What your favorite love team says about you
Love teams aren’t always what they seem to be. Beneath the palpable chemistry on display, not every pairing enjoys having their private lives under the microscope—all the more when everyone wants them to be together for real. Just ask LizQuen, KathNiel, JaDine, and every other love team that has flamed out in the past decade or so. It can be artistically constraining to be limited to being the other half of an on-screen relationship.
But for those that continue to stand the test of time (bonus points if they’re actually a couple off-screen), these love teams offer their fans a romantic fantasy they can live vicariously through. After all, we accept the love we think we deserve, and perhaps, the pairs we root for are indicative of the very love we’re looking for.
Ashtine Olviga and Andrés Muhlach (AshDres)
Perhaps one of the biggest love teams today, Kiefer and Jay-Jay didn’t particularly stand out at first as the obvious pairing in the hit series “Ang Mutya ng Section E.” But as the show’s first season progressed, fans became witnesses to an enemies-to-lovers story that tugged at our heartstrings as much as it kept us all on the edge of our seats.
We’re not just talking about a simple opposites-attract situation here; it’s about listening to what the heart says, even when everyone else says otherwise.
And even more so now that AshDres is in full swing. Fans are excited to see more of the two in the upcoming second season of “Ang Mutya ng Section E” and their big screen debut, “Minamahal,” showing in theaters this Sept. 24.
Ashtine Olviga and Rabin Angeles (AshBin)
Why weren’t Kiefer and Jay-Jay the obvious pairing in “Ang Mutya ng Section E”? Well, because of Rabin Angeles’ Yuri Hanamitchi and his over-the-top romantic gestures that had both our and Jay-Jay’s hearts beating way too quickly.
If you’re the type to have experienced being the overlooked “good guy,” then maybe you’d see a bit of yourself in the AshBin love team. Just don’t go setting up arranged marriages to have your way. Even Angeles disagrees: “’Yong nagpa-fixed marriage siya. Hindi talaga ko agree. Kung ako ’yon, hindi ko gagawin,” says the rising star in an interview with Scout.
While their pairing isn’t likely going anywhere anytime soon, it’s safe to say that it’s made enough of a mark for fans to demand more.
Rabin Angeles and Angela Muji (RabGel)
Despite both appearing in “Ang Mutya ng Section E,” Angeles and Angela Muji’s characters barely, if at all, shared the screen. As it turns out, there was untapped chemistry brewing there that’s now taking the internet by storm in the ongoing “Seducing Drake Palma.”
So far, Alys Perez (Muji) and Drake Palma (Angeles) began as an unlikely pairing that entered into a relationship for reasons outside love. As the show progressed, we’ve seen apathy turn to attraction, from strangers to lovers—at least, until we get to the end of the show in September.
Not every relationship blossoms the same way. It’s not always stolen glances or butterflies in the stomach. Sometimes, it’s small things adding up until one day you realize just how far you’ve fallen.
Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto (JoshLia)
JoshLia—oh, what could’ve been. While any hope for a long-term relationship between the two fizzled out after the pair’s breakup in 2019, their return in 2024’s “Un/Happy for You” brought out all the feels, especially if you can relate to seeing your ex despite having not moved on from them.
But if anything, their separation is proof that sometimes, parting ways is the only way for both parties to grow and flourish. And that by coming back together down the line, either as friends or something more, they’ve become better, well-rounded people in the process.
Donny Pangilinan and Belle Mariano (DonBelle)
For a love team as big as DonBelle, the pair isn’t seen nearly as much as other on-screen couples. While their exact status remains a closely guarded secret—whether it’s just friends, special friends, at the courting stage, or a full-blown relationship—their privacy is a welcome sight in a showbiz industry that demands constant fan service.
For the private couples out there, perhaps you prefer a quiet but steady romance over a loud and overly visible one.
Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz (Bea-JLC)
“She loved me at my worst. You had me at my best, at binalewala mo lang lahat ’yun.” John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo’s exchange in “One More Chance” continues to haunt us to this day.
But if anything, their decades-long pairing has taught us how love isn’t always that magical, euphoric feeling. It takes on various forms and needs to be cultivated, maintained, repaired—if need be. It takes two to tango, and it won’t always be pretty.
Special mention: Bela Padilla and JC Santos (not quite a love team, but with undeniable chemistry)
“100 Tula Para Kay Stella,” “The Day After Valentine’s,” “On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets,” “366,” “With You Were The One,” and now “100 Awit Para Kay Stella”—six movie appearances across roughly eight years. Bela Padilla and JC Santos have more to show for than actual love teams, and that’s without having an ounce of romance between them off-screen.
Not all love has to be romantic, and sometimes, it’s about having that one friend you can always count on.
