Vina Morales: 'I'm happy with or without lovelife'

CEBU, Philippines - Six years since her last acting project, Vina Morales is back on primetime television via ABS-CBN’s “Agua Bendita”, a series that allows the Cebuana to display her still fluent command of Bisaya and had her tape some crucial scenes in Cebu City.

Her last appearance was in “Maria Flordeluna”, and before that, years ago in “Darating ang Umaga”.

Last month, Vina and John Estrada shot a few scenes within the Sinulog mardi gras route, with the authentic festivities going on in their background. The pair, who play husband and wife in the soap that replaced the faith-themed “May Bukas Pa”, was also joined by another Cebuana, Pilar Pilapil for some scenes that were taken inside the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

“I am just so proud and very happy nga nakaapil ko ani kay it caters to the Cebuanos. Ang ubang dialogue namo, mag-Binisaya mi. I was reading the script, sige ko og hilak. This is a spiritual fantaserye. Medyo religious pud ni siya. It’s about twins, paglilihi, and himala. Kung kahibaw mo atong Agua Bendita komiks, mao ni siya,” she says in a recent interview at the Cebu Parklane Hotel.

The Cebuano dialogue will come with subtitles so the non-Visayan audience can understand. Vina’s younger sister, Shaina Magdayao actually already essayed the title role of “Agua Bendita” before for one episode of Komiks Presents. This, however, is good for one season and will run for a few months.

The singer-actress plays Mercedes, the mother to Andi Eigenmann’s (daughter of veteran actors Jaclyn Jose and Mark Gil) dual role of Agua and Bendita. “Himala man nga nagka-anak ko. Naglihi ko sa kinawat nga holy water, so my twins are made of water. It’s a beautiful story and excited kaayo ko kay diri gibuhat sa Cebu,” she shares of her role.

“It’s been six years since the last time I acted because I concentrated on singing. More on doing concerts abroad, so puro lang ko tour,” she recalls, adding that she wishes to tour again after “Agua Bendita” wraps up.

Sure, the 34-year-old has played mother roles before, but being a mother herself now adds a new perspective to how she attacks her part. She will now have a genuine well of emotions to pull from. Vina is evidently a proud mom, often gushing about her five-month-old child Ceana in the course of the conversation.

Since she tapes four times a week, Vina asked permission from her network to bring Ceana on set so that she can still take care of her first-born. Her daughter gives her such contentment that she just shrugs off the other aspects of her life that might not be faring very well.

“I’ve been through a lot, but I’m just happy that I have my daughter now. With or without love life, happy gihapon. I’m very complete because of my daughter. Ang akong personal life karon, I don’t think about it because for now my focus and priority is my daughter. I don’t care if my love life is guba, bahala nalang sila! Basta ako, happy lang gyud karon ug positive this year.”

If she has one prayer it would be for “a good future for Ceana, for me to have more projects, because I’m looking forward to work again. And for my family to be healthy.”

Speaking of healthy, Vina’s figure would be a cause of envy for any woman, granting that she did just give birth a few months ago. The ASAP regular started dieting two months after giving birth and began hitting the gym again (spending a maximum of three hours daily) when her baby was four months old. Always the fitness buff, she didn’t want childbirth to be an excuse for being fat. Now, she thinks she is thinner than before she had Ceana.

Aside from taping scenes for “Agua Bendita”, Vina had two other reasons to be back in Cebu last month. She earlier topbilled the pearl anniversary concert of the Cebu Pop Music Festival held at the Cebu Coliseum. This served as a homecoming of sorts, for it was on this very same stage — at 10 years old — where she sang the winning piece “Paglaum”, and earned the “Best Interpreter” award. That victory jumpstarted her career in showbiz.

A few days after, she also graced the ribbon-cutting of the family-owned lucrative franchise “Ystilo Salon” at the upper floor of SM City Cebu, with sister Shaina.