There’s nothing wrong with this, as long as these famous personalities inspire us to be better persons and guide us in the right direction toward being better citizens of the world.
BEATRIZ VILLAMOR, account manager, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide: Without a doubt, I grew up admiring my parents. They lead fun, productive lives – they have a strong work ethic that’s complemented by their joie de vivre.
PHOEMELA BARANDA, TV personality: I looked up to Tweetie de Leon. I remember joining a modeling contest and Tweetie was the image model. That was how my modeling career started. Loved her also on Okay Ka Fairy Ko as Faye. She is a role model and friend!
DADA LORENZANA SANTIAGO, former broadcast journalist, seminar facilitator, PRO, AD/HD Society of the Philippines: I don’t think I wanted to look like her but I certainly looked up to her and wanted to be like her when I grew up. She was Anne Sullivan, The Miracle Worker in the movie version of Helen Keller’s story. Her perseverance and commitment to make the deaf and mute Helen Keller talk so inspired me that I decided that I was going to be a speech therapist. The closest I could get to training for it was a degree in speech and drama at the University of the Philippines. But then, my stint as a student announcer on the university radio station DZUP led me to a career in broadcasting that spanned 22 years. I didn’t exactly become a speech therapist like Anne Sullivan; but I did find myself facilitating seminars on oral and verbal communication. Now, I’ve even taken up advocacy for special children – not deaf and mute, but those with Attention Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), like my son. I want to inspire other mothers to believe that we can be miracle workers, too, if we set our hearts on our mission to bring out the best in these often misunderstood children.
REP. ACE BARBERS, Surigao del Norte, District 2: I’d like to be like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. A very charismatic leader, a no-nonsense attitude in his governance and a strong and firm resolve in doing what he believes is right and just for the common good. A vision to uplift his constituents from the bondage of poverty. All these traits, to me, are worthy of emulation.
TESSIE TOMAS, TV personality: When I was in high school I idolized Nadia Comaneci, the Olympic gymnast from Romania. She was only 14 years old when she won several gold medals in gymnastics in the 1976 Olympics. I was mesmerized by her stance, confidence and how she executed the various exercises with such precision. I am truly a frustrated gymnast!
BERNADETTE SEMBRANO, TV personality: Come to think of it, I didn’t want to be like anyone famous! But I adored Mama Mary in a movie starring Julie Vega. In the movie, Vega played the role of a blind girl who was able to see with Mama Mary’s eyes. I wished I was that little girl who could perform miracles.
BERNARD DEE; chef, businessman: President Ferdinand Marcos because of his intelligence.
MICHELLE PUNO MAPA, student: Growing up I used to idolize the Spice Girls. My cousins and I memorized all their songs. I had posters of them all over my bedroom walls. We even used to dress like them. I was Sporty Spice – Baby Spice was already taken! The day the group disbanded was the saddest day of my life.
PACO MAGSAYSAY, businessman: I would have liked to be my grandfather, President Ramon Magsaysay. I say this because of the things strangers tell me about him, not my family. I figured he must have been special for people to talk about him that way.
REP. GILBERT REMULLA, Cavite: The movie Top Gun made many of us full-blooded males growing up in the ’80s want to look like Tom Cruise (for obvious reasons). But my interest in broadcast journalism made me want to be like Peter Jennings. Having had access to ABC World News Tonight on the Far East Network (FEN) of the US military bases in Subic and Clark during my days at UP Diliman made me appreciate – and want to emulate – Jennings’ ability to commu-nicate news with such ease and credibility (his looks weren’t too bad, either). Though I never came close to looking like Tom Cruise (for obvious reasons), I did try to be like Mr. Jennings by joining the news team of ABS-CBN as a reporter. I never came close to that, either. My having ended up in Congress just goes to show that one never really knows what life has in store.