Carmina: I can live without Ara Mina!

Carmina Villarroel has never been this outspoken. It’s because she’s hurting inside. And her newfound self-assertiveness urges her to stand up for what she believes in, even if it means fighting it out in the open. If that means surprising people who are not used to see her in ‘fighting form,’ so be it.

Carmina, new host of GMA 7’s All About You (11 a.m., Sundays), is on the warpath. And her target is Ara Mina, whom Carmina is accusing as the source of lies about the paternity of her three-year-old twins, Maverick and Cassandra. Carmina has it from a reliable source – someone close to Ara’s manager Dondon Monteverde no less – that Ara has been questioning Zoren Legaspi’s paternity of the twins.

The issue, says Carmina, started as early as last year. But for some reason, it did not take off until recently. It even reached Zoren, who shrugged it off as one of those things.

But not Carmina. Good thing her twins are too young to grasp what it’s all about. But what about the adults in the pre-school they’re attending?

So Carmina is not taking it sitting down. And she has a mouthful to say. "The damage has been done. I can move on with my life without her (Ara) as a friend," Carmina says. Strong words these. And they reflect the new self-confidence Carmina exudes these days. Gone is the timid 12-year-old her older brother (played by Aga Muhlach) left behind in that Jollibee commercial.

In its place is a more vocal Carmina, ready to defend her hearth and home like a protective lioness (she’s a Leo, born 29 years ago on Aug. 17). It all started, she reveals, when she separated from ex-husband Rustom Padilla seven years back.

"I had no one turn to but myself. I was so used to being with my family, and then suddenly – I was on my own. I was all by my lonesome, even at home. I had no choice," she recalls those trying times.

That’s when Carmina discovered the inner strength she didn’t know she had.

Friends helped a lot. Suddenly, the girl who didn’t have a night life the way those her age did, was having good clean fun with friends. "I missed that before I got married (to Rustom Padilla; their marriage has been annuled). So I enjoyed the night life for a year. But take note, I never let it affect my work. I was on the set on time," adds Carmina.

Now that she has a family, Carmina doesn’t yearn for the nightlife anymore. She’s had her fill. And that, for her, is enough.

It surprises Carmina no end therefore, why word reached her that Ara is again accusing her of flirting with Jomari Yllana, her (Ara’s) boyfriend.

"Jomari is a friend way back during our Guwapings and Palibhasa (Lalake) days. I never had a track record of being a flirt, even when I was single. It’s not me. Did you ever hear me wreaking a relationship?" Carmina challenges everyone.

Besides, she’s oh-so-secure with her relationship with Zoren, who is so supportive he even helps Carmina widen her vocabulary so she can be a better host.

"Zoren is the last guy for me. I’m so lucky to have him," Carmina gushes like a bride on her honeymoon.

Except that the grand wedding day has yet to come.

"I’m still waiting for the right time, although I have the wedding all planned out, down to the last detail," she reveals. "But a wedding will just be a formality. Zoren and I treat each other like husband and wife."

She vehemently denies rumors that he depends on her financially. "Zoren has his own business. It’s just that he does not flaunt it. He doesn’t have to, see," Carmina runs to her beloved’s defense.

"Besides," she adds, "money should not be an issue between partners. It has never been in our case. I believe that in a relationship, one should not ask how much the other is earning. It’s enough that we help each other."

Her self-confidence shows in her ability to express herself with more candor.

These qualities also come in handy on Sis, which Carmina co-hosts with best friend Gelli de Belen and sister Janice (Carmina is also a mainstay of another GMA show, Nuts Entertainment).

"Our bonding is natural," says Carmina, whose hosting skills was first discovered when she pinch-hit for one of the Morning Girls hosts. That excitement in her voice is just as natural, as natural as her bubbly personality and the alls-well-with-the-world feeling she exudes.

After all the heartaches she’s been through, Carmina deserves nothing less.