Candy: From Kendeng Girl to a bold star

This Holy Week, new boldie Candy Alison (star of Bold Star) will pay her mother, Emerenciana Fontalba Balancio, a surprise visit at their home in Bauang, La Union, and ask for forgiveness on her knees.

"You see," said Candy, 18 (5’6," 118 lbs., 35-25-36), "I didn’t tell my mother that I was going bold, although she knew that I was joining the movies. When she and my other relatives saw my sexy photos in the tabloids, my mother got mad at me; she hasn’t talked to me since then."

But her only brother and two older sisters have given Candy their "blessings," saying she’s old enough to decide for herself.

"My mother is conservative," added Candy who has sexy scenes in Bold Star with no less than four men (Bob Soler, Allen Dizon, Rey Abellana and Jeffrey Gonzales – one at a time, of course!), "and I hope she doesn’t watch the movie (showing in Metro theaters starting April 23). Baka atakihin pa siya, e."

If Candy Alison (real name: Candy Balancio) looks vaguely familiar, it’s because she used to be one of the four Kendeng Girls featured in the Pera O Bayong portion of the old MTB. All she and her three co-members did was make kendeng (sexy swaying/swinging of the hips).

Asked if any of the hosts (John Estrada, Willie Revillame or Randy Santiago?) ever flirted with her, Candy "absolved" all three by saying that they never did. "They were all nice to us," said Candy.

Candy’s foray into showbiz started in La Union where she joined the search (by Eat, Bulaga!) for TV Babes. She lost and later joined the MTB Calendar Girl search, winning as Miss December and finishing second runner-up in the finals. Before long, she was recruited as a Kendeng Girl.

It was director Lito de Guzman (of Bold Star) who saw Candy’s potential as a bold star.

She nearly lost her life during the shooting of Bold Star when she jumped 15 feet to the ground from the veranda of a house during a rehearsal.

"Akala ko ‘take’ na," said Candy. "There was a mattress, all right, but still, I landed on my back. They were worried that I might have broken my spinal column, so they had me checked. Luckily, I had only bruises, konting gasgas lang."

Although she did breast exposure in Bold Star, Candy said that she’d never resort to any gimmickry, unlike other upcoming bold starlets who would do anything just to attract attention. Remember an obscure starlet who offered herself in place of the Abu Sayyaf hostages two years ago? The Abu Sayyaf thwarted her derring-do by threatening not to "gang-rape" her as she wished to be but to cut off her head. Nothing was heard of and from her since then.

A few days ago, another boldie, Tracy Torres, surpassed her earlier antic of showing her private parts to movie writers at a presscon by walking naked (wearing only thin paint) at the Elliptical Circle in Quezon City as a "protest" against the US-led war in Iraq, never mind if she obviously didn’t know nor understand what she was fighting for. At one point, she drew laughter when she shouted, "No to war, not to peace!"

"No such gimmicks for me," said Candy, a Tourism freshman when she quit school. "If you ask me, ka-cheap-an ang mga ginagawa nila."

Now that she has shown her "northern" assets in Bold Star, will she expose her "southern" parts in her next movie?

"Depende ’yon sa director ko," she said, "at sa role."

Eventually, Candy hopes to be like another Rosanna Roces.

"She started as a bold star but ended up as a respected, serious actress. She’s my idol."

From my e-mail

• As I was reading your article a few days ago, I was a little confused by a phrase you used and attributed to Johnny Delgado ... you mentioned that he indicated the show received "extreme sanction." That phrase was very alien to me and I strove to understand what you meant. Did that mean that the show was given extreme warnings or else...? It just didn’t make sense.

Did you mean "extreme unction?" defined as "a sacrament in which a priest anoints and prays for the recovery and salvation of a critically ill or injured person." (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Having read the body of your article, the use of "extreme unction" makes more sense than "extreme sanction."

(Note: That was what I wrote on my manuscript – "extreme unction." But you see, in newspapering, some surprises often pop up when you open the papers in the morning so I myself was surprised why "unction" came out as "sanction." Anyway, whoever was the "culprit" deserves not just a "sanction" but an "extreme...")

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