Atty. Vince Tanada and the Philstagers

Director Vince Tañada brings relief goods to Museo ng Pag-asa.

IN spite of what critics say about director-writer-actor Atty. Vince M. Tanada, he is a fairly easy person to get along with if you know him well enough. He is an indefatigable workhorse and he is a perfectionist at times. He is not a glamor guy some think of. He loves to work and to do his work well.

He is one of the founders of Philstagers, a mobile theater group in the Philippines.

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This month of December was filled with outreach activities for Asia’s Queen of Fire Lae Manego, bringing cheers to the elderly at the Home for the Aged, kids with cancer at CHILDHaus Manila (she went there three times this month; thanks to its director Jeannette Cu’s help) and to Manila’s street children.

(From left) Jeannette Cu, David Angelo Inigo, Lae Manego and Oggie Medina

Lae, who hails from Davao, is a multi-awarded Filipino artist, the latest of which is the 2nd Southeast Asian Premier Business and Achiever Award. Her line-up of activities for 2025 is filled mostly with solo concerts or performances with other artists. She auditioned via Zoom recently for America’s Got Talent and is hoping she would make it to the live performance audition in the U.S. to showcase the Filipinos’ God-given talent.

In the interview with Marc Logan on a TV5 show, Lae never forgets her roots. She is not really the glamor girl some people may think of. She is a simple person with a kind heart. You are going to love Lae and her music indeed.

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Even before I became journalist, I did my own mission of uplifting the lives of the poor in the best, though small, way I could. During my student days at De La Salle University-Manila, I joined game shows on TV to share my winnings to those persons who needed help. Outside the La Salle campus, I would go to depressed areas. I used to visit in 1987 the burn unit of the Philippine General Hospital where I tried to help Maribel T. Suarez (a malnourished child), Rosemarie Garcia (an epileptic) and a young man from Pampanga. The money given to me by the late famous hairdresser Jun Encarnacion, who I featured in some newspapers, was given to these children. I wrote to concerned institutions and persons to help the burn patients. When I returned to PGH, the three burn patients were not there anymore for an American philanthropist sponsored their treatment abroad. I was very happy and I met the said philanthropist in Manila.

I also made a personal request to some showbiz celebrities and friends I featured to donate whatever they could to ABS-CBN’s “Bahay Kalinga,” a public-service TV program that assisted sick children. It was then hosted by Vicky Garchitorena and the late Frankie Evangelista (Gretchen Tanada Ocampo-Recto, granddaughter of the late Sen. Lorenzo Tanada, was then the executive producer).

I tried to help Rechelle Garcia, a one-year-old child who had no anus, through the late Betty Go-Belmonte’s column “Pebbles” of the Philippine Star by giving my one-half month salary from the Office of the Press Secretary where I worked as Information Officer III in Malacanang.

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I spent Christmas Day lunch and merienda with my aunt Gilda Fernandez-Perez, uncle Federico Fernandez, my cousins and nephews/nieces in Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa City. Later, we attended an online mass at 7 p.m.  I am also happy and proud to know that my nephew Gabriel Luis Antonio M.  Perez graduated cum laude in Asia Pacific College with BS Computer Science and Cyber Security and Forensics.

In the evening, I went to Quezon City’s Lantana Heights and spent time with the Varsovia, Garcia, de Mesa, and Daigdigan relatives. We had some funny games.

I missed attending the annual Christmas Day Party of Philstagers at the PSF Blackbox Theater in Sampaloc, Manila due to time constraints. Last year, I, together with director Emmanuel dela Cruz, was able to attend the New Year’s Eve at the top of the Tanada’s building as we enjoyably watched the fireworks. Mrs. Emy Tanada, Vince’s mother, generously attended to me then. It was my first time to join them.

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An actor at Philstagers Foundation, OJ Ar Ci is a phenomenal transgender actress. She will star soon in renowned  filmmaker Brillante Mendoza’s movie “Chameleon,” a story about transgenders working in Japan.

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Chris Lim and Adelle Ibarrientos-Lim are excellent Philstagers artists. They are award-winning theatre couple who enacts in dozens of theater performances. For one thing, I am amazed by their acting in both Vince Tanada’s “Juan Luna: Isang Sarsuwela” and “Sa Barong-Barong” (reflecting the issues confronted by persons living in makeshift dwellings in a city). More of this couple in the future issue of this column.

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Thanks to Dr. Patrick Saburit of Kylledmed Philippines, a golden recipient of the 2nd Southeast Asian Premier Business and Achiever Award, for inviting me to their Christmas party. I won a new cellphone thru a game in which you rolled a white tissue under a glass full of water to reach to your major prize.

Thanks too to Dr. Patrick’s wife Maricar and kids Mariam Kylle and Marion Khalid, Maricar Diaz, Paulo Saburit, Joanne Rabang, Gretchen Coronado, Angelo Sta. Maria, Ehrold Cerda, and Miguel Vistal.

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I enjoyed the Christmas party of Police Files Tonite publication at the historic National Press Club. It was a night of prizes, games, songs, music and camaraderie. Thanks to publisher Joey Galicia Venancio and entertainment editor Blessie K. Cirera.

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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

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