VJ Belinda and her pussycats

Extremely popular among teens is slim and smart Belinda Panelo, MTV-Asia VJ. Lately, the 27-year-old has invaded TV soapdom, as the contravida in Judy Anna Santos’ life in the top-rating evening drama on ABS-CBN’s Sa Puso Ko, Iingatan Ka.

When she’s not on TV (hopefully, it’s a Panasonic), Belinda plays tennis with boyfriend Joseph Lizardo, a tennis pro, or stays home with Ernie and Bert, her mixed-breed Siamese cats.

Bet you didn’t know this VJ loves cats.

"Ever since I can remember, we’ve always had cats," Belinda says. Her love for felines began as a young girl when she and her siblings would rescue cats in the Kamuning area where they used to live.

"My sisters and I would pick up stray cats from the streets. We would feed them and then they would run off," Belinda recalls. "I suppose we were allowed to do this because my mom was a cat lover, too."

She shares that when she was about 7, she and her sisters spotted a litter of kittens huddled near a garbage heap. They decided to take one home and named him Mouser. "We had him for the longest time," she laughs.

Their neighbors, however, did not like the stray cats they brought home and would even kick them around. "Please don’t kick them. They are our pets," Belinda and her sisters would plead.

Today, in spite of her busy schedule, she still finds time to look after her two cats. "Before Ernie and Bert came along, I had Flip," Belinda says.

Flip, a purebred Siamese, was one of the nicest and most friendly cats she has ever owned. "He was so friendly, he would go up to people, and even dogs," she recalls.

The amiable cat would play with the neighbor’s kids, who thought that Flip was the cutest and nicest cat they had ever seen. "He was so cute and nice, when I came home one day, he was gone. I suspect one of the neighbors took him," she says.

Belinda would hear Flip meow (she says that when you’ve owned a cat long enough, you can distinguish its meow from the other cats’) and she swears the sound came from next door. She asked the maids of that neighbor if they had seen Flip. "Hindi, walang pusa dito," was what the maid would say.

Belinda also put up signs in the village, offering a reward to anyone who can find her lost cat, but no one came forward. Devastated by the loss of Flip, she swore never to get a cat again.

Last year, Joseph broached the idea of getting a pet. "He preferred a dog, but I convinced him that a cat would be easier for busy people to take care of," says Belinda. This is how they came to own Ernie and Bert.

Joseph found them in a small and dirty pet shop. "I did not want to get them at first because I thought they were too little to be separated from their mother. Besides, they had some sort of skin infection," says Belinda.

But Joseph convinced her that they should take the cats. Ernie and Bert have been with them for over a year now.

"They are the weirdest cats I have ever owned," she says. "I don’t really know what’s wrong with them. They don’t like it when people make sudden movements. And although I’ve had them for a year now, they are only used to Joseph, the cleaning lady and myself."

Belinda is apologetic about her camera-shy cats. She says that whenever they hear the sound of a camera, they run off and hide. "Sometimes when the cats are so malambing, I tell Joseph that this is the perfect time to take their picture. But once they hear the camera, they scamper off to the next room, " she narrates.

Between Ernie and Bert, it is harder to take a picture of Ernie. This explains why it’s only Bert with Belinda in the pictures for this feature.

When Belinda was in the States, she had cats, too. "But they were easy to take care of, compared to Ernie and Bert," she says.

Belinda thinks the cats may have problems. "Never mind. I love them to death," she says and adds, "yes, they were named after the Sesame Street characters. I know it’s not creative, but Joseph observed that they behave like Ernie and Bert," she says.

When Bert plays – with the plastic seal of bottled water for instance – Ernie would come over and play, too. When Bert eats, Ernie would push him aside.

"Bert just lets Ernie have his way. He goes to the other room and comes back when Ernie is done playing or eating," Belinda says.

Why does she prefer cats over dogs?

"Cats are self-sufficient. I don’t have to worry about them. They can take care of themselves," she says. Belinda adds that all the cats she has ever owned have not destroyed anything except toilet paper, and only if she accidentally leaves the bathroom door opened. And a few faxes.

Hopefully, they didn’t contain important messages . . .

"As far as temperament is concerned – Ernie and Bert are moody. Sometimes they come up to me because they want a pat on the head. They’re so sweet! Sometimes, if I go and give them a pat on the head, they get annoyed and hide and they won’t come out until after a couple of hours," Belinda says.

Do Ernie and Bert know they’re Ernie and Bert?

Belinda is not even sure if the cats know their names. "They probably think their names are Hi and Hello. These are the first words they hear from me when I get home," she explains

And that’s "Hi" delivered in a kind of sing-song whisper. "Even Joseph has learned to call the cats this way. Because when you do, Ernie will roll over on his back and allow you to pat his stomach," she says proudly.

Belinda may be home alone but she never gets lonely with Ernie and Bert around. When she comes home mad at the whole world, she knows that Ernie and Bert are there for her. And they will not ask questions. "They accept me for who I am and leave me in peace," she shares.

Belinda reciprocates by making sure her cats eat only the best cat food and takes them to the vet for their shots and when they’re sick. Her cats, she says, are neutered – no problem about leaving home to meet other cats. A cleaning lady comes every day to clean up the kitty litter.

"When I was growing up one of our responsibilities was keeping the kitty litter clean. I have graduated from that," she says.

"I don’t know what it is about cats, but I find them more interesting than dogs. They are soothing creatures. I like to hold them. I like the way they feel and most of all, I like the way they make me feel," she says.

Although her cats are not ready to meet the press or bask in the limelight, Belinda says that they are really nice cats. "They’re just a bit weird."

She muses: "In a way, I’m like my cats. I like being independent and I would rather do things myself."

There is one thing which makes Ernie and Bert different from her.

"And what’s that?" Belinda asks.

Unlike the popular MTV VJ, they hate being photographed.

Belinda laughs, "I guess you’re right."