Ara: Yes, Chuck is my DAD! - FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo

It’s him, all right! Chuck Mathay, that is.

"Deep in my heart," Ara Mina told the movie press Sunday night at the presscon for her latest movie, Regal Films’ Laro sa Baga (directed by Chito Roño from a screenplay by Edgardo Reyes who also wrote the novel), "I know that Chuck is my father. Lukso ng dugo, you know. I have no doubt that he is."

Only a few months ago when the news about her real (meaning biological) father came up first in blind items, Ara only smiled and gave vague answers, only saying that "I seem to have a soft spot for him" or "I feel light and happy when I see him" without actually confirming her long-kept suspicion. Chuck himself simply smiled when he and Ara were interviewed separately by The Buzz, saying he’d be happy to take Ara as his daughter also without confirming the rumor.

The truth is that father and daughter don’t have to confirm anything. They look like two peas in a pod, undeniably lookalikes, from the shape of their faces, their be-dimpled smiles, their prominent chins, the way they move their mouths when they talk and their eyes. There’s no need for any blood or DNA test to arrive at such a positive conclusion.

"Now I have peace of mind," added Ara who’s going back to big-screen boldness and derring-do in Laro sa Baga (also starring Carlos Morales, Monique Wilson and Angel Aquino), in stark contrast to her "for general patronage" TV roles (Bubble Gang and Kiss Muna, both on GMA). "Since I was small, I had this strange feeling that I was looking for something which I didn’t really know kung ano. I only realized what it was when I met Chuck during the 1995 election campaign when I and some stars from (the defunct GMA show) That’s Entertainment campaigned for his father, Quezon City Mayor Mel Mathay. That’s when I felt what they call lukso ng dugo (literally meaning ‘leap of blood’). I knew right then and there that Chuck was the answer to the question that was bothering me."

Since that time, according to Ara, "Hindi na siya nawala sa isip ko." Several weeks after their first meeting, she recalled, "We were at the lobby of the Shangri-La Hotel when Chuck (whom Ara actually calls ‘Daddy’ in private) arrived with some companions. Parang nawala ako sa sarili ko. I stood up and exclaimed, ‘Si Chuck! Si Chuck!’ My friends were surprised by my behavior and tried to calm me down. I sat down and kept muttering to myself, ‘Si Chuck! Si Chuck!’ Para akong natulala."

Chuck is married to Nerissa Reyes with whom he has three children – Macky, 21; Chris, 20; and Nicole, 17.

Ara is one of the five children of former actress Venus Imperial and, or so she thought, Romeo Reyes (no relation to Nerissa) who separated when Ara was a kid. Until age 7 when she overheard her parents quarreling, Ara was convinced that Romeo was her real father. "He was nice to me," said Ara, "and he treated me like his real daughter."

During her parents’ fight, said Ara, she heard her father yell at her mom, "Hindi ko anak ’yan!", referring to her. And that set her imagination into motion. "I started to notice that all of my brothers and sisters have curly hair, mana sa Daddy Romeo, and I was the only one with straight hair. Ibang build nila sa akin. I was tall even then and I’m now taller (at 5’6") than all of them. Pati paglakad ko, iba sa kanila.

She was 15 when her path crossed that of Chuck and, by intuition, Ara knew that she had found the key to the mystery of her life.

Still, she said she prayed for more signs.

"If the press picked up that blind item (in a tabloid), then there must be truth to it," said Ara when she read that little item only last year. "If more people would tell me that Chuck and I looked alike, then that’s another sign. Of course, mayroon pang ibang signs which I can’t divulge just yet."

Ara and her family together watched her and Chuck’s interview on The Buzz by Boy Abunda.

"By and by," said Ara, "I saw my little sister crying silently. Then, she said, ‘Kaya pala hindi tayo magka-mukha! But that’s okay, kapatid pa rin kita.’ My mom naman told me, ‘Happy ka na, ano?’ That’s the only thing she said to me, until now not confirming anything –yet."

That is, not even when Ara very gently confronted her about the nagging issue.

"I interviewed my Mom. I asked her, after she admitted that she and Chuck went steady – before Chuck got married – kung kailan sila nag-break. She said, August 1978. So I started counting. I was born in May, 1979, nine months after she said they broke up, at kinutuban na ako. Later, I found out that they actually broke up later part of Sept. 1978 na. It means that when my Mom met Daddy Romeo, she was already conceiving me. My Mom and Daddy Romeo were not married," added Ara who’s Hazel Klenk Reyes in real life.

With nary a doubt now, Ara is happy that she has solved the puzzle of her life. She has met her biological father’s wife and children and they’ve been nice to her, sometimes inviting her to their house for lunch or dinner. "Tita Neri is very good to me. I love the banana cupcake which she bakes very well."

Her "kuya" Macky once guested on her show Kiss Muna and people on the set had fun comparing his and Ara’s features. "But I look more like Chris," said Ara. "Look at him. Di ba para siyang lalaking Ara Mina?"

Would she have publicly acknowledged Chuck as her father if Chuck were just an ordinary man?

"I would!"

Would Chuck have recognized her as his daughter (without his really articulating it because action does speak louder than words) if she were an unknown (like JR Ejercito whose claim that she’s President Erap’s daughter was vehemently denied by Erap)?

"I think so!"

One time when he spoke at a public gathering, Mayor Mel Mathay mentioned that he was happy that his clan was growing bigger, accepting Ara as his granddaughter.

"When I heard it," said Ara misty-eyed, "naiyak ako."

Among themselves (the Mathays) or with her mom, Ara doesn’t discuss the matter, saying that "it’s understood."

Asked what song she’s dedicating to her "Daddy Chuck," Ara said, "I used to sing Reflection but now that I’ve found the truth, I think I’ll start singing another song. Ano kaya ang bagay, ano?"