What Yorme Isko reminds son JD
The name should ring a bell.
“At first,” Joaquin Domagoso (JD for short) told Funfare in an exclusive Zoom interview, “my manager thought of calling me Wacky Moreno. But there is a Wacky in showbiz already, so we settled for my real name, Joaquin Domagoso.”
Actually, JD didn’t have to capitalize on the screen surname of his father, Manila Mayor Isko “Yorme” Moreno, who adopted the surname of the late German “Kuya Germs” Moreno who built him up after he was discovered at a wake in Tondo, Manila, by talent scout Daddie Wowie (he served as Yorme’s manager and now JD’s). But what’s in a name? As the poet said, a rose by any name would smell as sweet. JD is making a sweet name solely on his own merits (although it does help to be identified as “Yorme’s son,” the third among Yorme’s children with wife Diana Lynn Ditan-Domagoso).
JD is indeed his father’s son, as in mana sa tatay, even if showbiz-watchers observe that he’s a bit (lang naman) better looking than his dad (Yorme has his own unique appeal). He’s genuinely friendly, a good speaker (fluent in English) and is game in answering any question even if his handler cautioned him against entertaining “somewhat personal” ones. Yorme is like that as proven in several interviews with The STAR from the time he was elected Manila Councilor (for three terms,1998 to 2007) before he was elected Vice Mayor (in 2007) and then Mayor (in 2019) after he failed in his senatorial bid.
In January 2020 when Taal Volcano erupted, Yorme donated some P4M (which he got from various endorsements) for those affected by the disaster. During a Capital Report at the City Hall, JD handed his dad a piece of paper which turned out to be a check for P50,000, part of his own earnings as endorser for Bench and Cherry Mobile, for the same cause. According to reports, the surprised dad tapped his son in the tummy and said, “We were at home last night and you didn’t tell me,” adding in jest, “Kanino ka ba nagmana?” Well, it goes without saying. JD said that he was inspired by a group of students who died in a car accident on their way back from Batangas after distributing relief goods.
How does he adjust to being in the limelight even before he joined showbiz? Well, it comes with the territory.
“I stay the same,” smiled JD, a Business Entrepreneurship sophomore at Southville International School (BF Parañaque). “Ayokong umangat ang pagtingin ko sa sarili ko. I stay humble, stay grounded. I guess the thing that has changed is the way people regard me. They want to have selfie with me, pa-picture sa akin, at okey lang naman sa akin all the time.”
As JD joined showbiz, his dad’s only advice to him is “to listen.”
“It sounds so simple but actually it’s very important and very meaningful,” noted JD. “He reminds me to listen to my manager. Wala pa ako masyadong alam sa showbiz, so I cannot just go in and pretend that I know everything. Papa said that I need to listen to my superiors, sa mga may alam, to my co-stars during the shoot kasi doon daw lalabas ang reaction ko kung talagang nakikinig ako.”
A Kapuso, JD is being groomed as the loveteam-mate of Cassy Legaspi (the daughter of Carmina Villarroel and Zoren Legaspi). They are together in the forthcoming GMA soap First Yaya with Gabby Concepcion (as president) and Sanya Lopez (who replaced Marian Rivera, in the titular role).
“I play an activist,” said JD. “Hindi ko gusto ‘yung government. Cassy plays the president’s daughter. I’m hitting the president and at the same time nagkakagusto ako sa anak niya. Do I find it hard to internalize the character? Not really, kasi may mga politicians na nakakainis talaga.”
JD turned 19 on Oct. 24 last year and Cassy (and twin brother Mavy) 20 last Jan. 6.
“I am sobrang happy that Cassy and I are a loveteam,” added JD. “Before pa, when I was starting at GMA, we were already friends. We were together in Studio 7. From the first day of that shoot, click na kami. She likes Blackpink. Ako naman, nagagandahan talaga sa Blackpink. Cassy likes all the Blackpink songs. Ako naman, only some of the Blackpink songs, not all. Ibang klase ang Blackpink, ibang level sila. And also, mahilig ako sa anime, Japanese cartoons. Walang masyadong nakaka-relate sa mga anime na gusto ko, especially on the set.”
Cassy is single (NBSB/No Boyfriend Since Birth) and so is JD (he claimed to be fancy-free).
Is there any possibility for them to be, well, more than friends?
“Puede naman,” JD admitted, laughing. “Ako naman, I’ll never know. Dahan-dahan, nakikilig ako kay Cassy, especially during our scenes together. May kaunting, ewan, I don’t know how to explain it. Basta, may something.”
If and when, would he formally court Cassy?
“Right now, siempre bantay-sarado ni Miss Carmina si Cassy. Out of respect, I don’t want to go to their house at ligawan si Cassy kaagad. I want to see first where things go. But the most important thing is focus muna kami sa career.”
By the way, what else does his dad Yorme remind him?
“To finish my studies.” He said, “‘Kahit anong gawin mo basta tapusin mo ang pag-aaral.’ At saka, huwag daw ako makakabuntis.”
(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)
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