Serious comic Roderick Paulate

MANILA, Philippines - “I realized that pain is a stimulus for reconstruction,” philosophized comedian Roderick Paulate, one of the mainstays of the new GMA 7 sitcom Tweets for My Sweet, with Marian Rivera in the lead.

In 1986, Roderick grieved for the passing away of his father Estodito, former composing chief of the pre-martial law Manila Times. His mom Paz died in November 2009, and he is still “recovering from the loss of my mom” and the current controversy surrounding his work as a councilor in the second district of Quezon City.

But, you would not know it to watch him tear into his comic roles. There are his many friends to boost him up and his new show on GMA 7 to keep the sadness at bay.

His equanimity may stem from the fact that he is more accomplished than most actors his age or older.

He began acting when he was four years old. He received his fi rst award at six at the Manila Film Festival as Best Child Actor for the fi lm Kasalanan Kaya in 1968. Two years after, he won FAMAS Best Child Actor award for Anghel na Walang Langit.

He has since collected many acting awards in the lead or supporting categories, from FAMAS, Citizens Council for Mass Media Awards, Star Awards and other award-giving bodies. His career took off when King of Comedy, Dolphy, cast him in Mga Anak ni Facifi ca Falaypay, in what practically amounted to the anointment as Dolphy’s successor.

In such fi lms as box-offi ce hits Inday, Inday sa Balitaw and Jack and Poy, he played the feminine foil to actress Maricel Soriano.

As the gay mainstay or guest of different TV sitcoms, he further fl ipped his limp wrists.

Who would have forgotten his other gay comic roles in the fi lms Maryo J. de los Reyes’ High School Circa ‘66 (where he played his fi rst gay role), Charot, Ako si Kiko, Ako si Kikay, Binibining Tsuperman (with actress Jackie Aquino, Butz Aquino’s daughter), Kumander Gringa, 1 = 1 = 12 Plus 1, Leroy, Leroy Sinta, Petrang Kabayo, Bala at Lipistik and Ded na si Lolo (where he won Best Actor in Comedy at the Golden Screen Awards in 2010 and Best Supporting Actor in both Gawad

Tanglaw and Pasado Awards in 2009; the fi lm was the Philippines’ entry to the Oscars in 2010), among others.

The 5”4’-inch actor has a most unusual career indeed, with a virtual monopoly of gay roles on TV and in the movies.

However, Roderick is really very effective in drama, the genre in which he is at home. He is one of the few child stars to have outgrown his shorts whose transition to teenage roles happened without the usual career doldrums.

In 1996, he was named Best Actor in Drama in Asian Television Awards. Four years after, he won the Asian Television Awards as Best Actor in Drama for his role in the Maalaala Mo Kaya episode Wristwatch.

In 2011, he was hailed as Best Drama Actor in the Golden Dove Awards. It is interesting to note that he is also the rare Filipino actor who can discuss the works of Aristotle, Plato and Kant, and the spiritual teachings of Saint Augustine, having been a political science major at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City before shifting to theatrical arts.

In his sophomore year, he opened to good notices as the lead in a translated version of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, staged at UP.

He used to be a member of the UP Student Council and the League of the Filipino Students. He raised a clenched fist in real rallies, not in mock demos for the grinding camera.

An oft-repeated remark about Roderick is that he is truly Mr. Nice Guy, a man with a soft heart for those who have less in life.

In spite of the intrigues that surround him, he remains unperturbed and lowkey.

As to his view that pain is a stimulus for reconstruction has indeed ingrained in him, and he believes that happiness is an elusive, transitory thing.

If you set out to search for it, he says, you will fi nd it evasive, but if you try to bring happiness to someone else, then it comes to you. That is certainly Roderick Paulate, a Filipino actor, TV host, comedian and politician rolled into one, who has graduated to more mature parts of his life.