Marian continues to salute modern-day heroes
Her husband Dingdong Dantes is an OFW advocate. Her mother Amalia Rivera is a former OFW. No wonder Marian Rivera also has a heart for Pinoys who work abroad despite the challenges they face there. It’s heartwarming to see how this show makes a difference
Her husband Dingdong Dantes is an OFW advocate. Her mother Amalia Rivera is a former OFW. No wonder Marian Rivera also has a heart for Pinoys who work abroad despite the challenges they face there.
Based on data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) April this year, the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) at anytime from April to September 2017 is estimated at 2.3 million people.
Celebrity Marian Rivera is one with the nation in hailing these OFWs as modern day heroes. The actress hosts “Tadhana,” GMA Public Affairs’ weekly drama anthology featuring the colorful, romantic, heroic, and inspiring stories of OFWs.
Few days before “Tadhana” turns a year old today, Bulletin Entertainment caught up with Marian and asked how the show helped her appreciate OFWs more.
A daughter of a former OFW, Marian knows only too well about being left behind in the Philippines.
“It was hard,” she said in Filipino, adding it was her maternal grandmother who looked after her while her (Marian’s) mother was away. “Sometimes we take OFWs for granted. We don’t realize that these people endure a lot of hardships and challenges in order to improve the lives of their families back home. “They really make big sacrifices. I, myself, find it hard to leave my daughter Zia at home, for what five or six hours? So, what more for those who leave their family for at least a year? It’s hard that’s why I think we should appreciate, value, and respect all of their efforts.”
Marian is grateful for the warm reception viewers give the program. She hopes the show will continue inspiring people especially OFWs.
“It’s very heart-warming to see how this show makes a difference in the hearts of our kababayans. The OFWs are the real heroes and I just want to say that I’m very proud of them,” she said.
Hubby-turned-director
As a treat to her loyal viewers and fans, Marian will play the lead role in the anniversary special of “Tadhana” for airing today.
The actress brings life to the story of Jackie – an OFW
who worked in Bahrain in the ’90s. She didn’t hesitate to accept the job even if this meant being separated from her kids. What was important to her was to give them a decent future.
However, her employer was cruel. On top of the physical abuse she got, she was prohibited to go out and not even use the phone to call her family.
With hundreds of letters being sent to the program, Marian said she personally chose this particular story.
“…because this is a mother story and I can relate to that because I have my Zia,” she related, describing the story as “very intense” and “super heavy.”
“Though I missed doing heavy drama, I actually had a hard time doing this one because it’s really emotionally draining. Imagine there are only two scenes where I did not cry?”
Here’s the thing: Marian’s husband, Dingdong Dantes, directed the episode.
So how is it working with her hubby, we asked.
“I was really scared to work with him at first because he posed a challenge to me, saying, ‘Let’s see what you can do,”’ she admitted, laughing. “But when we got to the set, I was like ‘Hi Direk, I’m Marian Rivera’ and he replied, ‘Oh, hi!” So that became our dynamics.”
Thankfully, she said, Dingdong never scolded her at any point.
“That’s because I did my best,” she said.
Marian hopes it’s not the last time Dingdong would direct her.
“What I really like about my husband being my director is that he gives me leeway to do whatever I want in terms of my acting,” she explained. “I believe that makes him a good director so I hope we could work again in the future.”
‘The more, the merrier’
Dingdong remains to be the “director” at home. “That’s because he is the padre de pamilya,” Marian said. Speaking of which, the Dantes family recently went to El Nido, Palawan for Father’s Day.
Is baby number two already in the works, we teased.
“Right now, we are in the stage of ‘trying,”’ she revealed. “We think that this is the right time for us to have a new member of the family since Zia is already three years old. The age difference is good enough so let’s hope and pray.”
Over the past month, Dingdong and Marian were rumored to have been cast on a teleserye or in a film together.
But it will not happen anytime soon, she noted.
Marian will have a teleserye probably by the end of the year. She is also set to do a film a suspense-thriller film under the helm of Mike Villegas.
“Family is our priority. We can’t work together because doing so will result to our daughter being left alone and we don’t want that to happen. So, we work on projects one at a time.”