Pilar Pilapil wants to be more than The Kontrabida Actress

CEBU, Philippines — Pilar Pilapil feels she has been typecasted for antagonist roles, and while she doesn't complain, she wishes she could take on roles more akin to those done by her idol Meryl Streep.

“To be quite frank, kontrabida roles are not actually what I want to do,” the Cebuana actress told The FREEMAN during an interview at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, where she was recently honored with a Sugbuanong Bahandi award by the Cebu City government.

“There's so many roles that I can portray other than being a kontrabida. But since those are the roles offered to me, I have to make the most out of it.”

She has told The FREEMAN in a 2015 interview that she has always looked up to Streep as an actress.

“I just want good roles. And these don’t come easy. Meryl Streep’s roles -- wow! Those are what I like to portray. But we don’t get that here. Here, if you’re of a certain age, they give you a certain role. In Hollywood, they value your talent and investment as an actor no matter what age you are,” she said.

Her latest kontrabida role was a two-month stint in GMA’s long-running afternoon series “Abot Kamay na Pangarap” (reportedly ending soon), where she played Chantal Dubois, the equally evil mother of Moira Tanyag, portrayed by Pinky Amador.

Between the time Pilapil, 73, played the cruel grandmother to child actress Sophia Reola in ABS-CBN’s 2018 late-morning series “Nang Ngumiti ang Langit” and “Abot-Kamay”, Streep was able to play Nicole Kidman’s passive-aggressive mother-in-law in “Big Little Lies”, a dismissive US president in “Don't Look Up”, and Martin Short’s love interest in “Only Murders in the Building.”

“Unfortunately, I am not too sure if we have that many good, diverse roles like that in the Philippines. It’s the frustration that I have, actually,” she admitted. “We could really create better stories, better themes, better roles for actors like me.”

That said, Pilapil doesn’t do the same variation of the kontrabida woman. In GMA's “First Yaya” and its sequel “First Lady”, she plays Blesilda Acosta, the mother of Gabby Concepcion’s character who is the president of the Philippines. Though she starts as one of the antagonists, her character eventually has a soft spot for the titular character, played by Sanya Lopez.

In “Etiquette for Mistresses”, Pilapil’s character shows compassion to her husband’s (Eddie Gutierrez) mistress (Claudine Barretto).

“I am portraying different roles each time. Even if I am the kontrabida, they are completely different personalities that I am portraying, so I have to act differently. You cannot be the same with the roles given to you,” she said.

“Every role, I try to do well at it. I do not want to shortchange the viewers. I want to make sure they are satisfied with my performance, whether it’s live or taped. That’s just my goal in my career and in my life as an actor: I make sure my viewers are happy with my performance and always remember every performance that I have.”

If there is one viewer Pilapil can count on to tune in regardless of the role, it’s her churchmate, singer Dulce, her fellow Sugbuanong Bahandi awardee this year.

“Once Pilar is part of that series, I really watch her. I am a big fan. Even if it’s a kontrabida, I can see that it’s never the same as her former role,” praised Dulce. “She makes a mark every time, and she gives it her all. When you see a scene, she raises the bar so high.”

As “First Lady” aired during the final months of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in 2022, Pilapil was asked during the show’s press conference what advice she would give if she were Duterte’s mother.

“The advice I can give [to Duterte] is to probably be more careful in addressing the public, knowing we are a people of different ages and ways of thinking. So I would probably constantly advise him to be more careful,” she said.

Asked what advice she would give President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. if she put her shoes again as Blesilda, Pilapil would tell him to focus on agriculture.

“Duterte focused on building this, building that. Duterte and Bongbong’s father already did that. I haven’t seen a president who has completely focused on agriculture. Everyone wants a white-collar job, but those can be superficial. We need to focus more on agriculture because that’s what we need for our future,” she said.

“One day, we will run out of food, and America will run out of food first. We must ensure Asia, especially the Philippines, can supply enough food for the country, if not the world.”

It’s been 57 years since Pilapil became the first Cebuana to represent the Philippines in Miss Universe. As Miss Universe Philippines 2024 Chelsea Manalo, from Bulacan, prepares to compete in Mexico this November, Pilapil gave her approval to the country's first Black Filipina representative.

“When I won Binibining Pilipinas Universe, I wasn’t pure Filipina. I’m mestiza — I have Irish blood. She has Filipino blood and has the right to be our Miss Universe Philippines. We can be proud of her,” Pilapil said.

However, she observed that Manalo’s win continues the pattern of half-Filipinas representing the country, which she believes reflects how foreigners perceive Filipino women.

“Foreigners don’t often look at a Miss Philippines for Miss Universe and see someone who looks ‘fair.’ It’s very seldom, and Catriona Gray was a lucky exception. But look at the other candidates; they don’t look mestiza. They look very Filipino because that’s what foreigners like,” she said.

“When foreigners come to the Philippines, they often see a different kind of Filipina on the streets. The organizers are aware of that, and that’s probably why they encourage those types of beauty queens to win.”

When she’s not in Manila working as an actress, Pilapil is likely in Cebu or abroad, preaching the word of God on behalf of her church, Living Word.

“I’m quite busy here in Cebu doing ministry work because my church has jail ministry and a ministry for abandoned and abused women. I’m quite busy in the service of the Lord, but of course, I don’t forget that I’m also an actress. Modesty aside, a lot of people in Manila still want me to be there,” she said.