Dad goals: Luis Manzano shares parenting lessons from his dad

MANILA, Philippines — Actor and TV host Luis Manzano signs off his mystery music game show I Can See Your Voice with “I love you, Peanut.” This is the same way that his mom Vilma Santos signed off her shows in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“I love you, Lucky” became what is today’s equivalent of a viral meme, repeated and referenced in Filipino pop culture countless times through decades.

But there was a more private expression of love that Luis grew up with: from his dad, actor and TV host Edu Manzano.

When his parents separated, Luis would spend his weekdays with his mom and his weekends with his dad.

“That was the arrangement and it was never an issue for me,” the PLDT Home ambassador says. “Dad was always there when I needed him. We got to do sports together, we got to hang out. That was my relationship with dad—he was the cool guy. I was always riding on the back of his motorbike when the first Top Gun came out. He would pick me up from school or we’d go around the village on his bike.”

He describes his relationship with Edu as “very parental but, at the same time, it was a guy relationship.”

With Edu having his son only on weekends, you might think that he spoiled Luis to compensate, but the opposite is true. “That actually made him stricter,” Luis says.

“With him, it was always studies first. You didn’t have to be a summa cum laude but you had to be above average. He wanted to know that you were putting in the effort to learn in school. I had to work for everything.”

Luis remembers that he got more toys from other people than from his dad. “Mother Lily of Regal Films, siya pa ang mas malaki magbigay ng birthday gift sa akin.”

With his dad, he had to earn it through good grades. “Dad would take me to Babyland, which used to be in Pasong Tamo, to choose toys.”

When he was about eight or nine, Luis developed encephalitis or inflammation of the active tissues of the brain, which can cause headaches, mental confusion and seizures.

“My mom had to go to the States for a month or two for a series of shows. So I had to stay in my dad’s house because it was quite a delicate condition and I was undergoing medication to relieve the swelling. In fact, I couldn’t watch TV for more than five minutes because the flashing lights might trigger a seizure again. So, daddy just brought food and drinks. When my mom came back, he was tearing up because I had to go back to my mom’s house.”

Celebrity parenting

Luis was the perfect movie baby. His parents were A-list celebrities: Vilma was an award-winning actor who started as a child star and Edu burst onto the showbiz scene as this handsome Fil-Am model and actor.

When Luis was but a child, the offers for him to do movies were endless. He later found out that his dad had turned down what would have been his first movie, which became the hit Ninja Kids and the Samurai Sword, catapulting into stardom the young actors JC Bonin, Francis Magalona and Ramon Christopher.

“My dad was very adamant that studies should come first. That was the one thing he was very strict about,” Luis says.

“In fact, I didn't have to go through the whole child star route. I pretty much entered showbiz in my early ‘20s.”

While he appeared on talk shows here and there, he only really began his career in entertainment via the music channel Myx and much later with his debut film, 2006’s All About Love.   

And now, it is Luis himself that’s in a position to be protective of his family. He and Jessy Mendiola were married in 2021 and had their first baby in December 2022.

“I'm not the youngest dad and it felt like a long time coming,” Luis says. “But it happened in God’s will and in His exact moment.”

When he saw the first ultrasound picture, he thought the image of his daughter looked like a peanut, which is how she got her nickname “Baby Peanut.”

Her real name, Rosie, is from the song they always played when Jessy was pregnant, Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose.

That song was playing too when he had his first quiet moment with Rosie. He held her on his chest while Jessy slept in the hospital bed.

Holding his baby, he realized he had a new purpose in life, and he started crying.  

Open communication           

A PLDT Home ambassador, Luis is big on open communication with your loved ones.

He had it as a child with his parents—which is probably why he’s so grounded and has such a good sense of humor about himself and the world—and he wants to have it with his daughter Rosie when she’s older (she’s only six months old now).  

Luis reveals that when he was growing up, he always wanted his parents to hear everything from him first—from the funny stories to his crushes. As busy as they were, his parents were always around for him.

A PLDT Home subscriber for over a decade, Luis relies on his fastest and reliable connection at home to make sure he’s always connected with his family no matter how busy life gets with his TV hosting, his vlog and creating social media content for his fans.

“I want to make sure that Peanut can talk to me about anything and everything. I want it to be the way I was with my dad and mom—they would always be the first ears to listen. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that happened, they were the first to know.

“I want to be that person in Peanut’s life who, after a long day in school where she might have the highest of highs or the lowest of lows, will stay and quietly listen to her.”

Treasured moments

“I treasure every single moment with my dad,” Luis says.

In fact, he just released a vlog for Father’s Day: Luis interviewing his dad Edu (including that time when his Lolo Manzano accidentally dropped him in an empty swimming pool).

His vlogs—which he has no problems uploading to his YouTube channel in a timely way thanks to a strong internet connection at home—typically give a tender peek at his and Jessy’s home life, as well as their relationship with his parents.

“Not everyone has this kind of father-and-son relationship. In fact, just watching my dad on TV is a very special moment for me. As a host myself, ang sarap panoorin my idol in hosting, whom I can also call Dad. When we’re hanging out with our friends or with my siblings, it’s a pleasure to watch him—the way he laughs, the way he takes care of my siblings and myself included.”

Luis belongs to a blended family that has so much love to give and share—and that doesn’t come by accident, it’s how they were raised. “We found a way to make that blended family setup work,” he says.

He wants this kind of big family love to be in Rosie’s life all the time—a love that will guide and protect her from the evil in the world and all the things that keep parents awake at night no matter how old their children are.

His advice to new dads like himself is “don’t forget about your wives. It's so easy to get caught up and simply focus on your child but don’t lose focus on creating a happy household with your wife.”