Now, I had written a few articles for different magazines in the past, usually travelogues of fun places I’ve been to around the Philippines and the rest of the world, so I said that yes, I’d written a little. Truth be told, the majority of my writing up to that point had been amusing documentaries of my life and travels e-mailed off to friends and family abroad. Hardly what you would call professional journalism.
I had visions of lawsuits filed against the paper due to my unorthodox views of life, love and the world in general. OK, well, maybe not quite to that extreme, but I was a bit wary of writing my real feelings about certain subjects. I know that the Philippines is still thought of as a fairly conservative and religious country, two things that I’m not. I know I have a pretty open mind, but I like to think I balance that with a fair and unbiased view of right and wrong, unencumbered by societal opinion. But I wondered how the readers of the STAR would react to my "slightly different" point of view. Well, I figured that if anything, at least it would give me a chance to exercise my brain a little (standing in front of a camera traveling around and doing all the sports I love is the best job in the world, but not exactly great for stretching the cerebral muscles).
Suffice to say, I agreed, and then all we had to do was come up with a name for the column. "Marc my Words" was a hot favorite (I forget some of the others, but I sincerely hope "Dear Marcy Marc" wasn’t one of them), until Millet came up with "Question Marc". It just fit perfectly for an advice column by a guy named Marc.
That was about two and a half years ago. Now, as a weekly YoungSTAR advice columnist I get a number of e-mails daily. Sometimes it’s a lot (I think my record was about 50), and other times just a trickle. These numerous e-mails (including fan e-mails...thanks guys!) mean that people are at least reading what I have to say. I’ve noticed that the majority of questions I get are either about relationships or working out. Kind of an odd mix, but it seems these are the topics people feel I can advise them on. I always try to remind readers that the opinions I express are mine alone, and I don’t mean to offend anyone with them, but I do sometimes still balk at answering certain topics.
A few months ago, I received an e-mail from a guy asking if there was anything he could do to make his umm… "appendage" longer, because it was only five inches. I thought to myself, "There’s no way in hell I can answer this one!" It was such an out-of-this-world idea that I mentioned it to my editor at a party when we were talking about some of the more bizarre questions I’ve received, and she proceeded to surprise the heck out of me by encouraging me to answer it! "But surely we couldn’t print that… could we?!" I remarked. Well, gotta love an editor that backs you up. She said if I answered it, she would print it. So I did, and so did she. It was perhaps one of the most personally amusing answers I’ve written, enhanced by the fact that it seemed so bizarre to actually see it in print.
So it would seem that I had a free hand to write on just about any topic, and thanks to my readers, I have. That being said, I was still a little unsure just how my opinions were received by the public. As I mentioned earlier, my views are not exactly in line with traditional conservative thinking. I get concerned about a possible backlash when I write about topics that involve sex before marriage (if you’re going to do it then be careful and don’t hurt anyone’s feelings!) or separation (why stay in a miserable relationship if it’ll just get worse?). I advocate independence, standing up for yourself, and basically not putting up with other people’s s#*t, especially among girls. I’m constantly amazed at how badly a lot of guys treat their girlfriends/wives (and occasionally vice versa), and I hope that in some small way I’ve managed to encourage people to value themselves and not think someone else has the right to put them down or feel lesser in any way (and remember girls, if your guy hits you even just once, get the hell out of the relationship!).
Considering some of my more liberal views, I’m continually surprised when people come up to me and commend me on the column. And yes, it really is me answering all the questions. Be assured I will never get a ghost writer. I’d rather stop the column altogether than let anyone else write under my name.
A lot of people I run into in the entertainment industry actually read it (thanks!) as well as people I meet at the mall, gym, airport, provinces and even overseas. I remember attending a store opening, and afterwards the priest who blessed it came up to me and said that he had been reading my column. I thought, "Oh crap, now I’ve done it! He’s going to give me the third degree for something I wrote!" Imagine my surprise when he told me he loves the column, reads it every week, and sometimes even uses excerpts of it in his sermons! Wow, now there’s a vote of confidence!
So maybe the Philippine public is ready for my particular brand of logic. I don’t profess to be an expert on everything, but experience and good common sense (with a sprinkling of tongue-in-cheek humor) have helped. Sometimes, it takes someone else to point the obvious out to people. I’m by no means perfect, and often turn to my friends for advice for my problems. It helps to get an outside perspective on problems you are often too personally involved in to see clearly. I guess that’s my job with the column. Hopefully it makes a difference, and as long as it does, I’ll enjoy writing it.