Empowering the Chinoy Women in Mano Po Legacy: The Family Fortune
Regal Entertainment Inc Producer Roselle Monteverde talks to Modern Parenting on bringing the Mano Po Legacy and the rest of the franchise to a new generation and putting the spotlight on Chinoy women
Since its broadcast in January, Mano Po Legacy: The Family Fortune has given television viewers a big picture of the world of the Filipino-Chinese community. It has given perspectives of the challenges and struggles women in the family face like Elizabeth Chan (Almira Muhlach) and firstborn and heirs like Anton Chan (David Licauco).
In bringing Mano Po to television, it was important for the producers behind the show to make it relevant and different from its movies. Modern Parenting reached out to Regal Entertainment Inc head and producer Roselle Monteverde via email to talk about the show’s storyline and what’s next for the franchise as the Family Fortune wraps up its final week.
Who Runs the World? It’s Women
Monteverde said that bringing the franchise to TV also meant bringing a fresh and modern perspective of today’s problems the community encounters.
“The Mano Po feature films have become part of the Regal tradition and we need to give a new look, a deeper and more relevant insight into the Filipino/Chinese experience which is more appropriate and relevant to issues involving the community today,” she said. “Here, in The Family Fortune, we are not delving into the importance of the Chinoy family in the world of business but also the complications that arise from the succession, acquisition, and preservation of wealth and traditions. The advantages and disadvantages of some traditions and the undeniable changing views of the younger generation Chinoys.”
Unlike the films, Monteverde said it was important to highlight the storyline this time of the Filipino-Chinese women, who have often been depicted as timid and shy.
“Here we have a story that centers not only on the extension of the patriarchal culture (embodied by the Chan brothers) but also the rise of the females assuming positions of power (the matriarch) and responsibility (the executive position). Now we are illustrating the changes seen in real life of Chinese women playing important roles not only within the family but also in business and decision-making processes.”
Monteverde added that the roles of Elizabeth and Christine Chan (Sunshine Cruz) show the growing influence of women in the Tsinoy community.
“That was the whole point of the series: the empowerment of the Chinese women, which is relatable to what is happening now in various Chinese businesses,” she said.
“This is integral to our aim to show empowered women blessed with a strong will, determination, and intelligence. It is about time.”
Showing the challenges of young Tsinoys and their struggles
Aside from the women, Monteverde also said that it was important to highlight the situations young Tsinoys face today and the open secret stories among the Tsinoy community.
“In order to achieve timeliness and social significance, what was unspoken or merely glossed over is discussed and used as plotlines in the story of Mano Po Legacy: The Family Fortune,” she said. “We needed to show the benefits and consequences in belonging to clans that have such strong familial bonds as well as rules – and how the young generation of Filipino Chinoys deal with problems both common and unique to all of their age.”
“It is important to show the real struggle of the old traditional members of the family vs. the changing views of the younger generation.”
Some of the situations they shown on the show include the problems of the illegitimate children as portrayed by Rob Gomez and Nikki Co, the arranged marriage of Anton to Jade Lee (Casie Banks), and the struggle for power and money as seen in the schemes made by the mistress Valerie Lim (Maricel Laxa).
A powerful cast
Mano Po Legacy: The Family Fortune also saw the matriarch Consuelo Chan (Boots Anson-Roa) giving her firm take on the situations her family is going through. As someone who has appeared in the Mano Po films, Monteverde said that it was important to show Roa in a different role.
“We wanted a different Boots Anson–Roa; not the expected nurturing mother who is encompassed by love and empathy – but instead an ‘Iron Butterfly’ who becomes the axis where the worlds of the Chan revolve around,” Monteverde said of the veteran actress. “We wanted an unsympathetic Boots Anson-Roa, a challenge for her as well as those who have pre-set ideas about who she is as an actress.”
Good feedback for Mano Po Legacy
Monteverde is grateful for the good feedback the show has gotten including the casting of characters.
“We, at Regal, are both grateful and overwhelmed. It was and still is a tough journey to produce not just another teleserye but to protect the brand, to uphold the franchise,” she said. “First the assembly of the cast. We made sure the actors are properly matched with how we envisioned each character. Secondly, each character will have his/her own journey and development. We avoided having one big named star in our series wherein the story is only centralized in one character.”
“When we were finalizing the cast, we made sure that every actor understood and was very well-immersed in their roles. Each character is intertwined to create a very good narration. On the production side, from the director’s unit to the producer’s unit, we had an orientation of the changing dynamics of Chinoys. [We] re-visited the Mano Po films and understand where the successes and failures happened.”
Monteverde said that she personally has gotten a lot of positive praise for the show. “I personally get calls about how they loved each character and the dynamic face-paced story. All actors were very well appreciated by the audience and not one artist failed. We see [a] different Boots Anson Roa, Maricel Laxa, Sunshine Cruz, Barbie Forteza, Almira Muhlach, David Licauco, and David Chua.”
“The new actors did not fail in delivering their best. Rob Gomez, Dustin Yu, Nikki Co, Darwin Yu, Kate Yalung went through auditions and a series of workshops. Everyone had an immersion into modern Chinese culture. We were able to show the consequences of each characters’ actions, the duality of each character, the story is commonly seen in Chinese families. The reception has been not only encouraging but overwhelming.”
What’s next for the Mano Po franchise
With The Family Fortune ending on February 26, Monteverde said they are in the preparation stage for the next storyline in the franchise.
” [As for] the next storyline, [it’s] something completely different,” she said. “Again, we are working on different characters and different family structures.”
“It will be a different world of the Chinoys still about family but more about love, competition, and responsibility. This is another challenge and everyone in Mano Po Legacy Book 2 knows that the expectation is high.”
Catch the last five nights of Mano Po Legacy: The Family Fortune on GMA at 8:50 pm
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