This Pinay leads a double life in Italy

In a land where fairer skins, towering heights and bigger built reign supreme, a Filipina with a leaner frame, dusky complexion and petite height has emerged triumphant. Caviteña Maria Christina Blaza de Castro, or Kittie has achievements that could make the average Italian blush.

She has appeared in television shows, modeled for a FILA calendar, and MH Way Rome, released two albums (Raggio di Sole or Sun Ray and Sangre), a video (El Sombrero), traveled to Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Spain to promote her album, and has had radio performances.

She speaks seven languages: Spanish, Italian, French, English, Arabic, mixed Arabic (Italian and Arabic) and Tagalog, of course. Her shows, be they in Milan, Rome or in Pisa where she works as babysitter to three-year-old Emmanuele Catarsi, whose parents are both architects, are crowd drawers.

So what else can the pretty 24-year-old, here on a brief visit, ask for?

"I want to look for my mother Maximina," she answers without batting an eyelash. It turns out Christina grew up without a mom, and it was her deceased father who raised her all by his lonesome.

"They said she left me when I was two months old," Christina relates, not a trace of bitterness in her voice. Now that she has made it big in a land not her own, she wants to share her blessings with the woman who gave birth to her.

Christina, who sings ala-Jennifer Lopez (note the sexy image on her album cover) lives by the dictum that to him unto much is given, much is expected in return. She has put up a foundation for poor children, blessed as she was with the presence of her young Italian ward, whom she brings along on TV and radio appearances, with his parents’ approval, of course.

Strangely, Italy was not Christina’s first target when she sought to work as an OCW in 1988. She wanted to go to Japan, then the haven for Filipinas in search of greener pastures.

But it was just as well that she first got a tourist visa in Italy, where she first lived with relatives. When she got her OCW contract many years ago, she was lucky enough to find supportive employers in the persons of Antonio Catarsi and his wife Giusseppina Gusella.

They encouraged her to develop her singing talents by not coming in the way of her first attempt at professional singing: joining a band with other Italians as members. It was through this band that Christina met her current manager Fernando Capecchi.

What started as a wait-and-see stint became a flourishing career. Today, Christina drives around her own car and has bought a house out of her earnings.

As a tribute to her roots and the Filipino community who has supported her all these years, Christina proudly proclaims in her debut album that her first recording as a singer is dedicated to her kababayans.

You’d think someone as successful in her singing career as Christina would stop babysitting altogether? Think again.

"This is how I started. So why should I leave (this job)? Besides, little Emmanuele is my inspiration," she says, eyes sparkling.

The girl does know how to return to her roots. In so doing, she is sowing more seeds of success, not just for her, but for fellow Filipinos inspired by what she has made of herself in a place miles away from home.