The Kapuso network is bent on building up Jillian Ward, 19, to become a major actor in the country. Her last series, AbotKamay ang Pangarap, concluded October last year, and it did very well in the ratings: its lifespan kept getting extended.

The series was planned to air for only a year but went over for two more years even as it had to keep adding characters and complications to its storyline.

The series had about 10 characters who are doctors, and, thus, the network publicized  Abot-Kamay as a “medical series” though its narrative initially centered on a lovely but illiterate flower vendor, Lyneth (portrayed by former teen idol Carmina Villaroel) who becomes a doctor’s girlfriend, gets pregnant by him, but he soon abandons her. Richard Yap, 57, portrays the heartless doctor, Robert, who was already married at the time he drew her into a romance. 

As fate (or faith?) would have it, Lyneth gains a benefactor who isn’t carnal like Robert. She gives birth to a baby girl, takes care of the baby as a single parent, the daughter grows up brilliant, and the mother gets to meet decent people, one of whom finds a way for Lyneth’s daughter to receive a scholarship to a medical school to fulfill her childhood dream to become a doctor. That daughter, Annalyn, is portayed by Ward, and the character becomes the country’s youngest neurosurgeon. 

An entertainment narrative is only as good as the number of entanglements characters get into or are drawn into to complete their journeys towards nobility or towards colorless oblivion. Thus, the mother and daughter in this GMA entertainment yarn get spun here and there by the teleplay and its movers that include writers, directors, actors, and other creators of life for public viewing.

Ward began her showbiz career as a child actor. Her lovely mother, who has movie star looks, used to make her join kiddie contests, including those that require stunning beauty – and Ward had it since early childhood. Her big break came when she was offered to star in a re-imagination of that memorable movie character Trudis Liit, iconically popularized by Vilma Santos in the 1960s. The series aired also on GMA 7, where Ward was offered captivating characters. 

The offers kept coming until her teen years, as she was teamed up in a few series with young boy actors, though none of those loveteams became sensational enough to run for many years. The most famous of those short-run series was Primadonna in which Ward was paired with Will Ashley. 

But Abot-Kamay na Pangarap reached out to Ward when she turned 16 with hard-to-ignore looks and the titillating features of girls with Caucasian genes. She was top-billed with Villarroel, who was teamed up with the sensational Yap, an upstart in his late 40s over at ABS-CBN in a series titled My Binondo Girl headlined by Kim Chiu in 2011. In 2022, he moved on to GMA 7, and Abot Kamay was his second series after I Left My heart in Sorsogon, starring Heart Evangelista. 

Ward seems to have had crying scenes in Abot Kamay na Pangarap. She belatedly revealed in an interview with the network’s entertainment reporter, Nelson Canlas, that she found those scenes easy to do because there was a time last year that her parents separated, and she cried a lot about it in private in real life. 

It’s actually her American-Filipina mother who is a Ward, married to Elson Penzon who is also from Pampanga, just like Jillian’s mom. Canlas’ report implied that Jillian stayed with her mother when she separated from her husband. It was the mother, after all, who brought Jillian around to TV contests and star searches for all sorts of TV shows. 

Ward’s upcoming series, My Ilonggo Girl, has her playing a dual role of opposite temperament and status in life, as Venice and as Tata. As the former, she is a glamorous actress, feisty, if not haughty, sharp-tongued, and married to a young businessman portrayed by Michael Sager who was among her love interests in Abot-Kamay on its first year of airing. (Sager had to be eased out of the series since he was cast in another GMA7 series with a bigger role. That series is Shining Inheritance, a Filipino adaptation of a South Korean series.) 

Ward’s dual role is made possible with a character in the storyline as a doppelganger: someone whose looks is exactly the same as another. It’s the look-alike of the actor-social media influencer who is an Ilongga in the storyline. 

At the media conference for the series Thursday afternoon (9 January), Ward bared that it’s the sharp-tongued actor that she had a harder time with as an actor. 

“I practically don’t get angry in real life. I just cry when I am angry. I don’t complain. I don’t confront. Every time I had to appear in the scene as Venice, our director (Conrad Peru) had to keep reminding me to be tough and proud,” confided Ward at the media huddle. 

She is very grateful, though, for her second series as lead actor. She declared: “I feel so blessed and happy kasi 15 years na ako dito sa industry pero grabe pa rin ‘yung tiwala sa akin ng GMA. And first time kong magkaroon ng teleserye with GMA Public Affairs (I feel so blessed to be 15 years in the industry. It also the first time I got a teleserye with GMA),” she said. “Nae-excite ako kasi ibang-iba siya sa mga nagawa ko na at marami akong natututunan na bago (I am excited because it is different from what I am used to doing. And there are many new things I am learning).”

Almost all the scenes in the series were shot in Iloilo since it is meant to highlight the beauty of the province. The series is dubbed as “regional comedy drama” and some dialog will be in Hiligaynon, the language in the province. 

The series, according to press information, boasts a powerhouse cast composed of both young and seasoned actors that include Teresa Loyzaga, Arra Agustin, Lianne Valentin, Arlene Muhlach, Empoy Marquez, Yasser Marta, Richard Quan, Andrea del Rosario, Vince Maristela, Patricia Ismael, Yesh Burce, Carla Martinez, and the youngsters Sabreenika Santos and Geo Mhanna. 

My Ilonggo Girl premieres on 13 January, Mondays through Thursday at 9:35pm on GMA Prime. Global viewers can also watch it via GMA Pinoy TV.