At one point in your life, you've had this one daydream: It turns out that you're adopted, and a rich couple will claim you as their long-lost daughter and take you to this enormous mansion where you'll start living a life of comfort.
Of course, that ~rarely~ happens in real life, but this fairy tale trope is a staple for Filipino teleseryes! Here, we listed down eight soap operas with long-lost heiresses:
1. Annaliza (1980 and 2013)
The lost heiress: Julie Vega and Andrea Brillantes as Anna Liza/Annaliza
The sitch: Annaliza is the long-lost daughter of a rich couple who was stolen from her parents as a baby by her father's vengeful ex-girlfriend!
2. Mara Clara (1992 and 2010)
The lost heiress: Judy Ann Santos and Kathryn Bernardo as Mara
The sitch: Mara and Clara (Gladys Reyes/Julia Montes) were born on the exact same day and switched at birth! These events were recorded in a diary and Mara grows up as the poor daughter of a labandera while Clara has every material thing a girl could ever want.
3. Pangako Sa 'Yo (2000 and 2015)
The lost heiress: Kristine Hermosa and Kathryn Bernardo as Yna Macaspac
The sitch: Yna works as a maid at the rich Buenavista household, not knowing that her real mother, now a rich woman named Amor Powers (Eula Valdez/Jodi Sta. Maria), thought she died in a dumpsite landslide. Yna falls in love with the family's only son Angelo Buenavista (Jericho Rosales/Daniel Padilla) and endures bullying and discrimination from his mother Claudia (Jean Garcia/Angelica Panganiban), who also happens to be Amor's archnemesis.
4. Babaeng Hampaslupa (2011)
The lost heiress: Alex Gonzaga as Elizabeth Wong
The sitch: The daughter of an affluent Chinese family, Elizabeth is stolen by her father's vengeful ex-girlfriend as a baby. Years later, Elizabeth, now called Grace, unknowingly works for her real family as a maid!
5. Ina, Kapatid, Anak (2012)
The lost heiress: Kim Chiu as Celyn
The sitch: Celyn grows up poor but loved, and when she starts her new life as a college student, she meets ultra-rich Margaux (Maja Salvador), the "adopted" heir to a shoe empire. They become best friends until it's revealed that Celyn is actually the biological daughter of Margaux's parents!
6. Princess And I (2012)
The lost heiress: Kathryn Bernardo as Princess Areeyah
The sitch: Areeyah, the sole heiress to the fictional country of Yangdon, ends up in the Philippines where she grows up as "Mikay," the adopted daughter of a middle-class family. As a teenager, Mikay wins a trip to Yangdon, where she encounters her father and the people who want to take over her throne.
7. The Blood Sisters (2018)
The lost heiresses: Erich Gonzales as Erika, Carrie, and Agatha
The sitch: Triplets Erika, Carrie, and Agatha were carried by a surrogate mother! They get separated after the *deal* their parents made falls through. The story centers on Erika as an adult and she works as a dancer at a bar. She is also the mother of a boy who has a chronic illness.
8. Prima Donnas (2019)
The lost heiresses: Jillian Ward, Althea Ablan, and Sofia Pablo as Donna Marie, Donna Belle, and Donna Lyn
The sitch: A rich married couple finds it hard to conceive a child, so they hire their trusted housekeeper to be a surrogate mother. The housekeeper gives birth to three daughters, but fate has other plans: The triplets are separated from their biological parents and are raised by their surrogate mother instead.
How many of these shows have you seen, CGs?
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