Up There, Nestor is dancing with the angels

The book is titled The Last Man Dancing: The Nestor de Villa Story and I found it when I rummaged through my file of unread stuff during the long-weekend holiday. And what a feel-good biography it is, written by Gicky Soriano, one of Nestor’s children, who was born in the Philippines and educated at Asian Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, serving since 1991 as pastor and teacher among migrant Filipino churches throughout the US West Coast together with his wife Malu and their three children. The family has been based in San Diego, California, for years.

I have forgotten who gave me the book, published in 2011, but I’m glad that I found it right in time for the annual soul-searching and soul-cleansing when we are reminded that, as my favorite song, Kansas’ Dust In The Wind, says, all we are is dust in the wind…nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky…Humbling, isn’t it?

The book’s title is a fitting tribute to Nestor because as we his fans know, Nestor was called “The Fred Astaire of the Philippines” not just in the ’50s when he was discovered by the LVN Starmaker Doña Sisang de Leon but well into the years until he passed away in 2004, barely two years after his TV/movie dancing partner, Nida Blanca, was murdered. Even away from the movie cameras, Nestor put in harness his God-given dancing prowess, especially when he became evangelist when he would regale his audience with his fancy footwork while energizing their souls with the word of God. Very effective!

Rosa Rosal, Nestor and Nida’s LVN contemporary, wrote a fond recollection of Nestor in the book’s Foreword:

I have known Nestor since back in our days at LVN Pictures. Just like in most of the characters he played on the silver screen, Nestor is a jolly person in real life. His sunny disposition never fails to light up the room, a trait that has endeared him to his fellow artists and to almost everybody in the showbiz industry.

His positivity springs from his deeply-rooted faith and devotion as a born-again Christian. He stands out in the industry because he is kind-hearted and good-natured. Throughout the years that I have known him, I did not feel any pretense from him, that he was just acting out a part. He is, for real, a good man.

Just like his love for dancing, doing good to others and being a God-fearing Christian are second nature to him. He puts serving the Lord on top of his list. Dancing is a big part of his life, but more than this is his being a dedicated servant of God…

What’s so engrossing about the book is how Gicky wrote in all honesty, in a straight-forward, no-holds-barred and no-cover-up style, painting a poignant portrait of his father not just as a versatile actor whose public image was spotlessly-clean but also as a human being “who has a big ego that was always in search of another boost…who had this great big hole that went right through him” which over time “he attempted to fill with fancy cars, luxurious homes and various things that could constantly remind him that he has finally arrived,” and just like everybody else, who had his own emotional outbursts, especially when he would come home worn out from shooting movies day in and day out. He could have been a doctor but he followed the dictates of his heart to showbiz.

Wrote Gicky, while Nestor was at his prime as an actor, adored by millions of fans and put on a pedestal, “On the home front, things were not so well. I won’t deny that my father and mother had a turbulent marriage” with the cracks showing in their younger years, “leaving people around them figuring out how they could have lasted for so long.”

Nestor and his wife, Marilu Cacho, daughter of “a well-known entrepreneur who owned the oldest printing press in the Philippines — Cacho Hermanos,” beautifully survived the trials in their marriage unlike most showbiz couples who parted ways as fast as the curtains in the old-days theaters would before each screening.

Gicky was unsparing, leaving no stone unturned as he promised in the Introduction that “This book will explore significant seasons in my father’s life. Allow me to take you through the spring of his early years that you may understand him, the summer of his rise to stardom that you may enjoy him, the autumn of his spiritual awakening that you may follow him, and the winter of his final days that you may embrace him.”

Hadn’t I read the book, I wouldn’t have known that Gines Francisco Soriano (Nestor’s real full name), born on July 6, 1928, was the first-born son in the second family of a wealthy haciendero in Nueva Ecija. Gicky wrote that Nestor’s father, “who looked like General Douglas MacArthur,” was the illegitimate child of a Catholic priest. This refreshing revelation — and more — you will find in Gicky’s book.

It was Nestor’s days as evangelist that inspires no end.

As Gicky aptly put it, God was in my father’s life from its obscure beginnings to its glorious ending. From the time God shouted, “Action!” until the time He cried, “Cut!” He was there. From a little-known town in Nueva Ecija to the bright lights of Metro Manila…God. From the halls of the school of medicine to the roles in Philippine silver screen…God. From a bit part in Carlos Blanco to the box-office smash-hit Ikaw Kasi…God. From the glory days of LVN Studios to the award-winning The Nida-Nestor Show…God. From a successful movie actor to a faithful servant of the Lord…God. The Lord has been my father’s haven of rest, his hiding place, his present address. Today and for all eternity, my father is “at home” in the Lord.

As soon as I put down the book (readable in one seating), I visualized Nestor de Villa Up There dancing with the angels, partnering with Nida Blanca in a dance that will never, never end, cheered on by a thundering applause that reverberates in the four corners of heaven.

(Note: I’m not sure where copies of the book are sold. It was published by OMF Literature Inc., 776 Boni Avenue, Mandaluyoing City, www.OMFLit.com)

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