Throughout the more than two years of following the journey of Tanggol (Coco Martin) in “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo,” we couldn’t help but think that he is tied in with misfortune, as avid viewers had witnessed him get through a lot of intense and bloody action that had almost claimed his life.
While seeing him suffer because of other people’s cruelty makes us pity him so much, what further breaks our hearts is knowing that those unfortunate events happened to him as consequences—mostly—of his good deeds and unconditional love, especially for his loved ones.
As he once again recently got into another situation that almost killed him, let us look back on the 10 near-death scenes of Tanggol via this episode of Kapamilya Toplist.
Before he got linked to a string of beautiful women as his story continues to unfold, we all know that his first and greatest love was none other than Mokang (Lovi Poe). He adored him so much to the point that he was willing to do everything for her just to make her happy or help her out with her problems, even though that would mean having to put his life on the line.
It can be recalled that he was beaten up by her brother Edwin (Ping Medina) and the Batang Tondo gang after they finally caught the two of them in Quiapo after searching for them for quite some time. Tanggol tried to fight them single-handedly but they were able to knock him down and almost murder him if a priest didn’t arrived on the scene to stop them.
In his desire to help Mokang with her financial woes for his father’s hospitalization, Tanggol tried to hand over the money that he and his friends stole from one of their customers in their stint as couriers. Unfortunately, the hardships they went through were put to waste after Mokang rejected it, as well as when Tanggol lost all of it while escaping from the authorities who were chasing them. One of them was his policeman-stepfather Rigor (John Estrada), who shot him in the back to stop him from running away.
Because of the crime they committed, Tanggol and his friends were incarcerated at the National Correctional Facility, where they suffered a lot of physical pain, as well as having their lives put in danger many times. For instance, Tanggol experienced being tortured by Jail Chief Dolores Espinas (Jaclyn Jose) and her subordinates, who beat him up, lashed him, and electrocuted him.
It was also during their stay in the prison when they figured in violent skirmishes with Bong (Vandolph Quizon) and his group. In their final fisticuff, Bong exerted his fury at Tanggol for meddling with his affair with Bubbles (Ivana Alawi) by mercilessly assaulting him and using various objects to take him down. Fortunately, Tanggol was able to survive and defeat Bong in the end.
Tanggol then had an intense hand-to-hand combat with Bullet (Renz Fernandez), the trusted right-hand of his younger brother David (McCoy de Leon), after they murdered Bubbles. He may be able to knock the opponent down, but he didn’t expect him to gain consciousness, so Tanggol was oblivious that Bullet was following him and was planning to hit him with a shovel with all his might, which caused him to pass out.
Upon finding out that it was Tanggol who murdered his beloved grandson Pablo (Elijah Canlas), Don Facundo (Jaime Fabregas) immediately ordered his henchmen to catch him and his friends, which was easy since they were working for them. Don Facundo had his friends whipped, while Tanggol was tied to one of their horses, which galloped and dragged him around their yard.
It was also Tanggol whom Olga (Irma Adlawan) blamed for the demise of her estranged biological daughter Bubbles. Thus, she did everything she could to exact vengeance on him, such as detonating a bomb during the burial ceremony of Noy (Lou Veloso), the best friend of his Lola Tindeng (Charo Santos), in which Tanggol was among the attendees.
Tanggol was able to survive it, so Olga once again attempted to finish him off as they came face-to-face again. She didn’t only have him beaten up, but she also stabbed him in the abdomen to make him feel at least a portion of her pain after her daughter’s death. However, instead of Tanggol, it was Olga who died in the end after Marites (Cherry Pie Picache) shot her, which caused her to completely fall off the building.
Following his heated altercation with his political rival Miguel Guerrero (Jake Cuenca), Tanggol was sent to jail after the influential family filed charges against him. But their retaliation didn’t simply end there, as they also ordered his inmates to make him suffer by beating him up, which they did.
And just recently, he was among the injured in the bombing incited by the Red Phoenix, the syndicate to which his youngest brother, Santino (Ronwaldo Martin), was a part of, during the miting de avance of Tanggol’s team somewhere in Manila.
Don’t miss Tanggol’s death-defying battles in “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo,” weeknights at 8 PM on Kapamilya Channel, A2Z, TV5, iWant, and Kapamilya Online Live. Viewers outside of the Philippines can watch on The Filipino Channel (TFC) on cable and IPTV.