Showbiz features
More worlds to conquer
for Tessie Tomas
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Tessie Tomas |
In her golden years, Tessie Tomas wants to
conquer bigger worlds: write a book about midlife crisis or
about her experience after taking a six-month sabbatical,
apart from doing more movies.
One fantasy that will not go away is to wear
her Tina Turner hairpiece, complete with Tina’s costume,
and then walk around Makati’s Greenbelt on New Year’s
Eve.
The Tina Turner wig is one of her many hairpieces.
She has been collecting wigs since she started impersonating
celebrities and creating her own characters.
Tessie has just finished the successful series
Si Teysi sa CR [Comfort Room].” In Philippine English,
comfort room is rest room.
Doing live comedy is what Tessie loves to
do because it is the most difficult in the acting profession.
Her characters as comedienne are Meldita and Bonnie Buendia.
“Mas mahirap magpatawa kaysa magpaiyak,”
she explains. “In stand up comedy you need immediate
response from audience. You need to hear their laughter.”
She has been invited to enter politics but
she says it is not her cup of tea. Her husband Roger Pullin
does not want her to go to politics either. “Uuwi na
daw siya sa England if I do,” relates Tessie.
Lipa Mayor Vilma Santos
running
for reelection
Vilma Santos opts to run for reelection instead
of running for Batangas governor. She said the position is
too big for her.
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Mayor Vilma Santos |
“I am not power hungry,” she says.
“I will run where I feel I am most effective.”
If she doesn’t change her mind, it is for her third
and final term as mayor. “Taking over the governor’s
job is no joke,” she adds. “As mayor I can spend
time with my family, and my constituents in Lipa understand.
But will the whole of Batangas be as generous?”
Vilma turned down invitations to run for
public office thrice. “I made the decision after getting
a sign. I had prayed that I would run if someone gave me a
white flower of any kind. And the sign came a few minutes
before I would announce my decision.
The movie star-turned-politician tells us
she was talking with her husband on the cell phone when she
glanced at a makeshift altar in her house in Green Meadows,
Pasig.
“Sure enough there was a vase full
of white daisies at the altar,” she says. “I couldn’t
believe it. I became too distracted.” To prepare herself
for the job Vilma took up a five-unit course in public administration
at the University of the Philippines. Her would-be staff went
to school with her. They also study everything there is to
know about Lipa.
Vilma says she feels secure because Ralph
Recto, helps her decide what’s best for the town. He
remains her senior adviser.
She and Ralph celebrated their 11th wedding
anniversary last December. In the kind of world she lives
in—as a movie star and politician—it is doubly
hard to stay married. There are those who want to destroy
their marriage, but she just ignores them.
“I am no martyr,” she responds
to the question as to whether Ralph is faithful to her. “I
will not keep quiet if I feel he is violating my right as
a wife. But I know for a fact that he is not.
“I enjoy what I am doing right now.
Most of the time, I put public service above my love for showbiz.
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