Korina fully recharged
Perhaps the biggest compliment that Korina Sanchez got during the pandemic came from her husband, former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas.
When Albee Benitez’s Brightlight Productions offered to revive Korina’s ABS-CBN weekly show Rated K on Kapatid Network TV5 and renamed it Rated Korina, it was Mar who congratulated Korina posthaste.
“He told me, ‘I am very proud of you’,” Korina told Funfare in a one-on-one. “He said, ‘ When it happened to you, when your station was shut down, hindi ka humingi ng tulong sa akin.’ You see, I am very, very self-sufficient.”
Didn’t Mar try to stop her and remind her to just stay at home and take care of their twins Pepe and Pilar? After all, she doesn’t have to work and can simply enjoy being locked down at their home inside the White House (Bahay na Puti) compound in Quezon City. But Korina is a busy bee who cannot be domesticated, oh no!
“Mar will never do that,” added Korina. “He knows what I love most, what I love doing.”
The Brightlight offer came when, according to Korina, she was starting to wonder where the “uncertain days” were leading to, when things would return to normal (as we knew it).
“I’m very thankful to Brightlight for the offer,” confessed Korina. “It came before I started to get really worried not just about myself and my career but also about my staff. I was elated to know that there was something waiting.”
It took only a while for Albee to make Korina say yes.
“It wasn’t hard,” confirmed Korina. “The mere fact that he knew how to recognize the value of a show like ours...which has lasted for more than 25 years and harvested awards...for it not to have a home when we still have much more to offer, much more to give, it’s really an honor, an opportunity and a privilege. So, no, hindi ko pinahirapan si Albee. It was my first time to meet him and I was impressed. I felt at once that he knew what he was doing, what he was talking about. He recognizes something right away. Konting paliwanag lang at nakukuha na niya. He knows quality, he values hard work, he’s a good businessman.”
They agreed on one important thing.
“We settled on a certain budget, limited but I can make do with it. So I am now the line producer aside from being the host of the show.”
After all these years, has doing the show become kind of routine?
“No. Everybody complains about work. The important message of the times today is that work is valuable and nobody has any right to complain. I think what COVID and the lockdown have done for each of us is that they help us to identify a blessing when we get it, unlike before when we took things for granted.
“That’s how I also feel about the re-emergence, the revival, of my show. I am energized by the acknowledgment of this blessing when so many people have lost their jobs and don’t have many options.”
As her Instagram followers know, Korina is physically fit, proud of showcasing her wellproportioned body in swimsuits ( oh- la- la, three of those pictures shown on this page).
“You know, I stopped growing older when I was 27, hahaha!!! Sa isip ko, I’m not even 30 yet. But again, I do my part and watch what I eat, take my supplements and work out. Most important is the mindset. I like to keep dreaming, setting goals, working a plan, reaching targets and believing they can happen.”
She has also begun meditating as soon as she wakes up in the morning.
And how does she keep reinventing, staying so unsinkable?
“Hahaha!!! I refuse to be a victim, I guess. It’s in my DNA. It isn’t all my effort. Much of the opportunities, first of all, come from God. I am so blessed, so I should do my part and keep trying to live my #BestLife. I remember feeling ko minumulto ako sa bahay ko. Pinagagalitan ko ang multo at pinapalayas ko. A multo cannot drive me out of my house. No! So it is about giving enough respect to things beyond your control, as much as believing in yourself enough to keep standing. Even if opportunities come up, if you don’t do your part, you stay sunken. You also have to stay healthy and young-at-heart.”
Ever on the go, Korina didn’t waste a minute after this interview and embarked on a threehour drive to a town in Bulacan to shoot an episode for a forthcoming horror presentation (for All Souls’ Day).
“That’s the difference between my old show Rated K (‘moribund’ for several months) and my new show Rated Korina. With Rated K, I wasn’t going out much, but we covered everything there was to cover in Metro Manila. For Rated Korina, I’m exploring places outside of Metro Manila. I have gone to a far-flung barangay; I just came back from Cebu. Two days from now, I am going to shoot in La Union. Siempre, there is excitement in the reinvention.”
Meanwhile, Mar blithely serves as yayo (nanny) to Pepe and Pilar. He knows how careful Korina is about protocols (always taking a swab test before reporting to the set and staying 10 feet away from Mar and the twins upon arriving home, making sure she doesn’t get near them before she “disinfects” herself).
“He’s proud to be a yayo,” said Korina. “Kabisado na niya how to take care of the twins. I bet ako na ang matuturuan niya. Pero sabi ko, tuturuan ko ang kambal maging maka-Nanay. Hahabol ako dyan, hahaha!!!”
(E-mail reactions at rickylophilstar@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www. philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)
‘I am very, very self-sufficient. I don’t ask for any help from Mar.’