Isabel: Soaring on the wings of dream

Isabel Granada is not your average only child. She may be pampered, yes, but not sheltered.

After all, adventure could very well be her middle name.

She steps into a four-seater Cessna bound for Dipolog (a plane transfer was in order because they could not be accommodated in the bigger aircraft bound for the said destination), and remains cool and collected, even when the pilot himself is already perspiring because of a telltale noise in his engine.

She keeps her poise and composure even when their plane, flying thousands of feet above sea level, encounters turbulence and her mother, beside her, starts fingering her rosary beads.

True pilot material she is, with her knack for deciding rightly when trouble in the skies begins.

That instance in the Dipolog-bound plane was a case in point. "I already sensed trouble when I heard a voice tell the pilot, Kaya mo yan, pare," recalls Isabel, who never travels without her doting mom by her side.

So she went up to the already-nervous pilot and told him, "Let’s not proceed to Dipolog anymore. Let’s just land in Bacolod."

True enough, another pilot she met in Bacolod their final destination – lauded Isabel’s decision.

"You decided right," he said in admiration. "Otherwise, everyone would have been dead meat by now."

Where does this extra dose of gumption come from?

For starters, Eddie Garcia’s leading lady in FLT Films’ Kapitan Ambo, says this derring-do has been with her ever since she was that high. "I’m adventurous in everything I do," Isabel says. Hence, her sports-mindedness, even her choice of the male-dominated aeronautical engineering for a course.

But Isabel’s pillar of strength, she admits, is actually her mom, whom showbiz insiders fondly call Guwapa. With her by Isabel’s side, the 24-year-old former child star can reach for the sky.

"I never feared death because my mom is always there. With her, I feel safe," explains Isabel. "Otherwise," she adds, "I can’t do anything."

So she pooh-poohed those who discouraged her from pursuing her dreams of becoming a pilot, pointing out how dangerous flying a plane, especially during stormy skies, can be. No one can stop Isabel from going the cockpit and maneuvering her plane to wherever her heart commands her to go.

"My dream destination," she says, "is Spain, where my late dad was born. The last time I’ve been there was when I was only seven."

An upcoming trip to the land of the matadors, therefore, excites her no end.

"My cousin will get married," Isabel says. The lilt in her voice is unmistakable. Spanish is alive and well in the home she shares with her mom. Mother and daughter speak to each other in the langauge of the conquistadores. The TV set is always tuned in to Televicion Espanol, the better for Isabel and her mom to enjoy those shows which remind them of their heritage. Why, even the maids can utter a word or two of Spanish, thanks to constant exposure to the language of their señorita and señora!

The Spanish-speaking unica hija now shuttles back and forth from Manila to her newly-acquired two-story, three-bedroom house in Binangonan. The new house at St. Monique Valais is quite spacious for mother and daughter, who spend leisurely weekends there.

Isabel converted one room into a computer area, where she can concentrate on studying various aircraft designs – which is what her course is all about – undisturbed. Those Spanish charms must have cast their magic spell on Isabel’s mentors in the Philippine Air Force (she automatically becomes a second lieutenant upon graduation), who understand the rigors of her job as a working student.

"A colonel agreed to train me so that my showbiz schedules doesn’t get in the way," Isabel beams. Those showbiz commitments include an album under Asia-Tech Records. Isabel is also slated to appear in a TV commercial pairing her off with her three-month old boyfriend, to be released late November or December.

Like the get-up-and-go girl that she is, Isabel has closed that Don Stockwell chapter of her love life and moved on. Because her new boyfriend – a graduating Electrical and Communications Engineering student – is non-showbiz, Isabel now enjoys the privacy she did not have while Don was still her sweetheart.

No wonder she protects that privacy with the ferocity of a mother tiger guarding her cubs. Isabel balks when asked about her boyfriend’s full name. No amount of badgering from the movie press can force her to reveal more about the new guy in her life.

Surely, this is one adventure of a lifetime Isabel would rather savor at her own pace, in her own time.