Carol’s own Tanging Yaman experience - FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo

Curtain-raisers:

* Best wishes to Freddie de Leon, Northwest flight attendant, who’s swapping "I do’s" with Emyrose Tecson tomorrow evening at 7 at the St. Pancratius Chapel, Paco Park, Manila. Freddie is Alfredo de Leon III, the only son of the late Alfredo de Leon, Jr. and Perla Lapido while Emyrose is the daughter of Emigdio Tecson and Rosario Bautista. The reception will be held at the Paco Park Garden.

* The Registry of Interpreters for Deaf Empowerment (RIDE) will stage a fund-raising song-and-dance musical production, featuring its sign-language students and interpreters, today at the Kaban ng Hiyas, Maysilo St., Mandaluyong City. Also performing are Alpha artist Chino Romero, The Maui Boys and the special children of the Guardian Angels. RIDE trains sign-language interpreters who will break the language barrier between the hearing and the hearing-impaired. For concert tickets, call Jun Celada at 532-57-95.

* British-born Pinay artists Jennifer "Jenny Jane" and Jeanna Leah C. Cachero, ages 13 and 7, are arriving with their parents, Gill and Abdulia Cachero, for a two-week holiday. The sisters have done stints with Miss Saigon in London where the Cacheros are based and starred in commercials and TV shows. They’re also both winners of Munting Mutya Philippines and Little Miss United Kingdom. Their contact persons (in case anybody is interested) are Tess Simbre (851-77-47 or 854-62-93) and Lina (512-75-65).

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Why was Carol Banawa more excited when she auditioned for a role in Star Cinema’s Metro Filmfest 2000 entry, Tanging Yaman, than she was for a role in Miss Saigon Manila version? Simple: She felt that she could relate to the Tanging Yaman role (as one of the three children of Johnny Delgado and Hilda Koronel, along with Marvin Agustin and Shaina Magdayao) more than she could to Kim or whatever role was up for grabs in Miss Saigon.

"Besides," admitted Carol, "after the second audition, I had a feeling that competition for the Miss Saigon slots was getting tougher, so I backed out. At that time, too, I was auditioning for The Little Mermaid which I passed. I eventually played the Mermaid title role, together with Karylle (Kaye Tatlonghari, daughter of Zsa Zsa Padilla and estranged husband, dentist Modesto Tatlonghari)."

During the Tanging Yaman audition, according to Carol, comebacking direk Laurice Guillen asked her to sing (the role requires singing) and talk about her life, so Carol did, concentrating on that one unforgettable though painful episode of her life when she lost a brother (home for a holiday from his job in Saudi) and saw her father rendered half-paralyzed by carbon-monoxide poisoning inside their own car (engine and aircon were "on" while both were asleep) at the car park of SM Megamall while waiting for Carol and friends to come back from an appointment.

"I was crying while I was telling my story," recalled Carol who has also been tapped to sing the movie’s theme song (also entitled Tanging Yaman). "I related at once to my role in the movie which is about a family whose members are brought closer to one another by tragedy. I sympathize with the character of Tita Gloria (Romero as the matriarch of a clan beset by intrigues, jealousy and rivalry among the children) who’s afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease. You see, my father (Ben Banawa), who’s 53, is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and, like Tita Gloria’s character, he hardly recognizes people, not even us. It was the accident that caused his disease."

Her most touching scene in Tanging Yaman is the one in which she’s singing Panunumpa (culled from Star Records’ Tanging Yaman album) to the ailing Gloria who, in a fleeting moment of lucidity, recognizes her in near tears. "Again," said Carol, "naalala ko ang father ko when we were shooting that scene."

Touted by Star Records (with which she’s under a three-year contract) as "A Singer Who Can Act," Carol started singing at age 3, belting out Somewhere Out There (from the Steven Spielberg animation The American Tail) like a seasoned singer. At 8, she made it to the grand finals of the Munting Mutya search where she was discovered by Ivory Records which made her record an album of 10 songs (including Somewhere Out There) entitled Children’s Contest Pieces. The Banawas soon moved to Metro Manila from Batangas City when Carol joined Ang TV.

Carol finished high school at St. Brigette (where Rosanna Roces also studied, although the nuns there refuse to acknowledge her) and would have been an Information Technology junior at the University of Asia (formerly Center for Research and Communications) when she quit. She now plans to enroll either in a Film & Audio-Video course at UP or La Salle.

Confessing that her "puppy love" (when she was 15) was her Ang TV co-star Paolo Contis (then 12), Carol briefly went steady with Carlo "Hello Billy" Muñoz. "We broke up amicably," said Carol. "We’re still friends. Going steady involves a lot of responsibility and obligation, which I cannot cope with now that I’m busy with my career."

Angelique, Ramon still on honeymoon

If you’re still missing Angelique Lazo on RPN 9’s Primetime Balita, don’t fret. Give Angelique a break while she and brand-new husband Ramon Mayuga are enjoying their honeymoon in Europe.

This time of the year is conducive for such an intimate adventure (it is, isn’t it?) because it’s cold out there and cozying up to your loved one feels like heaven.

Angelique and Ramon, a divorcee and president of Basic Petroleum, got married last Nov. 4 at The Church of the Holy Trinity in Los Angeles, with only members of their respective families and intimate friends present. Ramon is into his 50s while Angelique is in her late 30s. An Ateneo graduate, Ramon is a family friend of the Lazos (Angelique’s parents are Commodore Liberato Lazo and Azucena Lazo). He’s the son of Jose and Simona Mayuga.

The couple went steady for six years before they decided to get married. They met a year after Angelique’s abortive wedding to Manny Ayala (remember when she backed out on the eve of the supposedly big event also slated in L.A.?).

Anyway, here’s wishing Angelique and Ramon a hundred years of blissful togetherness.