We’ve heard of sibling rivalry in the family — whether in or out of show business. In the local entertainment scene, no one would admit it, but there is usually competition if siblings choose the same career path.
But what about those siblings who don’t embrace showbiz and become eclipsed forever by a famous brother or sister? I know of cases where the non-celebrity sibling grew up resenting the success of the popular one in the family. They claim that despite the material benefits they get from the star sibling, they grew up feeling neglected.
Fortunately, that never happened to Marlene Aguilar-Pollard, younger sister of Freddie Aguilar. Neither did Becca Padilla have any trouble co-existing in this world with her more famous Padilla siblings.
The truth is, so says Marlene, “it’s more of an advantage because when people find out I am the sister of Freddie Aguilar, they are nicer to me — some even hug me,”
“The disadvantage is that they also expect me to be showbiz when I am not,” adds Marlene, who is accomplished herself as an award-winning book author/publisher and art patroness (she is launching another one of her books, Warriors of Heaven, at the CCP on Nov. 21).
Of course, when Freddie recently got enmeshed in some nasty intrigue after supposedly uttering statements that didn’t exactly please some Fil-Am artists, Marlene was barraged with questions regarding the issue. “But I didn’t know what it was all about and I never bothered to ask Kuya Freddie about it and so I had nothing to say,” she points out.
If there is another downside to having famous kin, it’s the fact that they always have to be on their best behavior. “At most, it’s just some sort of inconvenience we can leave with,” says Marlene.
Marlene was in her teens when Freddie shot to popularity on the strength of Anak. She admits that her brother’s sudden rise to fame did benefit their family financially. The Aguilars (from Isabela) weren’t poor in the beginning. They were landed, in fact. Their father, unfortunately, had heavy losses in gambling and so one day they were left with nothing and were forced to move to Manila where they stayed in a small apartment in Old Sta. Mesa.
When Freddie started earning big-time, he moved his family to a posh apartment building near New Manila. From public schools, he sent the younger ones to good private educational institutions.
Marlene didn’t benefit much materially from Freddie’s popularity because by then she had found a way to fly to the US where she financed her own schooling. But she is eternally grateful to her brother for having been so generous to the family and is always proud to be called Freddie Aguilar’s sister.
In the case of Becca, she will never resent the fact that most of her Padilla siblings are famous. She is actually a half sister and she and her mother and siblings were the ones introduced as the first family when their late father was still a politician in Bicol.
But in spite of her being just a half-sister, she loves all the Padillas equally. In fact, she is like mother to the younger ones, particularly BB Gandanghari and Robin Padilla. When Robin and his siblings are at war with their biological mother, the feisty and overly strict Eva Cariño, they run to Becca for comfort and advice. (Becca also looks up to Mommy Eva as her own mom.)
When BB decided to do cross-dressing it was Becca who was among the first to support and rally behind the former Rustom Padilla. And she can no longer count with her fingers the number of times Robin had run to her for help whenever the once bad boy of Philippine movies got into trouble during his notorious younger years. Becca did all that with sisterly love and affection.
This time, maybe it’s Becca who would need support from the Padillas now that she is venturing into a major musical performance along with Marlene Aguilar when they stage Soul Sisters at the Hobbit House tomorrow evening.
Marlene had already gotten support from her Kuya Freddie a long time ago when he told the family that she indeed “could sing — and sing well.” Actually, everyone in the Aguilar family sings and plays musical instruments, but Marlene. She knew she could, but didn’t “because I was afraid to be ridiculed.”
Although she is more confident now about her singing, she still admits that it is Becca who is the better one. The truth is, she even did back-up singing for Sampaguita for quite a while.
Their joint concert, Soul Sisters (Maegan Aguilar is a guest artist in their show), serves as one of their bonding moments as the best of friends — soul sisters even. They met because, well, Becca was Freddie’s former girlfriend. The two would-have-been sisters-in-law hit it off and are now venturing into music together.
Are they out to compete with their more popular siblings? No, but I guess it would be nice — even once for a while — for them to get out of the shadow of more famous kin and be their own persons.