Maalaala Mo Kaya Sep. 30 Recap: Jessy Mendiola In Search Of Who She Really Is

In Maalala Mo Kaya Sep. 30 episode, Jessy Mendiola takes on the role of a young woman searching for true self. She plays Erna, who as a child was separated from her real parents. Through the help of kind-hearted strangers, she ends up in the province of Romblon, where she is taken in by Indong and his family.

Indong, played by Christopher de Leon, treats her like his own child, while the rest of the family including Salving (Carmi Martin) try their best to accept Erna, who is now known as Juliet. As she grows, however, she begins having dreams about her real family. This prompts her to think about how she can find out who she really is and find her family.

The real-life story of Erna/Juliet is one of the stories gathered during MMK’s story caravan in Romblon province.

Lost As A Young Girl, Erna Finds A New Family

The episode starts with Jessy Mendiola, as Juliet, now a grown woman asking around if people were aware of a woman or family who lost a child in 1974. The setting was in a town in Pampanga and Jessy was accompanied by her husband Edwin. As they continue asking around, Juliet recalls how she got lost in Manila when she was young.

As a young child, she was attending mass in a church in Manila where she got separated from her mother and brothers after she went out to buy snacks at a nearby store. A young man found her crying on the sidewalk and brought her to the nearest police station. Unable to find her parents, the young man then decided to bring the young girl home to his family in Tablas Island, Romblon province.

There she meets the young man’s father, Indong Formilleza, his wife Salving and their sons. While Indong immediately showed affection to the young girl and even said that they will be her family, the rest of the family were not as accepting.

Juliet’s Search For Love And Acceptance

As the girl grows older, she experiences love and acceptance from Indong, but not as much from Salving and the sons. She encounters harsh words and even physical maltreatment from the sons, and much later, from the wives of one of the brothers, Cris. At the same time, she is also trying to do her best to be accepted by her mother, Salving.

In all of these, she continues to show her appreciation and love for what the Formilleza family has done for her, by taking her in. However, she is haunted by dreams about her real family and who she really is. In one scene, Indong reluctantly allowed her to go ahead and find her real family.

Juliet’s Search For Truth

After Salving passes away due to diabetes, Juliet embarks on her search for the truth. This brings her to Pampanga, where as the episode shows, she finally finds her sister and brothers. She also finds out that she was called Erna. As they are reunited, they tell her that their parents went their separate ways after she got lost in Manila. Her siblings also went through a lot of hardship because both parents eventually left them to fend for themselves.

With her siblings’ help, she found her mother, Bising, in another town in Pampanga. She also sought out her father, who was living in Isabela. Their reunion made her realize how hard their lives were after she got lost.

Armed with truth, she returns to Indong in Romblon. Her search for truth also made her realize how her situation was a much better one compared to her siblings and her parents. Despite finding her real family, she opts to stay with the family she grew up with, the one that took her in and later on accepted her.