“It’s my payback time to the industry, serving the Mowelfund and teaching, but siempre, ang acting, hindi ko pa rin maiiwanan,” she says. “In ‘Misibis Bay’, I play the grandma of Ritz Azul. I have an ax to grind against the family of Christopher de Leon and Vivian Velez who own the Misibis Bay resort so I’m the one who urged Ritz na paghigantihan sila. Our family used to own the land where the resort was built, pero landgrabbers sila na inagaw yun from us kaya nagkahirap-hirap kami and Ritz became a dancer in a club where Boyet meets her and marries her. Dapat nga, dalawa ang shows ko rito sa TV5. Kasi I started taping na rin for Derek Ramsay’s new show, ‘Undercover’. It was meant to be a weekly show, so okay lang sana kasi daily naman itong ‘Misibis Bay’. Kaya lang, management decided to make it also a daily show to come out after ‘Misibis’, so hindi na ko puede rin doon. Papalitan na lang ako and they have re-shoot the scenes involving my character. But after ‘Misibis’, may bago na rin akong offer uli sa kanila for the next soap, ‘Silay’, to be shot in Silay City, Negros Occidental naman which is famous for its old houses. Sa September naman yun. Sa ABS-CBN naman, they also offered me the role na iniwan ni Amalia Fuentes in ‘Muling Buksan ang Puso’ when she resigned. Kaso nga, nandito na ko sa TV5 so I begged off. I was replaced daw by Pilar Pilapil.”
What’s her experience working with the young stars of TV5 in “Misibis Bay”? “I stayed with them sa resort at okay naman silang lahat. Ritz Azul as my apo is very conscientious. Meron siyang sense of camera and lighting, marunong siya ng right timing. Intelihente siya, may pinaghuhugutan. Tawag ko nga sa kanya, gripo, kasi ang bilis tumulo ng luha. May scenes din ako with Daniel Matsunaga and Victor Silayan. Si Daniel, mapupuri mo kasi may effort talagang magsalita ng Tagalog kahit hirap na hirap siya. Si Victor naman reminds me of his Lolo, Vic Silayan. E, ang galing na artista noon, di ba? Pareho sila ng boses, buong-buo. Okay naman si Victor sa acting and his Lolo will be proud of him kasi desidido rin siya tapusin ang college course niya kahit busy na siya sa pag-aartista.”
Boots is also busy on the big screen. She just finished two new films. “One is ‘LRT’ with Direk Adolf Alix and the other one is ‘Tabla Talo Panalo’ with Direk Buboy Tan. Parehong si Eddie Garcia ang kasama ko diyan.”
She ran for the senate before. How come she didn’t try running again in the last election? “Naku, tama na. Tatakbo na lang ako sa karera ng daga!” she laughs.
