Angela Calina’s shining moment

Everybody has a story to tell about how they got started or what they had to go through trying to find their place in show business. For many Visayan talents and artists, the hurdles on the road are most likely tougher. Angela Calina’s own experiences are no exception.

This Cebuana boasts of a quintessential career in Cebu that only a paltry number of local talents can duplicate. Angela was first discovered by ABS-CBN Cebu when she sang for a sporting event more than a decade ago. Today, she’s a multi-awarded regional television host, lead vocalist of a local band, a columnist for the local daily The Freeman, and a sought-after endorser of homegrown products from a clothing line, to a salon and spa, to a graphic advertising company.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that the opportunity to take her work on a national stage had beckoned many times over. And amid so much competition pounding on the industry’s doors, Angela persevered, scoring stints in several ABS-CBN shows such as Etcetera, Magandang Umaga Bayan, Kumikitang Kabuhayan, and Cinema One. Angela readily admits joining the shortlist of 14 housemates in the widely popular ABS-CBN show Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition gave her the most auspicious mileage.

Angela is unafraid to share that her initial forays were not so good, if not traumatic, but she says these experiences have taught her to be optimistic, but not expectant. "A successful national career is every artist’s dream. Maybe that’s the reason why I spent five years trying to find a niche in Manila for a probinsyana like me," she says. And just when she was set to forego ideas of landing another national TV show and happily concentrate on a broadcast career in Cebu, PBB came.

In her hometown, Angela, who recognized by the provincial government last year as Garbo sa Sugbo (Pride of Cebu), is known for her down-to-earth attitude and sunshiny disposition. That is why many, especially those who personally know her, were surprised to see her frequent crying as well as clashes with other celebrity housemates, which became a hot point of discussion in message boards devoted to the show. But she explains that a riot of emotions was getting to her, as "even though they weren’t shown on TV, issues of my life were either relived or being dealt with everyday. The house became a therapy."

Angela’s life story, snippets of which were shown on PBB, runs like a soap opera. The eldest of eight, Angela spent some years in the orphanage of Asilo dela Milagrosa when her mother could no longer afford to pay for their schooling. Precocious even as a child, she would join beauty contests and was barely out of her teens when she found work in front of TV cameras at 17. Though this helped keep siblings out of the orphanage and see them through school, this left her missing out on her own college education. At 20, she fell in love, got pregnant, but the relationship didn’t work out. If there was anything to be grateful about it despite the heartbreak, it would be daughter Aira.

This single mom sparkles when talking about Aira, an honor student and talented young girl herself who’s turning 10 on Feb. 26. As soon as Angela learned that her apartment was burglarized (and, as police reports have it, by a family relative), there were no second thoughts about rushing home even if some people deemed it too soon (she stayed inside the PBB house for a mere 11 days) and a wasted opportunity because this breadwinner was deserving too, maybe more than anybody else, of the top plum.

But fellow Cebuanos saw it as her shining moment, saying that her decision goes to show that she’s got her priorities straight. When she arrived in Cebu, a downpour of support greeted her from the airport to the school of her daughter, who threw her a tight hug and said: "Gumingaw kaayo ko nimo bisan kadyot ra ka nawala. (I missed you terribly even if you’ve just been away for a short time)." Who could possibly regret leaving a house when you’re really coming home?

Now, Angela is back hosting her daily morning program Maayong Buntag Kapamilya. She admits that PBB experience, albeit fleeting, has blessed her with the "bigger opportunity to be heard," and she plans to take full advantage of it beginning with a benefit concert with her band, Lucy 33, early this March for the victims of the landslide in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, where she traces her roots.

Despite losing the chance of winning the P1-M cash with her voluntary exit, she admits to still feeling like a winner with what PBB gave her as send-off presents: a laptop, a Sony handycam, a pangkabuhayan showcase (Aficionado franchise worth P300T) and P30T cash for her charity of choice, the Asilo dela Milagrosa, among others.

Asked if another shot at a career in Manila forms part of her plans, she plays, "If it’s God’s will, who am I to say no?" Concerning her personal life, the 29-year-old Angela, who has found a fresh romance in neighbor says, "I’m not getting any younger so a family of my own is what I’d like to have three to five years from now. A home for Aira and me after all our struggles is what I’ve always prayed for."