Richard Yap: ‘Someone like Lee Kuan Yew should rule Phl’

CEBU, Philippines – As an Army General whose genius young son (played by Bimby Aquino-Yap) holds the formula to preventing a bomb plot in the Philippines, Richard Yap describes his character in “The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin” as a strict, poker-faced man in uniform.

It’s a role that doesn’t veer far from his off-cam persona, as the Cebuano actor says he’s “really poker-faced in real life.” His punch lines were of the deadpan variety – making his first full-length film basically not much of a stretch, shares the ABS-CBN star.

Fresh from the conclusion of his hit series “Be Careful With My Heart,” Richard also reveals that he made it a point to lose weight and appear fit so he can look credible as a soldier. This, he achieved through circuit training and minding his calorie count.

The chinito heartthrob joins Vice Ganda in the sequel to 2011’s “The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin,” where the former comes into the picture as Benjamin’s dashing commanding officer. Directed by Wenn Deramas, this comedy caper joins other MMFF 2014 entries that will open nationwide on Christmas day.

Family time

Contrary to what fans may think, there has been no respite for Richard now that he has no daily TV show to tape.

“It’s still been very busy since ‘Be Careful’ ended. I dived right into shooting ‘Praybeyt Benjamin.’ So I still had work every day and it’s still been very hectic for me. Well, I have more sleep now, but my days are still full,” remarks Richard during an interview Friday at the Radisson Hotel prior to a promo show at SM City Cebu.

His Christmas holiday will in fact be spent for promo appearances, theater visits on opening day, attending the Parade of Stars, and the MMFF Awards Night.

Still, family time won’t take a backseat for this 47-year-old dad, who has said in previous interviews that he makes up for lost time with his kids and wife by staying at home during his free time or taking regular trips abroad.

Next on his plate

For 2015, Richard says he might star in another TV series and a movie. His lips are zipped for now though on what role, genre or co-stars these next projects will involve. A sophomore album too, is in the pipeline next year, he teases.

Admitting he wasn’t familiar with the showbiz industry before he entered Tinseltown, and thus could not confidently answer which actors he’d love to work with, Richard did manage to name Anne Curtis, Dawn Zulueta, Angel Locsin and Piolo Pascual as those he’d be interested to share a scene with.

Given the right material, doing something similar to James Bond films or Liam Neeson’s “Taken” is also something he’d like to experience. Would he be up to doing his own action stunts? “I have background in martial arts, so hopefully, yes,” replies the actor.

Business, politics

While Richard can be curt when responding to showbiz-related questions, he became surprisingly long-winded when the chat turned to his business ventures and his views on Philippine politics.

His restaurants have been doing well in Manila, so much so that two more branches are set to open by February or March 2015. He is also into wooden flooring – a venture that he hopes to grow further next year.

“For the past 22 years, I’ve been in the corporate world. I’ve had a good career in that field also. I was in one of the biggest furniture companies in Manila. We supplied to most of the call centers and banks in Manila,” says Richard.

Queried on whether he’d be open to run for public office, Richard was adamant in his belief that he should serve in a field where his strengths lay.

“The problem with politics, and even with being a showbiz personality is we have too much freedom. Just because they think the Internet is free, they feel they are free to say anything. They’ve forgotten everything about ethics and etiquette. They think they can just say anything about anyone, and most of them have nothing good to say. It’s the same thing with politicians. They think they know so much,” he says.

He adds, “I think we need an authoritarian to rule the Philippines – someone like Lee Kuan Yew [founding father of modern Singapore]. I think our people don’t know how to handle their freedom. They think freedom means they can do anything. But our democracy comes with rules that we should follow. See, there are places in the Philippines where they follow certain rules, but when you go to another place, the same rules don’t apply. If you go to Subic, Clark, you see that they follow traffic rules. But when you get out of that area, they go crazy. So it’s a matter of political will, discipline and properly enforcing the law.”

Richard cited Davao leader Rodrigo Duterte as an example of a public servant that the country badly needs.

Expounding further on how he thinks the Philippines should be rightfully managed, Richard explains, “I had an interview for a TV program, where I said that the Philippines should be run like a business. From that statement alone, people started bashing already, because they didn’t listen what I was saying after that. I said the country should be run like a business, meaning, you pay the people the right salary, but you expect them not to steal. You take care of your people, give them the services they should receive. Taxes should be appropriated for services like education, housing, health care. There was someone proposing before that the people who pay taxes should be the ones allowed to vote. Which, for me, makes sense. If you’re not paying your taxes, why should you be voting for people who will rule when you have no contribution to the economy.”

Richard looks up to Philippine business leaders such as Gabby Lopez, Manny Pangilinan, Ramon Ang, and the Ayala-Zobels. “These people are hardworking, they know how to run a company, they know how to take care of their people and they built everything from scratch.  Most of these people, because they know how it is to make a living, they take good care of the people working for them.”

If there was one advocacy that Richard would willingly lend his celebrity influence to, he says it would be violence against women and children.

“I think women and children can’t fight back. They should be protected. This does not merely cover physical violence, but the kids you see on the streets – they are being violated of their right to childhood. If you cannot bring up a kid, you shouldn’t be having children in the first place. Why would keep on procreating, when you just ask them to beg in the streets? You don’t even give them a proper education, a house…but there’s that problem of the separation of the Church and State, so it’s a difficult situation. That’s why we should really prioritize education in the Philippines.”