The head writer’s response came in the wake of the social media backlash over the alleged desecration of Crisostomo Ibarra’s image in the primetime TV series Maria Clara at Ibarra.
The Kapuso head writer, Suzette Doctolero, hit back at viewers and netizens, who criticized the show for allowing a romantic angle develops between its lead characters Crisostomo Ibarra (Dennis Trillo), and Klay (Barbie Forteza). According to some fans, Ibarra’s image, as written by Dr. Jose Rizal in Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, is being desecrated by making him vulnerable to Klay’s romantic advances.
Klay is an added character designed to allow the series to pursue its intent to retell Rizal’s novels with modern twists.
On Twitter, Doctolero reminded viewers what the show is and what it is all about.
“This is are-imagined version. Tao si Klay,may isip siya,may puso siya. Siya ang bida ng kwentong ito. POV niya ang MCAI.
“(This is a re-imagined version. Klay is human. She has a heart; she thinks. She is the lead character of this series. Maria Clara at Ibarra is told according to her point-of-view),” she clarified.
She then suggested that her critics are just used to watching infidelity-themed series, which made them paranoid about where Trillo and Forteza’s characters, and the re-imagined story of Maria Clara at Ibarra, are headed.
“May nakilala siyang lalaki na ideal, bawal magka-crush? Magiging sila ba? Nagsex ba sila? Kakapnood nyo ‘yan ng kabitan, kaya kayo praning. Lols.
“(Is it surprising that she developed a crush on an ideal guy? Does that automatically mean they will be together? Did they have sex? You watched too many infidelity-themed shows that you’re now all paranoid),” she said.
— GMA Entertainment Group (@GMA_EG) October 26, 2022
Forteza, who plays Klay in the series, also assured fans that the top rating Kapuso drama isn’t changing the core story of Rizal’s two novels. “Wag po kayong mag-alala, hindi naman po natin babaguhuin ang history; hindi natin babaguhin ang nobela. Nandito lang po tayo para matuto.
“(Don’t worry. We are not trying to revise history; we are not changing the novels. We are here just to learn),” she told the viewers.
Maria Clara at Ibarra is currently the most-watched television drama in the country based on Nielsen Philippines. It airs on GMA Network right after 24 Oras.
