MANILA, Philippines — The Filipino diaspora is a rich source of stories that touch the heart and capture human resilience. Emerging from it is a familiar tale of Filipino college sweethearts, who are working abroad and saving up for their future together.
Then, the course of their lives dramatically changes when they receive an irresistible investment offer from a friend, with the potential to grow their hard-earned money.
GMA 7’s latest Afternoon Prime suspense drama series, The Missing Husband, stands on this premise and premieres today, Aug. 28, at 4:05 p.m. Watch it also on the Kapuso digital channel Pinoy Hits.
“It’s very painful and it’s very relevant these days, not just to Filipinos abroad but also here,” said director Mark Reyes about the life and fate that await the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) characters Anton and Millie, played by Rocco Nacino and Yasmien Kurdi, respectively, during a virtual group interview. “Madaming nanloloko (A lot of people scam others and engage in this kind of activity). They are only focused on and are after the earnings. They take advantage of those who are too trusting.”
“They don’t see the other side (of the story in which) many have been affected. You know, family goes against family. Husband fights his wife. It’s really a complicated issue. This is one of the facets that this show aims to present.”
According to the director, The Missing Husband may be portraying a fictional couple, but it “represents a certain number of Filipinos, particularly OFWs who got scammed. They worked hard for the money they earned decently in another country. They made sacrifices such as being away from their loved ones, and then, yun pa ang mangyayari sa kanila, they got scammed by their fellow Filipinos.”
In such a situation, individuals have different ways of handling it. They either face the issue head-on or disappear without any traces.
“Well, when I was doing the story, I got attracted by the idea of a missing husband,” said head writer Des Severino. “Because of this situation, everything is vague, everything’s open to anyone’s interpretation of what could possibly happen to him. That’s what attracted me actually to the concept and then, it just kept evolving and it just kept going into different directions. You had no idea where it was heading to because there was no template for the usual afternoon soap, na ganito ang mangyayari at ‘pag katapos ganito (that this would happen and that would happen after).”
Viewers will also be challenged to make sense of the husband’s disappearance. Some may think that he has decided to leave his wife behind or that he has been abducted.
Since there’s no template in narrating and navigating the life story of Anton and Millie, viewers can anticipate never-before-done plot twists.
With that, the narrative is expected to hold viewers’ attention and be complemented with appropriate visuals.
“We wanted to not shortchange the audience and to really shoot in the Middle East to establish the characters. So, we were allowed by the management and the network, thankfully, to shoot in the UAE,” said director Mark. “At least we didn’t cheat anything when it came to that.”
He added that they got the location and the sense of reality Filipinos working abroad have.
“We tried to equate the situation with the right visuals and then, marami pa silang mapapanood dito na (there’s more they can watch or look forward to that’s) very exciting and for an afternoon prime, we really tried to up the ante and put premium on it para exciting sa mga manonood (to make everything exciting for the viewers),” shared he.
Aside from the drama, The Missing Husband offers lessons and reminders for one to ponder.
“We may be entertaining and trying to entertain the audience with the drama and the story, but of course, there are relevant issues and matters discussed,” said Mark.
He added that the show will serve as both a warning to those who could easily fall prey to deceptive investment activities and a reminder for those who got victimized in the past.
“Everyone should beware or be careful,” shared the director. That is true since getting scammed takes a toll not only on the victims but also on their loved ones.
Again, the narrative revolves around another case of scamming, and the story of the husband and wife, “which I really like,” said Mark, “and which would be nice to follow yung talagang pinagdaanan nina Millie at Anton dito na talagang ibang klase (what Millie and Anton experienced in the TV series, which was really different).”
“I don’t know, you know, if a lesser couple would survive a marriage given they went through,” concluded the director.