Breathless in Brunei

BRUNEI — Until two weeks ago when my friends and I visited this oil-rich country, probably all we knew about Brunei were the so-called Brunei Beauties referring to girls who came to work as entertainers. Eventually, they became known as Bruneiyuki, a term corrupted from the word Japayuki (foreigners working in Japan) which took on an entirely different meaning among Filipinos. You know…

We took the Royal Brunei Airlines (one of only two airlines that fly here, the other being Cebu Pacific), leaving Manila at 9:55 p.m. and, one hour and 45 minutes later, arriving at the Darussalam Airport at almost midnight. We were booked at The Empire located near the sea, which, we would learn, used to be the vacation place of the royal family, opened in 1996 as a hotel/resort and country club. Hanging from the ceiling at the lobby was a huge chandelier, the biggest we’ve ever seen. The posts and pillars were…gold-plated? Possibly.

During breakfast at the mezzanine café the next morning, we bumped into Sunshine Cruz and her yaya Rona. Like the five in our group (Julius Sevilla and son DJ, my grandson Noynoy and Luchie Sta. Ana of Travel Specialists who arranged the trip), they were guests of Kathelyn “Kathy” Dupaya and her husband Mar. It was Sunshine’s fourth time in Brunei, always as the special guest of Kathy. They have become good friends and have traveled to Paris together only a few months ago.

We can only describe our weekend in Brunei as “breathless.” Due to limited time, we tried to maximize our stay, never mind if you could cover in half a day the whole city that has no traffic, no cluster of billboards, no skyscrapers, no big malls, no nightlife, no Christmas decors nor lights, no crimes (at least judging from the newscasts). The people are so honest. One of our companions left his watch at a public toilet and found it where he left it an hour later.

While Kathy and Sunshine checked out a jewelry shop, Mar took us on a quick tour, with a stop at the city’s biggest mosque. Before entering, you take off your shoes and put them inside a locker, and then cover yourself with a black robe. Unfortunately, we were not able to tour the Palace, closed to visitors that day. That was where Mar worked as supervisor for several years, briefly worked in Saudi Arabia and then came back to work for the government.

“Mar came in 1992 and I a year later,” said Kathy. “We got married after I turned 18.” They have five children. “We like it here because it is safe.”

To the followers of Mel Tiangco’s GMA drama anthology Magpakailanman, the name Kathelyn Dupaya (maiden name is dela Cruz) must ring a bell. Like Sen./Presidentiable Grace Poe, Kathy was a foundling. That’s where the similarity ends. Grace was a newborn found wrapped in soft cotton at the font of a cathedral in Jaro, Iloilo; while Kathy was a three-month-old thrown into a garbage dump in Iligan City, retrieved three days later by her grandmother who rushed from Jolo, Sulu.

Today, at 39, Kathy is a successful businesswoman who owns a beauty salon, a boutique, a bakery and three restaurants, all of which trademarked “MK” (which stands for Mar and Kathy). So how did the garbage foundling become so rich, whose self-made success was dramatized on Magpakailanman?

“I came to Brunei when I was 17,” Kathy narrated. “It was a kind Chinese businessman who recruited me and others in Manila. First, I worked as a waitress by day and as housemaid at night. Then, I worked as a saleslady at an electronic store. My Chinese boss was very kind. One time, I needed money and wanted to borrow from him. He advised me to try my luck at the ‘Lucky Draw’ (like the local lotto). I won one million (Brunei) dollars. I placed another bet and another and another, and I kept on winning.”

Kathy must have been born with Lady Luck as godmother.

“I bear in mind what my Chinese boss told me, ‘When you become a boss yourself, be kind to others.’ I always remember that.” 

True enough, Kathy is ready to extend a helping hand to kababayan in Brunei, more than 5,000 of them (50 of whom are her employees). So a kababayan badly needs money to send home? Call Kathy. When Mar celebrated his birthday in October, Kathy hosted a big party and invited not just her Brunei-based kababayan but also friends from the Philippines, many of them showbiz folk, Sunshine included.

“I am a movie fan,” gushed Kathy (the walls of her beauty salon are covered by photos of herself with visiting actors and actresses).

One of Mar’s well-wishers from Manila was April Boy Regino who, Kathy found out, was turning blind due to uncontrolled diabetes.

“It was the first time I met him,” said Kathy who took pity on April Boy and had him treated in Manila. Then, she brought April Boy to L.A. last month when she received a Gawad Amerika as One of the Most Outstanding Filipinos, recognized for her “resiliency.”

Sunshine has found a soul sister in Kathy who commissioned Brunei-based designer Rodgil Parane (who hails from Laoang, Northern Samar) to design a gown, the one Sunshine wore last week to the PMPC Star Awards for Television where she tied with Judy Ann Santos for Best Actress in a Single Performance (Sunshine for the Barko episode on Maalaala Mo Kaya?).

“Like Kathy,” said Sunshine, “I am a survivor.”

When her marriage broke, Sunshine said that she struggled to stand on her own two feet.

“I survived,” she added. “I got offers for work and for endorsements, and I have won awards. For the first time, I am seeing myself on huge billboards around the city.”

She wore a bracelet with three pendants, one of them a little angel. Asked if it was a gift from one of her rumored admirers, Sunshine shook her head. “I’m done with men. I have my three girls (daughters Angelina, Samantha and Cheska) and my life revolves around them.” One of her suitors is said to be makulit so she dismissed him outright. “Sa edad kong ‘to (39), huwag nang patagalin pa. Basted na kaagad.” And the bracelet? “It’s a gift from Kathy. Siya yung angel pendant.”

Kathy and Mar wanted us to stay for a Christmas party they were hosting three days later. We begged off. As in Mar’s recent birthday bash, all kababayan in Brunei were invited not just to partake of good-old-hometown food but to try their luck in raffles (of appliances and cash). Nobody would go home empty-handed. Photos by RICKY LO

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