It’s about Tina Paner, the "prodigal" daughter of Daisy Romualdez (actually her aunt, Tina’s biological mother being Daisy’s younger sister) who has been missing from the showbiz scene for quite a while. The last time Tina was heard of, she was, as usual, bumping heads with her Mommy Daisy who frowned on Tina’s decision to live with a woman deemed by Daisy to have a "shady" reputation.
It’s public knowledge that mother and daughter made explosive headlines with their fights, one of which made Tina pack her things and run away. But blood is thicker than water and they would soon make up – only to fight again and break up.
Early last year, Daisy simply erased Tina from her life and memory, resigned as she was that Tina’s stubborness was, sigh, incurable.
Fast-forward to April, 2003: Imagine how pleasantly surprised Daisy was when she got an unexpected call from Tina, bearing tidings of great joy. It turned out that Tina had gotten married to a Spaniard, also into his early ‘30s like her, and a scion of a wealthy family based in Manila. The couple is now living in Spain where they own a cozy apartment with their two-month-old firstborn, a boy with black hair and light-gray eyes who caught the attention of everybody last Lent when the "family 3" went on a cruise.
"The rest of the kids on board were blonde," Tina told Mommy Daisy, "kaya pinag-kaguluhan ang anak namin dahil siya lang ang naiiba."
You guessed it: Daisy and Tina have buried the hatchet for good, let bygones be bygones and are eager for their reconciliation maybe next year.
"Tina has changed a lot," said the teary-eyed Daisy. "Sabi niya, ‘Sorry, Mommy, for giving you all those heartaches’. Part of growing up, sabi ko naman sa kanya."
As they say all’s well that ends well.
Now Tina should know how it is to be a mother...
Barely three hours later, guess who texted me from Las Vegas where she is based (while her father, former actor Roger Calvin, remains in New York) – Cher herself. She relayed the sad news that she and Troy Montero have decided to call it quits. Actually, it was a unilateral decision. "I’ve decided to stop seeing Cody (Troy’s real name) because I want to concentrate on my career," said Cher. They went steady for barely a year.
Poor Troy! All the girls romantically linked to him have moved on, making great strides in their respective careers, also including Charlene Gonzalez, Pops Fernandez and even Nikki Valdez. But Troy seems to be stuck where he started. Maybe there are better things and better chances for him in Seattle (USA) where he came from?
"I know myself," said Karlo, a theater actor, "and I am secure with myself."
Karlo has done other commercials but it was the PLDT commercial that turned him into a star – well, almost!
I saw for myself what a good actor Karlo is in the trilogy recently staged at the Rajah Sulayman Theater at the Fort Santiago. In one episode, he played a wheelchair-bound young man and in The Bomb, the most explosive in the trilogy, he was cast as a handsome sakristan lusted for by the parish priest.
PETA is re-running The Bomb (also starring Dante Balboa and Wowie de Guzman, with Soxy Topacio again directing) in the same venue on May 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10, 7 p.m. (For tickets, call 410-0822 or 724-9637).
Karlo is also in the cast of the new Aubrey Miles starrer Xerex (also a trilogy), playing Aubrey’s introvert boyfriend in the episode Kama where Aubrey junks him for the campus stud played by Jake Roxas.
Some Saturday evenings, you might also catch Karlo co-hosting GMA‘s Master Showman with German Moreno and John Nite.
E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph.