Pangako Sa 'Yo

The Beginning

Chaos arises in the now-failing Hacienda Buenavista, located in the province of Punta Verde, with a revolution forming among its farmers. Doña Benita Buenavista (Liza Lorena) orders her youngest son, Diego Buenavista (Jestoni Alarcon) to summon his older brother, Eduardo (Tonton Gutierrez). Unbeknownst to them, Eduardo is currently consummating his love with Amor de Jesus ( Eula Valdes), a maid from the hacienda, who he is in a secret relationship with. Amor hides under the bed, while Eduardo leaves with Diego to aid their mother. Doña Benita expresses her distress with their family's falling empire, and finds that the only solution to their financial troubles would be if Eduardo marries the mayor's daughter. Amor, who is now back in the mansion, overhears their conversation. As Benita leaves, Eduardo reassures Amor that he will not give in to his mother's desires. Unfortunately, Benita overhears; she degrades Amor, embarrassing her while making false accusations that she is only with Eduardo for wealth. Desperate to get rid of Amor, Benita orders her henchmen to throw her out of the mansion and restrain Eduardo. However, Eduardo chases after his lover.

Out of desperation, Benita orders Diego, who is also in love with Amor, to do everything at all costs to separate them. Diego, who is also desperate for his mother's love and affection, gives in to her plans. Diego offers Amor a lift to her love shack with Eduardo, claiming his brother will soon follow. Benita then makes false claims that Amor left with Diego and insinuates that Eduardo follows them. Meanwhile, Diego attempts to rape Amor; Eduardo arrives, catching the two, and falsely accuses Amor of cheating on him. Amor chases Eduardo back to the mansion, begging for his mercy and for Diego to tell the truth. Under his mother's commands, Diego lies and clams that he has had a relationship with Amor long before she was with Eduardo, and that they planned to embezzle money from the hacienda and move away from Punta Verde. Eduardo believes Diego, thus, disowning Amor. He throws her into the trash, claiming the scent of her unfaithfulness will forever be stuck to her identity. With nowhere to go, Amor goes to the church, where she encounters a priest. The kind priest offers her to stay at the church while he goes to the Hacienda Buenavista to clear things up with Eduardo for Amor. However, the priest comes into contact with Benita, and after being blackmailed, is forced to banish Amor from the church and also Punta Verde. Finally homeless, Amor leaves Punta Verde and returns to the Talimpao dumpsite, where she resides with her mother.

With Amor out of the picture, Benita sets her plan into motion to make Eduardo marry Claudia Zalameda (Jean Garcia), the daughter of the mayor of Punta Verde. Meanwhile, Amor finds out that she is pregnant with Eduardo's child and, out of anger at the Buenavistas, tries to kill the child. Amor decides to keep the child and sees an image on a newspaper of Eduardo and Claudia's union. Amor lets out a cry of anger and despair and promises that one day she will return and have her vengeance against the Buenavistas.

Two years pass; Amor has given birth to a baby girl named María Amor. Wanting to provide a better life for her daughter, Amor survives by working as a female escort and dancer at a nightclub, together with her friend, Lourdes Magpantay (Amy Austria). Amor catches the eye of a rich African-American man named James Powers (James Cooper). Amor decides to leave her daughter with her mother, Chayong (Perla Bautista), and go with James to the United States in order to seek a better future for María Amor. As a keepsake, Amor leaves a bracelet with her daughter. On the other hand, Eduardo and Claudia marriage was proven to be a disaster, however, they produced a son named Angelo; Eduardo had become a drunk, while Claudia had become a woman of foul-language and cruel character. Later on, Diego confronts Benita about her lies, stating that she never loved him the way she loved Eduardo and only used him as a pawn to breakup Amor and Eduardo, and blames her for all of the misfortunes that happened to their family. Benita tries to chase after Diego to explain but, unfortunately, suffers a heart attack. Benita begs Claudia to help her, however, she chooses to leave her on the staircase to die.

While on her deathbed, Benita seeks forgiveness from Eduardo, while trying to explain that she was the one who broke his relationship with Amor. However, she was unable to do so and died shortly after. After the funeral, Eduardo attempts to make amends with Diego and decides to give him the hacienda. However, Claudia fabricates documents claiming that Diego has been embezzling money; Eduardo banishes Diego from the hacienda. Attempting to forget Amor, Eduardo tries to open up his heart to Claudia; the two have sex and are summoned after a fire has broken out in a hut in the hacienda. In horror, Eduardo watches his love shack with Amor go to ruins.

Meanwhile, a large landslide in the Talimpao dumpsite separated María Amor from her grandmother. Chayong is killed after a roll of garbage boulders at her, while María Amor survives after being placed under trash. The next day, the gravity of the situation unfolds as it is revealed that thousands of people lost their lives and homes. Among the people who lost their home is Belen (Eva Darren) and Isko Macaspac (Cris Daluz). Isko finds María Amor underneath the garbage and, coming to the conclusion that her family is dead, decides to adopt her; a small box is placed with the toddler. Belen and Isko find a drawing of Amor inside of the box with the word "Ynamorata." They assume that is the child's mother's name and decide to name her "Ynamorata Macaspac" or "Yna" for short.

Story

The story begins with the romance between Amor de Jesús (Eula Valdez) and Eduardo Buenavista (Tonton Gutierrez). Eduardo's mother, Doña Benita (Liza Lorena), opposes the relationship since Amor was a housemaid and because she wanted Eduardo to marry Claudia Zalameda (Jean Garcia) for political reasons. Doña Benita asked Eduardo's older brother, Diego (Jestoni Alarcon), who was also attracted to Amor, to separate them. Upon seeing Diego trying to rape Amor, Eduardo mistook it as them having a relationship, breaking his heart and prompts him to marry Claudia. The now-pregnant Amor was banished from the Buenavista hacienda and she returns to her mother in Manila, who was living at the Payatas dumpsite. She vows revenge on the Buenavista family when she learns that Eduardo has married Claudia.

After giving birth to her daughter, María Amor (Kristine Hermosa), Amor and her friend, Lourdes (Amy Austria-Ventura), survived by working in clubs. Amor caught the eye of a rich American named James Powers (James Cooper), who brings her to the United States. She leaves María Amor and her mother, Chayong (Perla Bautista), behind at the dumpsite and sends money to them from time to time. James Powers proves abusive towards Amor, forbidding her from returning home when a landslide hit the dumpsite. Amor, thinking that her mother and daughter had died, and in retaliation for all his abuses towards her, does not get her husband medical help when he suffered a stroke. James Powers dies and Amor inherits his fortune.

Eduardo and Claudia have two children: Angelo (Jericho Rosales) and Lia (Jodi Sta. Maria). Eduardo is the governor of the province of Punta Verde while Claudia has become the ever-elusive queen of illegal gambling in Punta Verde. Angelo is a rebel who dislikes his father while Lia is a sweet, devout Catholic teenager who cares for the feelings of her loved ones.

Amor's daughter survives the landslide and is adopted by Isko (Cris Daluz) and Belen Macaspac (Eva Darren). The couple found drawings Eduardo made for Amor, signed "Ynamorata" near the abandoned child, so they decided to call the little girl they found Ynamorata. Isko and Belen have their own children: Caloy, who hates Yna, and teenager Flerida (Hazel Ann Mendoza).

Doña Benita regretted forcing Eduardo to marry Claudia, as her daughter-in-law turned out to be cruel. On her deathbed, she tried to explain that she was the one who broke Eduardo's relationship with Amor, but died before being able to do so. To atone for her sins, Doña Benita's spirit haunts the dreams of the grown Yna.

Twenty years later, Yna and Eduardo accidentally meet, and Yna dreams of Doña Benita showing her that her past lies in the Buenavista family. Intrigued, she gets a job working as a housemaid in Eduardo's household. Yna and Angelo fall in love, much to Claudia's chagrin. She looks down on housemaids and servants, and actively makes Yna's life a living hell.

Amor Powers returns to the Philippines after making a name for herself in the business world in the United States. Amor had been planning her revenge on the Buenavistas, whom she blames for her past sufferings, as well as the assumed death of María Amor. The dilemma was that, after finding out that Yna's true father was Eduardo, Angelo and Yna were therefore thought to be half-siblings. It was later revealed that Angelo's biological father was not Eduardo, nor was it Simon Barcial (John Arcilla), Claudia's former, impoverished lover. Angelo's biological father was later revealed to be Eduardo's brother, Diego (who was also revealed to be adopted), who sired Angelo with a poor woman named Thelma, who had later died.

It also turns out that Claudia had a daughter with Simon. Claudia's father switched the babies after Doña Benita demanded a male heir (the boy that replaced the girl was revealed to be Angelo). The daughter was Clarissa (Dianne dela Fuente) and she was raised by an old woman named Puríng (Anita Linda) as María Amor. Puring had Clarissa believe she was Maria Amor de Jesús, the daughter of Amor.

To exact revenge on Amor, Claudia kills María Amor/Clarissa, but was deeply crushed when she later learned the girl's true identity. Her heart filled with more anger towards Amor, as well as regret. Claudia, together with Coring (Minnie Aguilar) and her henchmen, planned to kill the entire Buenavista family at Yna and Angelo's wedding. Thus, confronting them while holding a gun. But everyone especially Angelo and Lia made her realize how important she is to them and how she should bring out the goodness in her heart that was once filled with evil, hatred, greed and revenge. She realizes everything after Lia and Angelo gave her a hug and reconciles with everyone at the wedding. People from the wedding especially Amor and Angelo also asked forgiveness from Claudia, which she immediately accepted. While she was kneeling in front of everyone, she sees Clarissa's spirit at the altar and begs forgiveness. Claudia was forgiven by everyone but because of her past crimes, she was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment. And a little while later, Amor gave her Clarissa's ashes.

Five years later, each of the major characters are happy and reunited with their true loves: Yna becomes pregnant and marries Angelo, Claudia meets her granddaughter from her now-deceased daughter, Lia. Afterwards, she and Simon married each other inside prison. Meanwhile, Amor and Eduardo decided to live happily as a couple and married each other after 27 years of their unbreakable love for each other.

The soap, which ran from November 13, 2000 to September 20, 2002, spanned 476 episodes at 30 minutes each then replaced by Bituin. The show posted an all-time high rating of 64.9% during its September 2002 series finale. This is the second highest rating for any Filipino-made TV series, behind one of the airings of Esperanza on ABS-CBN in 1997, and is the all-time highest rating for any TV series finale in the Philippines.[3]

Pangako Sa 'Yo was the first Filipino television program to air in Kenya on the national broadcaster KBC. It was immensely popular, resulting in its second run years later on Citizen TV. Moreover, it paved the way for the many teleserye that have been broadcast in Kenya. In Malaysia, through a local satellite TV channel, Astro Bella, starting November 22, will air Pangako Sa 'Yo because of high demand. It airs in Tagalog with Bahasa Melayu subtitles. Airs Monday to Friday at 11:00am with encore on the same day and also on weekends with marathon. In Singapore through local satellite TV Channel from Malaysia, Astro Prima on mio TV Channel 602 starting April 10, 2013, will air Pangako Sa 'Yo because of high demand in Singapore due to this series was first shown on MediaCorp Suria in 2007. It airs in Tagalog with Bahasa Melayu subtitles. Airs Monday to Friday from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM with an encore on the same day at 10:00 AM and also on 12 midnight on the same day.

Cambodia's The Promise (2013) title card.

Pangako Sa 'Yo was adapted in Cambodia when Cambodian Television Network (CTN) acquired rights from ABS-CBN.[4] Entitled The Promise (Khmer:សន្យាស្នេហ៍), the Cambodian version was produced by Khmer Mekong Films (KMF) and aired in Cambodia from 2013 to 2014 with 198 episodes. It was adapted to suit the Cambodian cultural context and audience sensitivities.

The Promise was broadcast peak-time on CTN, Cambodia's most popular TV channel, running three shows a week until July 2014.

The first remake of Pangako Sa 'Yo debuted on May 25, 2015. It stars Jodi Sta. Maria, Ian Veneracion, Angelica Panganiban, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla. Rory Quintos, who directed the original series, also directed the remake. The remake was produced by Star Creatives.[5][6] It ended on February 12, 2016 with a total of 190 episodes.

Jodi Sta. Maria, who played Lia Buenavista in the original, was cast as Amor Powers in the 2015 remake. Two other cast members from the original version were also part of the 2015 remake - Amy Austria (who played Lourdes Magbanua in the original series) was cast as Belen Macaspac; and Richard Quan (who played Benjie Gatmaitan, the investigative reporter, in the original series) was cast as Theodore Boborol, Eduardo Buenavista's political rival.

• List of programs aired by ABS-CBN
• List of telenovelas of ABS-CBN
• Pangako Sa 'Yo (2015 TV series)

• Pangako Sa 'Yo at IMDb