Senator Bong Revilla describes them as “soft yet strong.” He is referring to the three beauty queens —Miss World Philippines 2019 Michelle Dee, Miss Philippines Universe 2020 Rabiya Mateo and Miss Universe Philippines 2014 MJ Lastimosa — who figure in the life of his character, Major Gabriel Labrador, in the second season of GMA’s action-fantasy series, “Agimat ng Agila.”
“Soft yet strong ang dating nila. Iba talaga,” he said. “‘Yung tatlong beauty queens natin, saludo ako sa kanila.”
The three ladies figure in a lot of action scenes in the series. Michelle is the villainess Serpenta, Rabiya’s Agent Asha Raj fights alongside Gabriel, and MJ is the wily and mysterious Rosebud.
“Nag level up tayo [because] we have to surpass the first one,” said Senator Bong, “Mas matindi, mas pinalaki. Kita mo naman ang mga kasama nating leading ladies — magagaling umarte. Magugulat ka sa kanila sa pag acting, sa bawat characters at sa pag portray nila.
“Si Serpenta sa book 1, ngayon si Rabiya, maging si MJ. Last Saturday si Rabiya maraming na surprise sa kanya, na magaling pala siyang umarte,” he further said.
Michelle is up for more challenges as Serpenta, a role that she relishes.
“Finally, binigyan ako ng pagkakataon ng GMA to portray such a powerful character role,” she said, “Serpenta is so different from all of the roles I’ve handled before. I’m just glad that I executed it well and I’m very happy that our show did well in Book 1. I have nothing but gratitude. It’s such a good working environment. Sen. Bong is such a pleasure to work with.”
Rabiya is so grateful that her first assignment after her stint as Miss Universe Philippines 2020 is Agent Asha Raj. She said she is a fan of action and dreamt of doing action scenes, so it was a dream come true to be doing stunts and training in martial arts for her role.
She and MJ shared that they both got a lot of support from Senator Bong, who was not only the show’s lead but also their acting coach of sorts.
“He is very helpful, parang may acting coach na rin na ang mahal,” revealed MJ, “Bago mag action, nandyan siya gina-guide niya kami. So I think that’s why book 1 was so successful, because he’s very hands-on and you can see his passion niya — he is meticulously watching every scene and guides us how to do ours better.”
There is a possibility that the three characters’ roles will be more exciting in the next episodes — or even be seen in the series’ movie version. As Senator Bong said, he envisions “Agimat ng Agila” soaring on the big screen.
“Pinag-aaralan namin ‘yan. Iniisip naming isalin natin ito. In fact, ‘yun talaga plano dito, for the big screen,” he revealed.
“‘Agimat’ will always be agimat,” he explained, “Sinimulan to ng tatay ko. Hanggang ngayon nandyan ‘yan at mananatiling buhay ang agimat. Siguro ito’y ipapamana ko na sa kaapu-apuhan ko at maging ka-apu apuhan ng mga apo ko. Sinimulan ng tatay ko, kaya tuloy tuloy ang adventure ng agimat.”
