Actress Ivana Alawi has bid goodbye to her “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” family.

This as the latest episode on the wake of Bubbles and Celso in the top rating “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo” on Wednesday reached a record of 635,636 peak concurrent viewers — or those watching on Kapamilya Online Live, ABS-CBN reported.

On Tuesday, the viewership reached a record 596,164 on the Kapamilya online.

In a lengthy social media post as reported by ABS-CB, the actress recalled the days when the role was offered to her to be the next leading lady of Coco Martin who plays the lead role of Tanggol in the hit Kapamilya series.

“Nung unang inalok sakin ang Batang Quiapo, isang malaking tanong ang pumasok sa isip ko. Bakit ako? Kaya ko ba ito? Deserve ko ba? Pero dala na ng aking tiwala sa ABS-CBN lalo na kay Tita Cory, Direk Coco, at sa panalangin ko din, tinanggap ko siya ng buong puso. At sobrang proud ako sa show na ito,” the network quoted her as saying in her post. 

Alawi thanked her “Batang Quiapo” family as she closed the door on her character as one of primetime series ladies.

“Kaya naman gusto ko magpasalamat sa lahat ng bumubuo ng Batang Quiapo. Mula kay Direk Coco, hanggang sa lahat ng mga artistang nakasama ko, technical staff, production staff, at sa mga utilities… Salamat sa pag aalaga ninyo sa akin. At ngayong tapos na ang isang chapter ng buhay ko sa Batang Quiapo, babaunin ko lahat ng natutunan ko,” she said. 

Alawi also thanked viewers for consistently tuning in with them every single night. 

“From the bottom of my heart maraming salamat sa inyong lahat, sa inyong walang sawang pagtanggap sa akin gabi-gabi, sa pagmamahal niyo kay Bubbles. Salamat po ng marami at sana patuloy niyo parin supportahan ang Batang Quiapo,” she said. “Hanggang sa muli, Bubbles signing off.”

During Monday’s episode of ABS-CBN’s series, Alawi’s character Bubbles was gunned down by David, played by McCoy De Leon. 

Alawi sat down exclusively with ABS-CBN News and shared her thoughts on her curtain call from the series. 

Alawi said “Batang Quiapo” is ‘one for the books,’ as ABS-CBN reported.

“It’s something that I’ll treasure for a long time ‘cause this is the first project na parang lumabas ako sa shell ko and I got to do a lot of things which is action, may comedy kami meron romance and you get to do that all in one project and of course, with that ‘yung tulong ni Direk Coco Martin,” she said.

She added, “He (Coco) was very hands-on at talagang inalagaan nIya ko from day one and I’m very thankful also to the whole cast. The whole cast, the whole team, ‘yung production sobrang babait nila.”

Alawi revealed to ABS-CBN that her stint with “Batang Quiapo,” was originally only for three months.

“Unang-una, tumawag sa akin si Tita Cory (Vidanes), sila Direk Coco (Martin) sabi nila may project, itong ‘Batang Quiapo.’ This was during the time nung kinasal si Lovi (Poe). So sabi ko, ‘Okay po, how long?’ kasi hindi ko kayang matagal ‘cause I have other work. I have my vlog, I have other commitments also abroad. Sabi ko ‘how long?’ ‘Tapos sinabi 3 months. ‘Okay, sige 3 months. I’ll do it,’ sabi ko. Okay kasi ganon ako eh. Pagpapasok ako sa isang trabaho gusto ko ibibigay ko lahat. Hindi ‘yung after one month pagod na ako. Hindi eh. So, 3 months taping okay.”

Unaware with how time flew by, Alawi was surprised to find out that she’s been with the show for almost a year now.

“Magwa-1 year na! So nag-click siya and magwa-one year na so nag-catch up lahat ng commitments ko. As in nahuhuli na ako so, nagpaalam ako ng maayos sabi ko hindi na talaga kaya,” she said,

She said saying goodbye and killing Bubbles was very hard for her to accept.

“Minahal ko talaga ‘yung character kong si Bubbles, so nagpaalam ako. So walang nangyaring tinanggal ako or something like that. That’s not true.”

She added, “Ang nangyari talaga tumawag ako, ako na po mismo nagpaalam and it’s because of my work and other commitments na hindi na talaga kinakaya at kahit gustuhin ko man mag-5 years 6 years kung wala lang siguro akong trabaho, I will do it.”

Rumors surfaced that the actress would leave the set in the middle of taping, and she was also being accused of having an attitude problem. 

Alawi sets the record straight: “Yung sinasabi na umaalis ako na hindi pa tapos ‘yung taping, I’ve never done that. Unang-una alam ko malaki ang cost ng production so kahit lumagpas ako ng oras, wala kong commercial the next day, walang problema. Hindi ako nagsasabi na o tapos na tayo aalis na’ko. Hindi ako ganon kasi may production cost. Everyone’s working hindi lang ako, so bakit magdedepende ako sa sarili ko na ayoko na eh tapos na oras ko so I respect everyone.”

“Yung attitude problem. Hindi ko alam eh. Alam mo kasi isa sa mga problem ‘yung face ko.”

Laughing it off, she pointed to her face, “Ito yung normal ha ‘pag hindi ako naka-smile. I was born with an attitude face siguro. Hindi ko alam.”