Los Bastardos () is a Philippine television drama series broadcast by ABS-CBN. The series is based on the Filipino pocket book novel Cardinal Bastards by Vanessa, the series is the twentieth and final installment of Precious Hearts Romances Presents. Directed by Raymond B. Ocampo, Carlo Po Artilliaga, Mitch Valdes, Digo Ricio, Ludwig Peralta, Roderick P. Lindayag, Catherine O. Camarillo and Ethan Pugiotto, it stars Ronaldo Valdez, Jake Cuenca, Marco Gumabao, Albie Casiño, Joshua Colet, Joseph Marco (seasons 2-3), Diego Loyzaga (season 1), and Gloria Diaz. It aired on the network's Kapamilya Gold line up and worldwide on TFC from October 15, 2018 to September 27, 2019. The series was inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.
Plot summary Book One Los Bastardos is based on the Cardinal Bastards series of Precious Hearts Romances Presents. The story follows the lives of five brothers struggling with one another for their rightful place in their father's heart. The root of their conflict stems from betrayals and secrets surrounding the individuals surrounding Don Roman Cardinal.
Don Roman is the illegitimate son of Don Ismael Cardinal, a wealthy sugar cane plantation owner of the fictitious region of Victorino in the rural outskirts of Manila, Philippines. He reunites with his father as an adult, eventually inherits his father's hacienda and starts a life with his small family when tragedy strikes and he loses his wife Soledad and son, Roman Jr.
Despite the tragedy, Don Roman pursues their dreams to expand and diversify the Hacienda and build a liquor distillery using ingredients from his sugar cane produce.
Throughout his life, Don Roman builds a successful empire and sires five sons from four different women. All his sons inherit his physique, tenacity, physical strength and astuteness that serves them well in their respective fields, but two sons do not benefit from his kindness because of the family environment they grow up in.
Roman Jr, later known as Isagani, is Don Roman's legitimate firstborn son with his wife Soledad, his true love. Don Roman and the town folks fear his young family perished in the mudslide. Soledad slips him into a passing produce truck. She pins her wedding ring on his shirt praying it would lead him to his father someday, but she fails to get on the truck as it picks up speed to escape the oncoming mudslide. The child is raised by the farmers who discover the infant in their truck. Isagani Esperanza inherits his father's good qualities of kindness, compassion and bravery, as well as his father's physical strength, entrepreneurship and unique taste buds, essential for developing fine brandy. He formulates an arrack he calls Coco Brandy, when he was a student in Manila. Isagani buys a small coconut farm to set up his own distillery. He has the opportunity to realize his dreams when he is sought after by two major distilleries to partner with: the Cardinals and Silverios. Isagani chooses to partner up with the Cardinals because he admires Roman's kindness and fairness. A bond forms between Roman and Isagani though neither are aware of their kinship.
Joaquin is Alba Santillan's son. Alba is a spoiled heiress obsessed with Roman but fails to win his affection. She gets rid of Soledad and her infant by pushing them off the cliff. While grieving for Soledad, she seduces him one night and then tells him she is pregnant with his second son, Joaquin. In truth, she is already pregnant by her parents' gardener, Enrico. Roman loves the infant like his firstborn, and brings Alba and their son to live in his estate where he is raised as Roman's natural son. He never marries Alba but allows her to live as the mistress of the mansion for the sake of their son. Among the five brothers, Joaquin is the only son who grows up under his care. Joaquin has a strong and loving relationship with his father and inherits his father's fairness and kindness. Joaquin does not have the malevolent and selfish traits of his mother. He grows up to lead the management team of Cardinal Distillery, loved by all. Alba tries her best to poison Joaquin's mind against Isagani, but Joaquin's innate goodness prevails and he decides not to listen to his mother. He leaves for America to sort out his feelings, but tragedy struck when Joaquin died in a plane crash on ill-fated flight of LAKAN AIRLINES LAK271 or Flight 271 on his return. Alba's liaisons with the gardener is revealed at his memorial services. Despite the revelation Roman mourns Joaquin's passing and sends Alba away.
Matteo is Maddie Asuncion-Silverio's son. Maddie is the emotionally abused socialite wife of Menandro Silverio and sole heiress of the Asuncion fortune. Drawn to the lonely Don Roman, their affair produces a son, Matteo, but she ends their relationship and raises the child as a Silverio, business rivals of the Cardinals; Aware of his wife's and Roman's betrayal, Menandro uses Matteo as his secret pawn for revenge against them. He raises the child to fear him, devoid of character and moral values, encourage his greed and teaches him to despise the Cardinals. Matteo yearns for his father's approval but never gets it as his father is abusive to his children and wife. Matteo grows up in a household filled with cruelty, hatred, and fear.
Connor is Pilar's son, Roman's childhood friend who became a prostitute. Roman tries to save her from this life, and in their loneliness, they have a relationship. When Alba learns that Pilar is pregnant with Connor, Alba confronts her, and successfully taunts Pilar into leaving Roman for a wealthy client in Japan. Disillusioned with her life, she takes her pain out on Connor and abuses him. She tries to sell him to a stranger for sex but is rescued by Fausto, a con artist, who raises Connor along the same path. The trauma of his mother's rejection changes Connor, his longing for a family is replaced with hatred towards his father who he believes abandoned him.
And finally there is Lucas, Sita's son. Sita is an orphan raised in the Santillan household. She grows up as Alba's personal maid and witnesses Alba's duplicitous actions to ensnare Roman. In love with Roman herself, they have a brief affair and produce Lucas. When Alba discovers their relationship, she threatens to take Joaquin away. As a concession, Roman agrees not to acknowledge Lucas as his natural son but is firm that Lucas and his mother live in the estate where Lucas is raised as companion to his son Joaquin. As a result, Lucas grows up in the Cardinal household, treated like family but never knowing the man he serves is his own father. Roman loves Lucas and treats him with respect. He also teaches Joaquin to treat Lucas like a younger brother. Lucas inherits his father's leadership skills, and his mother's patience and gentle nature. He later learns about his paternity, and though conflicted at first, steps into his role as a Cardinal with strength and grace and serves his father well.
Ultimately, the five brothers’ lives collide as they learn who their true father is.
Connor is the first son to discover his father's identity. Renowned in the criminal underworld as the best con artist, he makes it his personal mission to bring his father down, believing his mother's lies that Don Roman abandoned them. He ingratiates himself with Isagani and Lucas to get close to Don Roman. Isagani and Lucas expose his dubious activities prompting Connor to admit his true identity, but surprisingly, he gains the protection of Roman Cardinal, who is more than happy to reconcile with his son. Connor bides his time to win his father's trust. His ulterior motive is to gain access to all of the Cardinals’ bank accounts, which he intends to transfer to his secret account. But his agenda changes after several attempts fail. He softens towards his father as he learns to trust and believe his father's unconditional love and acceptance of Connor, who always wanted a family to belong to.
Matteo, motivated at first to please his father Menandro, learns the truth that Roman is his real father. His keen astuteness allows him to swiftly figure out Menandro's real agenda. Furious over Menandro's treachery, he promptly strips him of his power and takes over the Silverio machinery, when he becomes the sole beneficiary of his mother's wealth. His hatred for Menandro equals his hatred for Don Roman, who he blames is the root of his miserable life. He plans to destroy him and take over the Cardinal empire.
Soon after Roman learns about his three sons, he discovers that his lost first born son, Roman Jr., is Isagani Esperanza. The news is welcomed by Lucas but not by Matteo and Connor who realize Isagani is the legitimate son and another barrier to their evil plans.
Although they come from different worlds, the discovery that they are siblings affects each of the sons who carry the baggage of their fatherless youths.
Unlike Isagani and Lucas who embrace their kinship, Connor and Matteo blame their miserable lives on their father.
But as Roman attempts to reunite his sons, the greedy and vengeful individuals in his life make sure he fails: Menandro Silverio is determined to use Matteo to destroy him; and Roman's two former lovers - Alba and Pilar are equally set on seizing the Cardinal wealth.
Book Two While Don Roman tries to get his four sons to reconcile, a wealthy young man in Los Angeles is preparing for a trip to the Philippines. Lorenzo Cuevas wants to destroy Roman Cardinal too. He is Don Roman's second son with Soledad.
Flashback to a few years ago, his adoptive father reveals to him on his deathbed the truth that his real father is Don Roman Cardinal, the powerful ’’Hacendero’’ (landlord) of the Cardinal Plantation and Cardinal Distillery. Don Pablo Cuevas tells Lorenzo of coming across Soledad a few days after typhoons and mudslides devastate the southern region of the Philippines, wandering the countryside, distraught, disheveled, with no memory of who she is or where she comes from. A few weeks pregnant, she suffers bruises and serious injuries sustained from a violent assault. He cares for her and search for her family but initially, no information surfaces.
Suffering from memory loss as a result of her traumatic escape, unaware of the full facts about Alba's attempts on her life, Don Pablo Cuevas assumes she is running away from an abusive relationship. Upon investigating further, he traces her former husband to the powerful hacendero (or Hacienda owner, plantation owner) Don Roman Cardinal, who by now is living with a new family (Alba and a their infant son). Believing she is in danger and seeking to protect her, he takes the pregnant Soledad away from the Philippines and they move to California to start a new life. He renames her Consuelo and gives her and Lorenzo his surname. Consuelo recovers from her physical injuries, but her memory of her life with Don Roman and her first born son remains buried. Lorenzo believes Don Pablo Cuevas' story about Don Roman's abusive treatment towards his mother and seeks to avenge her.
He conducts an investigation of the Cardinals and learns about his four other brothers. He arrives in the Philippines and arranges to meet his father and his brothers under the pretext of a business partnership with his own multinational hotel and resort corporation. He ingratiates himself with them through his previous business deals with Joaquin while the latter was in America.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Soledad decides to return to the Philippines to join her son. As she arrives in Victorino, the scenic drive down the countryside gives her a sense that it was a part of her past. Unknown to all including herself, Consuelo Cuevas is the true matriarch of the Cardinals. Soledad Cardinal returns to Victorino.