While it has been welcoming a great deal of new talents from its now franchise-less main rival station, ABS-CBN, GMA Network is similarly bleeding, as some of its prized homegrown stars opted to find new opportunities outside their home studio.
ABS-CBN’s losing most of its prized talents has been written all over the wall since it lost its broadcast franchise last year. In the past twelve months alone, the media giant saw the most number of Kapamilya-to-Kapuso transfers in its seven-decade history. Following Star Magic’s decision to allow its talents to terminate their contract with the network, seeing the biggest Kapamilya stars leaving ABS-CBN became inevitable.
And true enough, the likes of Pokwang, Khalil Ramos, Maja Salvador, Cristine Reyes, Xian Lim, Richard Yap, Beauty Gonzales, and Bea Alonzo, officially departed from their homes studio for years to become contract stars for either GMA Network and TV5. As foreseen, a much bigger chunk of the talents ABS-CBN lost went to GMA Network. Some of the biggest entertainment figures and star-builders, like Johnny Manahan and Bobet Vidanes, also completed their stints as Kapamilyas.
Some Kapamilya stars who briefly left the network, like Jane Oineza, Donny Pangilinan, and Zephanie Dimaranan, eventually found their way back to ABS-CBN. Piolo Pascual recently delighted and shocked fans when he officially ended the rumors that suggested he was leaving his home studio for good. Pascual signed anew with ABS-CBN last Thursday, September 16, proving his promise to be a forever Kapamilya.
Following ABS-CBN’s shut down in May last year, exit doors have opened for those who want to leave ABS-CBN, while GMA Network swung its doors open for new talents. Like a Moses’ staff, the infamous shutdown calved what used to be a practically untraversable ocean between TV networks, whose exclusivity policies have long kept talents from doing projects beyond their backyards.
A year and a month into lording the free TV game and reigning as the number one TV network in the country, GMA Network continues to sign new talents from ABS-CBN. However, this inward influx of Kapamilya talents has been seemingly eclipsed by an outward stream of homegrowns who have either not renewed by the network or just decided to expand their career with new opportunities in other venues, like ABS-CBN.
This year alone, GMA Network saw the departure of some of its biggest female stars. Janine Gutierrez was the first to surprise netizens and fans when she inked an exclusive network contract with ABS-CBN in January. The move ended her 12-year stint as an exclusive GMA artist. As a Kapuso star, Gutierrez was honed to become one of GMA Network’s most prized talents. She took on his first lead role on a teleserye in 2013 via the Villa Quintana remake, where she starred alongside then Kapuso actor Elmo Magalona. A year earlier, she has cast a major supporting role in daytime drama, Together Forever. She had subsequent starring roles, including the primetime dramas, More Than Words (2014) and Once Again (2016), and daytime soaps, Dangwa (2015), Legally Blind (2017), and Dragon Lady (2019).
Following her move to ABS-CBN, Gutierrez has since been serving as one of the main presenters of the Sunday noontime musical variety show ASAP Natin ‘To. Her first lead TV series, Marry Me. Marry You, stars alongside former Kapuso Paulo Avelino, premiered last Monday, September 13.
More than four months after Gutierrez sealed her exclusive contract with ABS-CBN, Sunshine Dizon shocked fans when she was announced to be a part of the now airing primetime series, Marry Me. Marry You. For more than two decades, the news took the online world by storm as Dizon was an exclusive Kapuso star. While it was reported that she just signed a per-project contract, the new Kapamilya actress is envisioned to do subsequent projects with ABS-CBN in the future.
Before her move to ABS-CBN, Dizon was undoubtedly among GMA Network’s biggest homegrown stars. After her phenomenal rise to fame via the weekly drama series Anna KareNina (1997), she became one of the busiest Kapuso stars. She top-billed a number of major Kapuso soap operas, including Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin (2001) and Kung Mawawala Ka (2001), before getting her biggest and most iconic role to date, as Pirena in the original Encantadia (2005).
Dizon further solidified her royalty status as she headlined a number of top-rated dramas, including Bakekang (2006), Impostora (2007), La Vendetta (2007), and All About Eve (2009). In 2016, she was cast in the wildly popular daytime series, Ika-6 na Utos. She was able to do one more top-rated daytime drama with GMA Network in 2019 via the revenge-themed drama, Magkaagaw.
Lovi Poe’s rumored departure from GMA Network had been circulating months before her move to ABS-CBN. However, she officially signed with ABS-CBN yesterday, September 16, which ended her 15-year stint as a homegrown Kapuso star. Poe first came to public attention via the massively popular, Bakekang. She subsequently landed roles on television, including Zaido: Pulis Pangkalawakan (2007), LaLola (2008), Ang Babaeng Hinugot sa Aking Tadyang (2009), Little Star (2010), Captain Barbell (2011), Legacy (2012), Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real (2014), and Beautiful Strangers (2015). In 2016, she top-billed Someone to Watch Over Me, and in 2017, The One That Got Away.
She did Beautiful Justice in 2019 and the mini-series I Can See You in 2020.
Her last team-up with Kapuso actor Benjamin Alves—the TV series Owe My Love—served as her parting project with GMA Network before officially moving to ABS-CBN in September.
Other than Gutierrez, Dizon, and Poe, there are a number of names from the Kapuso Network who are rumored to join ABS-CBN in the future. Starstruck alumna, Kris Bernal, left GMA Network in November 2020 and has since been appearing on TV5, but latest reports suggest that she would also be a Kapamilya soon. The transfer of former Eat Bulaga host, Ruby Rodriguez, to ABS-CBN has also been picked up by netizens, but as this remains a rumor, she will stay as just a former Kapuso and not a new Kapamilya.
The amount of talents GMA Network lost in the past twelve months may still be nothing compared to what ABS-CBN lost during the same period. But as small as they may seem, this number is still astoundingly shocking as GMA Network has never seen these many departures in the past. The fact that Dizon, Poe, and Gutierrez are former Kapuso homegrowns suggest so much about how volatile GMA Network’s situation is in terms of keeping its most prized possessions. ABS-CBN’s ability to attract talents from the now undisputed no.1 TV network is a baffling wonder poised to amaze and surprise viewers and fans with subsequent Kapuso to Kapamilya transfers. And while it remains to be seen who else would see ABS-CBN as still the better option when it comes to career growth and eventually join Gutierrez, Poe, and Dizon, what is apparent now is that departures from GMA Network will continue.
