Santino, played by Zaijian Jaranilla, is an orphan boy who became a ward of the local parish church shortly after he was born and was thus raised by priests. Longing for the love of his biological mother, he crosses paths with Jesus whom he affectionately nicknamed "Bro". Upon being granted healing powers, Santino sets out to aid those surrounding him in his home town, from folks with illness, to hardened criminals and disillusioned men who bitterly left their faith.
Owing to the Philippines being a predominantly Catholic nation, the series proved to be quite popular with audiences and ran for about a year with an All-Star Cast and prominent actors making guest appearances. It has also spawned merchandise and brought Zaijian Jaranilla to prominence, having since appeared in numerous roles well into his teens and adult years.
The series lasted for 263 episodes and is available for streaming
on YouTube.
Tropes found or associated with May Bukas Pa include:
- Amusement Park: The Enchanted Kingdom theme park in Santa Rosa, Laguna is featured on episodes where Mia (portrayed by Krista Ranillo) is the guest cast of the show.
- Back from the Dead: On the show's final episode, Santino wakes up alive while funeral cermonies is ongoing because his parents in the afterlife (Enrique and Teresa, played by Albert Martinez and Chin-Chin Gutierrez, respectively) told that the time for him to be reunited with him has not yet come, and he still needs to continue his mission on Earth.
- Christmas Episode:
- The parolnote made an appearance as early as the 150s, but the appearance of Christmas-related stuff and traditions (i.e. saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone, caroling) became frequent starting at episode 219 when Santino saw Totoy (Pen Medina) disguised as Santa Claus while roaming the streets of Manila with Cocoy (Rayver Cruz). This continues throughout the 220s and 230s.
- Some episodes from the 220s and 230s may also play "Ganyan ang Pasko" by Toni Gonzaga and the network's 2009 Christmas Station ID "Bro, Ikaw ang Star ng Pasko".
- In episode 233, the song "O Come All Ye Faithful" can be heard on a scene where Santino prays to Bro/Jesus that he will not forsake all of his loved ones in Bagong Pag-Asa and hopefully they are okay as well as Boss Jeff and his employees that left their work. It is sad that they had no work even though its Christmas and tells that hopefully their celebration during Christmas will be happy.
- Closet Punishment: Due to Santino's refusal to heal Tilde (Desiree del Valle) her colon cancer because he has no power to heal the sick, she trap him inside the closet. Santino then bangs or knocks on the closet's door as an attempt for him to go out.
- Corrupt Politician: Mayor Enrique. In keeping with the stereotypical portrayal of a Filipino politician, Enrique has no qualms about his insatiable thirst for power and influence, doing every single crooked thing Filipinos expect with a so-called "trapo"note , though he did develop a sense of compassion for the boy. It is later revealed that Enrique was in fact Santino's biological father, and the boy was born out of wedlock to Teresa who was murdered by Malena shortly after Santino was born.
- Death by Falling Over: Tilde pushes Santino on a flight of stairs while she insists to heal her colon cancer, causing him to hit his head pretty hard on the floor, thus causing him to lose consciousness.
- Escape Route Surprise: While being trapped by Agusto on a small building, Santino sees that he's busy looking for the numbers that the former chose and then look on an exit full of wood sticks with brown stripes as a way to escape. He starts removing the sticks blocking the exit by putting a spoon between the horizontal and vertical one. With applied force on the spoon, the sticks become loose on the right and then applying force on the left to remove the leftmost one. When one horizontal stick left at the bottommost part, Santino then tried to remove a vertical stick that is not connect to the exit's uppermost part with his left foot and applying force on a single remaining horizontal stick with hands but failed. He tries to apply force to a vertical stick with his hands over a horizontal one, successfully removing the former's upper part and remaining a part of the central over the horizontal and bottom portion. A bottom portion is successfully removed, and changed the locations of the horizontal sticks. When Agusto and his companions came, Santino escapes on that exit but they find out that upon escaping, he will also be chased by them.
- Healing Hands: Santino, being he was granted healing powers from God for him to help his community.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Besides his healing powers, Santino is undoubtedly this.
- Hollywood Atheist: Paulo Peñaflor, who turned away from his vocation as a missionary after witnessing a baby die in his hands, and Lito Azarcon, a doctor whose firm belief in science precluded any tinge of faith in a higher being.
- Meaningful Name: Santino, which is Italian for "little saint". The town of Bagong Pag-Asa literally translates as "New Hope" (no, not that New Hope), which is in keeping with the show's premise of instilling hope, love and understanding.
- Pals with Jesus: Santino is shown to be close friends with Jesus, whom he turned to for help and advice in life.
- The Pollyanna: Santino, in contrast to the gruff and crooked demeanor of his father Mayor Enrique.
- Raised by the Community: As a ward of the church, Santino has the parish's band of priests, led by Father Anthony, act as his surrogate guardians.
- Self-Sacrifice Scheme: Santino was kidnapped by Tilde which also resulted in saving Joy (Pheobe Khae Arbotante), Mario's (Tonton Gutierrez) daughter.
- Shout-Out: Some viewers were quick to point out the use of the nickname "Bro" in reference to Jesus as a thinly-veiled allusion to Pinoy Big Brother. It helps that Bro's omnipresent voice is also similar or the same as Big Brother's, hence the (inevitable) comparisons.
- Staircase Tumble: When Tilde pushes Santino down a flight of stairs, insisting that he heal her colon cancer.
- Would Hurt a Child: The removal of Santino's healing ability by Bro/Jesus even put his life in danger.
- In the 257th episode, he attempted to heal a girl in the wheelchair but she collapses, resulting in one of the townspeople to throw a stone to Santino, wounding and bleeding his left forehead.
- On the next episode (258th), the priests then treated his wound and a bandage is placed on a wound where it is present until his left forehead was healed on the 260th and preantepenultimate episode.
- In the antepenultimate (261st) episode, Santino was captured by Tilde when he approaches Mario, rides in a car and goes to her hideout in order to heal her colon cancer. As a result of the loss of ability to heal people, Tilde then insists on healing her by asking to Bro that she will be healed, orphan will not go out from her hideout while her colon cancer does not get healed, and he will be killed if the boy does not follow her wants. The boy tries for a second time but still not work. He prays Tilde asking that she will be healed but she strangles the boy saying that praying alone does not work. After strangling, Tilde then pushes Santino into the wall. At the night of being in Tilde's hideout, Santino is seating at the front of a closet, with the woman asking if there are plans to heal her. The orphan asks for water, but Tilde will let Santino suffer while he is not following her commands. After thinking what is the plan to heal the woman, Tilde becomes enraged which let Santino stand and the orphan talks to her. He again sat in the floor beside the closet because his healing ability was already lost after talking, but Tilde lets Santino stand again and traps him in a closet as a result of not following her command to heal a colon cancer. The orphan then bangs on a closet as an attempt for him to go out but fails thus he stayed inside it for a whole night.
- In the penultimate (262nd) episode, Tilde opens a closet after Santino trapped in it on a whole night, asking if there are plans to heal her. Due to not having a plan to heal a woman, Tilde again closes the closet with Santino still staying inside it, with the the orphan banging and knocking the closet's door in order for him to go out but again fails. The woman again opens the closet prompting the boy to heal her colon cancer. Aries then gives Santino a food but Tilde tells him to not let an orphan eat, and he asks the boy to follow her commands to go out and closes the closet. The orphan talks to Bro while still being trapped in the closet. When Tilde arrives, she shouted an orphan's name (Santino), asking her to heal a cancer. The woman opens a closet where she lets the boy look at the consequence of not healing a colon cancer (bleeding). Tilde then let Santino goes out of the closet and asked the former to heal her cancer. The boy asks that it is enough but after refusing to follow Tilde's commands, Santino then falls on a flight of stairs, causing him to hit his head pretty hard on the floor, thus causing him to lose consciousness. He is then brought to the hospital.
