What makes Donna tick?

In the more than 27 years that I’ve known her, Donna Villa has never ceased to amaze me (and many of her other friends, I’m sure). Just when I thought she and husband Carlo J. Caparas and their two children CJ and Peach had "retired" into a quiet life, far from the madding showbiz crowd, in her native Cebu, Donna would spring back with another headline-making project, this time the "inside story" of the celebrated kidnap (and rape?) of Cory Quirino based upon the NBI files which contains juicy and meaty stories Cory has never told anybody nor included in her best-selling book.

"The whole story has to be told," insisted Donna who, in her characteristic "gently persuasive" style of getting whatever she wants, made the adamant Cory agree to the project. "Carlo and I felt that we are the right people to tell the whole story to."

Why, Donna (and Carlo) were even able to convince NBI chief Reynaldo Wycoco to do a cameo as himself.

NBI Files: The Cory Quirino Kidnap is topbilled by Ara Mina (title role), Alessandra de Rossi as Cory’s secretary/assistant and five gorgeous guys as the kidnappers/rapists (now rotting in the National Penitentiary’s death row), namely Zoren Legaspi, Ian de Leon, Mon Confiado, Paolo Rivero and Richard Arellano. It’s Carlo who’s again, just like in all projects of Golden Lions Films, writing the script and directing the movie calculated to equal, if not surpass, the box-office records of the Golden Couple’s past movies (The Maggie dela Riva Story, The Vizconde Massacre I and II, etc.)

Dubbed a Golden Lady because of her Midas touch (everything she touches turns into gold, from the daing business she put up when she was 14 to the true-life "massacre" movies she and Carlo specialize in), Donna is a daring producer, pumping millions into a project, undaunted by the possibility of coming up with a flop (never happens), thus earning the "subtitle" as "baker and maker of explosive and expensive movies," affirmed by four trophies from the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Foundation as a box-office producer.

Ask insiders from Regal Films and Viva Films, Donna’s partners in big projects since the ’80s, and they’ll tell you, "Just believe in her concepts and packaging, leave everything to her discretion, and you can rest assured she’ll come up with the right project."

Tell her that there’s a lingering slump in the movie industry and she’ll just smile, "How come the recent Metro Filmfest earned more than P400 million? There’s no such slump. If you make a good movie, the fans will come. That’s why I’m still hopeful and still fighting it out."

That fighting spirit has its roots in her upbringing.

A consistent scholar in her school days, an NCEE topnotcher nationwide and an insatiable learner, Donna inherited her keen business sense from her mother who, Donna said, "could sell chicken even before the eggs were hatched." Her American father, Robert Nixon, was Shell manager for the whole of Asia at age 30.

"But the key is hard work," said Donna (Marian Patalinjug Nixon in real life). "Nothing can substitute hard work."

"I’m amazed by her persistence," smiled Cory Quirino whom Donna pursued for the filmization of her experience in the hands of the five kidnappers/rapists. "Donna wouldn’t stop until she got my ‘yes.’ She’s like a persistent suitor who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer."

After the Cory Quirino story, what?

"I want this Cory Quirino film to make good at the box office," said Donna. "I know it will make many people very happy. It’s a big fulfillment for me. Yes, I still have big dreams, like producing the biopics of important and colorful figures like FVR, Chavit Singson, Erap, Lacson, Raul Roco and GMA."

With her derring-do, Donna will surely be able to convince any or all of them.

You bet?

From my e-mail

• From Francisco Gregorio of Trenton, New Jersey:

You wrote that the role Cesar Montano plays in The Great Raid is that of Gen. Pajota. Please make some corrections, Juan Pajota was not a General. He was a self-appointed 26-year-old Captain at that time, together with Capt. Eduardo Joson who became Governor of Nueva Ecija for more than 30 years.

The setting of the story is Barrio Pangatian, Cabanatuan City. I was a 10-year-old boy at that time and Capt. Pajota was a friend of my uncle, his Lieutenant who later became a lawyer. All the American servicemen who saw action in this great raid were awarded distinguished Service Crosses and Silver Stars, while the Filipinos who fought equally well were only awarded Bronze Stars.

Capt. Pajota, after that raid, was promoted to Major and continued fighting the Japanese in Northern Luzon. Later, he was appointed Military Governor of Nueva Ecija, then he moved to America, in Annapolis, Maryland. He died of heart attack in 1976, before he was to receive his US citizenship. Please set the record straight.

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From "A Fan" of Moreno Valley, California:

Using the word Ilonggo (from Bacolod) to describe Christian Vasquez was correct and not a misnomer as what Ms. Nanny Gumban was telling you. The word Ilonggo also refers to the dialect that we speak in the islands of Panay (especially in Iloilo and Capiz) and Negros Occidental. We, more often, refer to ourselves as Ilonggos than, say, Capiznon or Negrense. More power.

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From Maria Salcedo of California, USA:

I just read the letter from Lita Cruz of Texas, USA and I’m also curious where the stars are now from Apat Na Sikat and other Ike Lozada shows. Like Winnie Santos, Arnold Gamboa, Lala Aunor, Beth Manlongat, Eddie Villamayor, Nancy delos Santos and most especially, Dondon Nakar, who used to be my idol years back. I enjoy reading your Curtain-raisers and blind items. Well, keep up the great writing and thanks.

(Dear Maria, Winnie Santos is happily settled in Los Angeles with her second husband and their children; Arnold Gamboa manages a resort in Cavite; Lala Aunor is a talent manager who exports entertainers to Japan; Beth Manlongat is married and living happily ever after with her family in the Philippines; Eddie Villamayor has remained single, living with his Ate Nora Aunor; while Dondon Nakar is preaching The Word. No news about Nancy de los Santos.)

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