But looking at him, you won’t even think he’s in his 50s. His face remains unlined and his physique is as lean as when he first joined showbiz in the early 80s. “My eldest son Luis is 32, my daughter Addy is 19 and taking up communication arts at the Ateneo, my youngest son Enzo is 18, stands 6’1” and taking up entrepreneurship at La Salle. Kinukuha na sila sa showbiz but just like their Kuya Luis, I want them to finish college first.”
Edu has joined TV5’s morning show, “Good Morning Club”, seen weekdays 5 to 7 AM. This makes him the only host who has appeared in all the major network’s morning shows as he was also in “Unang Hirit” and “Umagang Kay Ganda” before.
He joins Tintin Bersola Babao, Chiqui Roa Puno and the comebacking Amy Perez (after delivering her third son) in the new “Good Morning Club” segment “Kumare Con Pare”. Edu provides the male viewpoint when the Tres Kumares tackle issues about the home and relationships. He also has his own segment, “EduKado”, where he dissects pressing social issues. The show’s other hosts are Paolo Bediones, Cheryl Cosim, Grace Lee, Joseph Ubalde, Makatawanan and Shalala.
How does he find his new co-hosts? “Si Amy, ang lakas manigarilyo. Nagda-drugs pa. Si Tintin, laging may vodka. Marami yata silang problema ni Julius Babao,” he jokes, laughing. “Seriously, kilala ko na sila before pa, mga kumare ko yan kaya nag-jell kami agad. Si Paolo, he gets very involved at magandang ugali yan sa trabaho. He’s not just a newsreader like the others. Magkasundo kaming lahat.”
Isn’t he going back to politics? “Ayoko na, tapos na ko diyan. I still do public service naman. I’m expanding the cancer wing named after my dad, Adrian Manzano, at the Philippine Children’s Hospital. May phase 2 and 3 na kami to accommodate more children patients.”
Doesn’t he miss acting? “I do. My last soap was ‘Walang Kapalit’ sa ABS in 2006. But I can’t do any acting now. I wake up at 3 AM so I can report to the studio in Novaliches for ‘Good Morning Club’. Kung magso-soap ako, magdamagan ang taping, wala na kong itutulog. E, I’m still doing ‘Game N Go’ with Joey de Leon. What I want to revive is my late night show. I already submitted the format to them. At this point, I’m no longer a spring chicken, nagkaroon pa ako late onset of asthma. Allergic ako sa maraming bagay like fumes, dairy products, hindi ako makahinga, so I have to be more careful and take it easy.”
