The case of glitz and glam John Lloyd Cruz eating “pedestrian” bread as “kalahi”

It’s still the talk of the town.

The feasting of glamorous, gorgeous or even god-like actor John Lloyd Cruz of a humble pie—figuratively—in a south suburban town in a recent day. The bread offered to the glitzy celeb was called “kalahi,” a euphemism of the more common “kabayan” bread. “Kalahi” or “kabayan” is a dough filled with a food-colored mushy sometimes stiff—depends on the baking style—cream-looking sandwich. Mostly, one piece of “kalahi” or “kabayan” costs five pesos or a little more.

The story goes like this.

Actor and action star Dan Fernandez, congressman of the First District of Laguna Province had a commitment with John Lloyd for a meeting with Mayor Rommel Gelocea of Cabayao City in Laguna for a presentation of Lloydie’s new business project. The two show biz celebs went together to the provincial city hall.

When it was Cruz’s turn to speak about his program, a new tricycle transport app called “Trike Now”—a vehicle service to be available on cyber once tapped and scheduled for pick-up and drop off of respective passengers in the locality—plateful “kalahi” breads were served on the table. Of course, John Lloyd’s concept is nationwide patterned after the mobile trike which looks like a small cab originally found in Tagaytay City busy streets.

Partaking on the controversial daily bread among the locals aside from Cruz were Dan, Mayor Gecolea, Mike Aranzanso and other local gov’t officials.

When the Lloydie “kalahi” eating incident reached the critics, they altogether said it was cheap of the Cabuyao Local Government Unit (LGU) to have served the high profile actor the “lowly” dough instead of some continental dishes for merienda or cuisine naturally local pride fitted for an important guest if not a VIP.

“Bakit ba naman pinupulitika pa nila ang paghahanda namin ng ‘kalahi’ kay John Lloyd. Grabe naman (Why are they making political issues out serving ‘kalahi’ to John Lloyd? That’s too much),” commented Jun Larena, one of the staff who attended to the city members and officers of the Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association (TODA).

“Ganito kasi ang totoong kuwento r’yan (This is the real story behind the issue),” batted in Ronald Gotiongco, Executive Assistant to the Mayor.

“Nagbukas kasi si Mayor ng bakery business para may trabaho ang mga residente ng siyudad na apektado ng COVID-19 pandemic na nawalan ng mga hanapbuhay. Sila ang mga nagtatrabaho sa bakery (Mayor opened up a bakery business so that residents of the city who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and rendered jobless would have sources of income. They are the workers in the bakery),” explained Ronald, also known as Arboy.

Gotiongco added that John Lloyd liked the bread offered him. “May kasama pa ngang organic na kape ‘yong tinapay (There was even a matching organic coffee to go with the bread),” he exclaimed.

“Gusto lang talagang ipatikim ni Mayor kay John Lloyd ‘yong kanyang tinapay na ginagawa (Mayor just wanted John Lloyd to taste the bread he makes),” cleared out Gotiongco.

So there.

***

In these challenging times which are also felt in show business particularly in filmmaking, unnecessary spending is such a waste not only of money but of time and effort instead of channeling them to a more urgent need like helping unemployed movie workers.

Yet the production cast and crew of the new film version of the massacre in Balangiga at the turn of the twentieth century in Balangiga, Eastern Samar couldn’t help but carry on with the project amid setbacks like cancellation of permits to use a location invested with hundred thousands of pesos in construction of sets only to be demolished or abandoned just like that.

“Nagkaroon kasi ng problema sa board resolution ng mga may-ari ng lote sa pagbibigay ng permit sa amin kaya naipit ang produksyon (There was a problem in the board resolution among the owners of the land in granting us permit that’s why the production was the casualty),” said Danny Marquez, the director of the film.

Consider the gigantic sets to approximate the actual Balangiga setting during the 1901. What could Danny do as the captain of the ship but to look for other locations? “Nagko-construct na po kami ng bagong set sa San Rafael, Bulacan at na-issue na ang permit. Mas malawak ito (We are already constructing a new set in San Rafael, Bulacan and the permit was already issued. This is larger and wider),” added Marquez.

“Balangiga 1901” stars EJay Falcon as Capt. Valeriano Abanador, the Chief of Police of the town who led the uprising against the US servicemen who invaded Balangiga, Jason Abalos as Sgt. Pedro Duran, Abanador’s military support, Lala Vinzon as the woman who took up arms against the Americans and a cast of thousands.

In managing a bevy of actors to give life to the historical drama, the production was a law-abiding citizen. “May mga health protocols naman po kaming sinunod dahil marami kaming artista rito (There were health protocols we followed because we employed a lot of stars here),” clarified Danny. The director informed that he still has three weeks to finish the film.