The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
by Alvin I. Dacanay
Twenty years after he began his brilliant career, prize-winning actor Piolo Pascual continues to be one of the most popular performers in the Philippine entertainment industry today. Unlike many of his peers who saw their careers stall for one reason or another, Pascual’s versatility—and the vigorous support of his home network ABS-CBN—enabled him to remain relevant, despite audiences’ constantly changing tastes.
The various roles Pascual took on, and not only those onscreen, offer proof of his versatility and the enormous clout he has earned through the years. He’s not only an actor, but also a producer of both mainstream and independent films (Adolf Alix Jr. and Raya Martin’s Manila, the Kimmy Dora series); a singer with sold-out concerts under his belt; and an endorser of numerous products, the latest of which is Mega Sardines.
This year is shaping up to be a busier-than-usual one for Pascual as he celebrates his second decade in showbusiness and his fourth on earth. According to him, he first welcomed these twin milestones with a Star Studio magazine cover on January 4, eight days before his 40th birthday.
As for films, there’s Northern Lights: A Journey to Love, a co-production between Pascual’s Spring Films, Regal Entertainment, and Star Cinema that’s set for release on March 29. In it, the actor portrays a Filipino worker in Alaska who found himself tasked with raising his estranged son, whom he left behind in the Philippines.
It’s a situation that apparently resonates with Pascual, who has a son, 19-year-old budding actor Iñigo, from a previous relationship.
In an interview with The Market Monitor, Pascual said that, as a producer, he’s interested in projects or stories that “catch the audience’s attention.”
What “I learn from the script, from the story; and (how) it gives me a certain sense of excitement, knowing that it’s not something I’ve seen before—those [are the] things I have to consider in producing a film,” Pascual said on the sidelines of the press conference on his contract-signing with leading canned-goods company Mega Global Corp. as Mega Sardines’ latest celebrity endorser at Seared Restaurant and Lounge in Pasig City on March 7.
He added that, since money is shelled out and people’s talents and time are used, he makes sure that the project is “something worthwhile, something that’s really good for the audience to watch, (and) something that they can learn from.”
After Northern Lights, Pascual will be seen in award-winning auteur Lav Diaz’s next film, whose title the performer declined to give. The project reunites him with Shaina Magdayao, his co-star in 2012’s On the Job whom he has been “exclusively” dating for the last five years.
This film is Pascual’s second with Diaz. The first was Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery), in which the actor plays Simoun, the revenge-bent jeweler in Dr. José P. Rizal’s novel El Filibusterismo (The Filibustering).
This eight-hour-plus feature won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016.
“It’s still kind of confidential, because we’re waiting for it to have a proper announcement before we could talk about the project, but we (filmed) it in Malaysia last month,” Pascual said of Diaz’s follow-up to his Golden Lion-winning Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left).
“Word’s (going to) come out soon as to when we’re going to show it and where it’s going to be shown,” he added.
Besides movies, Pascual said he has an album launch and a concert tentatively set for September or earlier in the works, although he admitted that he doesn’t know “how everything is going to fit in my schedule.”
Raising the bar
During the press conference, Pascual thanked Mega Global for “choosing (and) entrusting me with their No. 1 brand, Mega Sardines.”
“I love to eat, so when they showed how it’s done, (and) the quality (and) freshness that (they) provide, sabi ko (I said), ‘This is the perfect product for me,’” the actor said.
“They always raise the bar,” Pascual said of Mega Global, adding that what he appreciates and what impressed him the most about the firm and its sardines is its trademark 12-hour catching-to-canning process, “which ensures the freshness of the product.”
“So pag tinikman mo siya talaga, it’s so different. Hindi siya malansa (So if you really taste it, it’s so different. It doesn’t smell or taste fishy),” he added.
Pascual also appreciates the company being mindful of the environment, noting that “there’s a season when they don’t catch fish—I think (from) November until February—to give time for the fish to mate, as well. So they follow the fish ban.”
“They let nature takes it course,” he added.
Although he generally avoids canned goods because of their preservatives, Pascual said he has no problem endorsing Mega Sardines because it doesn’t use them.
From screen to stage?
As someone who has performed different parts, both onscreen and off, what is there left to do for Pascual?
“I want to do something that can probably expand (into) the regional market. Probably do an English-language film, so that we can show it elsewhere, not just in the Philippines,” he said.
The actor is open to returning to theater someday, saying that he started out on stage when he was in college, specifically with Teatro Tomasino at the University of Santo Tomas.
“The only thing that’s stopping me is the rehearsal time, because when you’re doing film or TV, you don’t have siguro an option to do other things,” Pascual said.
“In time, I want to go back to doing stage (plays), and it’s still on my bucket list to do a musical, hopefully,” he added.