Ryan Agoncillo On Fatherhood, Drifting, And Being In The Good Graces Of Warring Networks

CEBU, Philippines - Actor-host Ryan Agoncillo made a quick appearance in last Sunday’s PLDT MyDSL Speed Circuit Drifting Exhibition held at the SM City Cebu North Open Parking Lot. Arriving at the venue at almost eight in the evening, he caught an 11 pm flight for Manila on the same night. Busy guy, we heard.

A drifter himself who competes with a Nissan Silvia S13 model, Ryan joined fellow celebrity PLDT MyDSL spokesperson Isasbel Oli and champion drifters Alex Perez, Pia Boren and Gio Rodriguez for the event.

The Freeman talked with the “Talentadong Pinoy” host after the car sport exhibition where he divulged on being swamped with TV work for the next few months, more so as he’s the only artist currently working in three different networks at the same time.

Aside from TV 5’s “Talentadong Pinoy,” he is part of “PO5”, the Kapatid network’s Sunday noontime show co-hosted by Lucy Torres-Gomez, John Estrada, Alex Gonzaga and JC De Vera. He will also be featured in the station’s “5 Star Drama Special”, which piloted with Maricel Soriano, followed by Ruffa Gutierrez, JC de Vera, and then, Ryan.

On weekdays, he appears on GMA as segment host of the longest-running noontime show in the country, “Eat Bulaga!”. His comedy series over at ABS-CBN with wife Judy Ann Santos ended recently, but his contract with the other two networks does not forbid him from doing a Kapamilya show in the future. While it doesn’t work this well for other artists, freelancing has been a great advantage to Ryan.

He’s glad to have so much work as Judy Ann is expecting, and he needs to save up for his family’s future. He’s been a darling husband so far, dutifully scouring Manila even in the wee hours of dawn each time Judy Ann craves for a certain kind of food. The last time, she badly wanted an In-N-Out Burger which is only sold in a United States burger chain.

After making a few Facebook posts, he got help from friends staying in the US who were all too willing to help out. It was the couple’s balikbayan friends who brought home the burger for Ryan to give to his wife.

Here, Ryan dished out on how he and Juday got into drifting, how they’ve transformed the sport into quality family time, how he manages to be a trusted talent and in the good graces of warring channels, how he’s preparing for fatherhood the second time around and more...

ON HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH PLDT MYDSL. “I was one of their endorsers for their Quick Install Kit about a year ago, but my involvement with PLDT MyDSL goes beyond the endorsement because their champion star drifter, Alex Perez, is actually my teammate in drifting. He’s been the champion for the past four years and we’ve been teammates for Team Yellow Cab for about two years already. And most of the organizers here are all part of a small circle of people who are really involved in drifting over in Manila. So before anything else, I’m here as a drifter, not as Ryan Agoncillo the guy you see on TV, but the guy who’s part of this group. I race with them in Manila and it’s my first time to do a drift with them outside of Manila so I’m really excited.”

ON HOW HE RATES HIS DRIFTING SKILLS. “I’ve been trying to drift for about three years now but I only got to the point where I could get competitive late last year. I’m learning a lot from my teammate Alex. He’s been very generous in handling my development. Alex and I go beyond drifting pa. We were teammates in a motorcycle team and used to race motorcycles back in 2001. He was the one who introduced me to drifting. So far, it’s been good. How do I rate myself? I’m just a beginner.”

ON JUDY ANN TURNING OUT THE BETTER DRIFTER. “We went to drift school together under the tutelage of Alex. She learned faster than I did and was even better. She was supposed to race with us this year but she’s pregnant so she can’t. We were going to build a car for her already. She wanted to get into drifting big time but the time I got into drifting, she was studying Culinary Arts. When she had a little more time, she wanted to race but our baby is here so mommy has to rest.”

ON STILL BEING A MOTORCYCLE ENTHUSIAST. “I was always a motorcycle kind of guy. I was racing motorcycles since 1999. Drifting is the only car sport that actually got me hooked on cars. I was never a car guy. I don’t know if I’m a car guy still but maybe I’m into drifting more than because of the cars, you know what I mean? I’m still a motorcycle guy but drifting is so much fun. It involves the same skill as racing motorcycles — counter steering, throttle control, suspension and tire management — it’s all there. So the skills I use in bike racing are pretty much the same in drifting.”

ON LAYING LOW ON THE EXTREME SPORTS SINCE BECOMING A FAMILY MAN. “Our daughter Yohan is five years old now. Her entry made me take care a little bit. I don’t ride motorcycles on the road that much often now. Now it’s only drifting which is relatively safe. It’s not something we do out in the streets and I don’t encourage it. We do it in an enclosed track like this where people know exactly where the cars are going and we know exactly where the people are to minimize the risk. It has its dangers of course but it’s pretty controlled and I’m happy with my odds.”

ON HOW HIS SPORT BECOMES A TREASURED BONDING TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS. “It’s an excuse for my boys to get together. That’s why I guess my wife also encourages it instead of keeping me away from drifting. It’s clean fun! I’m with the boys on the track then after that, we all go home and have a drink and dinner. Since four of us in the team are married already with children, we bring our wives and kids to the track so we all have a good afternoon barbecue then head home for dinner together with our family. When we leave Manila to go to Clark for practice, we all rent a big house and all of us are there. The kids go swimming, we go drifting. The women chit-chat and cook our dinner. So it’s all good, clean family fun.”

ON PREPPING UP FOR THEIR COMING BUNDLE OF JOY. “Work, work, work! I think that’s all the preparation I need. And I’ve been trying to child-proof myself. Trying to eat better, maintain a cleaner lifestyle, I’m home earlier, my routine is set, and I wanna make my schedule revolve around family.”

ON IF JUDAY HAS HAD ANOTHER CHALLENGING CRAVING. “Wala na eh. Parang tumigil after the burger. I think she was testing how far I would take it and she knew I’d give her whatever she wanted.”

ON BEING THE ONLY ARTIST WHO HAS TIES WITH THE THREE COMPETING NETWORKS. “The genius with this lies mainly with my management team. They were the ones who worked it out. I don’t step on anyone’s toes as I do my shows in the three networks. It’s also their reminder to me everytime that as long as you do your job, you do your job well, you remain friends with the people you work with and you don’t offend anyone, as long as your earning a good clean living, then it’s alright.”

ON WHERE HIS LOYALTY LIES. “I wanna be tied up with work, that’s what! I mean I have a family to feed. I’m loyal to my job and to where the job is. I serve a network the best way I can. See, etong mga network wars is not beneficial for the artists. Let’s say you have a job you’ve got to do in another network, you’re able to do it, they’re paying you good money, then it should not stop you just because you’re tied down to one network. So that’s [being tied down to one network] one thing I want to avoid.”