Former PBB (Pinoy Big Brother) housemate Jayson Gainza can very well treat his pregnant wife and children – Ruby, six and Rommel, two – to a shopping spree at the grocery when they want to.
All they need do is ride the car Jayson (a second hand Toyota, he clarifies) bought from his winnings as one of PBB’s Big Four, and head to the nearest store.
"Now, my children can ride the grocery cart and put anything they want in there," says this Star Magic talent at the recent presscon for the network’s April birthday celebrators (Jayson’s birthday is April 27).
Times have changed for the better, indeed. After he got married at 20, Jayson plunged to work at once and raised his family on a P2,000-per-15-day salary. The burden weighed so heavily on the young father’s shoulders he felt like "my world was about to crack up."
He took on odd jobs as salesman, waiter, etc. to survive. And his wife also worked to help augment the family income. Good thing their neighbors in their Batangas hometown would give them food now and then. So Jayson’s family was somehow able to plod on from day to day.
Through it all, Jayson retained that sense of humor that would be his trademark, even now that he and his family have moved to a studio-type apartment in Manila.
The move from rural to urban life may have brought comforts. But it also exacted a price. Jayson’s daughter had to be brought to Batangas again since she misses her friends terribly. She is looking forward to spending the next school year, and the others after it, in her beloved Batangas.
"Here, you buy everything," observes Jason. "Back in my hometown, I can have food for free."
But Jayson knows long-distance fatherhood and a higher standard of living are sacrifices he must make in the altar of a brighter future for his growing family. Manila, after all, is the land of milk and honey for him, where better work and higher pay beckon like the sparkling waters in a beach on a long, hot day.
Jayson is a regular cast of ABS-CBN’s late night gag show Gudtaym with best friend Franzen Fajardo and other fellow PBB stars. Jayson is cast in an upcoming Star Cinema romance starring Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo.
As Piolo Pascual’s friend in ABS-CBN’s primetime show Sa Piling Mo, Jayson was the focused student learning from an award-winning actor’s lap. "Concentrate," Jayson remembers Piolo telling him. "Act as if one is around."
That piece of advice will come in handy, too, when Jayson crosses over to the movies and plays a Mafia group leader Puru Butosan in Vhong Navarro’s Agent X44.
Because director Joey Reyes cast the Harvard USA endorser in a number of fight scenes, Jayson is building up strength and stamina by hitting the treadmill as often as he can. The scenes, reports Jayson, are tough. So he must huff and puff in workout sessions and stay in shape for all that running around, chasing and jumping his role demands.
Besides, that’s a lot better than trudging under the scorching sun to sell things for a living, day in and day out.
No wonder Jayson Gainza, a wooden rosary around his neck, can’t thank Someone up there enough.