A Pinay in Ben Affleck’s (love?) life - FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo

While passersby and bystanders/onlookers may be wondering who the "Asian-looking" lady is often seen working out with Ben Affleck – yes, the Ben Affleck! – at a popular gym in Manhattan, regular health-conscious habitues know exactly who she is.

The lady is none other than Nina Pineda and she’s a pure Filipina, as Pinay as lechon, bibingka, empanada, lanzones and santol which she loves like any native does. Now, you’re asking, "And who’s Nina Pineda?"

In these shores, the name Nina Pineda doesn’t ring any bell (except among her relatives and friends in Iloilo and Pampanga, perhaps). But in America, Nina Pineda is fast making a name for herself (in the process firming up the already established reputation of the Filipinos as world-class talents) as a TV host, specifically as the newest member of the top-rated Eyewitness News telecast every night on ABC 7. Nina’s refreshing, exotic beauty and her sunshiny disposition coupled with her kayumangging kaligatan looks have been making heads – and ears – turn and she’s often mistaken for a Latina, an Indian or a Hawaiian.

"When people ask," said Edmund Silvestre, News Editor of the New York-based The Filipino Reporter, "Nina proudly tells them that she’s Filipino, just like her colleagues Hazel Sanchez of CBS News and Bob de Castro of Fox 5 News. Nina is proud of her heritage."

But don’t ever ask Nina, Edmund warned me, if there’s anything more than mere friendship between her and Ben Affleck. "She’ll blush to death and tell you that they’re just good friends."

Oh, well, just like local stars who never admit (until it’s breaking-up time) that so-and-so is his/her girlfriend/boyfriend. You know, "just friends." Lest she be misunderstood, according to Edmund who interviewed Nina for The Reporter, "Nina refrains from even mentioning Ben Affleck in conversations." Even if, as I was saying, she works out with Affleck in the same Manhattan gym.

Born in Minneapolis and raised in Pittsburgh, Nina is the daughter of Dr. Honorio Pineda who hails from Santo Tomas, Pampanga and Milagros Villanueva (a dietician and jewelry designer), from Balasan, Iloilo, and is the incumbent president of the Association of Philippine Physicians in America (APPA) Auxiliary.

Edmund learned in his interview with Nina that she has been to the Philippines several times and has even met in person celebrities like former President Cory Aquino and Kuh Ledesma. In 1989, Nina stayed in Iloilo for six months, helping relatives take care of her dying grandfather, Army Col. Serafin Villanueva, a Death March survivor.

Before she joined ABC in October last year, 32-year-old Nina was a hotshot TV journalist in Pittsburgh – the only Asian to have reached such heights in the history of Pittsburgh TV news – and it was her agent who helped her land a job with America’s top news market in New York.

Like everybody else who goes to New York (remember, if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere!), Nina had to start from scratch, from nothing, from zero; but she was never disheartened, used as she is to the tough competition in The Big Apple. Her perseverance and hard work, Edmund noted in his story, paid off when Nina was assigned by Eyewitness News to cover George Bush’s inauguration day.

"I’ve always been interested in politics," said Nina who’s a Syracuse University Political Science graduate.

In 1992-93, she handled all celebrity logistics for the Clinton-Gore inaugural, with a budget of $250 million, and later worked for the Washington office of Andrew Cuomo lobbying on Capitol Hills.

At about that time, Nina ventured into news-reporting as a career while at the same time working as a secretary for an executive producer at Fox 5 in Washington D.C. Through the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ (AFTRA) program for minorities, Nina was hired as a junior reporter for Fox 5, beating hundreds of aspirant.

To make a long story short, at Fox 5 Nina met veteran journalist Sam Donaldson whose wife anchors the weekend Fox News in Washington D.C. Donaldson advised Nina to move to a network where she would have better chances to grow, so she went back to her native Pittsburgh where she made a name as a TV journalist.

And now, New York!

Last March when he interviewed Nina, Edmund said that Nina had yet to get an apartment of her own in Manhattan.

Except for her blood and fondness for Filipino food, how much of a Filipino Nina really is?

"Very Filipino!" Nina was quoted as saying, never mind if she doesn’t speak Tagalog and only understands it. "But I’m learning fast, just wait and see."

A scuba diver, golfer, skier and adventure-traveller, Nina hopes to get involved in the Philippine-American community affairs in New York. She’s up-to-date on what’s happening in the Philippines and is "deeply saddened" by recent developments that led to the ouster of President Joseph Estrada.

She has this simple message for her kababayan (particularly in the US):

"Since we’re a minority within a minority, everyone should strive to represent the culture that we have in the best possible light."

That should be a food for thought even for Pinoys back home.

Meanwhile, let’s excuse Nina while she works out with Ben Affleck.