July 26, 1999 (1999-07-26) – November 10, 2000 (2000-11-10)
Labs Ko Si Babe (transl. babe is my loves, international title: I Love My Babe) is a Philippine television drama romance black comedy series broadcast by ABS-CBN. Directed by Jerry Lopez Sineneng and John-D Lazatin, starring Jolina Magdangal and Marvin Agustin. It aired on the network's evening line up from July 26, 1999 to November 10, 2000, replacing Esperanza and was replaced by Pangako Sa 'Yo.
It is one of the longest running series in the Philippines and also known as the first romantic black comedy series in Philippine television.[1]
The series is streaming online on Jeepney TV on its 7:00 PM timeslot.
Premise
In the town of San Clemente, the lives of four families intertwined bringing drama and a bit of black comedy. Auring (Gloria Romero) and Felipa (Gina Pareño), the matriarch of their respective families, were the best of friends before becoming mortal enemies when Auring lost a sweepstakes ticket handed over her by Felipa for safekeeping; Felipa believes the ticket has won in the lottery. The conflict got bigger that their families started to become part of it, and that the romance developing in Cindy (Jolina Magdangal), daughter of Lupe (Princess Punzalan) and Kit (Johnny Delgado) and granddaughter of Auring, and Wally (Marvin Agustin), son of Viola (Carmi Martin) and Rocky (Bembol Roco) and grandson of Felipa, are caught in the cross-fire. Meanwhile, Miguel (Onemig Bondoc), who came from Italy, entered the picture and became friends with Cindy that made Wally got jealous. However, Miguel's stepmother Elena (Jaclyn Jose), known to have bad reputation, caused even more problems in the story between the Auring and Felipa families. To help bring peace in the town of San Clemente is the Mayor, Diwata or Mayor Di (Zsa Zsa Padilla), who always stand in between the fights of the families. Mayor Di chose to remain single after a dark past, but is living with her nephew Jobert (Bernard Palanca).
After a month of the series premiering, it had a movie adaption called Hey Babe! released on August 25, 1999, produced by Star Cinema. The film was directed by Joyce Bernal.