"It’s about time Ronnie and I started resuming our married life together," Alice told Funfare. "I think I should start concentrating on my marriage and put my career ‘on hold’ for the time being."
Because she has been staying here and Ronnie in Vancouver (where he is a systems analyst and runs his own business, Active Computers Canada), Alice has been hounded by rumors that they have split up.
"Not true," clarified Alice. "I’m here because of work. My situation is similar to that of Ogie (Alcasid, also a member of the Hanggang Kailan cast). Ogie is here because of work while his wife (Michelle van Eimeren) and their two daughters are in Australia. It’s a tricky situation. Sooner or later, you really have to choose – you know, family or career."
Like Ogie, Alice would take time out from work to visit her husband, the last time having been late last year when she and Ronnie spent the Christmas holiday like honeymooners.
"We’ve been married for five years now ," continued Alice who got wed to Ronnie in a simple ceremony on May 28, 1999, attended only by a few members of their respective families, "but all in all, siguro we’ve spent only two years together; the rest, apart. At most, it has been some kind of a long-distance marriage for us. But we do communicate every day through video-phone or by e-mail. I’m working here with Ronnie’s consent, of course."
After their marriage, Alice tried leading a simple and quiet life as plain housewife in Vancouver, until juicy showbiz offers back home came her way.
"What they say is true – once an actress, always an actress."
A one-time Best Actress awardee (Metro Filmfest, for Regal Films’ Sa Ngalan ng Ama), Alice has worked with Hanggang Kailan co-stars Lorna Tolentino (Ishmael Bernal’s Nagbabagang Luha, etc.) and Christopher de Leon (Sa Ngalan..., etc.). The plot of the three-season (nine months or longer depending on how the public will react to it) Hanggang Kailan goes this way: Forced into an arranged marriage as payment for her father’s debt, a younger Valerie (Lorna) is separated from her one true love, Dado (Christopher). Unfortunately, Dado failed to fight for their relationship and Valerie was taken away to live a life of misery with her rich but cruel husband. Years later, Valerie is divorced and herself wealthy. She and her children (Jake Cuenca and Nancy Castiglione) return to her hometown only to discover that her half-sister Thelma (Alice) has married Dado. Valerie vows to reclaim him, leaving Dado torn between the love and hatred of the sisters.
"I love this kind of role," said Alice who was greatly disappointed when she failed to bag a Best Actress trophy for her role as a mistress (of Christopher) in Regal Films’ The Other Woman. "I used to be bothered by my (American) accent but not anymore. Wala na akong accent."
Once she’s back in Vancouver, Alice hopes to finally have a baby. She also plans to work at a TV news station (she finished Masscom at San Sebastian College) either as researcher or field reporter – "My original dream," she said, "rudely interrupted by showbiz." She has her own agent in Vancouver and she’ll leave everything up to him, according to Alice.
Won’t she get bored, again, resuming that kind of life out there?
"I’ll have my hands full, I assure you. I’ll help Ronnie in his business. In my spare time, I’ll again go to the library which was what I did before. Somehow, we all have to make choices. I’m choosing my marriage over my career."
I’m not sure if Jules and Assunta were able to invite President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (with First Gentleman Mike Arroyo) and Presidentiable FPJ (with wife Susan Roces) to stand among the seven pairs of principal sponsors.
Invited to entertain the guests at the reception (at Shangri-La Hotel Makati’s Rizal Ballroom) are Broadway-honed local talents Monique Wilson, Isay Alvarez, Robert Seña, Jenine Desiderio and Leo Valdez.
Assunta, who will wear a Vera Wang, will be honored with a series of bridal showers, one tendered by the Congressional Spouses at the Manila Polo Club or at Jules’ mom’s house and a joint bachelorette-stag party-for-a-cause slated for March 12 at the Shangri-La Makati’s Quezon Ballroom.
Jules and Assunta came back two weeks ago from New York where they spent a brief vacation and at the same time ordered Assunta’s gown from Vera Wang and Jules’ tuxedo from a name designer he refuses to identify.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)