The lady behind GMA Artist Center

Avid followers of the old Penthouse 7 surely remember Ida Ramos, the pretty and wholesome dancer any boy would have loved to bring home to Mama.

She is now Ida Henares and it was former singing heartthrob-turned-talent manager Ronnie Henares, who eventually brought her home to his Mama (and to Papa Larry Henares).

Still slim and trim after all these years, Ida is now a Mama herself to four kids: Christian, 19; Stephanie, 17; Matthew, 13; and Julia, six.

At work, she is also Mama to about a hundred talents who belong to the GMA Artist Center where she is AVP and head. The GMA Artist Center is the management and development arm of the network for most of its artists and this division falls under the umbrella of Entertainment, headed in turn by Wilma Galvante, who is senior vice president.

Having worked in front of the camera before definitely helps her understand the problems and the needs of the on-cam talents who are presently under contract with the GMA Artist Center.

Although she enjoys immensely her current position in the corporate world, if you cut her up, you will see through and through that she is really an artist at heart.

Lucky for her, her family was there to support her love for the arts. When she was a kid, her Mom would enroll her in various summer workshops until she found her true inclination – and it turned out to be in the area of dance.

And so she studied the different types of dances: Hula, Maui, jazz with the Aldeguer Sisters and modern ballet at the CCP.

But it wasn’t only dancing that she wanted to do. Another side of her was aching to do design work and was all set to take up architecture at the State University (after finishing high school in St. Scholastica’s College) – until she realized that she wouldn’t be able to survive the long daily commute from the family compound in the Leon Guinto area all the way to Diliman.

She opted to continue her schooling at St. Scholastica’s and took up Hotel and Restaurant Management instead. (In between, she managed to cross-enroll at UST where she took up Fine Arts subjects.)

Having stayed behind at St. Scholastica’s College proved to be a wise decision after all. Mounting a school program one time, she and her friends Marilyn Feliciano and Sandy Hontiveros asked the help of Penthouse 7 regular Tito Garcia, father of schoolmate Anna Garcia, to teach the group a Latin dance.

Tito Garcia readily agreed to help out the girls and told them to come to the Bel-Air home of Penthouse 7 host Archie Lacson where they regularly conducted rehearsals. During the dance practice, Ronnie Henares (then Penthouse 7 executive producer and occasional dancer) spotted Ida and asked her – no, not to be his bride yet – to join Penthouse 7. In the end, Marilyn and Sandy also ended up dancing every Sunday night in Penthouse 7 at P70 per episode. The girls, of course, spent more than P70 a week for their clothes – some of which they bought in New York through Eva Abesamis, who was then regularly commuting between Manila and the Big Apple.

In February 1981, Penthouse 7 – despite its continued success in the ratings game – folded up after a supposed misunderstanding between Archie Lacson and the old management of Channel 7.

Today, Archie Lacson still runs a few businesses – after having retired from Philippine Airlines. Marilyn Feliciano is married with four kids and runs a pre-school in Malate. Sandy Hontiveros is also married with two kids and occasionally gets involved in foreign film projects. Anna Garcia has her own dance studio, while Helen Garchitorena (the mestiza with long hair) is in the States.

Also based in the US – in San Francisco, specifically – is Mike Monserrat, who is married to a wonderful American lady. Ponci Quirino married the daughter of Julie Borromeo and Ray-An Fuentes is an evangelist in Canada.

From her end, Ida went through different routes before she ended up with GMA Artist Center. After Penthouse 7, she tried comedy with the Apo in Coed Blues and later also hosted Hitmakers, which was the big MTV program in those days. A phase of her life she’d rather forget was when she tried singing at the old Tavern on the Square. Although she could sing, she didn’t really like the experience and reporting for work nightly was like going to an appointment with her dentist.

For a while she also joined the hotel business – in the old Holiday Inn Manila. When she married Ronnie Henares, she also designed bags for Rustan’s and got involved with the talent management agency of her husband – Primeline.

Three years ago, Wilma Galvante invited her to join Channel 7 and head the GMA Artist Center, which – until then – didn’t even have an office.

Today, Ida Henares has come a long way. From the dance floor of GMA, she is now up the network’s corporate ladder.

(On Tuesday, the GMA Artist Center Family)