RICA Parelejo is tapping away on her Mac. A cup of joe sits on the table beside her. She’s in a dim empty restaurant. Astrud, barely audible, sings on the background. At one point, she asks the waiter to please turn up the lights.

She is racing to meet an afternoon deadline for Homeboy, Boy Abunda’s ABS-CBN show in which she’s been asked to submit an essay on betrayal. Hmm, serendipitous grist for the mill, I

think, except that she begs for a few minutes to wrap up what she’s writing.

She did come in early for our 12:30 appointment. Well, five minutes early but in showbiz terms, that’s like showing up the day before.

So I immediately like Rica. I also liked the fact that she was lost in her thoughts and didn’t try to fawn, schmooze or otherwise offer her cheek for the standard beso, another standard practice among complete strangers in her circle.

Hunched over her Mac, the 25-year-old Rica, shorn of make-up, looked 16. Her iBook was stickered almost completely except for the distinctive translucent logo. The stickers didn’t seem especially statement-like; just random stuff that might’ve come with gifts or shopping– a Bench sticker, PAL, Fragile, Marithe & Francois Girbaud, K-Swiss, Pizza Cutter. Kung anu-ano lang.

She was clad in black, her leggings tucked into Doc Martens boots. She wore multiple chains around her neck from which an assortment of charms dangled. In contrast to her indie look, her nails were painted Barbie pink. I liked her even more.

After a few minutes, she orders a Diet Coke. She doesn’t try to humor me or placate me for waiting. She is deep in her writing, her kewpie doll face and rosebud lips illuminated by the glow of her laptop.

In a few minutes, all that scholarly concentration will dissipate. For the next hour, Rica will go into bubbly overdrive, candidly speaking her mind as she takes in large forkfuls of her insalata (“Naku, I’ll be hungry again in an hour”), offering a wealth of details, abashing us with her perkiness, but always thoughtfully and perhaps cannily phrasing herself so that she stays on the middle-ground of what could be hurtful or controversial.

After all, she’s been in the business for the last 13 years, beginning with Ang TV, where she romped with Jolina Magdangal, Claudine Barretto, Angelu de Leon, among others. Like the lot, she was a triple threat. She acted, she sang, she danced. But it was her transformation into sex kitten at age 18 or 19 (those days are dim to her now), that thrust her to stardom. She did a number of movies that showed off her nubile-ity and to this day, even as she exudes a bubbly likeable vibe, it’s those curves and the smoldering stage presence that continue to define her.

On ‘Renditions’, her live show in Seattle, Washington with Sam Milby and Piolo Pascual.

So what have you prepared for your show?

I’m going to sing and dance. The audience really likes it when I dance. I guess because I have natural rhythm. And I’m going to do songs that the crowd likes. That’s always my main concern. . If they like the bagong songs, I’ll do that. Pero usually Filipinos abroad want to hear OPM kasi maybe they’re homesick. And they also like my dancing.

Are you doing anything together with Sam and Piolo?

Yes we will but we have yet to rehearse. Pero kaming tatlo funny kami nyan kasi ang practice namin nauuwi sa tawanan. One time, I think we were in San Francisco, kaming tatlo rin, sabi ko, “Huy! Anong gagawin natin?” Naiinis na si Piolo kasi siya yung nagiging leader namin kasi goofballs kami ni Sam.

Siryoso ba si Piolo?

Sobra rin siyang nagiging makulit pero pag (rehearsals), siya talaga yung in charge, nagiging kuya namin. Nagagalit pa yan when we shop together kasi kami ni Sam kung anu-ano pini-picture-an namin. E massacre na ang mall. Siya talaga yung tumatawag sa ‘min, “Excuse me, excuse me, we have to pay…” Para siyang tatty. So yung time nagre-rehearse kami ng song, galit na galit na siya sa among dalawa kasi kami ni Sam, “O play mo nga ‘to, play mo nga ‘to…. Ay! Alam mo pala yang kanta na yan!” (Claps her hands in glee). Sabi ni Piolo, “Wala pa tayong kanta. Sana gawin na natin to.”

On her being a Christian

Bakit mo na binabanggit ang Diyos ngayon, dati hindi.

Kasi Christian na ako ngayon…well Christian naman tayo…pero I’m attending Victory Fellowship. Si Sam Milby ang nagdala sa akin doon. Trinick niya ako! (Laughs)

Sino naman ang nagdala sa kanya?

I think his manager? We got very close kasi sa tour and then one time he tricked me and when I got there it was a service. Parang God was talking to me.

Na-touch ka.

Although before that meron nang nanliligaw sa akin na Christian, tapos parang sabi ko pa, “Ew, ang bait-bait naman nito, sobra, nakakainis.” (Laughs) Ganun pa talaga yung sinabi ko, “Nakakainis na! Dapat naman may konting bad.”

Understand you perfectly.

Di ba?? I felt like God was already courting me through many many people kasi even before that guy puro Christians yung dumadating sa buhay ko. I date a Christian and I go, “Hay nako, he’s so boring!”

Because they talk about…?

No, they don’t even talk about it; they’re just simply boring. And then now I understand why!

Why, why are they boring?

Because they’re just so right.

So are you boring now?

Maybe I am, I don’t know. I try not to be. But I try to live my life in the right way.

Anong sinasabi mo sa mga tao kung sinasabi nilang boring ka na?

Wala pa naman akong nae-encounter na nagsasabi niyan. As a matter of fact, mas full of life ako ngayon. Kasi dati parang walking dead man na ako.

Kasi?

Kasi ang bitter bitter ko. Parang bitter woman na ko.

Bakit? What caused you to be bitter?

Many of the dreams, hopes, expectations na not met. Like sa job, siyempre you expect it to be like this, you expect it to be like that and then what happens? Somebody puts you down and then the rest of it, parang wala na, parang they just fall apart. Parang ikaw, you’re just doing your job there, naapektuhan ka pa nga, sobrang na-down ka na.

Any particular shows?

Nothing in particular. Just the whole 13 years in showbiz, siyempre may ups and downs.

Especially in this kind of business.

Yes…given na yon. Especially I started out young, so siyempre hindi pa ganun ka-equipped yung heart ko when I got into it. Pag young ka, sobra kang dreamer, di ba? So pag dreamer ka, ang tendency pag hindi mo nami-meet yung expectations mo and you’re putting out all that you’ve got already, parang ang feeling mo, ang unfair ng world sa yo, di ba? Kaya ako nagiging bitter.
Tapos sasamahan pa ng mga wrong kinds of relationships – from the spectrum na yon ha – my friends, my boyfriends…

Anong specifics sa career mo yung sana na-achieve mo na pero for whatever reasons…

If I go into details marami ring maaapektuhan na tao but I’m just saying that, with all the talents that I have, with how much of a hard worker I am, sometimes feeling ko, hindi enough yung binibigay sa ‘kin.

Are you talking monetarily? Project-wise? Both?

Both. Monetarily, okay pa nga e. Kasi parang sometimes they would just give it to you so you accept a role or you accept a project. Or so just you shut up. (Grins) Ang hindi nafu-fulfill sa akin, ay yung artist part. Na, you’re not giving me the projects that I like.

Hindi ka ba naaasar?

Naaasar ? Hindi naman. Maybe before. Alam mo kasi, if you tend not to look at your blessings, maybe maaasar ka talaga. Kasi aside from that, may buhay ako e. Mahirap kasi dun sa iba, it’s painful for them kasi ginawa na nilang life nila yon. E ako kasi, even if I don’t get it from my job, when I go home, sobrang the best thing family ko, I have good sets of friends. All my interests pa (photography, writing). Sobrang, sobrang dami; hindi na kasya oras ko. Hindi kasya yung lifetime ko.

So you have a life outside of showbiz.

Yes. It’s very important. Otherwise, you go insane.

On current projects and random things

I have three movies lined up before the end of the year. One for Canary, which is for the Metro Manila Film Festival. I’m not sure of the title but it’s Karma yata together with Ms. Gretchen Barretto.

Yung isa naman I play the daughter of Mr. Eddie Garcia so drama-drama naman yan. Pero hindi ko alam kung anong (outfit) kasi si Mama (Alice Peralejo, her manager), “Basahin mo yang script!” Tapos siya na magne-negotiate.

Yung pangatlo, it’s an indie film. Actually hindi ko maintindihan ito kung gagawin siya for commercial release or hindi. Magana rin yon kasi I play the Angel of Death. Kasi I’m interested in the story. Ako yung in charge doon sa creative side (as opposed to Mom who looks after the nitty gritty). Si Mama na yung nag-negotiate.

Do you handle your own money?

I’m trying!

Creative writing ka nga (earlier Rica said she just passed her high school equivalency test and plans to take up Creative Writing in one of the country’s bigger universities).

Pero alam mo sobrang love ko ang math. Dream ko pag nag-retire ako, mag-aaral lang ako ng math o magiging prof ako ng math.