What makes Ronnie smile

MANILA, Philippines - Like the lyrics of his hit Ngiti, Ronnie Liang smiles off various attacks on his person.

“I will continue to do good to others,” he says. “I trust that God will take care of the rest for me.”

Ronnie celebrated the recent love month away from his US-based girlfriend, a nurse whose privacy he protects. He more than made up for it, however, by spreading love and goodwill to others.

Last Feb. 17 and 18, Ronnie serenaded public high school students in Taguig upon the invitation of the city government to do a series of Valentine shows. The shows were held at the Science and Technology High School and Upper Bicutan National High School, whose students celebrated the Juniors and Seniors’ Prom.

The singer was floored by the admiration the students showed him. He remembers some of the girls, who took pains climbing up the stage in their gowns just to shake his hand or kiss him. In the face of ugly rumors thrown his way, Ronnie, a B.S. Education graduate, goes by the saying, “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.”

 Ronnie continued with the joy-spreading mission by joining members of the Philippine Movie Press Club last Feb. 18 at its gift-giving at the Child Haus, a half-way home for children with cancer. He serenaded them and also prayed for them. The singer was amused when some of the children there thought he was either a church pastor or a priest.

“But, I felt fulfilled because through this way I am doing what God wants me to do, to share His word and to be the light/salt of this world,” he says.

Such immersion to the real world of the poor, the sick and the lonely has made Ronnie’s Valentine celebration more heartfelt.

Aside from Ngiti, Ronnie’s other songs are Gusto Kita and Aking Awitin. An endorser of Joel Cruz’s scent lines for men and women, Ronnie is wrapping work on his third album under Universal Music.