On her birthday week, ardent supporters of Andrea Brillantes were apparently delighted to see her in a lot of scenes in the March 10 to March 14) episodes of “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo,” where she astounded us with her compelling chops in drama and action as Fatima. 

“FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” commenced last week with the Benito Family carrying out their latest scam, which happened at a posh restaurant where they pretended to be different groups of customers. Upon locking in their target, which were three men who seemed to have a lot of money, the Benito couple Gracia (Shamaine Buencamino) and Paeng (Michael de Mesa), as well as the Dumlao family comprised of Nognog (Nonong Balinan), Nati (Diana Opilac), Totoy (Ahl Opilac), and Lito (Ahldrin Opilac), made a scene that distracted their targets. 

The Benito siblings, Fatima, Kaloy (Gio Alvarez), and Maki (Vince Rillon) also took on their roles in the modus operandi, with Fatima using her mesmerizing beauty to lure their victims. Together with her brothers and the Dumlao family, they urged their targets to return the wallet they found under their table to the owner in exchange for having the mobile number of Fatima. Since they were unfamiliar with the place that Paeng mentioned, the group of scammers offered to accompany them.  

As one of the men handed the wallet to Paeng, he alleged him of stealing some of his money, and it was at this point when their negotiation had a disastrous turn when their unsuspecting victims figured out that they were con artists and decided to call the police. A fistfight ensued between the two groups until Maki decided to shoot one of the men, which prompted the Benitos to flee the area.

Unfortunately for them, the two other men were able to seek immediate help from the police who were roving in the area. While the Benito couple and the Dumlao family were able to get away from the chase, Kaloy and Fatima were caught by the police, with the former being fatally shot on his left chest as he initiated a gunfight with them. 

With her brother in critical condition, which required them to shell out a huge amount of money for his operation, Fatima made the heartbreaking decision of sacrificing herself by accepting the offer of Aloha (Negi) to take on the prostitute work that he had been offering her. And for her first day at work, her client was Congressman Miguelito Guerrero (Jake Cuenca), the son of Mayor Roberto Guerrero (Albert Martinez). Their steamy scene in the bathtub indeed thrilled viewers, with supporters of Andrea and Jake commending them for their impressive performances.

Fatima received a whopping amount of cash from Miguelito, while Aloha took the majority of the money handed to him by Miguelito’s right-hand, Jason (Paolo Paraiso). Unfortunately, her sacrifice was put in vain as her brother died while she was on her way back to the hospital.

Meanwhile, a commotion erupted between the Dimaguibas and their neighbors anew, which was triggered by David’s (McCoy de Leon) return to San Dimas with Atty. Vera Saldivar (Maika Rivera), as well as of Rigor (John de Leon) afterwards. This prompted Barangay Chairman Leo Mojica (Rey Campanilla) to reach out to Mayor Roberto to ask for help as he was already hopeless that the police can still do something with it. Upon learning that he came from a different partylist, the mayor denied him any assistance and instead threatened to have him replaced, which caused Chairman Mojica to leave utterly disappointed.

Meanwhile, at the Montenegro mansion, Tanggol (Coco Martin) and his friends had the chance to speak with Tanggol’s biological father Ramon (Christopher de Leon) and his grandfather Don Julio (Tommy Abuel). During a stroll in the Montenegros' estate, Ramon shared his desire to give Tanggol the family he never had, as well as professed his love for Marites (Cherry Pie Picache). Thus, Tanggol warned him to not hurt or make a fool out of his mother, or else his dream of having a complete family and having him under his wing will never happen.

As he advised him to move on from Mokang’s (Lovi Poe) demise, Ramon brought Tanggol to her final resting place found inside the mansion’s premises. Since he knew how much he loved Mokang, Ramon allowed his son to see the remains of the woman they both loved with all their hearts and to bid his final goodbye to her.

Just when Don Julio feels hopeful about his family's future, Tanggol finally makes the life-changing decision of becoming a Montenegro and accepting their offer to merge their businesses. Thus, Don Julio thought of hosting a party for Tanggol and wasted no time in inviting their powerful allies, including the Guerrero family, to the grand celebration where they planned to present Tanggol as their heir. 

Later that night, Tanggol, together with all his friends, arrived at the party dressed to the nines. The party might not have started yet but an altercation already sparked between their group and the henchmen of Miguelito. The Guerrero heir then arrived at the scene, aiming his gun at each one of Tanggol’s friends and threatening to shoot them. Upon learning about the commotion, Tanggol immediately came to his friends’ rescue and disarmed Miguelito, much to the shock of the Congressman and the delight of his friends.

The happenings in the previous week’s episodes were indeed as scorching as the temperature nowadays, right! And we felt it as well through these tweets posted by Kapamilya netizens on X (formerly Twitter):

Will Tanggol and Miguelito become rivals? Let’s see by not missing an episode of “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo,” weeknights at 8 PM on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, (KOL) A2Z, and TV5.