John Estrada back to being Kapamilya

To finally quell speculations that he will move to the rival network after his hosting stint on ABS-CBN’s noontime show, Masayang Tanghali Bayan ended last February, John Estrada was given a role in Ai-Ai de las’ sitcom, Ang Tanging Ina, which airs every Sunday night on ABS-CBN.

John taped for Ang Tanging Ina last Friday at Island Cove in Cavite. He plays the long-lost cousin from Basilan of Rowena (played by Eugene Domingo), Ina’s (Ai-Ai) best friend, who will have a love-hate relationship with Ina. He works at Island Cove as a lifeguard-waiter-bartender. Eventually, however, he gets fired because he is caught sleeping on the job. Hence, he begs Rowena to bring him with her to Manila. Whether or not John ends up as Ina’s fifth husband remains to be seen in the succeeding episodes of the sitcom.

In Ang Tanging Ina, John returns to the sitcom genre where he first made a name for himself. After ramp modeling, John was tapped by his talent manager, Douglas Quijano, to join the cast of the now-defunct Palibhasa Lalake, then with Richard Gomez and Joey Marquez.

Aside from Palibhasa, John was seen in two other sitcoms — Onli in da Pilipins and Richard Loves Lucy — also on ABS-CBN. Then he dabbled in TV hosting and dramatic acting. He played the unforgettable, ruggedly handsome role of Boris, Lorna Tolentino’s bodyguard in the soap series Kay Tagal Kitang Hinintay.

John was said to be immediately receptive to the idea of joining the Ang Tanging Ina cast, according to ABS-CBN vice president for comedy Joanna Gomez-Santos. "He and Ai-Ai have a very good rapport, having worked together on MTB," Joanna says. "We’ve long wanted to get John to join the cast of Ang Tanging Ina, but we did not think it was a novel idea to put him and Ai-Ai together in a Sunday show because they were being seen together before, Mondays to Saturdays."

John took a break after MTB was reformatted and went abroad for a much-needed vacation. "When we found out he was back, we tried to get in touch with him through Douglas Quijano," Joanna discloses. "We were told that John was supposed to meet with ABC 5, where Willie (Revillame) had earlier moved after leaving MTB. Tito Douglas scheduled the meeting after Holy Week. But we called up Tito Douglas before that, so our timing to get John was just perfect."

Speculations that John was switching networks were fueled when he guested on GMA 7’s S Files and the sitcom Lagot Ka, Isusumbong Kita. "Even if he has no contract yet with ABS-CBN, John was decent and honest enough to tell us that he was doing guesting stints in the other network, which we allowed anyway," Joanna says.

John is expected to sign a contract with ABS-CBN next month to formalize his entry in Ang Tanging Ina. Joanna reveals John will also be given another soap series in the network within the year.

Joyce Bernal directs Ang Tanging Ina, which also stars Roderick Paulate, with Marvin Agustin, Carlo Aquino, Heart Evangelista and Nikki Valdez, Ketchup Eusebio, Shaina Magdayao, Serena Dalrymple, Jiro Manio and Yuuki Kadooka as Ai-Ai’s children. The sitcom is a spin-off from last year’s blockbuster hit which also topbilled Ai-Ai de las Alas,which earned more than P200,000 at the tills. The characters in Tanging Ina were created by Keiko Aquino, Mel del Rosario and Wenn Deramas, the sitcom’s first director who now helms Marina, starring Claudine Barretto.

John was said to have told a network insider that he’s happy to be back in ABS-CBN. "After all, he really doesn’t want to leave the network," Joanna says.