BENJAMIN ALVES is happy to be acting again on cam in the ongoing episode of “I Can See You”, the intriguing mystery-romance, “The Promise”.
After being in forced hiatus for six months because of the pandemic lockdown, he reveals he gained a lot of personal insights while he was away from the limelight.
“First of all, I learned how valuable time really is and we must never waste it on just the pursuit of material things,” he says.
“The more important thing is to establish good connections with your loved ones, specially your family. You can have all the lavish material things that money can buy, but if you have bad relationships with the people around you, your life will still be empty.”
He says a lot of people make the mistake of equating success with material things.
“Kung minsan kasi, ang identity natin, nakakabit sa expensive things like kung gaano kalaki ang bahay mo, kung gaano kagara ang kotse mo or gaano kamahal ang signature bag mo. That’s how most people measure successs.
"But because of the pandemic, a lot of people went back to basics and realize na mas importante pa rin ang relationship nila with their family.”
The lockdown helped him do a lot of soul-searching.
“Mas nahanap ko yung sarili. What really counts the most for me. So I’m thankful, in a way, because the pandemic gave us time to pause for a while and do some serious thinking.”
In “The Promise”, he plays Jude, the cousin and business associate of his cousin, Paolo Contis as Frank Agoncillo. He and his girlfriend, Andrea Torres as Ivy, visits Frank in his lakeside house in Laguna.
Frank has been a recluse since his wife, Yasmien Kurdi as Clarisse, suddenly died in an unfortunate accident. Soon, his girlfriend Ivy starts showing some charcteristics that resemble those of Frank’s dead wife and Frank naturally gets attracted to her.
Director Zig Dulay says he’s lucky all his actors are very cooperative during their lock in taping for almost five days.
“It’s my first time to work with Paolo Contis and I enjoyed his company kasi kahit mabigat yung story namin at puno ng mystery and drama, off cam, he’s a very happy person,” says Benjamin.
“Laging nagpapatawa kaya we have a happy set. Although mahirap ang taping because of all the saftey protocols involved, magaan ang trabaho kasi masaya kami lagi sa set.”
“The Promise” in “I Can See You” will be seen until Friday night, after “Encantadia”.
Offcam, it’s an open book that after Julie Anne San Jose, Benjamin found new romance in his current non-shobiz girlfriend, Chelsea Robato, with whom he’s been on for more than a year now. They are also business associates in House of Roses, an online store selling fabulous Ecuadorean roses.
