David Licauco makes debut as Hiroshi Tanaka in 'Pulang Araw'

David Licauco has finally appeared in "Pulang Araw" as Hiroshi Tanaka!

On Tuesday's episode, Hiroshi returned to the Philippines after spending some years studying in Japan.

He almost crossed paths with his childhood friends, Adelina (Barbie Forteza) and Eduardo (Alden Richards), after the car he was riding nearly ran them over the road.

Adelina noticed him sitting at the back of the vehicle, but she did not recognize him.

Hiroshi then arrived home and greeted his parents, Chikara (Jacky Woo) and Haruka (Maria Ozawa). During their family dinner, David spoke several Japanese lines sprinkled with some Tagalog.

Later in the episode, two Japanese men went to their house. One of them was Akio (Jay Ortega), his childhood friend who hurt Adelina when they first met in the baseball field.

Chikara later spoke to the men in secret, and Akio's companion turned out to be a high-ranking officer of the Japanese imperial army.

When they left, Hiroshi asked his father about them, but Chikara did not answer his son.

The episode marks David's return to primetime since he starred with Barbie in "Maging Sino Ka Man" last year. 

In the previous episodes of "Pulang Araw," the younger Hiroshi was played by Migz Diokno of P-pop group Cloud7. David and Migz previously met and took a photo together.

"Pulang Araw," which also stars Sanya Lopez and Dennis Trillo, airs weeknights on GMA Prime at 8:00 p.m. after "24 Oras." It is also streaming on Netflix, where it is currently no. 1 at the Top 10 TV Shows in the Philippines Today.

—MGP, GMA Integrated News