What’s inside?
The kid who would be champ
Robert “Buboy” Villar Jr. beat over a hundred hopefuls to win the role of boxing hero Manny Pacquiao in Kid Kulafu. But like the road to a boxing title, it wasn’t an easy feat.
It took the former child star an entire year of several auditions to nab the titular role of the film directed by Paul Soriano. When he finally did, it was the first time Buboy learned that he was actually going to portray the young Pacman. The biopic tells the untold story of how Manny’s tough and impoverished childhood planted seeds of dreams and readied him for life’s battles with the heart and relentlessness of a champion. The movie title refers to how Manny was called in his early years as a boxer. “Nung sinabi ni Direk na ako si
Manny Pacquiao sobrang nagulat ako at sobrang natakot kasi ang laking tao ang gagampanan ko at true-to-life story siya. (Pero) sobrang blessed ako,” the 16-year-old Buboy told The STAR.
As preparation, he poured hours into researching about Manny, reviewing his boxing matches, interviews and even movies, and immersed in a three-month boxing training (twice a day) under the tutelage of mixed martial arts fighters. He grew strong and sinewy like an athlete. “Ang laki ng pinagbago ng katawan ko. Naging buff ako.” Acting-wise, he said, “Direk Paul gave me so much trust, and I just gave my best.”
Buboy is already riveting as Pacman in the trailers alone (no body double, no camera tricks when he speed-punches), but there’s another reason direk Paul couldn’t have chosen a better actor for the role.
Like Manny, Buboy is no stranger to hardship and poverty. But he managed to overcome that challenging part of his life like a true champ.
As a kid growing up near a public market in Brgy. T. Padilla in Cebu City, Buboy helped his father collect garbage for a living. “Nakaka- relate ako ng sobra kasi naging basurero din si Pacquiao noon, ako din nung bata ako.
Nagsimula ako magbasura three years old ako kasi sumasama ako sa tatay ko.”
He recalled times when food was so scarce that young as he was, he took it upon himself to find money to buy rice. He was barely five when he joined his first amateur singing contest.
“I remember one time bata pa ako nawala ako sa bahay, hinanap ako ng nanay ko. Kasi gusto ko ng pambigas kasi wala kaming makain, so sumali ako sa isang contest, puro matanda yung mga kalaban ko. Ang kinanta ko nun, yung kay April Boy Regino’s Di Ko Kayang Tanggapin. Ako ang nanalo dun. Yes, bata pa ako, pero matured na utak ko.”
Not too long after, his family sold their house and went to Manila to seek a better life. Buboy continued to pursue his singing dreams, eventually making it to ABS-CBN’s Little Big Star and ending up as a finalist. Acting stints in child-oriented programs like Calla Lily and Goin’ Bulilit followed after, but it was on GMA 7’s top-rating fantaseryes Dyesebel and Darna that he made audiences sit up and notice his pluck and talent.
After starring in one TV show after another, earning Best Child Performer awards for his movies and earning the media reputation as one of the busiest child actors in the industry from 2006 to 2012, he felt his career slowing down and feared that he might be entering the so-called awkward stage, that many child stars transitioning to teenagers experience in showbiz. “Naramdaman ko medyo nag- lie-low ako sa showbiz. Akala ko malapit na talaga ako sa sinasabi nilang awkward stage,” then indies like Boy Golden, Children’s Show where he received high praise and Kid Kulafu came, “and nabuhayan ako.”
Buboy also draws heaps of inspiration from the life-story of Pacman. He has always been a big fan of the boxer, but his respect for him has increased so much more after doing Kid Kulafu.
He was star-struck when he first met Pacman in his hometown GenSan. “Noong
unang kita ko sa kanya na starstruck po ako, pero sobrang bait and napaka- simple niya kahit sa pagkain. Napaka- natural niya. Nag-usap kami at nagkwento siya sa buhay niya. Sobrang lalim ng pagkatao niya. Tapos sabi niya, galingan mo ( sa movie).” Working in showbiz has enabled him to invest in two house properties, one of which is for rent. Buboy, who is now a graduating highschooler at Angelicum, harbors dreams of finishing a communications degree in college and becoming a director someday. And to never stop dreaming is one of the many lessons viewers will
take from Kid Kulafu, Buboy said. “You will learn about faith. Kung paano kumapit sa Diyos. And to not let go of your dreams. If there are difficulties, just pray and chin up.”
Kid Kulafu opens in theaters nationwide on April 15.