Bella Flores once said: “Walang bida kung walang kontrabida.”
A Filipino drama’s success when it comes to ratings and potential pop-culture iconography status is parallel to how viciously evil and memorable its kontrabida is.
You may be rooting for the protagonist to prevail, but it’s the antagonists who leave long-lasting impressions in our minds.
Essentially, the kontrabida is a sacrificial lamb—she needs to give the audience a cathartic experience like no other, despite being hated tremendously by many in the process.
Here are the best local antagonists who have achieved this, and in the process contributed to the success of their films and teleseryes.
Miss Minchin
Sarah …Ang Munting Prinsesa (1995)
Miss Minchin is essentially all your strict teachers and cranky titas combined and amplified.
As she forced the once-wealthy heiress Sarah into serving as a maid and subjected her to all forms of abuse, she became the stuff of nightmares for many a ’90s kid.
Dr. Valentina Vrandrakapoor
Lipad, Darna, Lipad! (1973)
With a mangle of serpents as her crowning glory, she dazzled as she faced off against the virtuous Darna (Vilma Santos) and proved to local audiences just how glamorous evil can be.
Doña Brigida “Mamita” Espero
Maria Flordeluna (2007)
Apparently, an evil step-grandmother with an intimidating, booming voice, as Flordeluna (Eliza Pineda) learns the hard way.
Mamita is callous and cold-hearted, and won’t hesitate to make poor Flor feel the full force of her wrath.
Lavinia Arguelles
Bituing Walang Ningning (1985)
In a masterful performance, Cherie Gil plays the songstress as a real human being—there’s an inherent sadness and dissatisfaction to her portrayal reminiscent of Bette Davis in All About Eve.
When the rising star of her former fan Dorina Pineda (Sharon Cuneta) threatens to eclipse her own, Lavinia gets protective of the one thing that makes her genuinely joyful, and will stop at nothing to safeguard it.
Madame Claudia Buenavista
Pangako Sa ‘Yo (2000 to 2002)
Her ruthless spirit and general aura of superiority was played to perfection by Jean Garcia, who made the character memorable even to this day.
Selina Pereira-Matias
Mula Sa Puso (1997 to 1999)
Selina Pereira-Matias was pure sin.
As the ambitious daughter of the Pereira clan, she’d stop at nothing to secure the the family’s wealth, even if it means killing off the heiress Via (Claudine Barretto) or having several of her peers murdered or raped.
Additionally, a running gag of the soap opera was how Selina would survive several near-death experiences from a car explosion to getting cancer, proving just how hard it is to get rid of evil.
