Playing Salud. "Lights, episode nine, scene one, take one," are the words the assistant director uttered followed by "action!" The director had seen to it the angle was just right, the lights appropriate for the location and the actor in the right mood to act out that particular scene. Ive seen it so many times done on television as the camera goes rolling to take each scene as detailed as possible. But now Ive taken the picture in a different perspective. I was not just a mere spectator. I was the actor.

Directed by no other than RD Alba of Alba productions, renowned for producing "Kapalaran," a daily television series aired at ABS-CBN over two years ago, this mid-twenties artist, who had recently celebrated his 28th birthday,  had done several projects soon to air over the same network within a year. He had been a part of the successful and award-winning Visayan film "Panaghoy as Suba" (The Calling of the River) as the assistant director to Cesar Montano. This critically-acclaimed movie starred Cesar Montano himself and Juliana Palermo, featuring some of the best Boholano actors such as Dr. Disi Alba,  Director RD's nurturing real life mom, and  our very own Marites, who plays Brenda on the upcoming Cebuanovela, among others. No wonder Direk RD had bravely undertaken this remake of the Cebuano novel Milyonaryong Mini shot almost a decade ago and which had been made into film starring Manila actors playing Cebuano characters. This time it is going to be a Cebuanovela made into a teleserye that should last for three months on air, due October "til December.          

The first shoot was taken at the directors residence in Cebu, at the Villa del Rio in Bacayan one drizzly Friday afternoon. At least that was my first day of taping, but apparently they had taken the first week episode the week prior. My first encounter with the crew and staff was a bit overwhelming at some point, considering they were a meager group of five to seven people each handling a specific task to make the shoot as extensively precise as possible and on the dot, take note. I was told by Rhea (one of the staff) that the director is quite uptight with schedule and does not want delays. This is something I would truly understand, having worked with ABS for two fruitful years.

It only took a bit time to get comfy around the set, with familiar faces as on-watchers and assistants. Tita Merlie, from my SNG and ABS-CBN family was there to oversee the taping. The staff and crew were friendly enough to get me laughing after a few retakes and cuts. The director and assistant director, Niño, who is RDs younger brother, have been kind enough to motivate my acting, or so at least I think that was what I was doing. Some of my co-stars had been kind enough to tell me what to do, and inspire me to better my performance.

It took more than eight hours to get a few scenes done; nonetheless, it was a fruitful long day for all of us, considering we had accomplished what needed to be completed for the day. The staff had been kind enough to bring me to the office as I was bound to work that night after the shoot. What a blast! Exhaustion was slowly sinking me down at the end of the day.  I could only hope to have gotten a few hours of sleep later that night given a chance.

A few days later, I was headed towards the beautiful island of Bohol, to shoot some more scenes together with my sister in the character, Petra, played by Cherie Lou. I bet by the mention of her name, one would recall seeing her play at Game Ka Na Ba a few nights earlier where she got disqualified somehow.  I told her later that day it was one wasted chance she didnt get to win on.  She was a petite fair-skinned lady with chinky eyes, long brown hair, with a well-endowed voluptuous figure every woman would envy and every man would drool on. Its a fact, not hearsay. Then again she wasnt a snob as I thought every Manila artist would be. She was courteously friendly and she easily captured everyones heart. Got that notion proven wrong at least to my consolation, and she had been truly inventive, quick to act and assertive on the set. We played our roles like they were for real. Adlibs were not difficult to add up as she had been experienced enough to suggest a few lines to punch it all. She suited the role of Petra, a girl of humble beginnings vainly seeking for the man of her dreams with three distinct qualities- rich, richer and richest, as she portrayed each scene with ease and suave. Our scenes ended up in the wee hours of the night and yet the whole crew thought it was one successful night on the second day of taping.

Then there was the notorious Junior Kilat lead vocalist, Budoy Mirabiles, to play the role of Cosme, the buddy of Berting (the real rich guy in the story) who was mistaken as Berting himself when he arrived in Bohol.  Berting was played by veteran Cebuano actor, Randolph Libres, who had been a cast of Kapalaran himself. He pretended to be that poor house boy of Berting (who was actually Cosme) in order to win the heart of the woman he adores- Salud. Thus, the strings of mistaken identity, false hopes, broken romances, painful breakups and hilarious twists and turns that stirred the concoction of this comedy-drama series that had touched many Bisaya televiewers for the past years, and will soon to invade their boob tubes in the coming months.

So about the role I play? You will soon find out so just stay tuned to your Kapamilya station, ABS-CBN regional network Channel 3 as plugging will soon be aired. And do catch the launching of the show on October, as ALBA Productions bring you the Cebuanovela that left everyone laughing their hearts out with its funny antics and touched their hearts in this melodramatic comedy series- Milyonaryong Mini.