The series officially debuted on primetime across ABS-CBN’s many platforms, on Monday, January 23.
Is Tessie Tomas’s character on the newest Kapamilya primetime series, Dirty Linen, inspired by the former first lady, Imelda Marcos’s life? Netizens are wondering if such is the case, as many parallels between Doña Cielo, the character played by Tomas, and Marcos, were noticed by some viewers. Not that they needed to have a keen set of eyes, some events and details on the show, are just glaring and screaming enough to not remind of the former First Family at the Malacañang.
In the show, Doña Cielo is the matriarch and figurehead of the Fiero family, the wealthiest and most influential in their town of Alhambra. The first two episodes painted her character as a deeply religious woman with many bones in the closet. Clearly manipulative, Doña Cielo is the one pulling the strings in her own puppet show, where everybody in her household is a player.
Dirty Linen is arguably one of ABS-CBN’s most socio-political show, in a while. The title of the show, alone, is symbolic. But on Twitter, netizens have noticed a lot more eerily familiar details on the show.
https://twitter.com/AltStarMagic/status/1617527975964180482
“The shade Dirty Linen, THE SHADEEEEEEEE,” tweeted @ALTStarMagic, who particularly noted of that one scene that showed Tomas’s character singing a Kundiman classic, alongside a visualization that revealed what underneath the ground she was standing on, are: remains of the people her family murdered. He added another tweet, whose attached photos, seem to suggest, Doña Cielo’s pray-over scene was inspired by a similar event in the former first lady Marcos’s life. “ANG TAPANG NI DIRTY LINEN OH MY GOD,” his tweet reads.
https://twitter.com/AltStarMagic/status/1617538485719797762
BIEN, meanwhile, got reminded of that one time when Tomas played Marcos, in the award-winning film, A Dangerous Life. Her portrayal in that film notably scored her an International Emmy Best Supporting Actress nomination, in 1989. “Tapos kumanta pa sya so Imeldific! Let’s not forget that Tessie Tomas portrayed #ImeldaCriminal in A Dangerous Life,”
https://twitter.com/BIENsays/status/1617704468593913857
Jed shared a screenshot of a scene that showed the Fiero family being relgious, despite being criminals. “Intense! May bago tayong panggigigilan! Another case of pamilyang madasalin pero mamamatay tao, ” his tweet reads.
Intense! May bago tayong panggigigilan! Another case of pamilyang madasalin pero mamamatay tao.#DLMissing4 #DirtyLinen pic.twitter.com/53ucXBWd0E
— Jed Maralit (@thejedsetter) January 23, 2023
“this scene reminded me of the manila theatre tragedy where workers who fell from the scaffolding that collapsed that day were buried under quick-drying cement :((
nangilabot ako. and what angers me the most is the ones who did it, ” tweeted @krstnxlrs, who got reminded of the infamous Manila Film Center tragedy, where hundreds of construction workers are suspected to have been buried alive.
https://twitter.com/krstnxlrs/status/1617560172595142658
“yung transition from the bones of the people they k*lled to them celebrating without care is so so good ,” noted @anortheastwind.
yung transition from the bones of the people they k*lled to them celebrating without care is so so good #DLMissing4 pic.twitter.com/KBbtePKBa4
— Janella Salvador (@anortheastwind) January 23, 2023
Twitter user, @BB_menita, shared a collection of screenshots she grabbed from show, showing several details that are eerily familiar with the former first lady. “the parallels, this show didn’t hold back tlga,” her tweet reads.
https://twitter.com/Bb_menita/status/1617534556059602944
Aside from the abovementioned details, it can also be noted the similarity of dates, including the day of the killings and Marcos’ day of birth. Are these circumstances purely coincidental? Netizens think not.
