"INA KAPATID ANAK" ADVANCED SCREENING

photo from Myan Marucut's Facebook

Last Thursday (Oct. 4), I was given the chance to watch in advanced "Ina Kapatid Anak" at the cinema 7 of Trinoma mall. The said series is another offering of ABS-CBN, topbilled by PBB teens 1st big winner Kim Chiu, Maja Salvador, Xian Lim and Enchong Dee.

at the red carpet: Myan and JM

At first, I wasn't expecting anything while watching the series, I just sat down and relax. To my surprise, I was teary-eyed when Zachario (played by Ronaldo Valdez) had a dramatic scene with his daughter Teresa (Cherry Pie Picache). It made me shed tears while watching it and can't even think of some stars to give life to the characters.

Cinema 7 of Trinoma mall was filled with celebrity, cast members, press, production people and some fans. Luckily, I was invited by our dear officemate who handles Ina Kapatid Anak account.

To be honest, I really don't like the series - even though the show is not starting yet. But after watching the advanced screening of IKA, I still watched the pilot episode last Monday (Oct. 8) and now hooked on the show.

SA LIKOD NG PAGPAPADYAK: BUHAY NG MGA PEDICAB DRAYBER

Karamihan sa mga estudyante ng Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) na tulad ko ay sumasakay sa mga pedicab, o mas kilala sa tawag na “padyak.” Ang pagpapadyak ay ilan lamang sa mga pangunahing pangkabuhayan sa pasilyo ng PUP. Hindi namamalayan ng karamihan na malaki pala ang naitutulong ng mga taga-PUP sa mga padyak drayber, sa isang banda’y nakakatulong rin naman sila sa mga estudyante.

Sa isang araw, kumikita ang mga padyak drayber ng hindi tataas sa P300, ngunit hindi parin ito nakasasapat sa pang araw-araw na pangangailangan ng kani-kanilang pamilya. Kaya naman ang ilang padyak drayber ay umisip ng ibang paraan upang tumugon sa kani-kanilang pangangailangan. Hindi lingid sa kaalaman ng nakararami na maliit ang tingin sa mga padyak drayber, maliit sa  paraang pagpepedicab lamang ang trabaho, ngunit huwag ninyong “ismolin” ang mga ito dahil mayroon tayong hindi nalalaman ukol sa likod ng bawat pagpapadyak nila.

Sa unang tingin sa matandang ito ay aakalaing hirap sa buhay ngunit isa pa lang negosyante, siya si Mang Leonardo ng Nagtahan Street. Si Mang Leonardo ay 54 taong gulang na sa edad niyang ito’y nagpapadyak parin ng pedicab. Sinimulan niya ang pagpapadyak nang mapunta sa Maynila. Dahil sa grade four lamang ang kanyang natapos, ito na ang kanyang naging trabaho buhat pa ng Sorsogon, Bicol. Batid niya ang kahirapan sa paghahanap ng ibang trabaho kaya naman pagpapadyak kanyang pinagbutihan.

Si Mang Leonardo at ako sakay ng minamanehong pedicab

Sa Maynila narin siya nakapag-asawa at nagkapamilya. Anim ang ibinunga ng pag-iibigan nila ng asawang si Narcita. Dahil sa panata ni Mang Leonardo na huwag matulad ang naging kapalaran sa mga anak, nagsumikap siya at napagtapos ang apat na anak sa kolehiyo. Nakapagtataka marahil kung sa anu-ano’y napagtapos niya ang mga anak sa pagpapadyak.

Katulong ang misis, nagtayo sila ng niyugan at ulingan mula sa kita ni Mang Leonardo sa pagpapadyak. Tubong lugaw kung tutuusin hindi ba? Mula sa pagsusumikap ni Mang Leonardo, nakapag-ari rin siya ng tatlong pedicab na kanya noong hinuhulug-hulugan. Kahit may edad na, hindi parin maiiwan ni Mang Leonardo ang pagpapadyak dahil dito siya nabuhay at nakapagpabuhay ng kanyang pamilya. Nakatututong narin ang pagmamaneho ng padyak ayon kay Mang Leonardo dahil ehersisyo narin ito sa kanya, kaysa naman umano’y maging alagain siya sa kanilang tahanan.

Iba’t-ibang edad ang nagpapadyak ng pedicab, may mga matanda na nauna ng natalakay at mayroon din namang binata, ilan sa kanila’y si Kenneth Royo, binatang nagnanais ring makatulong sa pang-araw-araw na gastusin. Kung tutuusin, maaari na lamang siyang tumambay o umasa na lamang sa mga magulang tulad ng ibang kabataan na hindi nakapagtapos ng pag-aaral, ngunit kakikitaan ito ng determinasyon sa pag-aangat ng kanilang pamumuhay.

Kasalukuyan kong tinatanong si Kenneth Royo ng mga panahong iyan.

Labing-siyam na taong gulang pa lamang si Kenneth ngunit mulat na sa kasasapitin niya pagkatapos niyang lampasan ang sekundarya. Yun nga lang, hindi nakasisiguro kung ano ang naghihintay na kapalaran para sa kanya. Noong bakasyon ng kapaskuhan ko siya nakausap, pagpapadyak ng pedicab ang naging paraan niya upang makalikom ng pera pang-kolehiyo.

May isang matandang lalaki naman akong nakakwentuhan habang papasok ng PUP, yakap-yakap sa kanyang mga bisig ang pambomba ng gulong, siya si Mang Romeo Garrido, animnapung taong gulang. Kilala siya ng mga padyak drayber dahil sa serbisyo nitong pagbobomba ng gulong, siya rin ang puntahan ng mga ito tuwing masisiraan ng gulong ang kanilang pedicab. Ang kita ni Mang Romeo mula rito ay P2 kada gulong na bobombahin. Sa isang buong araw, aabot lamang ng P40 ang kita, maliit kung tutuusin, minsan nama’y walang wala talaga.

Si Mang Romeo Garrido na hanggang ngayo'y nagsisilbi parin sa mga padyak drayber sa PUP.

Nakapagtapos siya ng elementarya at high school bilang valedictorian. Mula rito’y kanyang nakuha ang scholarship sa Feati University noong 1978 na may kursong Engineering. Kanya ngayong pinagkukunan ng makakain ay ang serbisyo sa pagbobomba ng gulong. Maliit ang kita kaya’t hindi rin maiwasan ang panghihinayang ni Mang Romeo. Ngayon ay nakapagtapos nga siya ng pag-aaral ngunit ang kinabagsakan ay pagpapadyak noong matapos magtrabaho sa Manpower nang panahon ni dating pangulong Ferdinand Marcos.

Patunay lamang ito na hindi lahat ng nakapagtapos ng pag-aaral ay maganda ang kasasapitin ng buhay. Ngunit hindi rin naman balakid ang mababaw na antas ng pinag-aralan ng sinuman, nasa atin kung paano natin huhubugin ang kinabukasan. Sipag at tiyaga parin ang kinakailangan upang mabuhay ng mahusay at matiwasay.

THAT NICE GUY

It's just a simple 'thanks' but it really means a lot to me.

It was a fine day and all of us are aiming for a fast-pace day, looking forward to the weekend and suddenly, I feel frozen. Slater Young just replied to me on Twitter.

As a monitoring girl of ABS-CBN CorpComm, I always had a bunch of news to read, scanning the papers from cover-to-cover, surfing the net and browse to see some 'pick-ups.'

As I flipped the Manila Times and turned to entertainment section, I saw this feature story on Slater Young and it really caught my attention - The rise of the nice guy.

I immediately screen grabbed the article from ManilaTimes.net site and made it to jpeg format. Originally, I wanted to post it on my Facebook wall but decided to post it on Twitter - tagging @thatguySLATER

After posting it, I got a notification from my BB and while having a conversation with an IT person via phone, I initially said 'Oh my God!' upon seeing who tweeted me. As I saw it, I wanted to drop the call right away to see what the reply of Slater was.

It's just a simple 'thanks' but it really means a lot to me. He was my crush way back his PBB days and voted for him to win the 'Big winner' title.

Slater at our office in ABS-CBN, 9th floor

You are really such a nice guy, Slater! Keep it up!

KZ TANDINGAN AT THE X FACTOR PHL (PRESSCON)

Watch The X Factor Philippines finalist KZ Tandingan with her performance at the X Factor PHL press conference last September 14, 2012 at the Dolphy Theater. 

IT'S A PRIVILEGE!

Little did I know that someday, I will be holding a 1997 newspaper of Philippine Daily Inquirer.

For ABS-CBN chairman and CEO Gabby Lopez’s 60^th b-day, I was tasked to find a specific article in the Inquirer library. It was about the Lopezes and the Ayalas that was published in January 1997, between the dates of 23 - 25. It is said to be in the front page of Inquirer.

As I arrived at Inquirer office in Makati (about an hour of travel from ABS-CBN), I don’t have a hard time finding the said article because the Inquirer library is very organized. The newspaper copies were arranged by year and but each issue of Inquirer newspaper only has one copy, so reproduction of it is allowed. 

As I scanned the 1997 archive, I found this…

The article was really about the Lopezes and the Ayalas centered in their vigorous role for Filipinos. "SA UMAGA PAGGISING MO PARA MAG HILAMOS HANGGANG SA PAG PATAY NG ILAW PARA MATULOG SA GABI... CUSTOMER KA NILA!" 

BLAME THE SEATS FOR HALF A DECADE OF FRIENDSHIP

They say College is the enjoyable phase of life. And so it was.

It was a sunny Thursday, my first day as a college student. It's one of my most anticipated days in my life as I have gotten all the hard works back in high school. It will open another chapter of life full of challenges.

College will never be the same without them - GaChAlLaMeMo. I have created our group name from the first two letters of our surnames. I must admit we have differences (as in sobrang dami), but when I'm with them, I can really be who I am.

 

Ga - Galindez

Ch - Chua

Al - Alday

La - Landrito

Me - Medina

Mo - Mondero

We blame the seats that we chose upon entering room 110 of PUP – College of Communication (CoC) bldg. on the first day of class. I don't know about their justification as to why they chose their seats, but as I am late (though there's no prof yet in the room), I seated just two row and two seats from the door. I was with Manuel and Jastine beside me. In front of me were Jen, MJ, Pia and Jo. See? The arrangement of seats was a sign that God wants us to be 'friends.'

It came to a point when going to the main bldg. for P.E. class for the first time, we were already together. After the orientation, we had our lunch at Teresa. MJ was the one who led the way to where we ate. It was a big two-storey house that the first floor was made into a carinderia. As I remembered, we all ordered shanghai rolls with rice. Hmmm yum! It costs us around P25 each, "sulit naman."

GaChA during first year college

Blame the seat. That was I told them when remembering how our friendship started.

Time flies so fast that we still stuck with each other for half a decade. It's been five years! Today, we have our own lives as 'professionals,' but still find ways to have communication.

I'm so proud of my daughters and sons! (They used to call me "momi" and Marlon as their "dadi.")

What made us intact as friends? Our differences :-)

Describing our personality took me some time to think, as I've said, we were ALL different (the way we talk, we put on clothes, etc.) It’s just that I want you all know how unique we are as GaChAlLaMeMo.

Mary Ann Chua - She was my first best friend in college, and we used to call each other 'GF.' She's kinda weird that most of our classmates were having a hard time knowing her character, but for me, I knew who she was - happy go lucky!

Jen Alday - She looks like a 'shy type' girl but is very, very talented. She can sing, dance and act! She's now working in TV5 (my rival station, haha!)

Joy Landrito - She's kinda boyish but sometimes transforms into a lady. She loves to laugh and likes to challenge herself. "Hindi siya nagpapatalo sa boys."

Jo Medina - The super "kulit" in the barkada. She always makes me laugh in her own little way. She loves to sing, she loves God above all, and best of all, and she’s our spiritual adviser!

MJ Mondero - She's the 'all-around' girl. She knows everything and has no time to rest; she's the "Kuracha" version in our group.

Originally we were just six but as time passes by, we tend to expand as a group. We've been super close to other boys in our section: Arnie, Jeric, John Paul, Rafael, Reysimar, Menard and of course their "dadi" Marlon.

We also have our "ampon," she's Kriezyl (just ask her why she was called adopted, haha!) She's the 'best layout artist' in our group. Not to forget our baby Pia (who stopped studying during our 1^st year in college due to his father’s death) and Elijah (who also stopped).

So now, our name also needs some expansion too: we are now called DeEpGaChAlLaMeMoCaPaPaZaRaSaMaSa or GaChAlLaMeMo PLUS

“Alam niyo ba kung saan pa kami subok na? Kapag may b-day ang isa sa amin, tiyak nandun kami.” 

Birthday celebrations of GaChA

                                    

It's been five years, yes. September 7, 2012 marks our 5th GaChAnniversary - and the birth of my third "pamangkin," Baby Bianca Loiuse Galindez-Layon. Some of them too have their own "pamangkins."

4th GaChAnniversary celebration at Chef de Angelo and Flights Bar last year

09.07.12 has been a significant date - Happy 5th GaChAnniversary!