GMA Network seems to be making use of the talents they discovered in the last decade or so. That’s a positive sign for the network that previously relied heavily on talents that didn’t do well (or felt neglected) in a rival network so they hopped over the fence and join the ranks of other network renegades and have become A-list Kapuso talents. In which case, the network’s homegrown performers remain underutilized and underdeveloped talents.
Lately though, we are seeing a different landscape on the Kapuso screen, as we see more homegrown performers in many of the network shows.
In GMA Network’s newest Afternoon Prime series Sa Piling Ni Nanay beginning this afternoon and immediately following Hanggang Makita Kang Muli, we will see three of the network’s discoveries via the reality TV “artista” search Starstruck first season playing mature roles. The characters may have been written for players above the age of 30, but Yasmien Kurdi (27), Katrina Halili (30), and Mark Herras (29) are well approaching that age and the three are also parents now, so, they are capable of portraying the characters that have been assigned to them.
The story is about a woman who agrees to be a surrogate mother to a couple that is unable to have a child.
On another lever, it’s about the mother’s selfless love for the child she carried.
Yasmien is Ysabel, a single mother to her loving daughter Maymay. She works as a personal assistant to Scarlet, a socialite (Katrina). However, Scarlet cannot bear a child so she convinces Ysabel to become a surrogate.
She agrees to surrogacy because she needs money for the treatment of Maymay’s bone marrow transplant. But halfway through Ysabel’s pregnancy, Maymay unexpectedly dies from an accident. Due to depression and loneliness, Ysabel breaks the surrogacy agreement, flees with the baby and decides to raise her as her own, calling her Maya in memory of her daughter who passed away.
Mark, on the other hand, portrays Jonas, a bachelor who secretly has feelings for Ysabel. But his love for her turned into hatred when she took away Scarlet’s child who is also the grandchild of his aunt Matilda.
With Ysabel and Scarlet’s battle to win Maya, who has the real rights over the child? Scarlet from whom the baby’s eggs were from? Or Ysable who carried the fetus until it became a full-grown baby in her uterus.
Joining the three Starstruck alumni are Nova Villa as Matilda, Scarlet’s rich mother-in-law who eagerly wants something from her; Bettina Carlos as Wanda, Scarlet’s OB/GYN friend who gave consent to her request to conduct surrogacy; Antonio Aquitania as Rod, Ysabel’s abusive live-in partner; and Sofia Jayzel Cabatay as Maya, the child of Ysabel born out of surrogacy.