"If you look at my sisters and brothers, they are all fairer than I am," she states matter-of-factly. "So I was teased a lot." Siblings can be quite cruel, so the young Agot was called negra and ulikba. To make things worse, she was skinny and had knobby knees "just like a small version of Olive Oyl."
"I was so traumatized by all that. Buti na lang they stopped. Naawa yata. I think they saw how much I was affected by their teasing." But the derogatory remarks would stay with her for a long time.
To make things worse, she and her sisters were singers. "Few people know that my sisters and I were back-up singers for Sharon Cuneta," she recounts. But sisters Olive and Tina were better known. "Chances are, they sing better than I do."
Agot was not to be an ugly duckling forever, though. As Hans Christian Andersen’s Ugly Duckling went out into the world to discover his own true self, Agot left to study in New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. There, her dusky complexion proved to be an asset rather than a liability. People were fascinated by her color and remarkable ethnic features. She blossomed in New York, nurtured by the affirmation and admiration plus the self-assurance and self-reliance acquired in school and from living alone in the Big Apple. The awkwardness disappeared and was replaced by a beauty borne of self-confidence. Agot has transformed. The Ugly Duckling has become a swan.
The Philippines was quick to acknowledge the transformation. Soon after her return, Agot landed a hosting job on Sa LinggoNAPO Sila. Other TV shows like Oki Doki Doc and Okatokat followed. Then Prince Charming – Manu Sandejas – came along to take this ugly duckling-turned-swan to live happily ever after with him.
Agot’s fairy tale is far from over. Determined to be the best swan possible, she is working towards a Master’s Degree in Communication at the Ateneo de Manila University, has a dressmaking business, writes the column My Home and is taking her first theatrical plunge in Trumpets’ production of Honk! The Ugly Duckling.
It’s only fitting that her first foray into this new performance medium is a musical about the ugly duckling because Agot can certainly relate!
Catch Honk! The Ugly Duckling at the Meralco Theater from Aug. 1 to Sept. 7
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