The public must have "forgiven" Angelu because she was able to make a successful comeback, playing the title role (and being nominated for it) in a Viva Films Metro Filmfest entry, Bulaklak ng Maynila (directed by Joel Lamangan). Soon after, she broke up with Joko and concentrated on her revived career. Or so it seemed.
Barely two years later, Angelu again got pregnant out of wedlock (identity of the father of her second love child, four-month-old Maria Louise Margareth, has remained a "mystery" to the public until now, just like the fathers of Hollywood star Jodie Foster’s two love children). Angelu wouldn’t confirm if the "culprit" is the reported Marcos scion with whom she had a passionate romance that brought them to Hong Kong and New York where the guy was arrested by the FBI for alleged crimes involving millions of dollars.
Now, like the un-"put-downable" Phoenix, Angelu is making yet another comeback, again making no apologies for her second "indiscretion," laying bare only what she has to offer as an actress (to be showcased in a "special engagement" for GMA 7’s weekly Larawan, starting tonight at 10 o’clock with the episode entitled Mula Noon, Hanggang Ngayon, directed by Maryo J. delos Reyes, and also starring Bobby Andrews, Bernadette Allyson, Matthew Mendoza and Flora Gasser).
"My two kids are products of love, not lust," said Angelu with a straight face, "so I don’t treat them as ‘mistakes.’ The tragedy perhaps is that my two kids’ fathers didn’t love me as much as I love(d) them," adding with a friendly reminder, "If young people don’t learn from what I did, they might commit the same ‘indiscretion’ and they might not be able to handle the consequences the way that I do. Hindi madali ang pinagdaanan ko baka hindi nila alam, so they should be careful."
Describing herself as a single parent, Angelu said that she never required either Joko or the father of her second love child to support her kids. "If they give na kusang-loob, okey lang; if not, okey na rin. I don’t force them."
At 22, Angelu admitted that she has the experience(s) of a 42-year-old, the mind of a 42-year-old but the attitude and outlook of a 12-year-old, dismissing as a "5 percent possibility" of her committing the same "indiscretion" for the third time while at the same time conceding that, being too much of an individual, "I don’t see myself getting married maybe in the next 10 years; I can’t see myself as a wife, I can see myself only as a mother."
Is she hard to live with?
"Not really. But then again, maybe I am. Actually, I am easy to love, easy to deal with, but at the same time not so easy to live with because, as I’ve said, I’m too much of an individual and somewhat hard to control."
Well, she can say that again.
Ask her former manager, Veanna Fores, who has cut ties with Angelu after almost 10 years during which Veanna, to whom Angelu was entrusted by her father before he breathed his last, acted not only as Angelu’s manager but also, more so, her confidante, her friend, her big sister and her shock absorber.
"I feel sad and sorry that Tita Veanna and I are not together anymore," said Angelu (who’s now managing herself). "Yes, I did apologize to her and thank her for being so patient and so understanding with me."
Having survived two "indiscretions," Angelu has become more careful (but for how long?) with affairs of her heart. Notwithstanding the recent ugly report that she was sharing a guy with a bold star, Angelu insisted that she’s loveless at the moment and that guy was only her friend and has never been her lover. "I do go out, it’s true, pero group dates usually. And I drive my own car so I’m free to come and go anytime I want to."
Asked what she has learned from her rich experience these past four years (good material for a telenovela, complete with sex, romance, action, fantasy, intrigue and suspense), Angelu broke into a wide, bedimpled smile and gave a one-word answer: "Contraceptives."
Well, she should have learned how to use them since she couldn’t be discreet.
(The other Larawan episodes topbilled by Angelu are Martir, directed by Jeffrey Jeturian, starring Carlos Morales, Chin Chin Gutierrez, Liza Lorena and Marjorie Barretto, for Nov. 7; Lukso ng Dugo, directed by Ruel S. Bayani, starring Jean Garcia, Rita Avila, Rustom Padilla, Goyong and Gerard Pizarra, for Nov. 14; and Patapon, directed by Joel Lamangan, starring Bojo Molina, Elizabeth Oropesa, Via Veloso, Dante Javier and Jiro Manio, for Nov. 21.)
It’s a costume (Halloween) party, with surprise gifts at stake (including one for Best Costume).