The high cost of gracing 'awards'

Curtain-raisers:

* Congratulations to Alma Concepcion and her beloved RP on the birth of their son three weeks ago. No wonder Alma is punong-puno ng kaligayahan these days, brimming with maternal pride and joy. Alma and RP aren't married yet but they're planning to tie the knot as soon as, well, "the coast is clear." Alma will soon undergo regular workout to shed excess poundage (she weighs more than 160 lbs.).

* Star Circler Leandro Muñoz is saying, "Welcome to the world!" to Jan Ryann C. Marquez, son of Allan and Maricon Marquez of Bacnotan, La Union. The boy will be baptized today, with Leandro as one of the godparents.

* Movie-TV actress Lora Luna is requesting Funfare to publish the address of Our Lady of Lourdes for the benefit of the sick who want to ask Our Lady's intercession in their prayer for cure and healing. Here it is: Monsieur L'Econome de L'oeuvre dela Grotte, 65100 Lourdes Cedes, Lourdes, France. Even those who are well may write to Our Lady for continued good health.

With the FAMAS, the last of the four award-giving bodies to hand out its trophies last night at the AFP Theater (Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City), over and done with, I'm sure many of our actors and actresses are heaving a big sigh of relief. Yes, relief.

You see, gracing awards ceremonies has become very, very costly, very prohibitive. Actors can get away with one piece of coat and tie or Barong Tagalog but actresses cannot. Pity the poor actress who has to attend all four awards rites and wear a new dress each time.

Elizabeth Oropesa (who, I hope, won a fourth trophy last night for Bulaklak ng Maynila for her to qualify for a Best Actress grand slam) was right when she told Startalk's Butch Francisco that an actress has to spend at least P25,000 everytime she attends an awards night, inclusive of the cost of the gown, cost of make-up, cost of shoes and accessories, whatever. Multiply the amount by four and that's a staggering P100,000, a big dent on the budget of an actress especially if she's not making as many movies as she needs to.

And yet, actors and actresses don't get paid any honorarium for their attendance (even if the company covering these awards ceremonies earn hundreds of thousands from commercials and sponsors). If they do, such as when they perform a song and/or dance number, the amount is not even enough for their cab fare or for gasoline and merienda.

The worst part of it is that some mean "fashion" writers seem to specialize in raking muck and downsizing the actresses by harshly criticizing their clothes and turning them into objects of ridicule on color newspaper spreads. How cruel can some people be! (Ouch!)

One of the "victims" (an outspoken movie-TV actress) was thinking of suggesting that those muck-rakers be "banned" from awards night "since they go there anyway not to look at the positive side of the event but purposely to find faults, nothing else."

The actress told Funfare that when she finally saw one such "fashion" critic in person, she felt vindicated.

"I thank heavens that I don't look like him, that I don't dress like him," the actress said, relieved. "The next time I bump into the guy, I'll give him a lifesize mirror. Let's see how he'll feel as soon as he collide with painful reality. Let's see."

Years ago, Gloria Diaz was included by a lady(?) writer in a "worst-dressed" list. Gloria simply said, "I'm glad I don't go around dressed like her."

Since then, the lady(?) writer has stopped putting out her list. Maybe she saw for herself what Gloria meant in front of the mirror.

Tit for tat.

I always look forward to receiving my complimentary copy of Parents magazine (as I've been saying, every parent should subscribe to it) because I'm sure that, as always, I'll find a heart-warming story between covers.

In the March issue, Parents features a cover story on Lara Fabregas and her mother, Bing Caballero, entitled A Tale of Two Survivors, and what a revealing story it is!

Honestly now, I didn't know that Bing Caballero is the mom of Lara (and Minko and Paolo), although I and everybody else very well know that the three beautiful people's father is Jimmy Fabregas. I've seen Bing playing bit parts in some Ishmael Bernal movies (such as Relasyon, etc.) and I know, too, that she wrote scripts also for the late Ishma.

And then I read Parents' latest issue.

In the story written by Maria Socorro G. Naguit, I learned that Lara was barely 10 years old when her parents broke up, leaving Bing as single parent for three years until she remarried Ikka Ruso, a Finnish diplomat whom she met in New York where she took her three children.

It was in the States where Lara came to terms with the reality that she's a product of a broken home.

"There were so many kids there whose parents were divorced, so I thought, okey lang pala."

It took Lara, and presumably her brothers, a while to warm up to their stepfather.

From 1986 to 1997, Lara travelled with Bing and her brothers and Ikka from one diplomatic post to another and how Lara loved it!

"When I was in New York," Maria Socorro quoted Lara as saying, "all my friends were Jewish. I went to bar mitzvahs and I lived in a Jewish neighborhood and liked it -- the music, the rites, etc. And then in Finland, I really liked it there. In Malaysia I had a lot of Muslim and Buddhist friends. Here we have (practically) just one general religion. In Malaysia, everybody has their own prayer. Which was nice, that kind of diversity."

But even if their parents were separated (legally free to find new partners, which both Bing and Jimmy did), according to Lara, "They never told us anything bad about or against each other."

In 1996, they finally settled down in Manila when Ikka was appointed ambassador. Bing and Ikka have one child, 10-year-old Ikka Taavi.

Bing and Jimmy's marriage lasted for only 10 years while Bing's marriage to Ikka, lasting for 13 years, was cut short by his death (heart attack) in 1997.

"Jimmy cried at my husband's funeral because he saw how my husband truly loved my children," said Bing. "(Ikka) loved the children and treated them like his own, in fact occasionally spoiling them."

After reading the Parents story, I feel that I now understand Lara (and brothers Minko and Paolo) better and easier. No wonder they are so beautiful and so intelligent and so talented. It's all in their genes and the wealth of experience their stepfather let them enjoy in various parts of the globe.