A lot of viewers have certainly abhorred Rigor Dimaguiba, one of the villains in “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” compellingly portrayed by John Estrada, because of how manipulative, abusive, and quick-tempered he has always been, especially when it comes to his family.
He may have projected himself as an incorruptible police officer who couldn’t be swayed by any amount of money offered to him or be intimidated by the power of anyone who’s in the higher ranks than him, but his “good cop” image eventually got erased when he started to get affiliated with the Guerreros, particularly with former Mayor Roberto Guerrero (Albert Martinez).
It can be recalled that his promotion to the top position of Quiapo Police made Rigor feel that he was indebted to the most influential family in Manila. Thus, he diligently obeyed their every order, particularly those who had something to do with finishing off Tanggol (Coco Martin) and his real biological family—the Montenegros—whom he despises so much.
Just when some probably thought that he was going to be the new hope of their police station, or even the police force in general, since among his advocacies was to clean up the ranks and the existing system, it didn’t happen. Instead, he went on to become like the others who had chosen to set aside their principles more due to their greed for wealth and power than to fulfill their sworn duty of serving the public with utmost sincerity and integrity.
And in this Friday 5 feature, let us revisit the five scenes that showed how Rigor has allowed greed to alter his principles, which indeed made us more disappointed and annoyed at him.
From posing as someone who’s not susceptible to corruption, he astonished viewers when he decided to accept the bribe from an illegal drug syndicate through the lawyer who represented their members that were arrested during a police operation. As Ponggay (Maris Racal) courageously confronted him about his decision to set them free despite the strong pieces of evidence gathered by their colleagues against them, Rigor argued that she didn’t have the right to do so since, aside from not being part of the case, she’s also just a neophyte in the service who has not proven anything yet.
While what he did was completely detestable, Rigor seemed to have tried justifying his actions when he did some introspection once he arrived home one night. Apparently, even though that was the right thing to do, he regretted being high-principled and dedicated to his job, as it brought him nothing but a miserable life, in which he was not respected. So, since then, he has decided to use all the money that will be offered to him for him to be able to obtain the respect he has been craving from other people.
That same night, he had a heated altercation with his longtime friend and colleague Mando (Allan Paule), who also argued that Rigor really made the wrong decision of liberating the prisoners since illegal possession of drugs is non-bailable. Mando questioned him for being more lenient towards criminals now that he’s the station commander of Quiapo Police, which, of course, didn’t sit well with Rigor. He went on to remind Mando that he’s already the chief of police, so every decision he makes is right, and then took a swipe at him for being content with his position as a patrolman, which hurt Mando obviously
Aside from Mando, Rigor has also become arrogant towards his other subordinates, as attested by how he insulted and embarrassed them in front of their comrades. For one instance, as PLT. Hector Victorino (Aljur Abrenica) mocked him for finally having his own vehicle when he used to walk to the station, Rigor clapped back at him by implying that he’s just all show but no substance. He then turned to two of their colleagues, whom he advised to lose weight since their bellies were already bulging, which he deemed not appropriate for their job.
It was eventually revealed that the car he was using then was owned by the drug syndicate member whom Rigor set free, which made him no different from their corrupt previous station commanders. Mando overheard the conversation of Hector with his two minions, which resulted in a heated altercation among them as the former defended his friend from their corruption allegation against them.
This caught the attention of Rigor, which prompted him to go out of his office to see what was going on. Right there and then, he suspended two police officers and told him that they had Hector to blame for it. On the other hand, he invited Mando to come to his office after embarrassing him for calling him “Pare” in front of their colleagues and while they were inside the station.
Unfortunately for Rigor, it seemed that his happy days as the chief of Quiapo Police will be soon over, as the Guerrero scion and current mayor of Manila, Miguelito (Jake Cuenca), has threatened to relieve him from his position and be replaced by Hector, not just in his rank but in leading the case versus Tanggol. This will take effect once Hector succeeds in finishing off their common enemy, who’s none other than Tanggol.
Will Rigor’s demotion push through, or will Hector fail in the mission that Roberto had entrusted to him? Let’s find out by not missing an episode of “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” on Kapamilya Channel, ALLTV2, A2Z, iWant, and Kapamilya Online Live (KOL).