Grace Libero

Bela Padilla on "Blood vs Duty" and Thoughts on Almost Two Decades in the Entertainment Industry

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<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774727880702embed_BELA PADILLA metro artist spotlight 1.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Bela Padilla, as photographed by Alexis Dave Co</div><div> </div>Coming from a much-talked-about tearjerker of a movie, A Special Memory, Bela Padilla is shifting gears for another project that showcases her versatility as an actress: Blood vs Duty. “I didn’t totally disappear… But, in a way, I took time off. I was on a sabbatical. Now, I’m back,” Bela declared, talking about her time away from the Philippines when she left the country to live and study in London. Yes, she’s back, and she’s back with a bang (pun intended)! She reemerged from a break, ready to break new ground and for people to see her in a new light. Bela has established herself as an actress with the remarkable ability to make people cry with what Filipinos have come to refer to as “hugot” movies. Pulling all those emotions out of herself, her co-actors, and, consequently, the viewers is a complex process refined over years of experience. And if we’re talking about years in the business, Bela has almost two decades under her belt. I asked her, “Do you realize next year is your 20th year in the industry?” “I did not realize that,” she said. “But thank you for telling me.” Bela’s showbiz career began when she was launched as an up-and-coming artist through Star Magic Batch 15 in 2007, debuting in the teen drama series Star Magic Presents: Abt Ur Luv Ur Lyf 2. Despite being in the industry for as long as she has, Bela remains humble and grounded, with a self-deprecating humor that’s so refreshing for someone as seasoned as her. “I always joke about this. Kasi, when people ask, ‘How long have you been around?’ I&#x27;d say, roughly 18 years, 19 years. But relevant for 10,” she smiled. ”I only started getting naman good roles recently in life. After 10,000 Hours and Ang Probinsyano, the first eight years, I could&#x27;ve been a fly on the wall. But it doesn’t discount all the hard work I put in. It was the auditions. It was the workshops. It was being bit characters and smaller characters. And that helped me get to where I am now. It put the work ethic in me.”<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774730657226batch_embed_BELA PADILLA metro artist spotlight 4.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>On Bela: Dress from Rotacion</div><div> </div>One of her breakthrough projects was the movie Camp Sawi, a story she wrote with Neil Arce and directed by one of the women she looks up to: director <a href="https://metro.style/people/2026/3/13/metro-fascinating-women-2026-irene-emma-villamor-on-bringing-her-female-film-characters-to-life-1045" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Irene Villamor</a>. She and Direk Irene would collaborate on two other movies—Meet Me in St. Gallen and On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets—which have become instrumental in solidifying Bela’s turf in the field of drama, hugot-style flicks.Bela considers Direk Irene as one of her mentors, alongside director Bb. Joyce Bernal. “They started as friends. We worked on 10,000 Hours with each other. They are very open collaborators until we kept on working on different projects. We would spitball ideas, throw scripts around, talk about different projects that we dreamed to do, and then never made them,” Bela shared. “But I feel like at one point in my life, I knew how they think, or we always come and go through each other&#x27;s lives, like even Direk Irene now. These are women who helped me understand where I want to be in the Philippine film industry. So I&#x27;m very thankful to both of them. That they were very generous with me, with their talent, with their time.” For her latest movie,<a href="https://metro.style/people/2026/3/19/movie-review-how-bela-padilla-carlo-aquino-delivered-the-ultimate-tearjerker-in-a-special-memory-2115" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> A Special Memory</a> (directed by Jerry Sineneng from a screenplay written by Ricky Lee), Bela even revealed that she consulted Direk Irene for her first-ever love scene, opposite <a href="https://metro.style/people/2025/10/2/metro-digital-cover-carlo-aquino-on-it-s-okay-to-not-be-okay-1830" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Carlo Aquino</a>, who was also her partner in Meet Me in St. Gallen. <div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774728230281embed_BELA PADILLA metro artist spotlight 2.jpg" style="width:960px;display:block;height:auto" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/> </div>Bela, who’s not only an actress but also a writer and director, was credited as a co-writer in the 2013 action thriller film 10,000 Hours, directed by Bb. Joyce. The film, starring Robin Padilla, went on to win 14 of the 17 awards up for grabs at the 39th Metro Manila Film Festival, including Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture. Bb. Joyce and Bela collaborated again as a director-writer duo on the romance drama film Last Night, starring Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonzaga. This project, Bela said, was also thanks to two other women she considers her mentors, <a href="https://metro.style/metro-style/people/2025/5/27/charo-santos-concio-celebrates-50th-showbiz-anniversary-with-metro-2010" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charo Santos-Concio</a> and Malou Santos, who were the movie&#x27;s co-producers. “They put their trust in my scripts very early on in my career. Tita Malou and Ma&#x27;am Charo both bet on Last Night, one of my first full-length feature film scripts,” Bela shared. “That gave me a vote of confidence from two people who are so well-respected in the industry. To kind of validate your work like that, it gave me such a boost of confidence.”On many occasions, Bela takes on multiple roles in projects—from in front of the camera to behind the scenes. She made her directorial debut via the movie 366, in which she also served as the writer and lead actress. This kind of multiple treat for her fans happened again in 2023 with the movie Yung Libro Sa Napanood Ko, where she assumed the roles of the director, producer, writer, and actress—even going beyond the ”triple threat” description!<div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774730618387batch_embed_BELA PADILLA metro artist spotlight 5.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div> </div>A creative through and through, who’s extremely passionate about filmmaking, Bela aims to <a href="https://metro.style/people/2026/3/19/bela-padilla-makes-a-bold-promise-at-congress-to-support-the-philippine-film-industry-1700" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">uplift the Philippine film industry</a>. Recently, Bela appeared before the House of Representatives’ committee on the creative industry, where she pledged her support for the bill seeking to establish the Philippine Film Commission to improve labor conditions and ensure better opportunities for filmmakers. She’s so passionate about filmmaking, so much so that should she get a chance to deliver a TED Talk, one of the topics she wants to talk about is scriptwriting. It’s one of the aspects of the filmmaking process that she really gets deeply involved in.Bela is generous when giving parts of herself to a project. “I really put my all when I have a project, because I always say this—you know, I don&#x27;t have kids, I don&#x27;t have a family. These are my children. My movies are my children. These are my babies. When I put them out into the world, I want them to do well. I don’t want them to be criticized.”Intentional about everything she does, with impressive attention to detail, Bela makes sure her portfolio isn’t built randomly; especially at this point in her career, she balances a game-for-anything approach with being selective about the projects she says yes to. She knows what she wants, but also remains open to opportunities she may never have imagined. <div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774730772890batch_embed_BELA PADILLA metro artist spotlight 6.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div> </div>She was vocal about wanting the Korean movie A Moment to Remember’s remake, adapted from the Japanese series Pure Soul. With her moniker, Bela “Mapanakit” Padilla, A Special Memory truly was up her alley. But what came as a delightful surprise was Blood vs Duty, which is set to premiere on ALLTV2 and Kapamilya Channel’s Primetime Bida evening block on April 6, 2026. “Mapanakit na ako in a different level,” she quipped. “Bela ‘Mapanakit’ Padilla 2.0.”Although she had a stint on the Coco Martin-starrer Ang Probinsyano, action is a genre Bela hadn’t really dabbled in extensively. And so, when she returned from a hiatus and consequently <a href="https://metro.style/metro-style/people/2025/8/26/bela-padilla-on-100-awit-para-kay-stella-and-her-dream-project-with-kim-chiu-angelica-panganiban-1310" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">returned to her roots in Star Magic</a>, Bela just knew she had to shake things up. “I want to show people na you&#x27;re not getting the same person you had before. Parang, I want—and also for myself—I want to see if being away for four years actually made me stronger, made me braver, made me think differently. And I can’t test that theory if I’m going to be doing the same characters and the same projects,” Bela shared. An artist who always aspires for growth and improvement, Bela doesn’t shy away from reading comments and feedback about her and her work. She feels like she owes her career to the audience; as part of her journey, their thoughts matter to her. She’s seen comments like, “Sana you try something new. You’re not always doing love stories,” and she takes them constructively.  “I really take that into account. And so, when I get a chance, then I will,” she said, citing the Maalaala Mo Kaya episode she starred in last year, “Trafficked Story Part 1 (SIM Card).” It was about Filipinos who were promised high-paying, decent jobs as customer service or chat support agents in Thailand, but in reality, they were scouted to work for online scam hubs in Myanmar. “That’s very different from what I usually do, very heavy. I said yes immediately,” Bela said. “Kasi nga, I want to test the waters—you know, what works right now. Also, our audiences are changing. The demographic is changing. The viewing habits are changing. So, as actors, we should also be able to change.”<div> </div><div style="text-align:left"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774728877472batch_embed_BELA PADILLA metro artist spotlight 3.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>On Bela: Dress by H&amp;M Studio</div><div style="text-align:center"> </div>“If 99% of the people who watch my films love my films, there is a 1% that says, &#x27;Sana you try something new naman.&#x27; And I listen to that because I do love my audience also,“ Bela emphasized. “You know, I feel like I owe them my career, too. So, I listen to all kinds of feedback.“Blood vs Duty came at the right time. It felt like the right project on a path that branches out from her typical route. It marks her teleserye and primetime comeback since 2019&#x27;s Sino ang Maysala?: Mea Culpa. In ABS-CBN’s action drama series, produced by JRB Creative Production, Bela is Lara Reyes, an intelligence officer. It’s a depiction of an empowered woman. “Actually, when I looked for pegs for this, it&#x27;s amazing because we do have intelligence officers who are Filipino, who really led operations that are amazing,” Bela revealed. “Like, there&#x27;s one Filipina fighter that we have that would go into missions wearing red lipstick—she made sure she would fight in style.”To prepare for her character, Bela shared that she has been doing Muay Thai. “This is something I used to do when I was young,” she said. She picked up on the martial art again because she wanted to “look the part” in Blood vs Duty. “I want to look fit. I want to look healthy. I want to look strong,” Bela detailed. “I have been back consulting my nutritionist. Because I feel like the character should be holistic. So even what I eat is different from what Bela usually eats. So what Lara eats is always different. It helps me rin kasi with my mindset now, when I&#x27;m starting to eat this kind of food, na si Lara na ako today.” Clearly, taking on a role requires mental and emotional preparation alongside physical activities that build stamina.<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774730849072embed_BELA_465.jpg" style="width:960px;height:auto" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/> </div>Among the physically challenging aspects of embodying her character are tactical training, knife training, and proper gun handling. Bela revealed, “I studied different kinds of guns. How to assemble them. How to shoot them properly. How to fire them properly. How to go on different positions, holding them, shooting them, walking around with them, running with them.”  Since she—along with her fellow cast members Richard Gutierrez and Gerald Anderson—is expected to portray experts in high-octane scenes, Bela goes out of her way to train harder and longer. “I always ask the prod, ‘Is there a day off?’ ‘Can I do training on this day?’ ‘Can I do this?’ Constant learning,” Bela said. And going above and beyond her job description has become part of her vocabulary and way of living. It&#x27;s like her life is a creative process, always looking to churn out ideas to enhance herself as an individual and an artist, because, as they say, ”you&#x27;re only as good as your last performance.” And so, resting on her laurels is out of the picture.Looking back on almost two decades in showbiz, Bela declared, “I&#x27;m happy I&#x27;m still here, because I genuinely am obsessed with my job.”Obsession can be bad, but Bela is quick to clarify: “But I also feel like I&#x27;m a different person now. When I say obsessed with a job, now, it&#x27;s on a healthy level… Now I know how to balance my time.”Does she have regrets in her career that she would want to revisit if she could rewind time? “No,” she replied quickly. “I feel like my career has been pretty straightforward. Very steady. I didn&#x27;t have the traditional approach that other actors have. They were given a love team, or they were put through a reality show. What are the usual tropes? There was no template for me.”<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774743254799embed_BELA_442.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/> </div>With mentors who guided her in writing her own narrative, Bela went through every chapter of her career with the end goal of creating something she could truly be proud to call her own. “My career was very slow and steady. But in a way, I&#x27;m thankful for that because I was able to define who I would be rather than if I had a whole team telling me, ‘This is what you&#x27;re doing tomorrow. This is on Wednesday. This is on Thursday,‘” Bela opened up, grateful for the freedom to forge her own path and traverse it on her own pace, in her own time. “Because I took control of my life, now I was able to say, ‘Okay, I&#x27;m going to start writing my scripts now.’ ‘Okay, next year, I&#x27;m going to direct my first film.’ And so I was able to branch out as a person, not just be boxed in as an actress forever.”Without someone telling her what to do, she admitted feeling lost at times. But that experience also taught her to be independent and explore the breadth and depth of her character through her own lens. She may have felt lost, but in the process, she found herself, her passion, and her purpose. “It&#x27;s beautiful that I&#x27;ve lasted this long,” Bela mused. But what’s even more beautiful is that her journey so far in the entertainment industry is not just about the quantity of time, but also the quality of time. At the end of the day, Bela said, “I sleep well. I go to bed feeling relaxed, and I can sleep well because I know that I did my job—and way more!” <div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774729242006embed_BELA_472.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div> </div>Photography by Alexis Dave CoCreative direction by Randz ManucomSittings editors: Geolette Esguerra, Rick Formalejo, and Grace Libero-CruzFashion associate: Carla BuyoStyling by Stephy ApariciMakeup by Denise Go-OchoaHairstyling by Patty CristobalVideography by Pat Buenaobra, assisted by Gimo BesingaShoot assistant: Kiana NaranjoNails by Posh NailsShot on location at Somerset Central Salcedo MakatiSpecial thanks to W Talent Management, Pia Campos, Ces Belmonte, Monica Evangelista, Cat Ilacad, and Goldilocks

Metro Artist Spotlight cover star Bela Padilla explores a new side as an actress through her role in the upcoming action drama series "Blood vs Duty" and talks about the mentors who helped and trusted her along the way.

Metro Artist Spotlight cover star Bela Padilla explores a new side as an actress through her role in the upcoming action drama series "Blood vs Duty" and talks about the mentors who helped and trusted her along the way.

'You're Not Getting the Same Person'—Bela Padilla Shakes Things Up in 'Blood vs Duty,' Her Teleserye Comeback

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'You're Not Getting the Same Person'—Bela Padilla Shakes Things Up in 'Blood vs Duty,' Her Teleserye Comeback

Grace Libero

Published March 29, 2026 08:25 AM PHT

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Updated March 30, 2026 11:24 AM PHT

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