Christopher De Leon Enjoys Working With Piolo Pascual And Jericho Rosales In 'Dahil Sa Pag-Ibig'

THE FIRST WEEK of telecast of “Dahil sa Pag-ibig” was previewed for the press by ABS-CBN at Trinoma last Sunday. All the stars were there except for Maricar Reyes who had a previous appointment. The first few episodes focused on Christopher de Leon as Leo Valderama, who has two main conflicts in the story. First is as the poor husband of Sandy Andolong whose very rich dad, Ronaldo Valdez, often insults him. Second is his conflict with the governor of their province, Bing Davao, whose family ordered the death of his own dad.

Leo wants to buy a mountain with gold waiting to be mined in it, which will be his ticket to a more prosperous life. But Joel Torre is able to buy it ahead of him. Joel accidentally dies while they’re having a confrontation over it. To confound the problem, Joel’s wife, Melissa Mendez, also gets hit by a truck, leaving their son, Alfred (who’d grow up to be Piolo Pascual), an orphan.

Leo finds Alfred at the Hospicio de San Jose and adopts him, not knowing the boy is the son of the man he accidentally killed. The boy becomes very close to Leo’s own daughter (who’d grow up to be Cristine Reyes.) Just when Leo is about to give up hope due to extreme poverty, he’s suddenly able to obtain the mountain for himself, like some deus ex machina resolution to his problem, and he suddenly becomes wealthy overnight. Within the blink of an eye, he even becomes the mayor of their hometown, making things worse for him and the governor. The material is really the kind of story-driven melodramatic soap where all sorts of plots mechanics are employed just to forward the narrative.

Christopher says he had a great time working with the young cast of “Dahil sa Pag-ibig”. “They’re all very disciplined, lalo na sina Piolo Pascual at Jericho Rosales,” he says. “You can see their dedication to their craft, both are very focused on their careers. Ganun din naman ang leading ladies nilang sina Cristine Reyes and Maricar Reyes. They come to the set always well prepared. They’re all lucky to have a home studio like ABS-CBN to take good care of them and their careers.”

It’s a mutual admiration club since both Piolo and Jericho also declare their excitement working with Boyet. “I’m proud to work with him again after ‘Dekada 70’,” says Piolo. “He’s an inspiration to all of us.”

“Working with Sir Boyet is like taking a personal workshop with him about acting,” says Jericho. “After all these years, he remains to be on top as one of the country’s most respected actors. I’m proud to work with him.”

Also in the cast of “Nang Dahil sa Pag-ibig” are Tetchie Agbayani, Rey Abellana, Carla Martinez, Freddie Webb, Denise Laurel, and Rafael Rosell.