Loren back to her first love

(First of two parts)

No matter how blackened the image of the Senate is at the moment, Loren Legarda seems above it all and remains one of the most beloved and accomplished senators of this republic. But even if she’s now flying high in the field of politics, her image as a child of television still remains etched in the mind of the public. This will, in fact, be reinforced once more when her new public service program, Loren: Kabalikat Natin, premieres on the ABS-CBN News Channel (Channel 21) on June 29, Saturday, at 7 p.m.

Senator Legarda is visibly excited about her return to the small screen after a six-month absence because television is really her first love. In a recent chat with her, in fact, we refused to discuss politics and focused on TV talk. Everything you’ll read below therefore will only be about Loren and how television shaped her life from the time she was just an ordinary viewer in Malabon.

Early memories of TV. As a child, Loren remembers watching mostly cartoons – especially Popeye. In the afternoon, there would be the old Tagalog movies, which she loved (Trudis Liit was her favorite) and in the early evening, Oras ng Ligaya on ABS-CBN.

People she admired on TV as a child. When she was still a little girl, Loren looked up to the movie stars she used to see in the old Tagalog movies shown on TV: Gloria Romero, Susan Roces and Eddie Rodriguez in his eternal love triangles. In high school, however, she wanted to become another Tina Monzon Palma, who was then just beginning her career as a newscaster on Channel 7. "But I really didn’t dream of becoming a TV star. I wanted to work on TV, but not necessarily in front of the camera. But one thing was certain, I wanted to work in media as journalist," recalls Loren.

First TV appearance. When she was in Grade 5 at the Assumption, a French TV crew paid the school a visit to look for a girl who would recite stanzas from Si Malakas at si Maganda in front of the TV camera. Loren was the one selected – upon the recommendation of the Assumption nuns – to do the job. To this day, however, Loren has no idea what that was for. In all probability, she must have had her first TV exposure in France, no less.

First TV ad. Even before she became a bona fide member of the TV industry, Loren was already endorsing quite a number of consumer products. It all started when she was 15 years old. While playing jackstones at their Malabon compound, a group of people from J. Walter Thompson came over looking for her cousin, Titen Bautista. Titen, points out Loren, is really pretty and the ad agency people came to their house specifically to put this pretty cousin in a Close-Up commercial. When they saw Loren, however, they also tried her out for the camera and eventually gave her the Close-Up ad – with Titen doing another commercial. "I couldn’t sleep that time. I was so kilig doing that ad," Loren remembers.

Loren’s talent fee for the Close-Up ad was P900. She gave parts of it to her two younger brothers, Gary and AA and to their yaya, Nanay Fely. What remained of her talent fee was used to buy a gold and diamond bracelet – upon the suggestion of her Mom, the late Bessie Bautista Legarda, who always encouraged her to invest in jewelry.

After the Close-Up commercial, Loren also endorsed Blue Clinic shampoo on television and Kodak, Pond’s and Kanebo cosmetics on print.

First TV show. While in college at UP, her professor, Orly Mercado, asked her to be his assistant/co-host in the Channel 7 quiz show, Who Knows What. On her first day in the show, she was a nervous wreck. "I didn’t know what to do – even if we trained for that in school. I was very self-conscious," admits Loren. She also wants to take this opportunity to thank Orly once more for giving her the break on TV. "You see, I’ve never thanked him enough," insists Loren.

Most embarrassing moment on TV. It also happened on Who Knows What. In one segment, Loren read Seoul (the capital of South Korea) as spelled, which, of course, was wrong. It was only later when Orly read the same word and pronounced it "soi" did she realize her mistake. "I wanted to hide under the table," she says, still very embarrassed about the incident.

First news program. Loren’s first stint as a news anchor was on Channel 9. It was the late night news that came at 11:30 p.m. Occasionally, she would also do the newsbreak at 9 p.m. What a punishing schedule that was. In the daytime, you see, she had this regular job at the advertising agency of Babes Romualdez. She was AVP for accounts and her job was to present proposals to clients. Among her accounts then were Marcelo Vinyl Tiles, Ajinomoto and the Yupangco Group of Companies.

In the morning, she would ride with her Dad to work. Father and daughter would leave their Malabon home at 8 a.m. and she would be at her Makati office by 9. After work, her Dad would pick her up at the office and drive her to Broadcast City. Loren’s yaya, Nanay Fely, for her part, would take the bus from Malabon to the studio to bring her dinner in a lunchbox. At the end of the news program, her Dad would pick her up in Broadcast City. When she didn’t have to do the 9 p.m. newsbreak, she would drop by their home first to sleep before reporting to the studio – sometimes in blazers and jogging pants since viewers didn’t get to see the lower part of her body anyway.

The hazards of working on TV. While doing the news on Channel 9 one time, one of the overhead lights exploded and the light bulb fell on her head. To her credit, she just went on reading the news as if nothing happened. It was only later that she realized how serious the accident was. Part of her scalp got burned along with several strands of her hair. That accident could have been fatal. But to Loren, that was all part of TV work.

(To be concluded)