A new Sharon in a ‘tawa-serye’

MANILA, Philippines - Sharon Cuneta is returning to television to topbill a TV series, for a change. It’s not just any change because it is the Megastar’s first-ever teleserye in her 30-year showbiz career. She plays the title role on TV5’s Madam Chairman, which will run for 10 weeks and will be part of the Kapatid network’s primetime programming in the last quarter of the year.

Sharon is Bebeth de Guzman, an endearing, loving but imperfect single mother of three who’s working hard to make ends meet when suddenly she is thrust with the awesome responsibility of being the community leader (barangay captain), according to a press release.

“I could have asked for a different talk show, or a musical-talk show (for a comeback)… Pero sabi ko talaga, when they said there’s a show for you, Madam Chairman, anong chairman? (Some kind of high-profile) chairman of the board? I thought it might alienate viewers, but they said, no, it means chairman of the barangay. Dun pa lang, nag-flash before my eyes na ang daming pwede pag-laruan sa character ko, situations niya and the characters surrounding her — her children, the kagawad, enemies, the husband na sumakabilang barangay kasi may kabit… It’s a family drama with a lot of heart and laughter. It’s going to be different from anything that has been seen on TV,” said Sharon, who has three years remaining in her five-year TV5 contract, in an interview Wednesday during a visit to a barangay in Quezon City.

Sharon admitted that taping for a teleserye will be a challenge, but what makes this project special and hard to resist for her, is that it has assembled not just impressive names in the biz but also people close to her heart for the cast and production.

Joel Lamangan is the director, Jose Javier Reyes is the writer and longtime friends like Fanny Serrano and Manny Castañeda, Sharon’s former writer, play a rival and a loyal supporter, respectively, of Madam Chairman.

She had her first “on-the-job immersion” when she visited Barangay Doña Imelda somewhere in Quezon City last Wednesday and spent an afternoon getting oriented on the workaday world of its lady barangay chair Concepcion Malañgen.

Sharon is not a stranger to the political world, thanks to husband, former Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, her father, the late Pasay City Mayor Pablo Cuneta, and many other relatives into politics. Sharon will obviously not be the first showbiz personality to venture into politics if she does, but she has been consistent in saying no, even as people in high-ranking government positions have been telling her to give it a try.

“You know, my daddy was a mayor for 50,000 years (laughs), and I never went out of my way because I never had any interest in politics. I will run, yes,” she joked. “But run away from it.” 

Even for her new show, despite the job of the central character, she said they’re downplaying the political aspects of it because they don’t want to turn off viewers. “Yun yung iniingatan namin kasi ayaw namin ang audience na ma-off pati ako ma-o-off ’pag may politika. I’m sure the same goes for direk Joel, although he has had a social commentary in his movies which is heavy. But this is different. (Maybe people think it has political commentary) because of direk Joey Reyes also, who did the (defunct political-themed sitcom) Abangan Ang Susunod na Kabanata but it was satire. This is not a satire. There can be a running story arc (about the political life) — but not hardcore — because of the nature of the characters.”

Sharon’s comeback marks the end of her seven-month absence from TV following the cancellation of her talk show Sharon: Kasama Mo Kapatid early this year. She revealed that she spent the break for some reflection. “Nag-isip-isip (ako), tinatanong ko sarili ko kung may problema ba ako bukod sa fats ko (laughs), kung may problema ako kung bakit na sibak yung show ko,” shared Sharon.

No tears were shed over her show getting axed, she said, as she likened her experience to moving on from a movie that didn’t fare well in the box-office. “No naman, parang movies, mayroong movie na hindi kumita, they didn’t like the story, so you move on. Then the next one will be a hit, because you’ve chosen a material that you think they will like better because mainly, you make movies for your audience, how sad naman if you take on a challenge, or a challenging role, and there are only five of you watching it. That’s why I like to take on a variety of roles.”

During the interview, Sharon also took the opportunity to clarify tabloid reports that during the seven-month lull she sent feelers to the bigwigs of her former network ABS-CBN that she wanted to work for them again.

She said, “As God as my witness — and I never say that unless, I’m very scared — everybody in ABS knows... I have to say in this issue specially, unfortunately, there’s a liar, kasi nasulat. Ang story is the last time I talked to Sir Gabby Lopez was the night I said goodbye before I signed up with TV5. I haven’t seen him, I haven’t talked to him, I would like to, to say hello.

“I’m close to Ma’am Charo (Santos) and Tita Cory (Vidanes), but they’re decent, I’m decent, you know, we are professionals, and we have never, not once, talked about, texted about or communicated about whatever work with TV5. I have never at all talked about returning to ABS. I never had that talk. If there’s a liar, that’s not me. They can confirm it with the ABS bosses.”

Meanwhile, Sharon has taken up a side project, a scriptwriting contest open to aspiring screenwriters and even those who have long worked in the movie industry not as screenwriters but who would now want to write scripts.

“I want to read new scripts, the winner that will be picked to be turned into a movie, I will give a cash prize of P250,000,” Sharon said. “I’m not looking for a vanity film (but) yung movies I will star in, like what do you want to see me doing, because I’ve done everything, I’ve been there and done that, there’s nothing left to prove, so it has to be something that excites me.”

It’s going to be an indie film, although she plans on securing mainstream distribution for it. For interested individuals, e-mail materials to [email protected].