Who is Christian Bautista's Valentine's date?

Asian singing sensation Christian Bautista will be playing tribute to Manila’s beautiful women with a romantic concert, My Beautiful Girls, on February 14, 8:00 p.m. at the Newport Performing Arts Center, Resorts World Manila.

Special guests include gorgeous Bb. Pilipinas Universe Venus Raj, Bb. Pilipinas International Krista Klener and Miss Resorts World Manila 2010 Wendy Tabusalla. Moreover, the dashing balladeer will be accompanied by the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, setting the mood for a truly unforgettable evening.

At the presscon held the other day, Christian was asked about his comment on the influx of foreign artists to do shows on Valentine’s day (or any time of the year, for that matter) and the balladeer, who is also an officer of OPM (Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit) had this to say: 

“We are presenting our own concerts that we hope that the Filipinos would like. We welcome the coming of foreign acts here in the Philippines. It helps us in our tourism. But we also want to tell the Filipinos na sana they would also support the Filipino acts kasi if they would only support foreign acts and forget our local artists, the OPM will die. We continue to do our best to do well in our shows, in our music and hopefully, we can also feel our national pride.”

Since he is also an international artist himself (Christian is popular in Indonesia), where does his empathy lie? “There are also other Filipino artists making it outside the country like Charice and Arnel Pineda. If we impose the same laws on them, mahihirapan naman sila, di ba? Plus almost all the hotels in the world have Filipino musicians or artists performing in them. We believe there should be a good negotiation. Kailangan lang talagang mag-usap,” said the balladeer.

“Baka ako ay mapigilan din sa ibang bansa if we impose certain sanctions on foreign artists. We should have an open discussion on what is the best possible solution on the matter, the best way that would benefit both.”

Christian also disclosed that the movie he did in Indonesia is already finished and they are just looking for a playdate for the film wherein he portrays a struggling singer. The movie might be shown either March or April in Indonesia and Christian will leave for Indonesia for the promo of the film. He is not sure if the said movie would be shown here in the Philippines but they are working it out that should a local film production outfit decide to distribute it here, they certainly would love to see the movie released in the Philippines.

At the presscon, the very single Christian also asked Venus if she could be his date on Valentine’s Day. “Single naman siya at single naman ako so ‘yung concert na lang ang date namin,” he explained. “Ako naman, open naman ako sa friendship at kung anuman ang mag-evolve doon pero sa ngayon we will see what will happen during the concert.”

We asked, is it going to be a friendly date or a romantic date? “It is a friendly date. Before I go on a romantic date, maraming friendly date muna ang mangyayari,” he said.

Among the three girls, it is only Venus whom Christian invited for a date, because she’s the only one who’s single. Krista and Wendy both have boyfriends. “She’s a very, very nice girl. She loves her family, very professional. She even made kuwento na darating ang pamilya niya to watch the concert since this is the first time that she will be singing in a concert,” said Christian.

Meanwhile, a few weeks ago, Christian’s mom was diagnosed of having Stage 2 breast cancer. It was very hard for Christian and his family as the news came as a surprise for them. But the incident had brought his family closer and they really had a lot of prayers from family and friends. Relatives and friends also helped them get over the situation.

“Her left breast was operated on and I was just thankful na okay na siya. She’s healthy na uli. She need not undergo chemotherapy. But she’s taking medications for her illness. But she’s back to work although we were telling her to take it easy. Gusto niya kasi na nagtratrabaho. We are very thankful to God that she was able to make it,” Christian related.

“But when we learned about her illness, our only concern was her. Mawawala ang ibang maliliit na problema. Yung iba mong iniisip, ang liliit lang pala noon. Parang naririnig lang natin ang bagay na ito sa news or sa TV or sa movie, pero pag nangyari sa nanay mo, iba pala ang feeling,” he said.

Christian even asked his mom if it’s okay for her if he would talk about her illness. “She said yes and she added na tell them na through prayers and through faith, talagang na-heal ako. So this is to inspire the other people who are experiencing the same thing, whether sa parents or sa kapatid, or personally, with the right help, medicine, doctor and the right faith, makakaraos po kayo diyan. All you have to do is to believe. Kaya po ng Diyos iyan.”

While his mom is not yet completely cancer-free (it might come back, as it sometimes happens), he said her mom is on medication and is gaining weight again. She’s back to work but she’s more on a relaxed mode. But when he first heard the news of her mom’s illness, Christian admitted he was very, very affected. He found it hard to concentrate on his work plus he had to leave for Indonesia for the movie shoot. But he was in constant touch with her mom through phone calls. And he’s really thankful that his mom is doing okay now.

On his Valentine concert on the 14th, Christian is dedicating a song to her mom. We are pretty sure that number is going to be an emotional moment for both of them.