10 Things You Should Know About Jiggy & Jonty Cruz

Jiggy & Jonty Cruz on Cory, Noynoy, comics & getting busted

Grandkids of Filipino heroes: Jiggy and Jonty Cruz with their lola Cory Aquino, mom Ballsy, and dad Eldon Cruz

How do you live a “normal” life and cope with the expectations people have of you if you happen to have modern-day heroes as grandparents, and the president of the country as your uncle? Here are 10 things you should know about Jiggy and Jonty Aquino Cruz.

1. They swear they never got special treatment in school, but they did find it awkward when classmates would look at them whenever Ninoy or Cory’s name would be mentioned.

“In History class, we had a project na presidents. I was told, ‘Jiggy, bawal ka sa Aquinos, bawal ka sa Marcos.’ Or other times naman, classmates would rely on me if it’s an Aquino or a Marcos thing, kasi dapat alam ko na. But come on, hindi ko naman alam lahat about history,” the older Cruz brother recalls. Jonty shares a different story. “In Grade 5, when we took up (the) EDSA (Revolution), yung goal ko i-perfect yung quiz. I got the quiz back, minus one ako. I couldn’t believe it. I should know this. Nakipag-debate ako sa teacher ko and I reasoned out bakit dapat payagan yung answer ko. Good thing I had a book as proof, so naging perfect yung quiz,” he shares with a smile.

Jonty recalls having a professor in college who was not a fan of his uncle Noynoy Aquino, who was then campaigning. “He kept on referring to my tito for negative things. So after class, I didn’t say who I was, but I asked him, ‘What do you have against Noynoy and the Aquinos?’ And I asked who he was going to vote for. He’s not a registered voter pala. Nag-goodbye na lang ako.”

Both Jiggy and Jonty went to Ateneo de Manila from prep all the way to college. Jiggy says his history grades averaged around 90, and Jonty says his averaged around 85.

2. The moment they were born, they had Presidential Security Guards, three each. When P-Noy became President, they were again assigned PSGs, but now, one each.

Jiggy was only months old when the late Cory Aquino became President, and Jonty was born three years after. “We grew up staying in Arlegui, I remember a lot of men would accompany us to school,” Jiggy says. “I don’t remember much, but I remember some stuff like the rooms we stayed in,” Jonty shares. They did get the chance to play on the street as kids, right in front of Arlegui. “I do remember going down a really big basement. Naglalatag sila ng mattresses, and I asked, ‘Why are we sleeping here?’ It was a coup attempt, yun pala people were trying to kill us,” Jiggy recalls.

When asked if there were things they didn’t get to enjoy as kids because of who they were, they both said: “More now.” “When our tito became President, we told our parents, ‘Kuya and I don’t need guards, all we do is buy comics and watch movies.’ We don’t go to clubs or anything,” Jonty shares. “Sana wala kaming guard, but technically we’re the first family so we have to be assigned guards for his peace of mind,” Jiggy says. Jiggy has earned the trust of his PSG, so much so that they give him distance when he is out with his girlfriend. Jonty, currently single, is in a different situation. “I went on a date last week. I told them, ‘O, pwede na kayo umuwi,’ and they said, ‘Hindi, samahan ka namin,’ Then I just told them, ‘Okay, can you be two restaurants away?’”

3. On Cory as a lola: “Super bait talaga, she never got mad at us.”

Jiggy: Every Christmastime, our lola would ask all the apos for all the names of our teachers. She’d actually write them Christmas cards, parang our lola’s way of helping us. “Be good to my apos. Wag mo bagsak apo ko?” (Laughs)

Jonty: Her favorite story to tell was an incident that transpired in a hotel room in Cebu. I was playing with matches and medyo nasunog ko yung isang cushion. I turned it over para hindi mahalata. My lola asked, “What’s that smell?” I would be coy and say, “I don’t know, Lola. Baka it came from there.” She said, “Parang wala naman.” I told her, “No, Lola. Turn it over I think may nangyari.” I ended up explaining what I did without saying I did it. She didn’t get mad, naaliw lang siya.

Jiggy: Every important thing in school, graduation, other events, she was always there for me. She’d always bring me to different events when she was president, kapag may mga visitors of all nationalities, she’d always make me feel na, “Jiggy, dependable ka.” She can be really funny at times. We were in a Walmart, just the two of us. Then there was this Asian woman who told her, “You look like Cory Aquino.” “Oh, really?” she said. Lola then turned to me, smiled and said: “Tumahimik ka, tumahimik ka.”

Jonty: Gusto ko yung humility niya, whoever she was, she never made people feel it. She doesn’t go to churches with shades on, she doesn’t stay in front, simple lang talaga.

Jiggy: When she was president, there was this button in her car, it looked like that button in Voltes V. Eh pag bata ka, if you’re not allowed to touch it, the more you want to touch it. She’d always tell me and my cousin Miguel, “Don’t touch that.” It was a panic button. Pero nung last day niya she told us, “Okay guys, knock yourselves out.” Buong Arlegui daw super ingay, no one knew how to turn it off!”

4. They both never got the chance to meet their lolo Ninoy because they were born years after he had passed. Jiggy wishes he was there to witness the days in Boston, while Jonty wishes he could’ve seen his lolo deliver his speeches live.

Jiggy and Jonty are columnists for the Philippine STAR’s Lifestyle section every Friday. As a tribute on their lolo’s death anniversary this year, they wrote a tear-jerking piece titled “To the Man We Never Met.” Here is an excerpt:

There are so many things we wanted to ask you.

So many things we wish you could’ve taught us.

How did you make the greatest woman ever fall in love with you?

What are the secrets to getting the woman of your dreams? ...

What was it like raising such wonderful children?

How did you manage to raise such an amazing daughter in Ballsy? Seriously, she’s the best.

When asked which parts of Ninoy’s life they would have liked to witness most, Jonty says: “I saw the footage, there was this political debate and he was brought in. He just took control of it. He handled it so well, nasagot niya lahat. Wow. Sana I saw this live so I could actually cheer.” (You can actually search for it on YouTube, “Ninoy Aquino’s Face The Nation”)

Jiggy chooses the Boston days: “My dad said that in Boston, he would be driving with the windows rolled down, and singing at the top of his lungs to Imelda Papin’s Kung Liligaya Ka. Super ingay daw. Funny.

When asked what they think about the Marcoses, Jiggy says: “We’re civil. It’s hard, the stories we grew up with. Nobody wanted to be friends with my mom or her siblings kaya super close sila. Growing up in the martial law years, everyone wanted to be away from them, even at Mass. There was one particular wedding I can’t forget, my lola was saying she was in the corner table with the yayas of the ringbearers. She was told, ‘O, Cory, bakit ka nandyan, kawawa ka naman.’”

Jonty shares: “I think we got a normal childhood because my mom kind of didn’t. I can’t really debate on martial law because I wasn’t there, but yun nga, the difficulties they gave our parents. The things she wasn’t able to do, that she gave us. That’s why we appreciate everything.

5. When asked to describe how President Noynoy is as an uncle, Jiggy says “strict,” Jonty says “relaxed.” 

Growing up, para siyang fatherly figure, since wala siyang kids. Pag may ginagawa kaming kalokohan, siya yung magdi-discipline sa amin. Or like before, sa mall, gusto niya, we all stick together. Ayaw niya yung maghihiwalay. “No one gets lost, everyone should be by my side,” Jiggy recalls. “He’s relaxed naman. Funny din siya,” Jonty, who has P-Noy as a ninong, reveals. “He loves telling jokes na alam mo yung mga matatagal nang joke? It’s the joke na midway, mawawala ka na? Then when he gives the punchline, you don’t know yun na pala yun,” he laughs.

When the President gets criticized, Jiggy admits it irritates him but he does his best to ignore it. Jonty says, “I want to say ‘ignore,’ but I don’t. I try, but if ever, I just make witty comments. Like on Twitter, I read ‘P-Noy urged to be more like Santa.’ I just posted, “Wow, ‘urged’?” If they comment, I can give my opinion, too.”

6. Sunday family day with the Aquinos consists of a long lunch, TV, basketball and sometimes political or showbiz chismis.

“When my lola was still alive, we’d go to Times St. at around 12, lunch ‘til around 3, tapos kwentuhan, then the kids would go to the rooms to play games. Kapag may PBA game we’d all go to her room and watch,” Jiggy shares. “Alaska kami nung ‘90s! Johnny A! When Tito James came on board, Purefoods na kami. At that time, if there was a PBA game and The Buzz, she would switch back and forth during commercials,” Jonty says. The conversations among the cousins usually consist of jokes to each other, but now that they are older, the adults and children are together at one table. What do they talk about? “Politics, relatives, regular stuff, sometimes showbiz,” Jiggy says. “We get it from the source talaga, eh. Tita Kris! Politics naman, Tito Noy,” Jonty says.

Who is the most ma-kwento? “If Tita Kris is there, she’s the one.” Who gives the most punchlines? “Tita Pinky.” Who always makes kontra? “It’s got to be our family doctor, Alex Ayco.”

7. Both Jiggy and Jonty applied for a job right after college, both had to present résumés, both started at a trainee/assistant position, both got promoted in a short span of time.

Jonty started as an editorial assistant for Esquire Philippines, where his workmates admitted to being uneasy ordering him to get them coffee or photocopy papers. “I felt it, but I don’t think I ever gave them a reason to be dyahe. Kahit ano I would get it, part of the job, eh,” Jonty says. He went from that to web editor to managing editor in less than a year. “I always told Erwin, my editor in chief, that I guess I got in because of the name. But he told me, ‘You write well.’”

“I was a truck salesman,” Jiggy says of his first job with Nestle Philippines. “Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela area, during the rainy season, baha, I’d go to sell my products. In the truck, nandun stocks mo, you sell to palengkes and sari-sari stores.” From that, he became a key account salesman, trainee, then assigned to field operations, and is now brand manager for Nescafe Dolce, in the span of five and a half years.

“Our parents really taught us about humility. For my dad, talagang hindi ka pwedeng mayabang,” Jiggy shares.

8. Jiggy versus Jonty:

When they started courting girls:

Jiggy: College.

Jonty: High school.

They share they’ve both gotten basted.

Biggest freebie received:

Jiggy: “Bank near the office, mahaba yung pila. The bank manager said siya na mag-aasikaso.”

Jonty: “Dad ko kilala yung pilot, next thing we know, we were upgraded to business class.”

Times caught by the MMDA:

Jiggy: “Once. I read that e-mail of what they can and cannot do, so when he knew I knew what I was talking about, he let me go.”

Jonty: “A lot, mga five times. Sometimes you really don’t see the signs, like it’s behind a tree. I really didn’t know. Napakiusapan naman.”

Things they usually fight about:

Jiggy: Little things, like clothes. Nauna ako, black na ako ha.

Jonty: We wrote an article today. In-edit ko. He said, “Bakit mo binago?” Or when watching a movie. “Tara na, aga aga pa?”

Jiggy: Tapos biglang traffic. “Sabi sayo alis tayo ng maaga, eh.”

Spending habits:

Jiggy: I think about it first.

Jonty: I’m more “buy now, regret later.”

9. Jiggy and Jonty in numbers:

2,000-plus: Total number of comic books they both own. “We’ve been collecting since 1996.”

3: Number of hours it takes them to write and edit their Philippine STAR column, “These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For” which appears Fridays in Young Star.

7: Number of days of their longest fight, not speaking to each other.

100 and 150: Grade of eyeglasses Jiggy wears, left and right.

350 and 750: Grade of eyeglasses Jonty wears, left and right.

10. They both love politics but will never run for office. “Kuya, the moment tumakbo ka, ako mismo magre-release ng smear campaign.”

“No,” Jiggy and Jonty say in unison when asked if they’ll ever enter politics. “I’ll do everything to make him not run,” Jonty says. “It’s worth it, I love it, but I’ll never join it.”

“The worst thing that could happen to us is probably if we do something, then the next day on the front pages, ‘Pamangkin or apo or Aquino, ganito or ganyan.’ Kung kami mismo nagbigay ng harm to the name, I think that would be the worst,” Jonty says. “We grew up knowing to protect the name. During the Ninoy and Cory book launch, a letter of my lolo to my Tito Noy was read. “Wala akong maiiwan sa inyo na kayamanan, it’s my name I leave with you, take care of it,” Jiggy shares.

* * *

So, the grandkids of Filipino heroes do live their lives like ordinary citizens. They like movies and beautiful people, argue about being on time and what channel to watch, just like you and me. “Honesty, humility, integrity,” say Jiggy and Jonty about how they would want the Aquino name to be known. Virtues we would like to live by, too. Their charm lies in how charmingly and extraordinarily ordinary they are. As Esquire EIC Erwin Romulo describes them, “they have their lolo’s smarts and their lola’s heart.”

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2012-12-09/883331/jiggy-jonty-cruz-cory-noynoy-comics-getting-busted 

10 Things You Should Know About Cris Villonco

Cris Villonco on love and the hole in her heart

On her own: “I’m pro-RH bill and I’m very vocal about it,” Cris Villonco shares. “We are all opinionated. Very. Extremely,” she says of her dad Opap, mother Monique, sisters Dara and Tere, and other relatives.

You may remember her as the bubbly, bright-eyed girl from that Pop Cola commercial. Today, she still is doe-eyed and baby faced, but all grown up. A notable theater actress and one of Manila’s most eligible young women, here are 10 things you should know about Cris Villonco.

1. She was born with a hole in her heart.

“I don’t know exactly the specifics but I know I was a blue baby, and that I had a heart murmur,” Cris reveals. “Maybe my mother was smoking or stressed or something,” she jokes about the time her mom was actively working as a TV producer. Cris vividly remembers going for an ECG and a 2D every year, until she was diagnosed as okay when she was five years old. “I just don’t do anything extremely strenuous, that’s why sports was never my thing.”

Cris was actually named after Kris Aquino, and she shares, “That was the time Ninoy died and she was the very vocal one, so my dad was so cho chong cho cho (crazy) about that.”

2. Cris only discovered her talent for singing when she auditioned for a role in Les Miserables when she was nine.

Cris didn’t really perform nor sing as a young child. “I just came from New York where my mom took me to my first three shows ever: Miss Saigon, Phantom, and Les Miz. I fell in love with all three. When we got home, my sister said, ‘You know today is the last day of auditions?’ And for some strange reason I just said, ‘Okay, I want to do it,’” she recalls. She ended up being cast as one of seven little Cosettes.

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In 2000, she was featured in Time magazine’s “Hero for the Planet” issue. “There were not too many child singers then so I would be called to sing for all these charities: Bantay Bata, Habitat for Humanity, Piso Para sa Pasig, the APEC. At that time a journalist took interest, thinking, ‘Wow, she is able to influence a lot of people through song.’ From age of nine to 16 I had siguro 10 theme songs. They flew me over to San Francisco to meet Haley Joel Osment, Charlotte Church.” Later that year, she was invited Jose Mari Chan to sing alongside for the OFWs in Rome, in a Mass officiated by the late Pope John Paul II.

When asked if she realized the gravity of her achievements for her age, Cris says: “That time I was more like, ‘Why doesn’t this boy like me, what am I going to wear to the prom?’ I didn’t realize how much of a privilege it was to let things happen as they did.” She shares that her mom was instrumental in her staying grounded. “She didn’t want me to feel like ‘magaling ako,’ she was always the type who would say, ‘There will always be people better than you, and there are times that you will be better than them.’”

3. On having Armida Siguion-Reyna as a grandmother: “That’s a tough question. There is only one star.”

“A lot of people say the reason I got to this point is because of her,” she says. On the worst criticism she ever got: “For me the most painful, which is still said to this day: that some of my shows are funded by my family. There will always, always be someone saying that about me. It just doesn’t end.” She says her lola Armida, who she fondly calls “Mahal,” didn’t even know that she was auditioning for Les Miserables. Even Fernando Poe, Jr. didn’t know Cris was Armida’s granddaughter when he cast her in his movie Ang Dalubhasa.

“One thing I can say about my lola is I thank her for my diction in Tagalog and for singing the way I do. She’s a stickler for pitch and for correct pronunciation!”

4. She used her first name Anna instead of Cris when she moved to New York for college. “When I left, I was angry. I was like, ‘Bakit, magaling naman ako ah?’”

Leaving Manila to study college in Sarah Lawrence was her mom’s idea, not hers. When asked what prompted her mom to suggest it (she had been set to enroll in Ateneo de Manila), she says, “I think I was so unhappy. Very unhappy. In the industry, there were promises that never happened. It was very frustrating.” Cris was really set on going the whole mainstream teleserye and movie route, but when the “promises” weren’t kept, she decided to just up and leave. “There were a lot of up-and-coming artists, and they were into the whole Britney and Christina thing. And I was always the losyang, wholesome girl,” she shares. “They tried to make me one, but it just didn’t happen.”

She preferred to be called “Anna” to detach from her showbiz persona. “I graduated with a liberal arts degree concentrating on economic development and music. I didn’t want to have anything to do with performing,” she explains. When she came back to Manila, she worked for two NGOs — Center for Humanitarian Dialogue and Asia Society — but after a year, she decided to go back to theater. “Not showbiz, just theater. That’s my first love anyway.”

5. Her thoughts on being in showbiz at such a young age: “I think it was self-imposed pressure, I wanted to be this perfect kid.”

She says that going away for college where nobody knew her or nobody cared who she was made her realize who she really is. “That was the first time I realized, wow, I’m this person pala. And there are people who can actually love me for me,” she shares. “This was at the time of my parents’ separation, realizing that time that, yes, may pagka-laos na ako, and I just felt, ‘Okay lang pala.’ May natanggal na fear, realizing you don’t have to be perfect all the time.”

6. Cris Villonco in numbers:

21: Number of musicals and straight plays done. She names Les Miz (her first), Alikabok (“First time I was recognized as a theater actress”), Orosman at Zafira (“That show made me viable for a lead”) and The Sound of Music (she starred as Maria) as her most memorable projects.

4: Number of awards won for music and theater.

3: Number of albums recorded (the last of which, her self-titled album “Cris,” was recorded during her college days and when she was traveling back and forth from New York to Manila.)

30: Number of Playbills in her collection (“My last trip to New York, I watched 19 shows!”).

4: Liters of water she consumes in one show.

7. She admits to having been involved two times in a “showmance,” or show romance.

“It happens! You’re in an enclosed space for this amount of time, you get to know each other, the problems you are facing; of course there’s a connection,” she explains. She reveals the first was with co-actor Jeffrey Hidalgo when she was 16, and the second with co-actor Niccolo Manahan, who she was together with for five years. “My parents and my sisters feel, ‘Cris, you have to be alone,’ there’s always been someone already. They’re just really happy that for the past two months, there has been no one.”

On rumors of being linked to Sen. Chiz Escudero and Mayor Junjun Binay: “I think it’s because Chiz and Jun have been very close to the family. We really don’t know where that came from.”

8. She was friends with KC Concepcion and Stephanie Zubiri in high school and recalls, “There were people who would ignore us in school but when we’re out in public would say hi.”

“We became close at the time because we were in the limelight, whether or not wanted it,” Cris shares. “It was a very interesting situation to be in. You’re earning money, you have tapings instead of hanging out with friends. Having that kind of life at that age is tough kasi you also just want to be like everybody else.” She says that knowing who is genuine to you is more of a gut feel, and reveals that she did realize which of her friends were sincere and which were not.

9. On political opinions within her family: “Kanya-kanya. We get into fights, it gets personal.”

She says she has never been pressured to take the same side on an issue as her granduncle, Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile. “I’m pro-RH bill and I’m very vocal about it,” Cris shares. “We are all opinionated. Very. Extremely,” she says of her dad Opap, mother Monique, sisters Dara and Tere, and other relatives. At what point do the heated arguments stop? “Silence,” she laughs.

She vividly remembers bullets flying over their Makati home during the coup d’état of 1989. “When we would hide in the cabinets, my mom said we were playing hide and seek. Teddy Boy Locsin is a good friend of my parents and at that time stayed with us for a few nights. A friend of his sent a bulletproof car and we all rode in it. A bullet struck the window and I remember my mom telling me it was a bird! It was a good thing I believed everything she told me at that age!”

10. Best advice she has been given: “I love it when my mom tells me, ‘You don’t have to understand anything, just do your part.’”

She recently played a supporting role in an episode of Maalala Mo Kaya, and reveals that what she thought was going to be tough on her ego, wasn’t. “I think there was a turning point last year when I did Sound of Music. There was a lot of pressure. To be compared to a West End actress and singer, to be the lead in a three-hour show, it was too much for me. It took a toll on my health and my voice,” she reveals. “That’s when I realized I don’t like being a star pala. I’m not like that pala, I thought I was.”

She shares she would love to do more television work, saying she wants to balance theater with mainstream acting. “Not to make this a political issue, but no matter how good it is now, theater is struggling.” She wants to lessen theater performing, and instead venture into producing. “I’m actually putting up a theater production company with friends called Red Turnip. We felt that English straight plays were dying, and we also wanted something in connection with how society is today, a little more risqué in terms of scenes and content. And we want it in unconventional spaces.”

* * *

Cris has definitely grown up. She still is that positive, cheerful girl we’ve known her to be, but now she carries herself with so much more confidence, even injecting a few punchlines and curses between her intelligent answers. Things have changed, or gone up and down in her life, and Cris proves that it is okay to just relax and not be so hard on yourself, and that the best way to deal with life’s disappointments is to go with the flow and roll with the punches. “If there’s one thing I learned in this business, you can’t control everything. It’s just going to come. I’ll let it happen.”

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2012-11-25/872591/cris-villonco-love-and-hole-her-heart 

10 Things You Should Know About Alvin Patrimonio

Alvin Patrimonio is dating – his daughters

Alvin Patrimonio: A hero to Purefoods fans then as their star player and now as the team manager.

Arguably one of the most well-loved Filipino basketball players, many fans say next to Robert Jaworski, this player-turned-team manager holds many PBA records including third-highest all-time scorer, fourth-highest all-time rebounder, and most MVP awards received (that’s four, tied with Mon Fernandez). Fondly referred to as “The Captain,” “Captain Lionheart” or simply “Cap,” here are 10 things you should know about Alvin Patrimonio.

1. He actually did not make the cut for the De La Salle University and San Beda College basketball teams, and at one point did not pass the tryouts for the RP Youth under-18 team.

His interest in basketball only started when he was in Manila Science High School. “My first sport was really chess,” Alvin shares. “Influenced by my grandfather na mahilig mag-chess. Hindi ko siya matalo-talo. Pinahiram niya ako ng chess books, pinag-aralan ko yun. Until he passed away, hindi ko pa rin siya natalo.”

He recalls the time his dad accompanied him to try to practice with the San Beda team. “Malakas yung lineup nila nun, sina Ronnie Magsanoc, Eric Altamirano, Gerry Esplana. Ako ang payat ko, talagang raw pa rin.” The same was the case when he practiced with the DLSU team, where everyone was physically much bigger and better than him. “Naging challenge sa akin to really work hard, sabi ko gusto ko maging varsity player din. Siyempre makakatulong din sa parents ko in terms of tuition fee. Pero talagang malakas yung lineup ng team so wala akong space or chance na ma-lineup.” That was when he decided to go to Mapua for college and play for their team, which was mostly comprised of rookies. “Chance ko na mapakita yung talent ko, at makilala,” he recalls. During his first two years, they lost every single game they played. “Sabi ko, sige, laban lang. I kept on improving yung skills ko.” It was in his junior year that his efforts were recognized, when he won the MVP award despite the team placing only fourth in the ranking. He was again hailed MVP during his senior year, despite not winning the championship. He played in the PABL for two years, and was drafted in the PBA in 1988.

2. On why 16 was his number: “That was my dad’s number.”

What surprised me most about the Captain was how quickly he gets emotional, especially when talking about his father. “He played college ball sa JRC,” he said with eyes so red, holding back his tears. “Yung dad ko kasi talagang ang laking influence niya, grabe. Every practice nandun siya, he saw to it na nag-i-improve ako every practice, everywhere I go, kahit mga tournaments out of town andun siya. Full talaga support niya sa akin.” His iconic No. 16 jersey for the Purefoods franchise was retired, and he was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 2011. “Dream niya for me to excel in the sport.”

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Alvin is the second in a brood of four; his father worked in the investigation department of Central Bank, and his mother worked as a secretary to his lolo in a construction company. “Very grateful ako sa parents ko, tinuruan nila ako, di makatapak ng other people, maging humble, nadala ko in my basketball career. Yung career ko is because of my parents.”

3. Alvin is known to be very close to his fans, and some of his most loyal fans even kiss him on the lips.

He laughs when asked if his wife Cindy is okay with the fact that some of his original fans (“Sila yung Solid Alvin Patrimonio, very close na yung group since 1990 pa”) can give him a smack on the lips. “Alam naman niya, kilala sila ng wife ko for so long na,” he says, smiling.

“Na-influence ako ng isa sa favorite players ko, si Coach (Robert) Jaworski. Sa kanya ko natutunan to be very approachable and accommodating sa fans. Sila naman yung may factor kaya ka naging popular.” He says that to this day, he is often last to leave the dugout, and takes that opportunity to talk to the fans, some of which come all the way from Cavite or Laguna. “Yun na lang yung moment mo with them. Naka-smile sila kahit talo yung team, at pag nakikita mo sila naka-smile, yun, mission accomplished.”

4. On what made his wife Cindy stand out among all the girls he met when he was single: “Nakita ko sa kanya that she would be my life-long partner, at nag-decide ako na siya na.”

“Ito naman, influence ng isa ko pang favorite player na si Mon Fernandez, sabi niya, ‘Kayong mga bata, mag-asawa kayo ng maaga, para may direksyon ang buhay niyo,’” he recalls. He shares that it’s easy for a young athlete to be distracted by fame and fortune, and that Mon’s advice worked for him. “Mga kids ko, kasabay ko lumaki, tapos may goal ako to be a good provider for my family.”

Alvin and Cindy met through a common friend at a video shop, located near both Alvin’s team quarters and Cindy’s house. “Nag-meet kami, tapos ayun na, tuluy-tuloy na love story namin until gumawa na kami ng family,” Alvin says. They got married in 1989 when Alvin was 23 years old, and now have four children, Angelo, 23, Christine, 20, Clarice, 18, and Asher, 7.

5. On James Yap being this generation’s face of Purefoods: “Natutuwa ako kasi meron nang parang ‘following in your footsteps,’ yun bang pwede mo nang ipasa yung baton to him.”

“Kailangan ng mas malaki pang effort, pero papunta na dun ang direction niya, pag mas lalo pang mag-mature yung game niya. Yung overall package nasa kanya,” Alvin says of James. He says he really doesn’t take the role of mentor of the team (now named the San Mig Coffee Mixers), but instead just gives the team pieces of advice. “Kaya rin nila ma-achieve yung na-achieve ko, o daigin pa,” he says of the boys. “You have to be consistent, pag may department na kulang sa game mo, you can contribute in other ways, hindi lang sa points. Or kahit may pain or injury ka nakikita ng teammates mo na you’re still there.” He says that despite all the advice he may give, “it’s up to them anong gagawin nila.”

6. During the much-talked-about P25 million contract offered by Pepsi and matched by Purefoods, it was his dad who advised him. “You just have to prove na yung offer na yun, you deserve it,” his dad told him.

“I worked to death. Para sa fans at sa management, para hindi ko sila ma-disappoint. Push to the max ako palagi sa practice at sa game,” he says. He explains that when a player is given an offer sheet, his original team has five days to match the offer. “Ako naman sinign ko yung offer sheet para new atmosphere, gusto ko i-check kung sa team na yun magcli-click ako, kung makakakuha ng championship,” he recalls. Purefoods, however, matched the five-year P25 million offer (which was a huge amount in the early ‘90s, reportedly making way for other multimillion-peso PBA contracts) and Alvin played for the franchise his whole career. “Yung team na ito, I’m very grateful and very blessed. Itong team siguro yung destiny ko.”

7. His movie Last 2 Minutes, in which he starred alongside Paul Alvarez, Jerry Cordiñera, and Roderick Paulate, was a top grosser in the 1989 Metro Manila Film Festival.

“Super enjoy,” when asked about his acting career. “As long as may connection sa basketball yung role.” His first movie stint was a cameo role in Bondying with Jimmy Santos, then he went on to do Dobol Trobol with Maricel Soriano, and Tasya Fantasya with Kris Aquino. When asked why things did not work out between him and Kris back then, he politely begs off the question. “Wag, baka magka-issue pa,” he says.

When asked about the time he was constantly being linked to his then-manager Nap Gutierrez, he says: “Ang hirap nung time na yun. You’re on the front page tapos negative yung issue sa iyo. I had to prove to everyone, I wasn’t stepping on other people. Binuhos ko sa game ko. Sige, sabihin niyo na lahat ng gusto niyong sabihin against me pero pagdating sa laro ko dapat wala. Nobody’s perfect naman and naka-commit ako ng mistakes. Lesson learned yun. Di naman talaga mawawala ang negative issues sa showbiz.”

8. Alvin Patrimonio in numbers:

191: Height in centimeters.

17.6: Number of points per game on average throughout his career, making him the third all-time scoring leader (15,091 total points) next to Mon Fernandez and Abet Guidaben.

30,478: Total number of minutes played in his 17-season career.

22,400: Number of followers of his Twitter account, @alvinpatrimonio.

21: Total number of dogs currently in the Patrimonio home. Juicy, a three-year-old Great Dane, was a birthday gift to him from his family.

9. Despite his busy schedule, he always makes time for his family and even takes his daughters on one-on-one dates.

“He never forgets to bring home pasalubong when he comes home from out of town. He’s not really strict, cool dad siya like barkada namin, and he goes to bars with us nga sometimes. He always tries to make a joke but after making the joke he’s the only one laughing,” his daughter Tin shares during a separate interview.

“Yung effort na makasama ko sila, one on one, malaking boost yun sa kanila. Chance din to say, ito papa niyo, dito galing, dapat ganun din kayo. You really have to work hard, patience dapat nandyan kasi hindi right away makukuha mo ang success. Kailangan galing ka sa zero bago ka umakyat, diba ang iba pag privileged, minsan nakakalimutan to really work hard,” he reminds his children.

His eldest, Angelo, just graduated and Alvin says: “Siyempre proud ako kasi ako di ako grumaduate ng college.” It is important for him and his wife Cindy that their kids value education as well as sports. His two daughters are highly competitive tennis players and he reveals, “mas madami silang trophy sa akin!”

10. Beyond enjoying a successful career and family life, there’s one thing Alvin is possibly looking forward to: the world of politics.

“Maraming nag-e-encourage, why not try politics? Sabi ko, nasa heart ko yan, to serve the people,” he says. “Hindi muna ngayon, kailangan muna a lot of preparation. My family naman, kino-consider din nila. Mabigat na battle to.”

* * *

Throughout the interview, whatever the question, the 46-year-old sports icon shared tidbits of advice. “Continue your good attitude,” “Work hard,” “Stay humble,” “No shortcuts.” A man of few words, when he speaks, you know he means it. Sure enough, the bits of wisdom he shares are ultimately his personal secrets to success, things that he practices to this day. “Kailangan from the heart lahat ng gagawin mo, not all the time it’s about money, it’s because you love what you do kaya you give your 100 percent.”

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2012-11-18/867856/alvin-patrimonio-dating-%E2%80%93-his-daughters 

10 Things You Should Know About Jeric & Paul Soriano

Jeric & Paul Soriano on Nestor de Villa, advertising, film, love & faith

Jeric Soriano (center), flanked by his father Nestor de Villa and son Paul Soriano: Jeric says of his dad, “He would look at us always and say, ‘Smile, everybody, smile!’” While Paul, a director for film and advertising, says, “People say, kasi anak ni Jeric, apo ni Nestor. To be honest, I think it got me the meetings. But to get the job, I needed to be talented.”

Both father and son are notable directors in the world of advertising, popular for their striking mestizo looks, and known for their strong faith in God. Both may be very private individuals, but they’ve had to adjust to being in the public eye as one is often seen praying by the side of Manny Pacquiao, and the other, attending events by the side of Toni Gonzaga. Here are 10 things you should know about Jeric and Paul Soriano.

1. Jeric, on growing up with Nestor de Villa as his father: “He would look at us always and say, ‘Smile, everybody, smile!’”

Growing up with a matinee idol father, Jeric says that as much as they didn’t want to be in the limelight, they had to adapt and grow up in the showbiz world. (“The Nida-Nestor Show, we all grew up on that set.”) He shares that, because tinted car windows didn’t exist back then, when they were stuck in traffic, the passengers in the cars and jeepneys right beside them would recognize his father, a frenzy would erupt and his dad would just say, “Smile, everyone! Wave!” “I think I carried over that personality, until now. Even if I don’t know the person, I’ll greet them and be friendly,” Jeric says.

2. Jeric directed the iconic “I can feel it!” commercial with Alice Dixon. He directed only one movie, Hotshots, which starred Aga Muhlach and Gary Valenciano.

Before he became a director, Jeric was working behind the scenes alongside directors like Lino Brocka. (“I loved the way he handled people. No one was too small or too great on his set, everyone had value.”) He got the idea to make movie trailers for different directors, and did that for films like Bernal’s Himala and Brocka’s Kontrobersyal, all free of charge. His name started to spread through the industry until one day, he got a phone call from Vic del Rosario of Viva Films. “My knees were shaking, I was trying to keep my voice from shaking,” the 57-year-old pastor recalls. A meeting was set up, he was given a story, a cast of actors, music, and he had to think of a treatment. Hotshots was the product. “The movie was actually my ticket into the advertising world, it was my demo reel!” he reveals.

3. Paul lived alone in the US to study college, and took jobs at the Gap, in a golf country club, and at Blockbuster Video

Paul was born and raised in the US, went back to the Philippines and graduated high school from International School Manila, then went back to the US, attending De Anza College then Sta. Clara University. “That was how my parents disciplined me. They said, ‘We can only support you with this much, and if you want to do your hobbies, then you have to work,’” Paul recalls. Knowing he wanted to be in film (“I wasn’t really the school type”), he worked as a production assistant for a while, before coming home to the Manila for good in 2006.

4. Paul, on making it in the industry: “People say, kasi anak ni Jeric, apo ni Nestor. To be honest, I think it got me the meetings. But to get the job, I needed to be talented.”

He says that getting into advertising was probably harder for him because he had his dad’s big shoes to fill. His first official TV ad was for Jollibee, and after that, he ended up making two more consecutive ads for them. “To get the next job, I had to do something right,” Paul says. He recently won Best Director and Best Screenplay awards in the 2012 FAP Awards for his movie Thelma. “It had a great message and I feel people really needed to see it. I don’t make films to get awards. I guess the awards just tell me that I did something good,” he shares. Thelma was a film two years in the making, but was an idea he had way back in college. “In my computer I have an ‘Imaginations’ folder, whatever I think of, I put it there. Thelma was that.”

5. Jeric and Paul Soriano in numbers:

3: Number of Soriano siblings after Paul. Patrick, 23, Philip, 19, and Parker, 17. Paul says he’s the strictest. “O.C.,” Jeric whispers.

500: Estimated number of TVCs Jeric made in his 25-year career. “There was a time I was doing 10 commercials a month, hopping from one service vehicle to another!”

50: Estimated number of TVCs Paul has done, since he started in 2007.

2: Number of weeks it took to plan and finish the “Palit” TVC, the 2010 presidential campaign ad of Bro. Eddie Villianueva that Paul and Jeric collaborated on.

100: Number of caps in Paul’s collection. “I love wearing hats cause I don’t like fixing my hair.”

25: Number of utility knives in Jeric’s collection. “I’m just fascinated with how they put all these tools in there!”

Pastor Jeric on Pacman: “He is sincere, honest, and passionate about this new life he is experiencing.”

6. Both Jeric and Paul were brought up with the freedom to pursue their passion. Jeric’s father (Paul’s grandfather) did not enjoy the same privilege and was actually cut off from the family.

Before getting into film, Paul wanted to become a professional golfer, and his dad Jeric supported him. “Whatever we wanted to do, he would support us. I think that’s what allowed us to really open up our mind and imagination,” Paul shares.

“My dad would say, ‘Whatever your craft or your gift is, I’m right behind you,’” Jeric shares. But he reveals that his father was told by his grandfather that he could just be either a lawyer or a doctor. And when he chose to become an actor, his father was told: “You are not my son, I don’t know any actor son.” But as the years passed, it all worked out. “When my dad made it in the industry, he gifted my grandfather who was a haciendero with a brand-new tractor. Tied a big yellow ribbon around it. That was the big peace offering.”

7. On being a spiritual adviser to Manny Pacquiao and Pacman’s newfound faith: “If it was fake or false, I would’ve left day one. I’m not wasting my time if it’s just for politics and showbiz. Honestly, from what I’m seeing, it is the real thing.”

The story goes, one random afternoon, Dyan Castillejo called him up and asked if he was available for Bible study that night. About to decline because the call came so late, Dyan mentioned it would be in Brentville, very near where Jeric lives. “It’s in the house of Manny Pacquiao,” Jeric recalls Dyan saying. “Are you sure you want me? Okay,” Jeric answered. He told his wife Marissa: “When we go to Pacman’s house, we will not do that one thing that everybody does. We will not ask for one autograph, we will not ask for one picture. Because we’re there for the Bible study.” A week after, Jeric was requested to return for a Bible study, and two days after that, Pacman asked for his cell phone number. “Pastor, kung okay ka, yung tinuro mo sa akin, kailangan marinig nung pamilya ko sa Gensan,” Pacman told him. “O, sige, kailan?” Jeric asked. “Uh, Pastor, pwede bukas? Yung first flight out?” Pacman replied.

“You know where I think I connected with him? You will see that when I speak, I use visuals. I use slides, pictures, sound effects, it’s the filmmaker in me. And when you begin to know the man, he has a childlike heart. And he appreciates it when you bring it as simple as, say, Sesame Street,” Jeric reveals. He goes on to share that in the Bible studies they did in Gensan, the most excited was actually Pacman. “He was the one fixing the chairs and the tables, and would say, ‘Ay teka, bibili muna ako ng merienda!’” Jeric says Pacman is very passionate about The Word, looking at it as good news that he wants to share with all.

“There are a lot of people around him,” Jeric says. “I don’t come with an agenda, because it’s important for me to be able to pull him aside and tell him the truth.” He reveals he is able to be as blunt to Manny as possible, like the times he’d tell Manny that he should apologize to Jinkee for something he said or did, and Manny would instantly realize it and go back by Jinkee’s side. “I truly believe it’s a husband and wife team, you cannot be the Lone Ranger. And for many years that was his life.” To those skeptical about Pacman’s faith, he says: “We are all a work in progress. From my perspective, he is sincere, honest, and passionate about this new life he is experiencing.”

8. On lessons learned from courtship to relationship with Toni Gonzaga: “Before I could fall in love with her, I had to fall in love with her family. Fall in love with everything about her.”

Toni talks with fondness about how Paul is so patient with her situation of having a curfew and not being able to go on trips alone with him, even if they have been together for around five years. “I guess that was the way to her heart, to show her even though her parents had all these strict rules, I had to respect that. And if I wanted to be in a relationship with her, those were some of the things I had to understand,” Paul shares.

He said he is honestly not pressured by people asking them about marriage (“My mom asks me also,”); instead he sees it as a positive question. Rather than people wanting them to break up, he appreciates that people seem to want them to end up together. “I think I’m ready,” the 30-year-old director reveals. “But we both just like to pray and when God says we’re both ready, then that’s really the best time.”

9. Paul was already seven years old when he first met his dad Jeric.

“You’re not kidding me,” Jeric quips when asked to share his love story with wife Marissa. “Actually, their love story is fantastic,” Paul smiles.

They were high school prom dates. She was the kind of woman who was looking to get married, and Jeric was not ready to offer that. Marissa met someone else, got married, and moved to the US. Years passed and Marissa and her husband separated, and she and Jeric met again in the US, and fell in love all over again.

“The only reason why I looked for her was because when Christ came into my life and forgave me for all my kalokohans, I knew I must also forgive those who hurt me. One of those people was Marissa. I thought she had done a number on me, I thought she got pregnant with Paul to hook me, when in fact that wasn’t true. I asked for forgiveness, and in the process, fell in love with her again,” Jeric reveals.

“I met you when I was seven, in a Denny’s restaurant in LA,” Paul says, looking at his dad. “My mom told me I was going to meet my father. Honestly, I was looking for that. I love my mom so much, she took care of me as a child. And when I met my dad, we pretty much hit it off right away.” Six months after that, they all moved back to the Philippines.

“I had to reconcile with Marissa and we had to take Paul back to the Philippines. Because he was destined to do a film called A Journey Home. And that film has blessed so many churches, because it is about forgiveness,” Jeric reveals. “That was my first film. It was about a father who left his family and came back after so many years. The story was just actually given to me by Star Cinema. I read it, I related to it right away. It was a very personal film,” Paul shares.

10. Both Jeric and Paul strongly believe everything that happens is part of a bigger plan, part of something we are being prepared for.

“What happened to Marissa and me, you know today, we are helping people who have the same situation,” Jeric says. “We are counseling people, because we went through it. I had no idea I was going to be in this preaching thing. But what He does is He prepares you, trains you, equips you, building you for such a time.”

“If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” Paul shares on what he learned from his parent’s love story and from life. “There’s this passage, ‘Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is God’s plan that prevails.’”

* * *

Neither Jeric nor Paul are closing doors to anything. Jeric is willing to direct, Paul is willing to preach, and so many other possibilities, but they both say those will happen in His time. Unafraid to show their human sides, and that of others, they are both natural storytellers, whether through films, 30-seconders or lectures. And you will find that, directly or indirectly, all the stories they tell are about faith. And that includes their movie-like real life story — a story of love, mistakes, forgiveness, and faith that we can all learn from and be inspired by.

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2012-09-30/854253/jeric-paul-soriano-nestor-de-villa-advertising-film-love-faith 

10 Things You Should Know About Gang Badoy

Gang Badoy rocks the talk

Gang Badoy has an advocacy—alternative education for prisoners: “Society can also be judged by how we treat the ‘least’ important of us all.”

She is one of the founders of Rock Ed Philippines, an organization known for spreading awareness on social issues through and with the help of local music and artists. In 2010, she became the only Filipino to have been awarded The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) and the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) within the same year. One of the most influential people in the country when it comes to volunteerism, here are 10 things you should know about Gang Badoy.

1. Gang is the youngest child of two widowers, growing up with 14 older siblings.

Her dad Anacleto was a justice for the Sandiganbayan. His wife died of cancer. They had five children. Her mom Pura was a teacher. Her husband died in a plane crash. They had eight children. When her parents married, they had her brother Nuch (“If there is one person in the world I fear will die before me, it’s him. I don’t think I’ll survive if he goes ahead of me”) and finally, Therese, a.k.a. Gang, the bunso. Gang says she was neither bullied nor babied; instead, she considered herself a bystander just watching everybody. “The magnificent part of growing up with a lot of siblings is the expanse of the literature and music that you’re aware of,” she shares. If it’s a certain brother who would bring her to school, the playlist would be Steely Dan or Led Zeppelin, and if it was a certain sister who would pick her up, it would be The Carpenters. “Even sense of privilege and entitlement? Wala ako nun, ang dami namin eh,” she adds.

Gang was raised to become a lawyer. (“I’m the madaldal kid, and no one else was in law.”) From industrial engineering to education courses, she took many electives in fine arts (“so I could be classmates with my barkada”) and got really good grades, eventually shifting to art history. “I think I’m one of those rare students who didn’t take a course for a job in the future,” she recalls. Even if she never took up law, she says, “I realized I was really a student of civil and government history, but I viewed it from the reaction of songs and art.”

Gang adds: “From my mom I learned how to talk. From my dad I learned how to shut up.”

2. As a student, she never admitted it back then, but she was affected by people bullying her because of her last name, “Badoy.” Until she realized the best way to handle it was to proudly post her name on her back.

“I’m baduy, and Badoy,” Gang candidly recalls how she was teased. It even came to a point wherein she purposely made herself lose in an interschool spelling competition because she felt like the other students were laughing at her. “How silly is that? Of course I’m a fantastic speller, mommy ko English teacher!” She went to St. Scholastica for grade school, and made a life-changing decision upon entering high school at Assumption. “I could base my movement because I didn’t want to be teased. It was my f***ing last name, what could I do? So I joined the varsity volleyball team, because my last name was going to be on my back. And I said I’m gonna be so good at this sport that they cannot help but equate me with being an excellent volleyball player!” And she did just that. She admits she was not a natural volleyball player, but she worked very hard at it. She eventually ended up on the RP Youth Volleyball Team, and was a college scholar for excelling in the sport.

3. Gang took her time and got married at the age of 39. She asked her then-fiancé Jay Capati for a computer instead of an engagement ring.

“Jay asked me if I was sure I didn’t want an engagement ring, and I said I wanted a computer. ‘Oh no, it’s so unromantic!’ But I needed a really powerful desktop to edit, and he was really cool about it,” Gang reveals. Even the manner in which they got engaged was unconventional. They had been living together for five years (“We had my mom and dad over and I had to pretend it was just my apartment, I think my mom knew, she just never asked because she didn’t want me to lie”) and during one phone conversation when Jay was in the US, before putting down the phone, he just casually said, “Oh, by the way, I told my parents that we might get married na.” Gang and Jay also decided to not have children. “I think parenthood is not for everyone. Of course I’d make a good mom, I love my nephews and nieces, but if you know yourself, you can tell if you want it or not,” she explains.

“I think that’s what the RH bill is about,” she adds. “It’s not even the sex or the population issue, it’s really about wanting a child; the deal is the loved child.”

4. She is convinced that she was probably the only virgin in the world who took an AIDS test.

She was a junior in college when she was part of an AIDS conference, wherein she was very vocal and very graphic in describing how to use a condom and how to prevent STDs. Somebody from the audience asked if she herself used condoms when she had sex, to which she paused and answered: “You know, actually, I’ve never had sex.” She and the crowd started laughing. “I guess I represent the virgins? And even virgins have an opinion on AIDS!”

While living in the States, Gang had a roommate who noticed that she was really boyish, and thinking Gang might have been a lesbian, he set her up with a lesbian friend. So she did try to go out on that date, felt awkward that her date had bigger breasts than her, and as soon as they sat in the restaurant, a laughing Gang said, “I really think this is a mistake.” They became friends instead.

One time, her roommate asked her to accompany him to take an AIDS test. At the clinic, her friend asked her to have a test as well. “Eh, never kong in-admit na virgin pa ako,” Gang says. “So while the nurse was taking my blood I was really giggling and thinking, ‘Alam ko na yan!’” Gang reveals she lost her virginity at the age of 28.

5. One important life lesson for Gang: “Very few things are solved by hiding or not looking at something.” She learned that because she once did it herself. “I left in a hurry, running away.”

“I was going through my 20s existential angst, I was an awful human being,” Gang shares. “I started an ad agency with a group of friends, Indio Communications. My partners were the smartest people I know. Halfway through I felt, ‘Is this it? I thought I was destined for greatness.’” Gang just left, disappeared, no despedida, and admittedly kept them hanging, even financially. She left for the US when she was 24, and came back to Manila 10 years later. “That’s why you can’t judge people who were bad before but are doing good things now, they balance things out for themselves,” she says.

She took on jobs from being a barista to a saleslady to a journalist for ABS-CBN’s TFC. “Sometimes while serving coffee, half of me wanted to say, “Nag-graduate ako sa UP,” she recalls. She then realized that she needed to be valued, even if it was for the manner in which she served coffee, how she spoke, or even how witty she was. After a decade of living in San Francisco, Indianapolis and New York, she thought about going home. She was living a good life, had a great apartment, drove a nice BMW, had a fine-looking Italian boyfriend. “Every night I kept thinking, ‘eto na yun?’ This is the American dream? Pakadali naman. I realized the American dream is easy if you’re masipag. It’s the Philippine dream that’s big. It’s the Philippine dream that needs your brains and your physical presence.”

When asked what finally made her decide to go back home, Gang says: “The truth? Because Gloria Arroyo became President.” She had interviewed then-VP Arroyo for ABS-CBN news and was immensely impressed by her grasp of economics, and Gang felt hopeful. Ironically, years later, Gang became very vocal during the “Hello Garci” issue, and to this day, still fights for good governance.

When she broke up with her fiancé, she had to tell his parents, “My country needs me.” She understood how stupid that might’ve sounded, but five years later, she e-mailed them the website of Rock Ed with a note that said: “I wasn’t sure at that time, but I think this is what I was talking about.” Even the money for parking tickets Gang owed them, they told her to donate to Rock Ed.

6. On why she does Rock Ed: “I feel like it’s my grand apology to people I’ve offended. A thank you to everyone I want to thank. That their children will grow up with a better, cooler Philippines.”

Rock Ed was founded as a 10-year campaign set to end in 2015. The concerts and events may end then, but programs like “Book Bigayan” and “Rehas Project” will go on. “Rock Ed will have completed its mission if every teenager already takes it upon him or herself to do volunteer work as part of their schedule, because we tried to make it normal for the teenager to volunteer, to make it cooler that they’re involved in socio-civic issues,” Gang explains. She says that before this decade, young people who volunteered were either just really religious or children born into politics. That was when she realized there was no venue for regular kids to feel comfortable about volunteering, and she chose music and art to be the medium for that. She and her husband Jay set up Samarami Asia, an events and ad agency business, to be able to fund the projects of Rock Ed.

“I wanted the role model of the teenager to look more like them. Our role models were always the awesome ones. But when they see someone like me or Lourd (de Veyra), they’d say, ‘Parang ako lang yun ah, kaya ko rin!’  It’s a reshaping of definitions.”

7. Gang’s list of important Filipino artists:

1. Radioactive Sago Project, musicians: “Biases aside, all of them are formally trained, they studied it, they don’t wing it. It really is poetry set to the beat of swing or jazz. Whether you like them or hate them, they stretch people’s lines.”

2. Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, writer: “Other than the fact that she was my creative writing teacher, I like her because she can optimize creativity within the lines of classic grammar and classic forms.”

3. MM Yu, Poklong Anading, and Louie Cordero, visual artists: “Because they are so brave about their art, there is no hesitation. You don’t have to like them. They have roots of real studies and then they venture out, which makes the venturing out not bull.

“I think an important artist isn’t someone we all love. I think an important artist is someone who stretched our notions of art, stretched our idea of what can be produced or done. Once a teenager in their mind says ‘pwede pala to,’ that’s a gift to the next generation,” Gang says.

8. Gang has an advocacy unique to her: alternative education for prisoners. “Society can also be judged by how we treat the ‘least’ important of us all.”

Gang has been teaching a creative writing class in the New Bilibid Prison for six years now, with six other volunteer teachers part of the program. “I want that a story someday will be that we were kind to the worst of us all, allegedly. If you treat the ‘wrong’ of society with respectful regard, that they deserve education too, that they’re worth your time, then hopefully the bar is raised. Then we will have to treat children better, women better, unemployed better.” It was not part of Gang’s original plan. They were asked to do a series of documentaries called “Rock The Rehas,” and when the project was done, she says it didn’t feel right for them to just leave the inmates. “I was never a victim of any criminal, and so since I can afford to do this emotionally, sige, toka ko na to, I’ll take this.”

Until that fateful night in September 2009. One of Gang’s best friends, Alexis Tioseco, along with his girlfriend Nika Bohinc, were murdered in their home in Quezon City. Gang had to pretend to be their lawyer to be able to get in the house, as one of the first to arrive on the crime scene. She took a leave from teaching in Bilibid. “I realized my students have hurt people the way the murderers of Alexis hurt me. Am I not excused now? Pwede na ba to? Can I walk away from it? I didn’t go back for three months. I was angry. And then I realized, that wasn’t them. It taught me you cannot get mad without aiming,” she says.

“I just want it told that there was this group that didn’t stop, because they really believed that human rights is human rights.”

9. Gang Badoy in numbers:

1997: Year she started blogging. “Geocities pa yun!” Up until 2008, she had the habit of deleting all her blog posts every New Year’s Day. “It would push me to write new stories.”

5: Time in the morning she usually sleeps, then she gets up at 11 a.m.

8: Most number of gigs she has been to in one day. “Rock The Riles!” (an annual Rock Ed project with a mini concert happening at every MRT stop.)

4: Number of languages/dialects she speaks. English, Tagalog, Bisaya, German.

1,000-plus: Number of books in her collection. She reads multiple books at the same time, some more than once.

10. On why she will never join politics: “Because I’m not awake in the morning.”

“The propriety required of a government official, I don’t have! It’s not my expertise, and it doesn’t interest me. I feel utterly satisfied being a non-government official,” Gang explains. She says her standards for politicians are so high that she cannot bear the thought that she would be mayor of a certain city but she has tried smoking weed. (“Will I be arrested for saying that?”) Word has it that some public officials, including President Noynoy Aquino who she is quite close to, have asked her to run for office. “I want to be President of the Philippines from 12 midnight to 6 a.m., then I’ll turn it over to Noynoy Aquino,” she says in jest.

* * *

One conversation with Gang can convince anyone to do their part for society the very moment the conversation is done. Sure enough, as we’ve seen the past few years, volunteering and being aware of social issues have become the norm. It is no longer baduy. The concept of “bayanihan” intrinsic to us Filipinos has been reinvented and revived, thanks to this woman and all those who believe in the same cause. If Rock Ed is her collective “thank you” to everyone, this article is a simple collective thank you to Gang from every single life she has touched.

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2012-09-23/851791/gang-badoy-rocks-talk