Believe it or not, it’s already been a decade since well-loved advocacy series Budoy inspired, touched, and amused us with the remarkable story of its admirable titular character impeccably played by versatile seasoned actor Gerald Anderson. And this year, he says “hello” to us again as ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube let us binge-watch it for free and for a limited time only through YouTube Super Stream!
Those who were able to see it could probably recall how this exceptional and relatable narrative went. But for those who haven’t yet, this family drama follows the journey of Benjamin “Budoy” Maniego, a boy stricken with Angelman’s Syndrome – a genetic disorder that affects the nervous system and causes severe intellectual and developmental disability and speech and movement problems.
He’s actually a scion of the affluent family of doctors – the Maniegos – but grew up in a simple life under the care of Elena (Janice de Belen), a former maid of his biological family. This was after Budoy’s real father Anton (Tirso Cruz III), an esteemed obstetrician and gynecologist, heeded to his family’s recommendation to give the kid away upon finding out that he has Angelman Synrdome, in order to protect their reputation.
The young boy was entrusted to his caretaker Jinggay (Arlene Muhlach), but when she succumbed to heart attack, her close friend Elena, who also works for the Maniegos, took on the responsibility of taking good care of him. Meanwhile, in order to save Luisa’s (Zsa Zsa Padilla) sanity over the loss of his son, Grace (Mylene Dizon) the wife of her brother-in-law Isaac (Christian Vasquez) suggested to just present a fake Benjamin, a boy they fondly called BJ (Enrique Gil), who unbeknown to them was Grace’s son.
Despite his condition, Budoy was still able to live like a normal person with the love, support, and guidance of of his adoptive mother Elena and his grandfather Renato (Dante Rivero). Aside from working as a school janitor, he was also able to make friends and even be in a romantic relationship with his beloved best Jackie. He may be discriminated most of the time, yet he has remained kind to those who bullied him.
The course of events when Budoy became an adult led to his reunion with his biological parents and the revelations of many secrets behind his true identity. These may have made things complicated, which ensued to action-packed scenes that put everyone’s life in trouble.
However, everything still went well in the end. Budoy became a priest and the foster parent to Benjo, the child of Jackie and BJ who got orphaned when both of them got killed in a bloody encounter. He’s also able to provide education for mentally-challenged children by building a school for them.
Revisit the wonderful and stirring journey of Budoy by binge-watching it on YouTube Super Stream for free for a limited time only! Don’t forget to subscribe to ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube Channel!