After being recognized for his award-winning portrayal as Remington in the independent film, "Zombadings I: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington," highly acclaimed actor Martin Escudero returns to the small screens to play yet another challenging and controversial role as a person who is diagnosed positive with HIV in TV5's daring move to discuss one of the most relevant yet silenced issues we face today.

POSITIVE revolves on the story of Carlo – a young and successful professional who lives his almost perfect life as an Operations Manager of a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company and as a family man happily married to his pregnant wife, until he was diagnosed positive of HIV. He begins tracing his steps backward, from his times as a promiscuous teenager who lives a life of party and drugs, to know where he got the disease.

Martin Escudero will play the lead.

Upon hearing that he would be playing as someone who lives with HIV, Martin welcomed the role with enthusiasm.

“First time kasi that a whole series is dedicated to the life of someone with HIV. It’s an interesting series and it’s a challenging role, so I really have to prepare for it.” said Martin.

Expecting the heavy drama scenes from the role he is about to portray, Martin voluntarily submitted himself to workshops organized by the AIDS Society of the Philippines (ASP) in order to know more about the disease and to fully embody his character. Other casts, staff and crew also joined the workshops to fully immerse themselves to the situation and to accurately portray HIV for the series.

After knowing how the disease is transmitted, the rising numbers of HIV/AIDS cases, and spending time hearing the stories directly from persons living with HIV (PLHIV), Martin Escudero volunteered to get tested for HIV.

“I wanted to get tested. Marami kasing natatakot magpa-test for HIV. So I want to get tested to fully understand the feeling, para magamit ko sa role ko bilang si Carlo” said Martin.

Martin won Best Actor both in last year’s Gawad Tanglaw awards and ENPRESS Golden Screen awards for his role as Remington in Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington. Besides Positive, Martin is also doing another independent film, this time international.

Positive is set to air on Thursday, October 17, and part of TV5’s stronger primetime block.