Liza lost jobs after marrying Aiza

MANILA, Philippines – Now it can be told. Liza Diño lost acting jobs when she married Aiza Seguerra in San Francisco two years ago. People still can’t divorce Liza’s work as an actress from her personal life.  They can’t see her play straight-woman roles, like that of wife and mother because they look at her as a lesbian.

People forgot that Liza was an award-winning actress years before she married Aiza.

“There’s this instant misconception,” Liza laments. “It’s really sad.”

The situation, she goes on, has forced lesbian actresses to cower in fear. Liza notes that no actress has admitted she’s in a same-sex relationship, knowing that doing so means kissing her career goodbye.

But she opened her second wedding to Aiza in Batangas to media friends, even if someone advised Liza to keep everything hush-hush.

“I chose love.  For me, it’s more important that what Aiza and I feel for each other is real.”

Liza respects other actresses who keep their same-sex relationship a secret for fear that it will endanger their career. But she’d rather risk and have a Plan B (Adobo in a Jar, her startup business with Aiza) than betray her principles.

Today, Liza has no reason to regret what she did. She has an acting career and a business she’s proud of.

Liza plays Alva, a veterinarian in a same-sex relationship with Bong (Janice de Belen) in the indie film Ringgo the Dog Shooter, a finalist in the Filipino New Cinema section of the Third World Premieres Film Festival, which runs from June 29 to July 10 in select cinemas.

She had no qualms accepting the role because Liza sees it as a way to promote her personal advocacy.

“It want to show people we’re like anybody else when we get into a relationship,” Liza explains. “It’s love that binds people, even in a same-sex relationship. Besides, direk Rahyan (Carlos) didn’t make the scenes (there’s a love scene) look vulgar.”

The LGBT cause is only one of Liza’s personal advocacies. The other one targets arts and culture.  Now that President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, whom she and Aiza campaigned for, is poised to take office on July 1, Liza is glad she can bring up her projects on promoting art in the barangays with him.  

“We (she and Aiza) have no financial reward. We don’t have any reward in terms of position. Our reward is we can bring up causes close to our hearts to him.”

Others gave their resumes and letters of intent to Liza in the hope of landing a government position. She has no problem with that.

But instead of applying for a government post, Liza (with Aiza) prefers to act as a bridge between art groups and the government.

“Aiza and I have personal plans (they want to have a baby through in vitro fertilization). We can’t (officially) serve in government. The (Davao City) Mayor asked us to help him with arts and culture, so we’re talking with different sectors like the NCCA (National Commission for Culture and the Arts) and Tata Nanding Josef (artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino),” says Liza.

The plan is to set up arts councils in barangays, and hold training workshops at the grassroots level.  Liza also dreams of putting up a film bank that will curate Filipino films every year and serve as go-to source of materials for international release.

“That’s what they’re doing in Korea. I’m studying their film industry. Maybe we can adopt some of their practices here,” she adds.

Liza knows these ambitious projects need funds to take off. Again, that’s where Liza thinks her Duterte connection will come in handy. She has been part of the art community for so long, and Liza knows what it needs. On the campaign trail, colleagues asked her to bring up their projects with Duterte should he win as president.

Liza won’t let her friends in the industry down. Having come from their ranks, she’ll give her all in making sure the President at least knows what they need.

This —  not a government post — is enough to make Liza happy.

(Ringgo The Dog Shooter will have a gala premiere on July 1, 8 p.m. at SM North EDSA Cinema 6. Other screenings are on July 3, 3 p.m. and  July 4, 3 p.m. at SM North EDSA Cinema 6 and on July 6, 7 p.m., July 8, 7 p.m. and July 9, 9 p.m. at SM Megamall Cinema 6).