Angel Aquino on life, love and lessons

Always barefaced with just-brushed eyebrows and a bit of blush on her cheeks, this model, host, and actress instantly commands attention in whatever room she enters. With no loud presence or entourage to merit this attention, it’s because of her beauty alone that people cannot help but look. Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Filipinas ever, a single mother of two with an extremely colorful story to share in life and love, here are 10 things you should know about Angel Aquino. 

1. She grew up in a lower-middle-class household where she saw her mom get hit by her dad. But it wasn’t all dark days; Angel recalls a happy childhood. 

“Maybe because we were still looking at it through young eyes. You know, sometimes kids cry, but then you give them candy and they forget all about it,” Angel recalls. The eldest of five children, she smiles as she shares how they would go to the store, buy Chippy and 75-centavo Coke, have no clothes on, just pulbos, and be home by 6 p.m. to make mano. She says that they never really saw their parents act affectionate towards each other, and that her dad was the more cariñoso parent, while her mom was the strict one. One of her fondest memories was that of her dad cooking a feast for them when he would be home (“just on weekends, and not every weekend”) with all of them going to the market together (both parents are Kapampangan and love to cook).

On the other hand, because they lived in such a small home, they were always witnesses to domestic violence. “It happens, you cry a bit, then days go by and you forget about it again.” She shares that as they grew older and her mom learned how to fight back and make a bit of money on her own, that’s when the beatings lessened. “She somehow empowered herself and my tatay couldn’t hurt her anymore,” reveals Angel. 

“Now I try for everyone to be in the know, we don’t keep secrets, we don’t tell lies, yun yung pact namin,” Angel says of what she learned from her childhood. She considers her two daughters Iana and Athea her best friends, saying, “They know everything that I go through. They see me as their human mom, not someone who is a super mom na kaya yung lahat.”

2. Angel became an activist during her college days in UP Baguio. “I’ve always known there was something weird about me. I may have been very timid and shy, but something inside me was itching to say something.”

She went to grade school in Barangka Elementary School in Marikina, and because of her mother’s determination for them to value education, Angel studied hard and became a Tulong Dunong scholar at St. Bridget’s high school. For college, she went to UP (“I’ve always wanted to be in UP, and I just thought of placing Baguio because I’ve always wanted to go to Baguio”), and though she entered as a Math major, (“I loved Algebra but didn’t realize there would be higher maths!”) she started to fail some subjects so she shifted to a Mass Communications course. 

She became a member of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), and though she was never the speaker at rallies (“At that time, the thing we were most passionate about were the bases. We wanted them to leave”), she would be part of lightning rallies, carrying placards, writing and distributing statements, and orienting newcomers. As she was growing up, Angel says that when there would be situations she wasn’t comfortable with, as much as she wanted to say something, she didn’t have the courage. “So when I discovered activism, I realized I had a venue. There were other people speaking up for me and I could just be part of a group that share the same sentiments.” She says she was never a public speaker back then, and even to this day, she gets the jitters before hosting live events.

3. On the day of her 19th birthday, she was discovered by director Jeffrey Jeturian in the mall and was first offered to become a beauty contestant or actress.

Angel was brought by direk Jeffrey to different agencies, castings, and go-sees for commercials. “In high school I really thought I was ugly,” she says. She recalls how frizzy her hair was (“parang walis”) and that it was in third-year high school when she decided to grow it out from the boy cut her mom would always give her. She recalls soaking her hair in oil every single night, and though she isn’t sure that that’s what improved the quality of her hair, she says, “When people would say, ‘Uy, pwede to sa shampoo commercial,’ I thought they were making fun of me.”

When she was 23, Angel finally decided to take the plunge into acting when director Butch Perez searched for her in Baguio to offer her the role of a Banaue princess in the film Mumbaki.

4. Nineteen was the age Angel was forced to grow up fast, because aside from starting to work, she got pregnant with her first child.

“It was New Year’s Day, and (my mom) asked me if I was pregnant. She probably noticed changes in my body. I didn’t even know, I just noticed that I wasn’t getting my period, so I answered, ‘Hindi ko po alam,’” Angel recalls. When the pregnancy test turned positive, her mom went up to Baguio to find and talk to her boyfriend Ian. “She was very calm but very angry, disappointed at the same time. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me, I was so scared.” He was scheduled to leave for the US, so when Iana was born, he did just that, and Angel went back to modeling fulltime. Two years later, Ian came home; they got married, had their second daughter Thea, and eventually got a legal annulment. “We were both very young, we really grew apart,” Angel says.

Thea was born with hydrocephalus and was operated on when she was three weeks old. “We didn’t have the luxury of time, it was very urgent that she be operated on, so we just faced the problem, went back to work immediately, I had to lose weight so dramatically, I stopped eating, I couldn’t breastfeed,” Angel reveals. She shares that Thea has been living with her condition for 17 years now, and though there have been complications, she attends school and is currently in Grade 8.

“When I saw her after the operation, this little kid on a big hospital bed, I asked, ‘Why her?’ Not so much why did it happen to us, family, or me, but why her,” Angel admits. She recalls how she couldn’t help but blame herself for not taking care of herself better, how she was so depressed because things were not going well with her then-husband, how she was angry, and even in denial that she was pregnant.

At the end of the day, she says: “My kids are the best things that came out of that trying period, if you may call it that; I would not have it another way.”

Angel goes to Baclaran church weekly. “I’m not even aware of wishes that have been granted, I just know that the energy there is different.”

5. There came a point when Angel seriously wanted to have cosmetic surgery to get bigger breasts.

“That was the time that I was recovering from my two pregnancies and I didn’t feel too good about myself. From perky breasts they became *wenk* sad,” Angel laughs. She says she went as far as going to the doctor, being measured, and seeing “the things.” “I couldn’t do it!” she says, still laughing.

6. She has been a lifestyle show host for 13 years now. From F to Us Girls, to Tablescapes, and now Interior Motives. 

Her favorite lifestyle features ever:

• Lei’s Lumpia: “It’s in the Xavierville, Katipunan area. I go there till now, it’s all vegetables, has this garlicky sauce, it’s just so good.”

• Buenavista Island Resort: “It’s this private resort on an island off Davao … it’s beautiful!”

• Lemon: “We had all these beauty tips using lemon! Like if you put it in water, the water turns alkaline. Or when you rub it on the creases of your skin to whiten, or you add a bit of vodka to lemon juice, you can use it as a foot spray.”

7. Angel Aquino in numbers:

25-plus: Films she has done, both commercial and independent. She has done over 15 television shows, winning one best supporting actress award for Laro Sa Baga and one best actress award for Donsola.

35,000: Amount in pesos she got as her first paycheck for a soap commercial that never aired. “I gave it to my nanay. Sabi nila your first paycheck you give to your parents so it’ll grow.”

1: Times a week she goes to church in Baclaran. “I’m not even aware of wishes that have been granted, I just know that the energy there is different.”

10: Pesos a day, which was her allowance in school. It’d buy her a soft drink and chichiria.

4: The longest span of time in years that a guy was trying to court her. “I don’t know if it was courting, but he was present for that long!”

8. On love and failed relationships: “You know there’s no such thing as ‘hindi ka nagtira para sa sarili mo.’ When you’re there, you find yourself lost in the sea of romance, love, happiness, sometimes turbulence.”

“In the beginning I was too reckless, I would trust myself too much when falling in love. I wouldn’t give it much thought, but when you’re at this age, you have to,” the 39-year old mother of two shares. After her early marriage, two long-term relationships (one with musician Norby David and another with actor Lui Villaruz), and meeting and dating people, she says her priority for now is no longer a romantic relationship just full of kilig, but more of a lasting friendship.

On issues thrown at her about her being gay, she reveals: “I’ve been there. And I’ve always been open-minded. No judgment, UP-ian ako.”

On great love, she shares: “If you ask me if I’ve ever experienced greatest love from someone the way I know great love to be, then yes.” She is currently not in a relationship but says she is waiting to give that love its time again. For now she is enjoying the happiness of just being with herself. “You know, after a relationship, you just pick yourself up.”

9. Her love life is an open book to her daughters, and they are the first ones who comfort her when she’s heartbroken.

“There was one time I was so hurt because my boyfriend broke up with me, Iana sat on her kahon, and she started playing With A Smile by the Eraserheads. I found that so sweet,” Angel shares. During another time when Angel was going through something, she found her daughter Thea by the bed, asking her to lean on her, as she tapped her mom’s side to sleep. “My kids are amazing,” Angel says.

On the other side of the coin, Angel says her daughter Iana’s boyfriend is very close to the family and they’d often go on dinner dates for four. “Thea would tell me, ‘Mom, pag magka-boyfriend ako you’ll also be his friend, ha?’ I’d answer, ‘I’ll be his best friend,’” Angel shares.

10. After almost 20 years as an actress, Angel finally landed her first starring role in the film Amorosa. 

She says she has gotten so used to playing supporting roles that she immediately assumed she was not the lead role for this movie, until she realized her character’s name, Rosa, is the title of the film. “I’m always used to just being there for the bida, like in Magkaribal, I was just there for Bea Alonzo and Gretchen Barretto,” she says humbly of her memorable role as the antagonist Vera. In fact, on her third shooting day, she was pulled aside by her director and was told that she should act more like the bida. “I didn’t even know what that meant!” she says laughing.

She shares that looking long-term, she is also trying to get into a business. “I want to still be a part of this industry because I love doing it. I love it when a role challenges me, but I will not be there ’cause I need to be. I want it to remain a passion.” 

It surprises me every time I talk to Angel how low-key she is in everything. Low-maintenance when it comes to her beauty regimen, never flashy when it comes to fashion, just taking her time when it comes to her career, not even rushing when it comes to love. Almost everything in showbiz now is about rising, going, getting, a nd here is a woman just gliding through it all with such grace. Despite having gone through a life so dramatic, just like the roles she plays on MMK, you will never feel any heaviness around her because, true to her real name, Angelita, her presence instantly creates a light.

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E-mail me at askiamsuperbianca@yahoo.com or follow me on Twitter <@iamsuperbianca>.