July Ann L.

Marañon

XII - Lyra

“Masarap ba ang asawa ko?”: Filipino Fanaticism on PH Teleseryes with Infidelity

as its theme

A resounding slap from the legal wife. The charismatic man as the vertex of the
love triangle. The mistress’ bright, red lips and pointy stilletos. And there is the mocking
lipstick stain on the husband’s uniform collar just waiting for the wife to acknowledge it.
Believe it or not, but these elements bring most of the Filipino household, or even with
their neighbors, in front of a television, anticipating for the affair’s revelation. An episode
after an episode—however cliché most of these plots are, even to the extent of knowing
what happens next, Filipinos unite at the sight of the infidelity reeking after much
fabrication of the truth. “Walang sikretong hindi nabubunyag,” is often embodied in
teleseryes like these.

For many decades, it is undeniable that Filipinos are active consumers of Pinoy
television dramas or teleseryes. The term ‘tele’ is a shortened word for television and
‘serye’ is the counterpart of the word series. Teleseryes are often fictional. But even if
that is the case, it still mirrors some parts of the Filipino system (e.g. kabit-seryes reflect
the querida system in the Philippines) and furthermore, reinforces a sense of feeling
“home” and familiarity, according to ComCo Southeast Asia (2018). Media content are
often resemblance of our own social reality (Lacuin, 2015). More often than not, such
content are often contextualised to its place of production, which means that the culture
and traditions are taken into consideration.

The kabit-serye stands out among the numerous subgenres of drama in the pool
of Philippine teleseryes. Dramas with such themes can often be found in the Primetime
slot or the evening line-ups. The most popular seryes among others include The Legal
Wife (2014), No Other Woman (2011), and the classic Minsan Lang Kitang Iibigin
(1994). One may recall the lines from the aforementioned seryes including Monica
(Angel Locsin)’s “Sumagot ka! Masarap ba? Masarap ba ang asawa ko?” and Terry
(Maricel Soriano)’s “Wag mo akong ma-Terry Terry! 'Yong tanong ko sagutin mo—are
you f*cking my husband?” These lines have established their thrones in most of the
Filipino’s memory.

It is interesting how Filipinos patronize much of these kabit-seryes, considering

that it portrays a socially unaccepted act of infidelity and perversion of the sanctity of
marriage, especially that Philippines is a predominantly religious country. Looking into
the Philippine context of infidelity, the querida system, these narratives are often only
told in muffle, or in careful whispers, as affairs are often kept in secrecy. There are
times when the partner finds it out through a message in an unlocked inbox or from a
concerned friend who happened to catch the cheating partner red-handed.
Nevertheless, infidelity as a social phenomenon is considered as a social ill. It may be
hard to stop it from happening, but most people do not tolerate it. According to a
material entitled, “Infidelity: The Querida System in the Philippines”, the sympathy often
goes towards the legitimate family, especially the wife. The querida is seen as immoral.
The mistress is also, in most cases, the receiving end of all embarassments. People
also tend to be more lenient towards the husband, which makes it interesting since
Philippines is still largely reflective of patriarchal dominations. Also, take note of the fact
that more often than not, kabit-seryes have females as the adulterers and it is always
the males who are stuck in the dilemma. In the same material, it says, “The only way to
win is not to play.” It highlights the fact that every actor in the affair loses something, may it be
trust, dignity and self-image, and even your mental stability, as public shame is one of the
means of social control when it comes to this issue.

Given that the concept of infidelity in the Philippines is not romanticized but
rather abhorred by many, how do kabit-seryes thrive and penetrate the Pinoy
consumption of media? Irene, an Overseas Filipino Worker, says she lives for such
emotional encounters—the justice being served whenever these mistresses get the
condemnation they deserve. Josephine, a fan of Halik and The Legal Wife, stresses that
she hates mistresses and how she wants to feel their cheeks against the roughness of
her palms. In short, a slap for the mistress is well-deserved.

Probably the reason why Pinoys patronize such seryes is because of the
emotional attachment these dramas establish. It makes the content personal to the
audience. The possibility of infidelity happening to its own viewers makes the fiction look vivid
and “relatable”, as how they termed it. These seryes stage their plots in a way that it may
happen to anyone, which in effect, makes the viewers feel the main characters' share of
emotions. The whole theme is familiar and palatable to the wide scope of audience, especially
that it mirrors how infidelity can happen no matter the economic or social status.

According to an interview by Philstar in 2009, another reason is that teleseryes,

especially in Primetime, depict common problems, conflicts, differences and happiness that
exist today in most of Filipino households. This means that viewers can easily empathize with
the characters. Viewers reflect themselves in the characters being portrayed and “they
sometimes feel good that their lives are far better off than most of the personalities in the
telenovela.”
 Despite being a country of strong sense of religiosity, Philippines is no
exception to issues of infidelity, and such is being portrayed in our teleseryes. Indeed,
whatever media we consume reflects the kind of reality we subscribe into. However
unpleasing it may be, this is our fair share of truth as Filipinos. This applies to most of
our media today, be it literature, visual arts, or music. The dissection of such media
gives us a peek of the parts and parcel of our very own culture.

A resounding slap from the legal wife. But this time, there are no television
remotes to switch it off. “Akin lang ang asawa ko!” echoes, except that it wasn't Monica
and you were Nicole.
RESOURCES

https://sagisag.com/article/620/Entertainment/best-mistress-drama-in-the-philippines

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.philstar.com/inbox-world/2009/04/26/460963/what-
do-telenovelas-dominate-primetime-tv-convey-about-values-filipinos-today/amp/