Regine on using Ogie’s surname

MANILA, Philippines - Regine Velasquez certainly has the credentials and fame to keep her maiden name intact at least to the public eye. That, even if she’s wife to also big star Ogie Alcasid. 

But she herself had made the move to attach Ogie’s surname right after they got married. 

From there on, we have been hearing and seeing the longer Regine Velasquez-Alcasid each time she is introduced before a performance or mentioned in an article, almost like a requirement. Regine insisted the decision was hers. 

“It was my decision. It’s a conscious effort and I want to honor my husband,” she said in a recent interview. 

Discounting any possibility of Ogie opposing had she ask that her established stage name be kept as it was, Regine felt right to tell people to observe what she thought was just proper. 

She shared, “It took some time for people to get used to it. But now I think they have already embraced it. It’s my way of acknowledging the collaboration that is me and Ogie.” 

Regine, along with Concert King Martin Nievera and former Miss Saigon star Jenine Desiderio, was the special guest performer during the Gabay Guro Charity Gala for Teachers recently held at the Manila Polo Club main lounge. 

The black-tie event, presented by JCI Ortigas and TOYM, was a fund-raising occasion staged for the benefit of Filipino teachers. 

Regine sang the Gabay Guro theme song Believing In Me written by her sister Cacai with husband Raul Mitra. 

A project of PLDT with foundation chairwoman Chaye Cabal-Revilla at the helm, Gabay Guro put up a grand tribute yesterday for public school teachers at the SM Mall of Asia. 

The foundation, which held a well-attended event in Hong Kong last June, will also be conducting teacher trainings in Sabah in December. 

Regine herself is a staunch supporter of the teachers’ cause. She related, “Before when we were kids we used to say we want to become teachers. It only shows how valuable they are in our society. I may have ended up as a happy, contented teacher if I did not become a singer.”