by: Jade Veronique V. Yap 

After almost seven years, The Philippines' longest-running teleserye "FPJ's Ang Probinsyano," aired its final episode on Friday, August 12, marking an end of an era for Philippine Television. 

The final episode, "Mission Accomplished," ran for roughly two hours and recorded an all-time high of 536,000 live viewers on the Kapamilya On Live channel on YouTube. 

The iconic teleserye that captured the hearts of many Filipinos and made a mark on pop culture concluded with Cardo Dalisay, played by Coco Martin, returning to the province and starting a brand new life. 

The teleserye's finale made rounds in the trending topics on Twitter on Friday night, with #FPJsAngProbinsyano and #FPJAP7MissionAccomplished ranking No. 1 in the list at different locations. Related terms that also made the top trends were Cardo, Lola Flora, Mara, Hipolito, and Agila.

Over its seven-year run, the viewers witnessed the exit of its iconic cast, such as Maja Salvador, who played the character of SPO1 Glen Corpuz, and seasoned actress the late Susan Roces, known as "Lola Flora." It also paved the way for the entrance of the characters of award-winning actresses Sharon Cuneta and Lorna Tolentino. 

"Ang Probinsyano" was the undisputed No. 1 TV show in the Philippines for five years until mid-2020, when ABS-CBN was shut off free television, according to Kantar Media.

In a farewell interview released ahead of the season's finale, Martin shared that he did not expect the teleserye to go big and reach a milestone.  

“Hindi ko akalain na ito pala ‘yung lawak ng mapupuntahan ng show. Nakapakalaking misyon pala ang gagampanan namin para makapagserbisyo sa mga tao. (I never thought this would be the extent of the show. It turns out that we will be performing a great mission to serve the people)," he said. 

“Ang layo-layo ng napuntahan ng show. Si Cardo, lahat ng characters, nabuhay sila sa araw-araw na buhay din ng mga tao. (The show has come a long way. Cardo, all the characters, they lived in the everyday lives of people)," he added.

"Ang Probinsyano," will be replaced by "Darna" which stars Jane de Leon as Darna, Joshua Garcia, Iza Calzado and Zaijan Jaranilla as Ding.