The Boy I know whom you don’t

Although we are constantly being pitted against each other, Boy Abunda and I are actually friends – as in really good friends.

However, we are not the type of friends who seek each other out every day. In fact, I only get to see him about thrice a year at the most – when we bump into each other at parties (the few that I attend) and in restaurants. (The last time was when his group hosted a birthday dinner for Rent director Bobby Garcia at Italianni’s and I happened to be at the next table with a small group of friends.)

But even if we don’t see each other often, we are the type who would help out each other when one of us is in trouble (usually me). Whenever I have a problem and there isn’t a solution in sight, I never hesitate to call him up to ask for advice and seek some words of comfort. (Trust me, he’s very good in this department.)

Our friendship actually started a long, long time ago. And I want to put it on record that he was the first one in this business to show me kindness.

It all began when I was in my final stretch in college and was working in a now-defunct television magazine.

The field of journalism, you have to understand, is not very kind to neophytes. As a newcomer, you get bullied and pushed around by the more senior reporters who are saddled with their own deadlines.

Being young, inexperienced and new in that publication, I often committed a lot of mistakes and fumbles. And the other staff members, sad to say, weren’t very patient with me.

After making one too many booboos one day, I decided to leave the office without permission and drove all the way to Quiapo Church to pray to the Black Nazarene to please get me out of that purgatory. While praying inside Quiapo Church, I suddenly remembered Boy Abunda and Floy Quintos who were both with the Metropolitan Theater – which was just a bridge away from where I was.

Boy was then assistant public relations officer of the MET, while Floy (who is now my director in Startalk) worked as a staff writer. I already knew Floy then because he also contributed articles to our magazine. But Boy – until then – was just a voice on the phone. Since I was assigned to do the cultural calendar for our magazine, I was constantly in touch with Boy – but only by telephone.

On the phone, Boy sounded nice, warm and affectionate. And that wasn’t just because he was doing PR work. It’s really in his nature to be very nice to people.

In person, Boy turned out to be even a lot, lot nicer. He came up to me as if he had known me since the day I was born.

Since he was aware that I was still new in the business and practically without friends, he invited me to go out with some members of his staff one evening. I remember he brought me to this disco at Trade Winds Hotel at South Superhighway where he danced the night away. Too bad, I’m the type who couldn’t even dance to save my life. So I just sat there and nursed a glass of pineapple juice (I was still a minor and couldn’t be served stiff drinks.) But I was happy because I already had a friend who was very nice to me.

From Trade Winds, the group decided to return to the MET and have a nightcap at the dusty carinderia nearby. Well, my warped bourgeoisie upbringing told me not to touch the food there. But Boy had the time of his life wolfing down his lugaw and goto – while there I was, nursing this time a bottle of Coke at the end of the wooden bench.

It was then that I marveled at his flexibility. Just an hour earlier, at the Trade Winds Hotel, he felt very comfortable with the deluxe service there. And here he was in a makeshift carinderia, still at ease with a greasy spoon that did not seem to have come into contact with soap and water since the day it came out of the metal factory to be shaped into a utensil. And the way he related to the crowd there of mostly taxi drivers, he could have easily been voted Mr. Congeniality that evening.

After that night, Boy and I never went out again. (He must have been bored with me since I’ve never really been much of a talker.) But we were in constant touch by phone.

Sometimes, Boy would visit our office to bring a melt-in-your-mouth cassava cake. As a PR person, Boy is not the type who would give you expensive presents or – horrors – bribe you with cash. For helping him out in a project, he’d repay you with kakanin and a very sincere thank you (which a lot of us in media appreciate).

Next to his sincerity, I admire him for his professionalism. When I moved to a broadsheet and needed to do a lot of personality profiles, Boy was always there to arrange interviews for me with the biggest names in the music profession.

One time, he arranged an interview for me with Verni Varga at the Bistro Lorenzo in Greenhills. Unfortunately, there was screw-up somewhere in Verni’s schedule (but this was the only time it happened with Boy) and she failed to show up for the interview.

Since I needed a story that time, Boy felt he had to do something to solve the problem. He looked around the restaurant and spotted Nikki Ross (of the Wings Duo) having coffee alone and looking glum in one corner. Now, Nikki Ross had long been out of show business by then and the last thing she probably needed that time was to be bothered by the outside world.

But since I desperately needed a story, Boy volunteered to hop over to Nikki Ross’ table to ask for an on-the-spot interview. That was going to be quite a tough job because Nikki had this stern go-away look on her face. (Ms. Ross probably had a bad day – and in fairness to her, she wasn’t doing anything to us and was just minding her own business.)

As Boy was about to get up from his seat to talk to Nikki Ross, I stopped him by his coattails and told him it was probably best to just leave Ms. Ross alone and let her enjoy her privacy.

However, that didn’t solve my problem. I still needed a subject for my interview. It was then that Boy remembered Alex Muhlach who was his friend. Would Niño Muhlach agree to an unscheduled interview? (This was the era before ambush interviews – when everyone had to go observe protocol even just to interview movie stars.) But leave it to Boy to work that out.

Within the hour, I sat face-to-face with Niño and got my work done. And that’s what I call the Boy Abunda touch.

This Sunday, Nov. 11, at 9:30 p.m. on ABS-CBN, Boy Abunda will have a yearend special called 2001’s Most Interesting Personalities where he gets to talk to some very colorful celebrities (Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano, Ayen Munji, Rio Diaz, Emily Abrera, Senators Francis Pangilinan and Ralph Recto, among many others).

Now, I haven’t seen this special yet. But knowing how Boy never does sloppy work and how he would leave no stone unturned to make any project perfect, I bet this is going to be a good one. If I were you, boy, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.