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Alfred Vargas finds himself treading familiar waters — but this time, there's a more sinister side to his character in Una Kang Naging Akin.
After playing the martyr Erebus in 'Mars Ravelo's Dyesebel,' Alfred Vargas finds himself treading familiar waters—but this time, there's a more sinister side to his character. Or so Alfred says. Text by Jason John S. Lim; with interviews by Jillian Q. Gatcheco. Photos by Mitch S. Mauricio. "Kawawa ka naman—lagi ka na lang ayaw ng gusto mo." That was what Alfred Vargas' mother told him after finding out what his role was in GMA's most recent Sine Novela, Una Kang Naging Akin. This is to refer to Alfred's usual role—which is that of a martyr. He jokes, "it's easy to differentiate kasi I have a tail [in Dyesebel] and I have glasses here." But in a more serious tone, he says that he does take great care to make his two characters different from each other. "First you have to start with the physical differentiation. Kailangan makita ng tao, iba. Otherwise, masisira 'yung illusion. "And that’s the last thing I want to do with my character." Alfred says that he made sure to differentiate the way Ronnie speaks, the way he dresses—"iniba ko talaga." He adds that the while both Erebus and Ronnie are very much the martyrs, that's where similarities end. "The motive naman is iba—though they [both] would do everything to win the girl." In Dyesebel, Erebus chose to take the high road. But according to Alfred, that's where Ronnie diverts his path. "Sa Dyesebel kasi medyo heroic; dito I'm gonna do everything to win Jessa (Maxene Magalona)." And when he doesn't get Jessa, Ronnie is okay to settle for less—for now; and less means Liway, Jessa's half-sister, who is played by LJ Reyes. Alfred describes Ronnie's relationship with Liway as brutal. "Liway annoys Ronnie so much, [pero] pag nabigo siya kay Jessa, kay Liway niya binubuhos—ang passion, lahat." The actor says that Una Kang Naging Akin has the juiciest characters on television right now. "Mas dark 'to; merong sex and merong crimes of passion—" Sex? Alfred is quick to defend that it's tastefully done. And he's sure that they won't get cited for being too sexy on afternoon TV. "Direk Joel Lamangan naman 'yan, so safe 'yan." Relationships on Dramarama programming are usually complicated, so Alfred offers this as a way of explaining the story so far—at least, the way his character sees it: "I'm pursuing Jessa and Liway is pursuing me. My motivation in being here in Manila is to follow Jessa and win her heart. Kasi 'yung alam ko, wala na silang hope ni Darwin (Wendell Ramos); kasi nga he's married na—so ako, I'm very hopeful. "I even volunteered to father the child." As to what happens after that, Alfred says viewers would just have to tune in, and to be sure that dark things are bound to happen in the show—very dark things. In the meantime, Alfred continues to pine for Maxene's Jessa as the lovelorn Ronnie every weekday afternoon on Una Kang Naging Akin. Catch new episodes everyday after Daisy Siete: Tinderella. Did you know that Alfred sees himself as a martyr in real life too? Find out more about Alfred from Alfred by subscribing to his Fanatxt service! Text ALFRED on your mobile phones, and send to 4627 for all telcos. Each Fanatxt message costs PhP2.50 for GLOBE, SMART, and TALK 'N TEXT, and PhP2.00 for Sun subscribers. (This service is exclusively for the Philippines only.)