It’s ZsaZsa Padilla’s third time to be a part of the Mano Po franchise and she made sure that her role would be different from her previous ones by volunteering to play the ultra scheming sister-in-law of Sharon Cuneta in the story. “The first time I played a kontrabida role was in Ang Babae sa Balete Drive in the ‘80s. Halimaw ako dun, so I can really say that this is really my first time do a villainess role. And since I don’t do this very often, I really had to tell the producers and Direk Joel Lamangan to make the role super bad, so that it will be worth this milestone,” she happily shared.

When asked about their highly charged confrontation scenes, the Divine Diva revealed that she once got a bruise after Sharon slapped her hard on the face. “Love pa nga ako ni Shawie kaya talagang ingat na ingat siya. Pero Diyos ko day may pasa! But actually hindi siya masakit because she was so careful. It’s just that I bruise easily.” She was also quick to clarify that the incident never became an issue between them since they merely wanted the viewers to see them give their best performance. “We really gave it our all. And also, Sharon and I are friends so there’s no problem even if the ‘fights’ we had were a bit realistic,” she added with a laugh.

It was truly a challenging experience for ZsaZsa, especially since she often gets carried away by her character’s spitefulness. “It’s just so negative. Siguro parang [naa-absorb] mo yung negative energy while preparing for your lines. Yung kay Mega naman, there was this one scene—akala ko nga mahirap na yung sampalan namin e—pero may isang eksena na malupit talaga ako sa kanya. Nung take na, affected ako, naiiyak ako. Buti na lang na-take two [kaya nakadeliver naman ako]. But you know, I’m just so happy to be part of this movie. You couldn’t ask for more—great cast, touching story and excellent production design. So sana po abangan ninyo,” she concluded.