What the cards say about Eula

MANILA, Philippines - “I’m not the type who talks about my private life,” Eula Valdez dismisses the questions about her love life at the presscon of Manghuhula at Gusi Restaurant.

 “I’m a positive person. When you don’t get something you want, it’s because something bigger is coming your way,” she explains.

It could mean bagging a role she has never played before. To top it all, the role is the complete opposite of who she is and who she ever will be.

The role is that of Messina the manghuhula (fortune teller) who in the indie film of the same title. As one of three generations of fortune tellers who got the gift from her mother (played by Chanda Romero), Eula’s is a dark, lonely character who can’t fit in.

“Her gift is actually a curse,” says Eula. “She can tell if a person will die soon through tarot cards and by just touching him or her.”

There’s no escaping this angel of death destiny, even for her daughter (Glaiza de Castro), whom Eula’s character must protect at all costs.

It’s a different role, a slice of the big pie Eula wants to liken her career to. Except that this one slice is riddled with all things hot and spicy, you won’t mind wolfing it down, pronto.

You won’t mind seeing the otherwise cheerful Eula changing into a dark, lonely person, frame after frame. And you’re left wondering, whatever happened to the real-life Eula, who is all roses and sunny yellow papaya?

Yes, she may consult a seer now and then out of curiosity, but no dark prediction can put her down.

“It’s still us who make our own destiny. Our fate doesn’t lie in the tarot cards. It lies in the way we handle our lives,” Eula states.

This get-up-and-go stance shows in the way she made a 180-degree turn after she found out how much stress is taking a toll on her health. When she found herself smoking again, no thanks to a schedule that made her shuttle from the ZsaZsa Zaturnnah Ze Muzikal set to her now-defunct GMA soap All About Eve, Eula vowed no way will this happen again.

Now, she’s taking things one assignment at a time. Other projects have to wait.

She’s devoting the entire month of October to playing Blanch Dubois in the Tagalog version of Tanghalang Pilipino’s A Streetcar Named Desire at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

“It’s my first straight play, and I don’t want to gamble (on my time). I’m leaving the entire October free for that,” says Eula.

Never mind if it means she has to pass up more lucrative TV projects along the way.

“The stage is food for the soul. I get a different kind of fulfillment in it... the instant reaction from the audience, etc., etc.” Eula explains.

She also gets a different high out of heading Bagets Foundation — a position she inherited from Quezon City vice mayor Herbert Bautista. Eula and her co-stars in Bagets (e.g. Herbert Bautista, Raymond Lauchengco, Aga Muhlach) put up the foundation which sends deserving young people to school.

One of the fund-raising projects she is eyeing is a concert topbilling Lauchengco before the year ends. The show, which will also feature guest performers, will boost their drive to raise the number of scholars, one of whom already finished college last March.

Eula has reached that stage where she can afford to feed her soul first before she feeds her body. She’s paid her dues as an actress. Now, she’s reaping its just rewards. Most of all, she’s sharing these rewards — in time and talent — with those who need them.

The young person who wants to study but can’t afford it and her Bagets co-stars who are looking for a way to help the needy stand to gain from it all. That’s the kind of food for the soul Eula Valdez welcomes with open arms. That’s the kind of nourishment that will keep her feeling good, no matter what.