If you ask true-blue Kapamilya viewers, especially those subscribed to The Filipino Channel, their number one noontime program, they’d surely answer in chorus, “It’s Wowowee!”
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No matter the violent reactions of Kapuso fans back home who believe that the Willie Revillame-hosted program is not as good nor half as entertaining as Eat Bulaga – the lunchtime staple of many Filipinos for nearly three decades – Wowowee has definitely taken a slice of the pie that has been thedominion of Tito, Vic and Joey.
Seen as a vital part in the upsurge of the popularity of Wowowee are the three lovely dancers who have caught the fancy of many TV viewers –Luningning, Mariposa, and Milagring. Though Eat Bulaga’s Sexbomb Dancers and the EB Babes remain the bywords when it comes to dancing beauties, the presence of the trio has definitely upped the ante for the supremacy battle on the noontime block.
And many are taking a second look.
LUNINGNING
‘Direk Edgar Mortiz thought of giving me the name Luningning. Pangmasa daw ito
at madaling tandaan.’
Luningning, 24, whose real name is Lea Carla Santos, started as a backup dancer in Wowowee. Barely two months in the show, she was thrust into the limelight after she was discovered (or aptly, singled out) by Willie, who wanted to highlight a young and fresh-looking talent on the show. Thanks to her flawless skin, Lea was given a break and was nicknamed Luningning, a tag that has stuck and made her a household name.
Luningning is a veteran of many shows that feature lady dancers, having appeared in programs such as Lunchbreak and ASAP. Even as a young girl, Luningning had always loved dancing.
“Wowowee dancers pa lang ang bini-build up nila at that time and I was a back up dancer. Luckily, napansin ako ni Willie. Siya ang nakaisip na palitan ang pangalan ko. Pero si Direk Bobot (Edgar Mortiz) who thought of giving me the name Luningning. Pangmasa daw ito at madaling tandaan,” said Luningning in our backstage interview after an episode of Wowowee.
She was so happy to have been given the break and when asked if she’d like to give acting a try (be an artista), Luningning demurred and said she has no intentions of doing so. “When I was given this chance, I just grabbed it. Pero kung mabigyan ako ng pagkakataon, why not? But that has not really crossed my mind because dancing is my passion and that’s what I want to do,” Luningning said.
When told that their trio is now very popular in the United States, she humbly expressed elation. “Pero siguro po kaya ganoon kasi kami ang unang nabigyan ng break na mag-solo. Step by step lang naman lahat ito. Baka sa susunod, iba naman ang mabigyan ng break tulad ng dumating sa amin,” said Luningning.
Despite her rising popularity, Luningning doesn’t take her newfound fame nor fortune for granted. As the breadwinner and the eldest in a brood of six, and knowing that everything in showbiz could be temporary, she’s planning to put all her money to good use. She has, in fact, started by setting up a small beauty salon in Antipolo City.
MARIPOSA
‘Medyo naughty po ang pangalan na binigay niya sa akin ni Papi Willie. Kasi po ang Mariposa ay pangalan ng motel.’
Rovielyn Cabigquez, a.k.a. Mariposa, 24, started out as a dancer in the defunct noontime show MTB (Magandang Tanghali Bayan), also hosted by Willie together with Randy Santiago and John Estrada. It was there that she met choreographer Ana Feliciano who later became her dancing mentor. She joined the Miss Calendar Girl contest in MTB and that paved the way for her entry in showbiz.
Before her showbiz stint, Mariposa was a student at the University of the East where she was taking up Legal Management. When she became busy as a mainstay in MTB, she quit school. “I was already earning money and I was able to help my family, that’s why I just concentrated on dancing. I was happy kasi nasusuportahan ko na ang family ko,” she related.
Mariposa discovered her love for dancing as a young girl and this stayed with her until she grew up. After a short lived stint in MTB, Mariposa became one of the back-up dancers for the first batch of the Wowowee Girls together with Luningning and Milagring. But when the original batch was disbanded, Mariposa, together with the other back-up dancers, became the frontrunners of the new batch of Wowowee Girls.
With the exposure given her in Wowowee, does Mariposa dream of shifting towards, say, acting?
“Sa totoo lang po, honestly speaking, wala po akong hilig sa pag-aartista. Dancing lang po talaga ang hilig ko. Happy na po ako sa pagsasayaw. Kahit na nga po hindi ako mabigyan ng solo spot, kahit back-up lang ako, masaya na po ako. Hindi ko naman po hinahangad na sumikat,” said Mariposa.
She feels blessed with the popularity that she and the rest of the Wowowee Girls enjoy, although Mariposa says she’s truly happy in being able to provide entertainment and enjoyment to the viewers of Wowowee, thanks to the break given to them by Willie. “Natutuwa po ako kasi nakilala na nila kami,” said Mariposa.
Like Luningning, she’s still very much surprised by her serendipitous rise to fame. “There was a time, nagkasakit po si Luningning so kailangan po ng replacement. On the spot po, tinawag po ako ni Pappi (Willie). Nagulat po ako kasi wala pa naman po akong pangalan noon. After po noon, pinangalanan niya akong Mariposa. Medyo naughty nga po ang pangalan na binigay niya sa akin kasi po ang Mariposa ay pangalan ng motel,” she said.
Aside from the financial rewards she’s been reaping, Mariposa feels that her job as a dancer has greatly improved her as a person. She’s become more patient. And she’s fast learning the value of maturity. Being the breadwinner of her family, her stint in Wowowee gave her the resolve to be independent and to work hard. She’s also very thankful to her Tita Ana Feliciano, her mentor, who advises her on how to go about her career as a dancer.
MILAGRING
‘Yung girl po ang magdadala ng bayong sa Pera o Bayong, parang pampasuwerte. Kaya binigyan po ako ng
pangalang Milagring.’
Milagring, 26, or Annaliza C. Baldonado in real life, also started as a dancer in MTB. She first joined the contest “Sunod sa Galaw” and was later taken in as a member of the group Honey May after an audition called by Ana Feliciano. After her Honey May stint, MTB also went off the air and was replaced by Wowowee. But after dancing in the pilot episode of Wowowee, Annaliza disappeared from the scene. She busied herself with commercials.
When the original Wowowee dancers were disbanded, Annaliza was contacted by her Tita Ana who asked her to come to the auditions. She auditioned and, though admitting that she wasn’t as good a dancer then as she is now, made the cut.
“After one month, nangailangan po ng babae para sa ‘Pera o Bayong’ segment. ‘Yung girl po ang magdadala ng bayong, parang pampasuwerte. Binigyan po ako ng pangalan ni Direk Bobot na Milagring. He was the one who thought of that name. They patterned it after Luningning,” she recalled.
As Milagring slowly became a household name, she worked doubly hard to hone her craft. She admits that dancing for Wowowee, and the fact that she feels pressured to perform well when dancing alongside the more-famous Luningning, was a real challenge. She recalls how Tita Ana would often scold her for not getting the steps right when she was still new. But now, Milagring dances with more confidence.
So, does she feel that she’s now famous, especially among the viewers of The Filipino Channel?
“Actually, wala naman po sa amin ‘yung sinasabi nila na sikat na kami. We are happy that many people recognize us. We are happy and we feel blessed that we are able to provide entertainment to a lot of people. We are flattered that the people love us, and they watch our show and they like what we do. We just want to give them our best,” said Milagring.
Given a chance, Milagring also expressed her desire to switch gears (read: act). Of course, she believes that it may be suntok sa buwan. But as they say, libre lang naman ang mangarap.
“I will take what will come my way. If there would be such a chance, why not go for it? But with the things that are happening to me now, I am already happy with it. In the future, I’d like to be able to save money to be able to put up my own business,” said the Hotel and Restaurant Management graduate from Perpetual Help College-Binan.
Dancing for Wowowee has given Milagring so many blessings and a lot of reasons to be thankful. “I was able to help my family financially and I now support them with my earnings. I feel blessed to have been given this opportunity to dance, which I love very much, and which has helped me earn my keep and help my family,” she said. 
