It's about time for sharing and caring

Everything happens in time.” That was how Tita Virgie Ramos, best known in the industry as Gift Gate’s Swatch mother, started the afternoon rolling. She was talking about the new partnership between two forces of nature coming together for the common good. In this season of political tie-ups and business mergers, this particular team-up just had to happen.

“KC cares, Swatch shares,” said the banner hanging on the wall on that sunny afternoon at the Central Park of the Quezon City entertainment strip, Annabelle’s. I immediately knew what she was talking about. Here were two women doing their share, sharing their time, in order to help others.

On one corner of the resto lay an exhibit area where a modest display of gold and black Swatches greeted the guests. “These are our holiday colors,” Tita V told me as my eyes were transfixed on the brand’s latest models. In a letter to Tita Virgie, Swatch president Madame Arlette-Elsa Emch wrote, “On behalf of Swatch and the management team in Switzerland, I am delighted to extend to you our congratulations on your 20th anniversary. We have certainly come a long way together! You should know that everyone at headquarters in Switzerland appreciates your loyalty and your energetic efforts on behalf of our brand and products in the Philippines. Please accept our best wishes to you and everyone at Gift Gate for much success in the years ahead.”

Congratulations are definitely in order, as the Swatch brand celebrates its two decades of dominance on the retail market this 2010 by giving back. And what better way to do so than by getting these two ladies to hold hands and cross wrists to help our fellowmen.

Same Time Last Year

KC has been very active on the charity front, running all over the world against time to pursue her advocacies, representing you, me, and everyone in our country in the global fight against hunger. Tita Virgie, on the other hand, has long been a crusader for children’s welfare, making sure that kids will always have a reason to smile. Same time last year, I was with KC as she addressed a global audience in Hong Kong for the UN World Food Program. Same time a couple of years back, I was having lunch with Tita V as I watched tears flow down her cheeks as Martin Nievera sang Can’t Stop Christmas, a jingle produced by our Swatch mother herself to make sure we do not forget what the true spirit of the season is all about.

It is about sharing. As classic and as timeless as that.

KC Cares. Swatch Shares celebrates the 20th year of Swatch in the Philippines. And according to KC, it only costs P10 to feed a hungry child for a day. 2010 — 20 successful years of Swatch in the Philippines. 10 is a nutritious meal for a hungry child. Each Swatch watch bought from the Fall/Winter 2009 Collection will feed a child for an entire month.

Now, how did all of this happen?

One afternoon, Tita Virgie was her usual busy self when her tiny door of time opened for a sit-down meeting with the equally busy KC. Tita Virgie listened to the advocacies of KC and Swatch agreed to back it up for the year and beyond. And just like that, these two ladies decided to walk onto the path of enlightenment, “two-gether.” Two is the perfect number: two decades of Swatch, two colors to herald the holiday season, and two ladies I love and look up to — Tita Virgie and KC.

Amid entertainment spoonfuls of time-based questions ranging from her future domestic life to her megastar mother’s past loves, Supreme sat down with KC to find out how “KC Cares. Swatch Shares.”

SUPREME: When did your World Food Program advocacy begin?

KC CONCEPCION: It started two years ago when I was informed that I was a candidate for the UN ambassadorship for the World Food Program (WFP).  I waited for six months for the interview and then three months after, they sent me to Cotabato.  Maybe they liked the reports of what I did there and they made me WFP ambassadress.

How many missions have you had?

I had five missions in Mindanao.  I went to the Rome headquarters to participate in the UN-WFP meeting. And then one in New York. 

Any bomb threats? How about your safety?

I don’t think about it. I was reading Angelina Jolie’s book and I share her sentiment.  I don’t want them to feel that I’m priority.  But I always bear in mind what my dad (Sen. Francis Pangilinan) told me: that I have a responsibility to be safe.

How is the Swatch-WFP advocacy different from other missions?

Aside from the fact that for every Swatch watch you purchase, you get to feed a child for a month, the program is not simply going to the areas and feeding them. We let them work for food.  For example, we encourage children to go to school so they could be given food. They have to attend workshops and complete a certain percentage of it in exchange for food.

Any advice to other artists trying to help?

Choose the right program, choose one or two advocacies and stick with it.

What’s more important for you, your humanitarian work or your life in fashion, movies, music or TV?

Why choose one if they can all work together, hand in hand? I am so thankful to Tita Virgie and Swatch for being real troupers in helping us fight child hunger in our country. Every six seconds, a child dies of hunger, but with the help of Swatch, each second is a chance for us to feed and save a child.

Is Angelina Jolie your inspiration?

Angelina Jolie belongs to another organization — HCR or High Commission for Refugees, but my number one inspiration is Drew Barrymore.  She is part of UN-WFP in the United States.

Just like Jolie, would you want to adopt?

I have to find a husband first.

Any wedding bells?

I don’t know yet, I am not thinking of marriage, but I would want to be in a relationship now. I want to take care of someone. 

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Make every second count, continue living at www.twitter.com/iamtimyap.