Ricardo "Cardo" Dalisay / "Ador" / Paloma / Fernan
Portrayed by: Coco Martin
A police officer from Zambales, serving as a member of the SAF. After his brother's death, he was suddenly assigned to Manila by his grandfather to impersonate Ador and continue the mission that he left behind. After his cover is blown, he was later reassigned to the CIDG, where he handled cases that would put him into conflict with the Tuazon family and other criminals.
- Anti-Hero: Of the pragmatic variety. Cardo shows absolutely no mercy to his enemies, and has no problem using less-than-stellar tactics like torture to bring them to justice. Despite this, Cardo is a kind and loving man at heart who genuinely believes in bringing peace to the Philippines through those same methods.
- Backup Twin: He becomes this to Ador once the latter was betrayed and shot dead by Joaquin.
- Big Town Boredom: Downplayed. Cardo isn't exactly sick of living in Metro Manila, but he's more at home in the countryside and enjoys living a simple life there. At the end of the series, Cardo retires to his home town as a simple police officer instead of staying in the city.
- Cartwright Curse: Any woman who falls in love with him will suffer some horrible fate, mostly at the hands of Cardo's many enemies. The only exception to this is Alyana, who later dies during a firefight between Task Force Agila and the Black Ops. Mara also somehow manages to survive being drowned, and reappears during the finale.
- Chick Magnet: Many women have fallen in love with Cardo because of his good looks and altruistic personality. Unfortunately, many of these women usually suffer terrible fates at the hands of Cardo's enemies.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Smiles upon seeing Alyana taking a shower during their stay in San Diego and is okay with getting a kiss from Clarice. Despite this, when he comes face-to-face with a group of perverts he shows disgust at their actions.
- Cool Sword: Ramona gives him her ancestral sword, an ancient bolo knife that has been used by Philippine revolutionaries against foreign invaders. He uses it very liberally during his battle with Armando's group, and later kills Samuel with it.
- Cowboy Cop: Cardo has few scruples in engaging criminals; however, there are times that this would bite him back.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Double Agent during his time in the Pulang Araw. It isn't easy attempting to worm his way into a highly-structured rebel organization, and his time in the Pulang Araw causes him to rethink his loyalties between the Pulang Araw and the SAF. When his cover is blown, things do not go well at all for him and he gets caught up in a Contempt Crossfire. The SAF and the Filipino public at large think that he's turned his back on the country to join a terrorist organization, while the Pulang Araw's remaining members are livid at Cardo and believe that he was a mole the whole time.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Cardo is a certified Cowboy Cop, but he only uses his methods on truly heinous people. When he finds a group of policemen using the same tactics he's using on a group of illegal street vendors selling pirated DVDs, he immediately comes to the vendors' defence.
Cardo: Maaring mali ang ginagawa nila, pero resputuhin nyo ang karapatang pantao! (What they are doing is wrong, but just respect human rights!)- He may act as a budding father-figure to Onyok, but when Onyok does something wrong he'll call him out on it.
- When Lolita snarks at Ellen's death and shows little emotion at the death of the latter's unborn baby, Cardo gives her a Death Glare despite his personal hate of Ellen.
- Good Is Not Soft: Cardo is incredibly ruthless when dealing with criminals and his other enemies, but is a rather nice fellow if you are one of his loved ones or a law-abiding citizen.
- Good Parents: Treated Onyok like his very own son, and showed unconditional love to him.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: During his "fugitive" arcs, he's portrayed to the public as a dangerous terrorist. Half of the population believe this, while the other half are shown as seeing him as a Folk Hero who protects the downtrodden.
- Humble Hero: Never lets his achievements and awarded valor go to his head, and stays a humble man throughout.
- Living Legend: Cardo's exploits have made him famous throughout the whole Philippines, and by the end of the series he has cemented himself as a true hero in the eyes of the public.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: Tries his best to make sure innocent bystanders and civilians don't get hurt whenever he's in a firefight with his enemies. There are times when fails in doing this, like when the entirety of Patrick's family is gunned down by ambushing police officers while he and Vendetta are fugitives.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Cardo cries out in pain when he learns of Alyana's death, especially since Parting-Words Regret is in full effect here.
- Upon learning of Lola Flora's death in the finale, he starts crying Broken Tears and is in clear anguish over the death of the only mother figure for most of his life. He's also utterly despondent when he visits her grave, instead thinking of all the good times they've had together.
- One-Man Army: Cardo has a knack for single-handedly killing multiple enemies despite being outnumbered, and his bodycount is in the hundreds.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His son, Ricky Boy, gets killed in a terrorist attack. This drives him to become a SAF member once again, so that he can avenge his death.
- Patriotic Fervor: Despite the multitude of criminals and corrupt politicians he's encountered over the years, Cardo still holds a special love for the Philippines and dedicates his fight to protecting its people and ideals.
- Pyrrhic Victory: He laments the heavy cost of peace finally coming to the Philippines in the finale, outright stating that he's lost many of his loved ones and close comrades in the protection of the Philippines.
- Revenge: Cardo's primary motivation for majority of the series is taking revenge on the Arc Villain for harming his loved ones. It's telling that the very first Big Bad, Joaquin Tuazon, killed his twin.
- Survivor Guilt: Cardo has a lot of dead allies, family and friends. He's still haunted by those deaths by the end of the series, and his inability to save them.
- Trauma Conga Line: Even before he became a policeman, he had to endure grief stemming from his father's death and was separated from his family at a young age. His life decidedly does not improve after that, and by the series finale, Cardo has lost most of his family and friends.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Even when he gets his hands on a female villain, he will never give them a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown like he does to the male villains. He doesn't have a problem with shooting them however, as shown with how he killed Lia (in her nightmare) and Lily.
