Charice gives back to her Gulod neighbors

CABUYAO, LAGUNA, Philippines — You can take Charice out of the barrio but you cannot take the barrio out of Charice.

In our sleepy neighborhood of Gulod in this town last Tuesday, Charice proved that despite her fame and fortune she remains a barrio lass at heart, ready to give back to the neighborhood that nurtured her. That night saw her —albeit on Skype, flashed on a wide screen for everyone to see and hear — sponsoring her first Sunshine Corazon amateur singing contest dubbed as The Ultimate Face-Off joined by 21 contestants from Laguna, Cavite, Bicol, Batangas, Baguio, Quezon and Metro Manila.

Sunshine Corazon is Charice’s character on Glee. She told The STAR that she has remained “barriotic” even if she has created a name for herself in the international singing scene.

Charice, live via Skype from her apartment in Los Angeles, California, sang to her hyper kaba-barrio Telephone, her opening number on Glee when the award-winning show began its second season two Wednesdays ago. She assured me that her appearance on Glee was not a “one-shot deal.” She said she would not be appearing on Glee for Episodes 2 (yesterday), 3, 4, and 5. “But please do watch out for me on the succeeding episodes after that,” she said, laughing at the other end of the line.

Charice said she shoots for Glee from Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. “Everybody comes on time. We are not allowed to work after 7 p.m.”

On weekends, she records songs for her second album. “I am writing most of the songs in my second album,” she happily told me on the phone.

Via the Internet, she joined a panel of judges she personally handpicked including her manager Grace Mendoza, businessman William Sy, Sterling notebook owner Michelle Gankee, and her longtime friends from the barrio Glenn Aldueza and me.

The Sunshine Corazon singing competition started at 9 p.m. of Sept. 28 and finished at 3 a.m. the following day. The contest was held in honor of the feast day of Saint Raphael, the patron saint of Gulod.

Because of Charice’s popularity, the amateur singing contest in Gulod she sponsored was covered live for the first time by big TV networks like ABS-CBN, GMA 7 and TV5, replete with OB vans. Charice, her mother Raquel and brother Carl Pempengco transferred to Gulod when Charice was only seven years old. She finished grade school in Gulod Elementary School and by the time she guested on Ellen and Oprah shows, she was still enrolled at the Gulod National High School. Both schools were right next to the cramped apartment Charice and her family lived in.

She had been on a self-study program ever since her fate changed — courtesy of a fan named False Voice (Dave Duenas in real life) who uploaded Charice’s video on YouTube, which Ellen de Generes viewed and prompted the famous TV host to have Charice as a guest on Ellen in December 2007. In the early part of 2008, Oprah Winfrey declared Charice “the most talented kid in the world” on her show. Charice had appeared on Oprah’s show four times. Oprah and Canadian producer David Foster were so enamored of Charice’s talent and life story that they started to brew some magic concoctions, so to speak, for the diminutive Charice.

Last May, Oprah and David stood as godparents for Charice and her brother Carl when the siblings were baptized as Catholic at the Pasig Cathedral. Their other ninongs and ninangs included STAR entertainment editor Ricky Lo, Boy Abunda, Charo Santos-Concio, Kris Aquino and me. The baptism was held a few days after the launch of Charice’s self-titled first international album with the carrier single Pyramid (which she sang with guest artist Iyaz).

“Everything is coming back to me now, Tito Bum. Hearing all of the contestants sing, I remember how I also joined amateur singing contests in the past. You know that, that’s how I started,” she told me on the phone that night. Charice recounted with me on the phone how, in the middle of the night, we would knock from door to door in the neighborhood to borrow gowns or dresses she would wear for this or that amateur singing contest. She was also thankful to her teachers and neighbors who shelled out money so she could rent a van when she started to join singing contests on TV in Manila.

The very same stage in Gulod where the Sunshine Corazon singing contest was held was also where Charice started her “career” 11 years ago as a force to reckon with in amateur singing contests. She was only seven then. To this day she remembered her winning piece: Isang Lahi.

My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion was the first song she memorized by heart at the age of four.

Charice must have joined more than a hundred amateur singing contests around the Philippines. It was commonplace for her to stay more than six hours in each competition she joined in. It was more commonplace for her to be adjudged the champion in each competition she was in.

She shared a secret she kept when she was still a common face in amateur singing contests: “Mommy never allowed me to sleep when I joined contests so I would not lose my voice. Even if the elimination process of the contest would last for more than six hours, I would fight back sleepiness by keeping myself busy. Minsan kinukurot ko na ang sarili ko para di ako makatulog. Epektib!”

Once when Charice was only eight years old, Raquel recalled, she and her daughter had to go to Calaca, Batangas to join a contest. Their money was only good for one-way fare because the day they were leaving, Raquel discovered that her P4,000, their allowance for one month, was stolen. But both mother and daughter took their chances and went to Calaca. Charice won first prize and took home P8,000 as prize money.

“Malaki po ang utang na loob ko sa Mommy ko,” she told the crowd at the singing contest in Gulod. “Naulanan na kami. Natalo na rin kami. Inapi na rin kami. Pero si Mommy patuloy pa rin nya akong tinuruang kumanta. Siya talaga ang nagturo sa aking kumanta. Kaya ayun, eto po ako ngayon.”

Addressing her mother via Skype, Charice told Raquel: “I love you, Mommy. I’m trying to be a perfect daughter for you so you will always be proud of me. I hope you don’t get tired taking care of me and Carl. You are a wonder-woman!” she said with that apparent American twang.

And before the Skype conversation with her ended, Charice told her mom: “Please come home to L.A. na. Carl and I miss you.” Raquel is leaving Gulod for L.A. tonight to be with her two kids. She was in Gulod to implement the Sunshine Corazon-sponsored singing contest.

Over the phone, Charice congratulated the three winners of the first ever Sunshine Corazon amateur singing contest: first placer Regine de Castro, 28, from Dasmariñas, Cavite, who received P10,000 cash, a Magic sing and a trophy; second placer Rachel Gabreza, 17, from San Juan, Metro Manila, who received P7,000 and a trophy; and third placer Clariza Arganda, from Banadero, Calamba, who won P5,000 and a trophy.

“More than the cash prize, as every amateur singing contestant would agree, it’s the honor of winning the particular contest that truly matters. It’s our pride to bring home the championship trophy. I went through a phase that I got high to collect trophies,” Charice said with a hearty laughter.

Charice promised that she would make it a point to sponsor the amateur singing contest in Gulod every feast day of Saint Raphael.

“I grew up in Gulod. I learned to dream in that place, inside our little apartment. People in our barrio are happy for me. I should also make them feel happy,” Charice ended.

(Follow me on Twitter @bum_tenorio)