May Bukas Pa is a Philippine religious-themed television series, inspired by the 1955 Spanish film, Marcelino pan y vino. Directed by Jerome Chavez Pobocan, Jojo A. Saguin, and Erick C. Salud, it is topbilled by Zaijian Jaranilla together with an ensemble cast. The series originally aired on ABS-CBN's Primetime Bida evening block from February 2, 2009, to February 5, 2010, replacing Precious Time, with deleted scene of the show's finale episode aired on the original Jeepney TV airing on December 5, 2013. It is a revival of the 2000–2001 series of the same name produced by Viva Television (now Studio Viva). Guest casts and addition of characters to the show are shown on each chapter.[1] [2] [3] [4]
| Year | Chapter numbers (with episode numbers) | No. of chapters | No. of episodes | No. of episodes (overall) | First aired (by chapter) | Last aired (by chapter) | First aired (overall) | Last aired (overall) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 1–12 (1–65) | 34 | 65 | 237 | February 2, 2009 | May 5, 2009 | February 2, 2009 | December 31, 2009 | |
| 12–22 (66–121) | 56 | May 6, 2009 | July 22, 2009 | ||||||
| 22–28 (122–158) | 37 | July 23, 2009 | September 11, 2009 | ||||||
| 28–29 (159–195) | 37 | September 14, 2009 | November 3, 2009 | ||||||
| 29–30 (196–218) | 23 | November 4, 2009 | December 4, 2009 | ||||||
| 31 (219–223) | 5 | December 7, 2009 | December 11, 2009 | ||||||
| 32 (224–230) | 7 | December 14, 2009 | December 22, 2009 | ||||||
| 33–34 (231–237) | 7 | December 23, 2009 | December 31, 2009 | ||||||
| 2010–2013 | 34 (238–240) | 5 | 6 | 26 + 1 deleted scene | January 1, 2010 | January 5, 2010 | January 1, 2010 | December 5, 2013 | |
| 34 (241–243) | 7 | January 6, 2010 | January 8, 2010 | ||||||
| 35 (244–247) | 4 | January 11, 2010 | January 14, 2010 | ||||||
| 35–36 (248–251) | 7 | January 15, 2010 | January 20, 2010 | ||||||
| 36–37 (252–254) | 6 | January 21, 2010 | January 25, 2010 | ||||||
| 37 (255–258) | 5 | January 26, 2010 | January 29, 2010 | ||||||
| 37–38 (259–263) | 5 + 1 deleted scene | February 1, 2010 | December 5, 2013 | ||||||
The first 65 episodes of the series were re-aired during its two reruns, with the first 48 episodes of the series from April 9 to 11, 2009 during the Holy Triduum of that year, and the second being the first 65 (coinciding with the anniversary number that ABS-CBN celebrated from 2018 to 2019, with a video about Jaranilla returning to the church where the series was set made in June 2019) from March 16 to May 4, 2020 due to the network's shut down on May 5, 2020 as a result of the expiration of its broadcast franchise granted in 1995 the day prior, temporarily replacing FPJ's Ang Probinsyano because of the community quarantines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines which ABS-CBN temporarily suspended the tapings of their ongoing dramas.[5]
| Chapter number | Chapter name | Summary |
|---|---|---|
Found abounded as an infant in a cemetery, Santino is adopt by a group of priests in a small town, who all pitch in to raise him as a little boy. Santino grows up happily in the church living with the priests, who raise him as their own.
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Santino was kidnapped by an unknown man in the middle of the night. It was later revealed that this man is Olegario Pineda, a criminal who Mario have imprisoned years ago. Mario suspects that Olegario kidnapped Santino to take revenge, however, this is not the real reason. As the two journeys to an unknown location, Olegario tells Santino that he needs him to heal his son who has a brain tumor allowing his son to only have a shorter life. Olegario and Santino successfully made it to town of Sta. Maria where Santino could finally heal Olegario's son. In these events, Olegario was taken over by the police as they arrive, he was numerously shot by another policeman even though Santino begs that he is a good person. Later, Santino grants his promise to Olegario that he would heal his son.
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Meanwhile, after being held in an orphanage, Santino runs away after learning that a couple would want to take him just to make money on his healing abilities. As Santino runs away, he meets Lolo Berting, a puto vendor who helped him find his way home. As Santino lives with Lolo Berting, Santino slowly learns that Berting has mysteries of his own. His son, Jojo, has despised him for leaving him and his mother alone till his mother dies. Santino then makes Berting's son to realize that he has to forgive his father because everyone also needs to be forgiven.
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Julia suffers due to her mom's recent memory losses, causing her whole career, life and lovelife to be ruined. She feels depressed and tired about problems comes to her way. Her life then changes after meeting Santino.
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Mayor spills all the malodorous secrets of the priest in the monastery revealing that Father Ringo was an ex-convict and Father Jose's family are all dead.
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Alfred, one of the students in the Bagong Pag-Asa school, has a family problem because his parents are about to separate. As so Alfred moves to the monastery, causing his parents have a hard time looking for him. Thus, Santino helped the couple overcome their problem.
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Santino visits the circus and meets a magician named Ricardo. Ricardo and Santino later became friends revealing that Ricardo has a broken family he longs to see but due to some issues, meeting them is not easy.
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Santino and the priests visited Father John's hacienda, where they've met the latter's father, Don Miguel. However, Don Miguel doesn't welcome his son's priesthood and thinks that John's plans are just silliness. He believes that his son becoming a priest is not the way to happiness. He only believes that the only thing that will let his son gain happiness in life is money.
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Santino meets a runaway woman named Cheska. She later reveals to Santino that she was searching for her biological mother who from what she knows still lives in Bagong Pag-asa. Her mother was later revealed to be the owner of the strip club of the town, "Heaven's Gate", but unluckily isn't excited to meet her daughter.
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A lone teacher suffers through pain after discovering that her whole life of teaching children will later be ended due to her age. She feels alone and sad as she remembers all of her students, sacrificed her whole life for them and eventually became their second mother, yet, none of them seems to remember her works for them.
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Adela, a former bold star and G.R.O is abusing her son out of her hate and anger towards him. Adela was lucky to be given a starring role in a movie which ended due to her pregnancy for her son. Boy George, her son, suffers to a lot of assault his mother gives because of his below-average IQ, which isn't enough for him to even enter a good college.
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Carla, the daughter of the Bagong Pag-Asa school principal, is born into a rich and well-educated family. She is the "good and obedient" daughter. She is obedient to her father. She does well in school receiving high grades and is on her way to a good career path or so it seems. Her sister, Judith, is the complete opposite. She is the rebellious daughter. However, Carla gets pregnant causing her dad to turn the wheel and treat her as a disgrace to the family.
Returning characters:
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