Like father, like son

How they stand?

Here are the grosses (Metro Manila only) of the Magic 7 in the ongoing Metro Filmfest as of Day Three (Dec. 27):

* Agimat (Anting-Anting ni Lolo) – P4.7 million

* Mano Po – P3.7 million

* Dekada ’70 – P3 million

* Home Alone Da Riber – P2.4 million

* Alamat ng Lawin – P1.9 million

* Hula Mo, Huli Ko – P1 million

* Lapu-Lapu – P628,000

...and the grosses as of Day Four (Dec. 28, day after the awards night):

* Mano Po – P5.8 million

* Agimat (Anting-Anting ni Lolo) – P4.3 million

* Dekada ’70 – P2.8 million

* Home Alone Da Riber – P2.4 million

* Alamat ng Lawin – P1.5 million

* Hula Mo, Huli Ko – P817,000

* Lapu-Lapu – P457,000

With Imus Productions’ entry Agimat (Anting-Anting ni Lolo) leading the pack at the tills in the current Metro Filmfest, all eyes are focused not so much on the two older Revillas – Sen. Ramon Revilla, Sr. and Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr., that is – as on the third one, Ramon "Jolo" Revilla III who’s the real bida of the movie, cast as Pao, the school boy who possesses the agimat.

Agimat is only Jolo’s second movie, the first having been the 1999 Peping Agimat which was also topbilled by Jolo’s lolo and papa.

Only 14 and already standing 5’7" (and still growing), Jolo is a high school freshman at La Salle Zobel (Ayala Alabang), the second of Bong and Lani Mercado’s six children (the others are Bryan, also now an actor, 16; Inah, 13; Gianna, 7; Loudette, 5; and Ram, 4).

The sum total of his parents’ best qualities (50 percent Bong and 50 percent Lani), Jolo considers his dad "my idol."

"He might be a chick boy," said Jolo of Bong, star of the GMA sitcom Idol Ko Si Kap of which Jolo is a cast member, "but he’s an ideal father. He’s a good boy, like me, and very galante. I can ask extra money from him but not from my mom who is kuripot," smiled Jolo who has his dad’s thick eyebrows, chinky-eyed smile and keen eye for girls. "It’s from my Mom, though, that I’m learning how to handle money. Mahusay humawak ng pera si Mommy."

Asked if he believes all the rumors linking Bong to other women, Jolo shook his head.

"I don’t," he said, "because I know that Daddy loves only one woman, none other than my Mom."

His taste in girls differs a bit from that of his dad.

"I like them chinita, simple, mabait at may respeto sa family," said Jolo.

All the Revilla kids, according to Jolo, are constantly reminded by their parents to work hard in school, not to let their being Revillas go to their heads and to always keep their feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Dad and I are like barkadas," added Jolo who calls Bong kuya with whom he can freely share confidences and boy secrets. "Kuya Bong is humble and down-to-earth. When he’s mad, he doesn’t scream or scold us; patingin-tingin lang."

Given the chance and the break, who would Jolo rather be, his lolo or his kuya?

"Both siempre," said Jolo, his eyes disappearing into slits as he smiled.

A word from friends in US

It’s this time of the year when I get cards and letters from friends miles and miles away, among them Ruben and Janet Nepales who are based in L.A. with their daughters Nikki and Ella. I want to share the couple’s letter with Funfare readers. Here it is:

Dear Ricky,

As we bring another year to a close, we hope the holidays and the years ahead will be a peaceful one for all of us.

So what have the stage parents been up to, did you ask? Thanks for asking!

Nikki and Ella continue to be our source of inspiration and pride. Their poems have been published in poetry anthology books – Nikki’s in A Celebration of Young Poets and Ella’s in Celebrate! Young Poets Speak Out.

Nikki, who is currently the student council commissioner general (president), is once more her school’s contestant to the science individual event in the junior high academic decathlon. So Nikki can just prepare at home, the Dad, with his, ehem, interest and aptitude in science, has volunteered to coach her. He has so far found it, um, fascinating, switching back and forth from interviewing and writing about Tobey "Spider-Man" Maguire and Anthony Hopkins to discusisng Dmitri Mendeleyev’s periodic table with Nikki.

Ella, on the other hand, is the alternate contestant in the literature event. Janet is coaching her and the actual contestant.

Speaking of Janet, the scene-stealing, irrepressible mother won (again!) our parish’s best Halloween costume award in a "Tempting Tigress" outfit complete with a mask.

The girls keep winning ribbons in their swim competitions, fueling their parents’ dreams of early retirement and fantasies of Speedo product endorsement contracts. Parents can dream, can’t they?

This season, Nikki, Ella and their choirmates from Our Lady of Lourdes (OLL) Children’s Choir, with the OLL Chamber Singers and a chamber orchestra, will sing Vivaldi’s Gloria and other songs in a holiday concert at our church. It has been a joy going to the choir’s quarterly concerts this year, highlighted by their interpretation of John Rutter’s Requiem and Morten Lauridsens’ Lux Aeterna.

The choir has submitted a videotape that we hope will be included in Vatican Christmas 2002, a 24-hour telecast, radio broadcast and web cast celebrating Pope John Paul II’s 25th Christmas. The choir’s performance was videotaped and scheduled for airing last Christmas Day, with the girls singing a cappella renditions of Veni Veni Emmanuel and Away in the Manger.

In the reception after the Simbang Gabi, (Filipino advent mass) in our parish, Ella danced the Tinikling while Nikki performed Bulaklakan.

May the coming years present opportunities for us to see you again.

– Peace,

RUBEN and JANE What’s up?

* Philippine Cinema’s popular stars of the ’70s and ’80s will hold a grand reunion tomorrow, Jan. 1, 8 p.m. at the Rococo Bar and Restaurant (located at 45 Polaris Street, near Jupiter Street, Bel Air, Makati). The rare event is a project of the celebrities themselves (like Liz Alindogan, Julie Ann Fortich, Maria Isabel Lopez, Janet Bordon, Veronica Jones, Melissa Mendez and Jean Saburit, among others) who are inviting their contemporaries. Guests are requested to wear something white. Call 0919-7768525 for details.