Perla’s self-imposed mission

MANILA, Philippines — Perla Bautista is one person you’ll be glad to talk to if you’re having a bad hair day. She lets you look at the bright side. She chases the blues away by saying worst things could happen to you. You end up feeling good, or comforted at the very least.

This is how she made a fellow actor feel when they were on location in a province hours away from Manila. The director just gave the guy a dressing down for disobeying orders.

Perla, who herself had an encounter with the director the day prior, went up to the actor and said, “You’ll get over it. If I, who didn’t do anything, got over it, so can you.”

The actor and director ended up good friends.

This isn’t the first time Perla lifted someone’s spirits. She recalls a time when she and a friend were in Walmart, Las Vegas. Perla sensed that her friend was undecided if she’d buy a gadget or not.

It turned out that the American salesman himself wanted it, so he was saving money to buy one. Perla nudged her friend and asked her to buy the gadget and just give it to the guy.

The friend protested, saying that the guy was wearing a wedding ring and had a family of his own. Perla replied that this is precisely why she should buy the gadget. By buying it and giving it to the salesman, Perla told her friend, she is letting the guy spend his money on important things — like food for his family, instead.

The friend agreed and the salesman couldn’t stop saying, “This is awesome!”

Little did Perla know that her good deed that day had an an instant ripple effect. The salesman told his friend about this kind-hearted Filipina who made his day.

“When I returned to Walmart the next day, the saleslady went up to me.  She told me about how overjoyed her salesman-friend was,” recalls Perla.

Her one-good-deed-a-day rule continues until now that she’s 78 and remains as active as ever in showbiz.

It keeps her from complaining when someone hurts her, accidentally or not. 

When someone accidentally threw a stone that hit her temple on the set of a teleserye, Perla didn’t raise a howl. She calmly finished the scene. Her director was furious over what happened, but Perla just told herself that things could have been worse.

That accident kept her from reporting to the set of another project. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Perla admits she could have had an anxiety attack over a scene that would have required her to ride a boat that was tossed over rough waters.

“I have a phobia for water,” she explains.

Perla brings that good Samaritan side of her over to her role in Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon, an entry in the ongoing Cinemalaya film festival. She plays Teresa, a senior citizen who takes care of her sick ex-husband Benedicto (played by Dante Rivero), two decades after they part ways.

Under normal circumstances, this could have been just another act of kindness, the type Perla in real life does every day. But Teresa has a new love (played by Menggie Cobarrubias). And Chito (Romnick Sarmenta), her son by Benedicto, can’t forgive his dad.

Unlike other films that depict conflict in weepy, talky ways, this one, says Perla, tackles issues the way those in their senior years should — with a lot of wisdom and maturity.

“It’s about love, companionship and forgiveness,” she explains.

It’s very Perla, the positive thinker who looks for the bright side in the worst situations, and sees the best in everyone.

Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon is the kind of film you expect someone as hopeful and kind-hearted as Perla would embrace.

As she says, “I see God’s hand in everything — good or bad — happening to me. He always has something better for me.”

The best part is, Perla shares this mindset to the young actors she works with in teleseryes she is part of. She’s spreading the one-good-deed-a-day gospel to most everyone she meets. And Perla ends up easing people’s burdens, in spite of themselves.

It’s a mission she expects to fulfill, on screen and off.