Sarah: Girl in love rudely interrupted

I don’t know how you felt but after reading the 40-plus-page Yes! story (nay, “novel”!) about Sarah Geronimo’s “first real heartbreak,” I couldn’t stop shaking my head and whispering, “What a poor girl, rudely interrupted in her first ever experience in love!” And, invoking the name of God as Sarah’s mother Divine (what a meaningful name, isn’t it?) said she would do whenever she felt that Sarah was falling for that “nuisance boy,” referring to Rayver Cruz, I prayed for the enlightenment not of Sarah but of Divine and her husband Delfin as they said they did everytime they lie prostrate at the mezzanine altar of their home, arms spread out in Crucifixion position.

God, save Sarah!

I don’t know what’s yours but my conclusion is this: The brief (lasting hardly a year) “very secret” romance between Sarah and Rayver is just that — a simple story — until parental intervention very rudely and very unkindly nipped it in the bud, leaving Sarah crying over pieces of her heart being broken for the first time. Both are into their early 20s and are therefore legally of age and generally considered old enough to know what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s good for them and what’s bad for them.

and current girlfriend Cristine Reyes.

But Sarah’s divine mother wouldn’t have it that way. She and her husband guarded Sarah with the ferocity of one dozen Jaworskis, checking Sarah’s moves every second on the second, trailing Sarah everywhere she went, preventing Sarah from making friends with people outside of their family, and even monitoring Sarah’s incoming and outgoing celfone calls. Hmmmph! Good thing Sarah hasn’t suffered from suffocation. All because Divine has ordered that Sarah (and, she added, Sarah’s sisters for that matter) couldn’t and shouldn’t fall in love just yet, not until Divine (and Delfin) would tell her that it’s time and, listen to this, only with a man of their choice. To disobey the “order” is tantamount to disobeying God.

Believe it or not: During their romance, Rayver said that he and Sarah saw each other only twice, once for 30 seconds and then for 30 minutes, done on the sly, and under pains of being consigned to eternal damnation through the power of Divine’s prayer.

The Yes! story reminded me of Nick Joaquin (a.k.a. Quijano de Manila’s) Free Press article, titled The House on Zapote Street, in the ’70s about an over-possessive and over-protective cop who acted like a stalker to his own daughter whom he guarded (with an ubiquitous gun) against prospective suitors. The story was made into a movie titled Kisapmata, directed by Mike de Leon, with the late Vic Silayan as the cop-father, Charo Santos as the daughter and the late Jay Ilagan as the suitor and, later, husband of Charo.

Regal Matriarch Mother Lily Monteverde has a friendly unsolicited advice for stage mothers.

Were Sarah’s parents oh-so-over-protective because they’re afraid of losing (to Sarah’s future husband) the family’s workhorse and breadwinner? Why does Divine seem to be so selfish as to deprive Sarah the sweetness of first love? Why do Sarah’s parents impose on her how to live her life her own way and not, as Divine claimed, the way she had done (including marrying a man of her parents’ choice, but against her will)?

Can you blame Rayver (also falling in love for the first time) for ending his romance with Sarah after being told to wait for five years until Sarah’s parents would say that “it’s the right time?” Can you blame Rayver for turning his attention and affection to Cristine Reyes who has guts to fight for her love? Ten years from now when she looks back at this stage of her life, won’t Sarah cry over what has missed — you know, growing up as normally as every girl should by going through the stages of love and loving, making mistakes and learning from them her own way?

“I love Rayver and I sympathize with him,” Regal Matriarch Mother Lily Monteverde told Funfare. “I know him. Mabait siyang bata.”

I put down Yes! magazine feeling very tired not from the 40-plus-page story but from the heavy feeling it has left in me, my heart aching for Sarah who has obeyed her parents at the expense of her own happiness (she’s working so hard and she’s entitled to some relief, isn’t she?).

Moral of this sad story?

Mother Lily: “It’s okay for stage mothers to protect their children but not to the extent of, maybe without their knowing it, making the children suffer emotionally.”

I agree.

Nurture your children with emotional love and care, and not with emotional blackmail.

RAzkal Phil Younghusband with Denisse Oca (daughter of Melissa Mendez), said to be Phil’s ‘regular date’

Did Azkal Phil drop girlfriend for Angel?

Unlike his brother James who has the good sense of not jumping into the murky showbiz waters, Phil Younghusband, an Azkal like James, is again in the eye of a storm involving girls. I suspect that Phil is enjoying the publicity to the hilt because instead of downplaying it, he even adds fire to it by being seen with more girls everywhere, dragging Angel Locsin into the fray by tweeting an invitation to her to be his Valentine date. Yes, Angel did bite, seeing an opportunity to be in the Azkal limelight.

A Funfare VDPA (Very Deep Penetration Agent) said that Phil’s “real constant date” is Denisse Oca, daughter of Melissa Mendez, and, according to the VDPA, “they have been regularly going out since December last year and were together on New Year’s Eve.”

Did Phil drop Denisse after he met Angel?

Before he and the other Azkals left the other day for Japan to train for their second bout with Mongolia on March 15, Phil said (with a wide smile) during an ambush TV interview that he has a predilection of hugging girls, not saying who his real date is.

But somebody close to Denisse is crying “Unfair!” while Phil seemed to be denying that Denisse is his “real regular date.”

“He has a special skill with the football,” said the VDPA, “but Phil should have enough balls to admit the truth.”

Funfare will ask for Phil’s side when he and the other Azkals come back.

* * *

Blowing candles with birthday wishes

Right: Birthday guys (from left) Danny Dolor (belated, September last year), and March-born Girlie Rodis, Shirley Kuan, June Torrejon and Lawrence Tan make their wishes as they blow the cute cakes specially designed for them, complete with their initials.

Then (above), the birthday celebrators and their close friends pose for a ‘family shot’ after partaking potluck dinner at the Vera-Perez Garden last Saturday night. Back row, front left: Girlie, Ricky Lo, Lawrence, Bibeth Orteza, Shirley, June, Dolor Guevarra and Lilibeth Vera-Perez-Nakpil; and (front row, also from left) Mother Lily Monteverde, Danny, Marichu ‘Manay Ichu’ Maceda (who prepared most of the food), Armida Sigiuon-Reyna, Ronald Constantino, Pat-P Daza and Ethel Ramos. (Not in picture is Wilson Lee-Flores who came late.) — Photos Courtesy of Girlie Rodis

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