After Taking Care of Family, Regine Wants Time for Self
Mary Ann Sta. Ana
posted:05.8.03


Still Thrilled

SHE LOOKS so good these days that people often wonder. Is she in love?

But Regine Velasquez would be the first to tell you that she's not in the throes of romance. It's all due to her positive attitude, she'd tell you.

The singer known as Asia's Songbird turned 33 last April 22, but she still has the same exuberance and optimism she's always had even as a "Bagong Kampeon" winner 17 years ago. Despite her extremely busy work schedules, she remains thrilled about her many projects. There's no danger of Regine becoming jaded and burnt out.

"I'm always excited about my work," she says. "Once I stop getting nervous and thrilled about my work, then I think I would have to retire."

Indeed, she is swamped with work. She has just wrapped up work on a new movie, "Pangarap Ko ang Ibigin Ka," and its soundtrack. She continues to host two TV shows, "S.O.P." and "Star for a Night."

She remains a force to reckon with in the live concert scene. The Valentine show, "Songbird Sings Legrand," and the summer spectacle, "Regine Velasquez and Martin Nievera 2003 World Tour" (Waterfront Hotel Cebu last May 2 and at the Araneta Coliseum tonight and tomorrow), have been the season's hottest tickets.

On top of all this, Regine also found the time to produce for other artists. In the works is the launching album of Opera soloist Zebedee Zuniga.

She also discovered a new career as a budding scriptwriter and has come up with concepts for her concerts and music videos as well as for her TV and movie projects. She is responsible for the story of "Pangako . . . Ikaw Lang," her second movie with Aga Muhlach; for her "Lobo" episode on "Maalaala Mo Kaya" for which she won a PMPC Star Awards for TV Best Single Performance by an Actress; and her recent GMA-7 tele-sine "Huling Yakap," with Dingdong Dantes.

For all these story ideas, she credits her "overactive, vivid imagination."

"I've always had the passion to create stories ever since I was a kid," she owns up. "It's my biggest frustration, to be a scriptwriter."

With her countless awards and accolades as a singer, she is determined to go into fields and territories that she has not explored.

"I owe it to my audience to be constantly creative," she explains. "I should always give them something new, something different, something exciting. "

So Poor

In the past, she was driven by the desire to give a good life to her family.

"We were so poor," she recalls. "So poor we couldn't even buy a bottle of shampoo."

She can buy her own shampoo factory now if she wanted to, but Regine remains just as industrious. Whenever she goes back to the dream home that she built in Bulacan with her own blood, sweat, and tears, Regine couldn't help but wax sentimental.

"When I see it, I realize that my family is now okay," she says, "that I really don't need to work that hard and I can now take things easy. In fact, my parents keep telling me that.

"We may not be rich but we're comfortable. All my siblings have finished college. They have their own lives now. And I am so happy about that."

That is what she considers her greatest achievement so far, "that I was able to send all my siblings to school and to give my family a comfortable life. "

One elusive goal still remains to be achieved.

"So now, I am trying to take care of myself more," she says. "I'm trying to lead my own life, to focus on myself more. That's why I keep saying I want to rest, I want to go out with friends and have fun."

She is thinking of traveling more, to Thailand, Singapore, and maybe Spain. Or maybe going back to school, where this high school graduate hopes to take up fine arts or creative writing.

"I'm working hard now because I am saving up for the things I want to buy," Regine says. "Whether it's a piece of property or a dream vacation, it will be for me. Since my family is now doing well, I want to fulfill my personal dreams."

Source:Phil Daily Inquirer