Maalaala Mo Kaya Season 3, Episode 23: Tanikala (Chains)

Kamao (Fist)

Kapirasong Sulat (Piece of a Letter)

Placement Fee

TV Set

Brilyante at Bubog (Jewels and Broken Glass)

Pera at Diploma (Money and Diploma)

Rosa is a stern disciplinarian obsessed with raising her daughter Lucy as a straight-A student and shielding her from any form of distraction no matter how minor. Lucy tries to tolerate her mother, but when the latter goes through extreme measures just to ensure her goal, Lucy finds it difficult to shake off the idea that her own mother could be the bane of her existence.

Matchbox

Two young friends stand by each other like brothers with an irrevocable pact. However, the difference in their family background prevents them from fulfilling their dreams together. One of them becomes a victim of a father's interminable wrath and faces his life's worst demons.

Christmas Card

Zeny and her only son Roldan finally find peace when her husband Amado, a drunkard, leaves them to fend for their own. As the new breadwinner of the family Zeny puts up a restaurant business and succeeds. But their bliss suddenly gets disrupted when Amado arrives at their doorstep, begging for another chance. Will they risk losing the peace they finally found without him in their lives?

Munting Bituin (Little Star)

Bibingka't Puto Bungbong (Rice Cakes)

Inseparable friends Eldric, James, and Mickey consider their group a close-knit family. Of the pack, James acts as the big brother, especially to problematic rich kid Eldric, who has become utterly dependent on James whenever he has a problem with his girlfriend Noemi. The frequent mediation makes Noemi fall for James instead, causing a dilemma that may ruin the brotherhood formed by the three friends.

Walking Doll

After five children, Ben and Dina realize that a good marriage is not sufficient to run a big family. While Ben tries his luck in the Middle East, Dina returns to her old post at the nightclub and manages to feed five mouths until the time Ben finds a job. Before the promise of modest financial stability dawns on their family, a tragedy strikes their household. Despite Dina's efforts to juggle responsibilities as a single parent, Ben blames her and comes home to bring her even more torment.

Bakya (Clogs)

Marlene makes it big in the city and her impending homecoming is the talk of her small town. Everyone is anticipating her return, especially her close friend Rosita and childhood sweetheart Andres. But they get the biggest shock and disappointment of their lives when a different Marlene comes home: a modern, career woman who has also become heartless.

Manok (Chicken)

Ironically for their family, Rodel is happier when their father is not around. A drunkard and a gambler, Dario extorts all the earnings of his wife Gloria and his other son Rolly, both of whom do not even put up a fight. During a violent fight one night, Dario hits Gloria, an incident that also causes her fatal fall. The brothers develop genuine loathing for their father and reconciliation seems hopeless despite Dario's efforts to ask forgiveness.

Perya (Fair)

Inside the circus tent, a married couple performs as clowns and delights in making the audience laugh. At home, they struggle with poverty, sickness, and a troublesome teenage son, who is ashamed of their chosen trade. Despite all their battles, they learn that nothing else can bring more happiness than joy shared with other people.

Mamera (One-cent price)

Tropeo at Medalyon (Trophy and Medallion)

Innumerable trophies and medals stand proof of policeman Edgar's excellence in his profession, but this dedication to work leaves him no time for his family. This drives his wife Sonya to leave him and take their daughter Sally to find a better life on their own. Can all the medals and trophies really make up for the sudden loss of his family or can he woo them back before it's too late?

Necklace

Living in a small fishing village theirs is an ideal family until the sudden death of Adela, which devastates Ador and almost ruins his sanity. Maribel, their only daughter, could only watch her father waste away to nothing and hope for a miracle to get him back to normal. Then as if her prayers were heard Ador becomes his old self again, but not without a hitch: he starts calling Maribel Adela and treats her as his wife.

Insurance

For every father, nothing brings more pride and joy than having a diligent son with exceptional scholastic records. In the case of Elmer, the other son, all his efforts to please his father are never enough to measure up to his brother's achievements. In his desire to become the apple of his father's eye, Elmer yields to an unimaginable, desperate measure.

Butas sa Dingding (Hole in the Wall)

Paul persuades his beautiful wife Elvira to accept an outreach teaching mission in the province so they can get away from Paul's mother, who treats Paul like a child and meddles in their married life. Elvira gets bored with provincial life until Danny, her old childhood sweetheart, moves into the neighborhood and renews their old flame.

Tapwe (50 pesos)

Poverty motivates Ellen to strive for a better life, and just like in an enchanted dream she succeeds and becomes an esteemed accountant in a big company. All is coming along well with her job until the management does a power turnover and she finds herself stuck with a new boss: Hector, her mortal enemy from college days for whom she harbors genuine loathing, who ironically seems set to pursue her romantically.

Ulap (Cloud)

All that ever mattered in life to Mabel were her good-time friends, parties, and never-ending gaiety. When she met an accident that shattered her eyesight, she realized how little of what she had done in the past proved to be significant. Nevertheless, Mabel's new life in stark darkness did not last long, for she finds light shining in the heart of a humble childhood friend.

Titulo (Title)

Rita's defiance prompts her to leave home and make her own living as a dancer in a nightclub. There she meets Pepito, an affluent businessman who pursues her avidly and presents to her a proposition: that she be his mistress and live in a house he bought for her. Rita accepts his proposal and in the course of living together she falls madly in love with a man she can never truly own.

Tutong na Sinaing (Burnt Rice)

For a woman with a face scarred by burns, Lourdes chooses to spend her time working than feeling sorry for herself. She realizes she must make both ends meet, especially that her family has abandoned her. Lourdes is resigned to living a solitary life until she meets Cesar. For the first time in her life, Lourdes experiences love and companionship, but is Cesar noble enough to overlook Lourdes' hideous countenance?

Toga

An impressive educational attainment is all Ador ever dreamed of for his son, Paulo. Ador is unable to take custody of this illegitimate son out of fear of his meddlesome but wage-earning wife. As Paulo strives to be whole despite the complexities of being left alone, he begins to contemplate whether Ador is in the position to expect much from his son when he himself is an unfit father.

Patalim (Blade)

Eraser

Batingaw (Bell)

In an impoverished village where misery afflicts everyone like a common cold, a young sacristan upholds his belief in God and his family. Elmer persists in his service to the church despite his father's death and the lure of escape. His faith is put to its gravest trial yet as his own mother's grief directs her to sacrilege and a life of debauchery.

Credit Card

Ana believes she is lucky to have a husband like Noel who is affectionate and sensitive to all her needs. It did not come as a surprise to her when kind Noel decides to adopt Arnel, Ana's rebellious younger brother. Despite her apprehensions, Ana respected her husband's decision. She never knew that day would bring her greatest regret, not until she learns that it is more than kindness that drives Noel to accept Arnel into their lives.

Tinik sa Rosas (Rose Thorns)

Krus na Daan (Crossroad)

Life is a journey and in every man's voyage, he encounters a fork in the road that will test his ability to choose his destiny. This is Eric's story, and it starts with his father leaving the enormous responsibility of raising the family to his mother Emy. With the burden of a son who's still in school Emy resorts to being a prostitute. But it is this very same sacrifice that will make Eric take the road away from home to the bright lights of the city, oblivious of the more complex maze he is about to face.

Hair Dye

Sandcastle

Joan visits her old aunt's fishing village in hopes of imparting the knowledge she acquired as a teacher. She encounters Sendong, whose mental condition never deterred him from being a loving man. Sendong's kindness, however, makes him the helpless target of cruel people, including his own mother. As Joan becomes deeply attached to Sendong, she realizes that this mentally ill man is bound to become her greatest teacher.

Wedding Picture

Maggie has made peace with the idea of becoming an old maid until she meets young Val. Val is ravishing, and his impulsive ways drive him to propose marriage to Maggie shortly after they met. The first stages of their romance are sweet until the agonizing age difference starts to set in. Maggie becomes the breadwinner and this insults Val's ego. After sacrificing everything to make their marriage work, Maggie begins to wonder if life would have been sweeter had she remained single.

Rosas (Roses)

In the midst of the chaos and disorder during the Japanese Occupation, Regina finds herself falling in love with an idealistic and courageous soldier, Mario. As fate would have it, war eventually tears them apart-and for years Regina is led to believe that her one true love has died in the hands of the country's foreign oppressors. But despite carving a new life and leaving the bittersweet memories of their relationship behind her, their love is put to the ultimate test when destiny brings them together in another cruel and uncertain fate.

Bahay Ampunan (Orphanage)

An orphan Anna meets siblings Benny and Liza, new best friends whom she now considers family, at a foster home. She constantly defends them against the orphanage's resident bully Dodong, but later Anna finds out that this is just a small dilemma compared to the real reason the siblings had to live in the orphanage in the first place: the siblings' Uncle Peping, whom Benny believes to be good, raped Liza and threatened to kill them both if anybody else found out.

Chimes

When an aggravating illness afflicts her old mother, Gloria is given the responsibility of taking care of her younger brother, Francis. Gloria has a successful career, a loving husband, and two healthy children. However, Francis' presence in Gloria's home perturbs their peace, and worse, her marriage for Francis is not a little boy but a thirty-year-old man with an incurable case of autism.

Rubber Duckie

After four years of a blissful but childless marriage, an incessant void begins to set in between Poch and Ina. Although their marriage is successful in every aspect, Ina believes their incapacity to bear children is due to a lamentable flaw on her part. These anxieties unexpectedly break a family of two into solitary misery.

Baraha (Playing Card)

Caught in the middle of his constantly bickering roommates, Adrian soon discovers the pitfalls of maintaining a peaceful household when another unexpected visitor arrives on his doorstep. For as Lyn becomes the unlikely source of rivalry between Dino and Jim, Adrian finds himself struggling to repair the strained friendships within their home and deal with his growing affection for the woman that has completely changed their lives.

Boteng Basag (Broken Bottle)

Three boys from different families learn that friendship is possible even outside the boundaries of social status. They grow up believing their bond is bound to last until they reach a ripe old age. This belief meets a swift and tragic end as one of them reveals a lifelong secret.

Palara (Tin Foil)

Precy, a widow, is plagued with the responsibility of dealing with her son's drug addiction. Playing the role of both father and mother, Precy cannot decide between being the disciplinarian father who will shake Ricky to his senses and being the compassionate mother who will hold Ricky in her arms throughout his battle with drugs.

Dancing Shoes

Every man has his one great love. But before Ramil could even get close to his, he witnesses his granduncle Cirilo hold on to his great love. During their youth, Cirilo and Dolores were young lovers, but were forced to separate because of their parents. Now widowed and old, Dolores comes back and refreshes Cirlio's bittersweet memories. Can one relive his one great love even in old age?

Cassette Tape

When his wife's dreams of leading an affluent lifestyle become the driving force to their struggling marriage, Harry is left with the daunting task of pleasing Celo's unreasonable needs and demands through any means necessary. But with fate taking a different turn for the worse, Celo is suddenly torn between following her lifelong ambition and keeping a sworn promise of love and commitment against all odds.

Selyo (Seal)

Julio is a blue-collar worker, who lives in a modest home with his family. He escapes into a private dream world through his regular correspondence with an anonymous pen pal based in Spain. In his letters, Julio claims he is a wealthy bachelor. His average life takes a dramatic turn when his pen pal, Diane, decides to visit the Philippines and meet Julio in person.

Pusong Ginto (Golden Heart)

On the eve of their silver anniversary, Marina and Caloy vow never to leave each other's side. This vow is broken the next morning as Marina finds Caloy lifeless on their bed. While grieving their father's death, the children begin to worry about their mother's sanity, for she expects her husband to fulfill his promise... even after death.

Pilat (Scar)

Dana and Rose are best friends with traits that complement each other- Rose is rich but slow-witted, and Dana is smart but poor. Both girls are eager to fulfill their dreams together as they are about to graduate from high school. But a grim encounter takes place on their prom night when Dana's cousin Nilo rapes Rose. Dana is catapulted into a difficult dilemma for Nilo's mother is their financial provider.

Videocam

Alex and Sonia, despite having two children, never fall short of loving Joy like their own. Their happy home crumbles when Joy's real parents show up to retrieve their daughter. Although Joy's biological mother tries hard to win Joy's affection, the girl's happy childhood with her foster family outweighs everything.

Paru-paro (Butterfly)

A protective mother learns of her daughter's clandestine affair with a delinquent young man. She sends the girl away to a relative's remote house to keep her from danger. They are unaware that the real danger lurks in their chosen place of exile, for there lives a demented young woman.

Bracelet

To evade the trauma of her best friend Christy's traumatic death, teenaged Margie migrates to America. Now an adult and with a family of her own, Margie goes back to her hometown after being summoned by her sick father. Still hesitant to see her loathed father, Margie comes home unaware that she is about to literally face the ghost of her past and realize the real reason behind Christy's suicide.

Itim na Damit (Black Clothes)

Bored with the rustic life in the province, Carmen anticipates the letters of childhood friend Jessie who relates his exciting experiences in the city. When Jessie's mother dies, Carmen lives with Jessie who promises to marry her and to provide for her family's needs. It was an ideal setup for Carmen until she moves in with him and discovers his atrocious side which, in her innocence, she could never have imagined.

Pamana (Legacy)

In her youth, Magda was an intelligent woman whose beauty made her sought after by men. But because of her strong personality, Magda found it difficult to make romantic relationships work, and this is why she ended up with four daughters by different men. An unfortunate incident gave the fathers of these girls a chance to take their daughters back, except for Blessie. When diagnosed with a terminal disease years later, Magda summons her estranged daughters only to discover the painful truth that they are only after their inheritance.

Gavel

Janine was ambitious as a child, and this trait turned to her advantage as she grew up to become a top lawyer. Now a certified attorney, Janine eyes the prospect of becoming senior partner in a prestigious law firm. But Janine's stable life is perturbed when Ernesto seeks her services for his annulment case. Will Janine stop in her tracks considering that Ernesto is her one great love?

Class Card

Terence, Pacoy, Sonia, and Suzette are lifelong friends who have been with each other during good times. Now that they are about to face the bad times, none of them is really sure how their friendship would fare. Terence is confounded with a drug problem; Suzette is abandoned by her parents; and Sonia is dumped by a man who got her pregnant. Through these iniquities, Pacoy holds his faith in their friendship, and he could only hope that this could save them.

Storybook

Tsokolate, Manika, at Libro (Chocolate, Doll and Book)

Olga, an old maid, and Becka, a widow, decided to adopt orphans for the holidays. They encourage their socialite friend, Mila, and she agrees to do so, but only to enhance her social stature. With the arrival of plump Carlo, sweet Grace, and crippled Bobby in their lives, these three different women are about to share a singular Christmas spirit and learn life's greatest lessons from these little children.

Pakpak ng Anghelito (Wings of a Little Angel)

After failing in his career as an architect, a husband is seized by manic depression that eventually wrecks his happy marriage. To make things worse, he takes to drinking to the point that he becomes alcoholic. He and his wife resolve to go their separate ways, but their innocent child's faith creates a miracle.

Sa Kandungan Mo, Inay (In your embrace, Mother)

One mother carries the burden of guilt as she watches her daughters waste their lives away... Cielo, the eldest, marries young in order to escape their turbulent home but ends up in an unhappy marriage. The youngest, Millet, is in a rehabilitation center for drug dependents. She grows up resenting her mother for playing favorites. Leslie is the beautiful middle child, but she chooses to take part in an illicit affair with a married man

Bintana (Window)

Kasulatan (Writings)

This episode tells a classic love story of a poor boy Jun meeting an affluent lady named Christy and eventually, both fall in love with each other. Despite Jun's pure intentions and devotion, Christy's father believes that Jun will never be fit for his daughter. Christy chooses Jun and the humble life she was never accustomed to. However, their happy ending remains far at bay for Jun and Christy are about to face tribulations, and love alone cannot save them.

Keychain

Their enmity towards their respective fathers is what brought Allan and Arnel together as friends. They remained strong in offsetting each of their domestic angst until they are able to live amicable lives. However, a harrowing revelation is divulged, putting their sturdy friendship to its most difficult test yet.

Saklay (Crutches)

Just when she thought life would bring her nothing but misery, a crippled woman meets a soldier, who soon asks for her hand in marriage. Unable to reconcile with the fact that she found love despite her physical defect, her insecurities blind her from seeing her husband's devotion and essential goodness.

Alampay (Shawl)

An old woman returns to her daughter's home after several years. She is determined to spend her last days with her girl and her beloved granddaughter. The homecoming, however, proved to be far from a happy one for there are ties that have been severed because of a dismal past.

Tari (Cockspur)

One mother's wish for her only daughter is carried out when a handsome landlord asks the young woman to be his bride. Aside from the joy of luxury that this union promises, the mother is convinced that her son-in-law is a man of outstanding virtue. She is yet to unravel a dark secret that is bound to destroy her innocent's daughter's life.