimaguiba household as Rigor returned from the hospital as a heated confrontation sparked between him and Tindeng (Charo Santos). It further got more scorching when Marites, who just arrived from her rendezvous with Ramon, was warned by Rigor that he would have her and his beau killed once he's able to catch them and find out who he is. Marites then confided in Tindeng that the Montenegros are hunting David after pretending to be Tanggol.

David asked Atty. Vera (Maika Rivera) to meet with him as he sought her help to get him out of the mess he’s currently in. He enticed her to fasttrack the transfer of the Caballeros’ wealth to his biological name, but she initially refused to do so since she doesn’t want to be dragged into his problems. However, David was able to persuade her with the promise of giving her the amount she needed in order to solve all her financial woes.

He also vowed to give Atty. Vera half of the Caballero estate, as long as she will help him get through this trouble and she will come with him once he gets the chance to escape. The following day, he asked her to pay the medical debts of Rigor in the hospital and to expedite the processing of the documents that they will need to fly out of the country together with his father.

Rigor and Roda had a scorching spat the following day, which triggered Rigor to throw a fit and kick him out of their house. As Roda pleaded with Rigor to not expel him, Marites reminded her husband that her “frenny” actually helps their family financially through his rental payment, especially now that he already lost his job.

After being compelled to temporarily stop their operations due to the shootout that transpired between the groups of Primo and Colonel Suarez (King Gutierrez), not to mention that they had to take on a really important mission, Tanggol and his squad decided to reopen their gambling den. And it was not only their “parokyanos” who came on their opening day but also David, who wishes to grow his money.

It was definitely a distressing and thrilling week for avid viewers of “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” and we really felt it through the rave comments of netizens who expressed their feels and thoughts while watching every episode via the tweets they posted on X (formerly Twitter). Here are some of them:

Are you as excited to witness the highly anticipated face-offs of father-and-son tandems Rigor-David and Ramon-Tanggol? Will David really be killed in that intense and bloody clash? Well, you better not miss next week’s episodes of “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo,” weeknights at 8 PM, on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z, and TV5.