Once in a great
while, gifted kids are born to astound the world with barrier-breaking feats
and achievements. Mozart was a composer at age 5, Shakuntala Devi was an Indian
mental calculator prodigy and 11 year old Mikaela Fudolig entered the University
of the Philippines, and graduated in Physics, summa cum laude in 2007. Pampanga, too, has its own share of amazing wonder kids who made news for their talents,
genius and good looks.
MARTIN SANCHO was a frail 10 year-old boy, who, in 1587,
was sent all the way to Spain to have an audience with Philip II, then the
world’s most powerful monarch. He had earlier created a sensation among
Spaniards in Manila for his fluency in Spanish and knowledge in Catholic
education. It was the intent of Spanish
officials to present him to the royal court as proof that the new colony—which the
king wanted to quit-- were worth keeping and that the natives could be educated
like Europeans. Martin Sancho did not disappoint. He, not only conversed with
the King in Spanish, but breathlessly recited prayers, articles of faith,
and the entire Catholic catechism in
Latin! His performance was met with thundering applause. After his successful appearance, the boy stayed on in Spain as a
ward of his companion priest, Fr. Alonso Sanchez. When he reached 17, he was taken to Rome to join the Jesuit
novitiate. He went back to Spain, lived in Toledo, and finished college in
Murcia. In 1601, Sancho, his body racked with tuberculosis, finally returned to the
Philippines to reunite with his Kapampangan parents whom he had left when he
was only 10. Martin Sancho tragically died one month later at age 25.
Nestlé dairy products were known to Filipinos as early as
1895, imported by Sprungli and Co. Milkmaid Sweetened Condensed Milk was an
early brand from the company that was heavily promoted. In 1929.
Milkmaid conducted its search for the country’s most “Beautiful Babies”.
Readers were encouraged to send pictures of cute babies and the chosen few
appeared on the pages of The Philippine Free Press, the leading newspaper of
the day. One winner was a bouncing Kapampangan baby boy, CARLOS SALVADOR GOMEZ JR, of Mabalacat, Pampanga. Born on 7 February 1929, Baby “Bolet” is the
firstborn of Carlos Ramiro Gomez Sr. and Ma. Paz Dionisia Dizon. The senior
Carlos was descended from the Spanish Masnous of Valladolilid. In his adult
years, Bolet married Zenaida Novak
Feliciano of Magalang on 14 March 1950, with whom he had 10 children. He died
of brain aneurysm at age 68 on 31 October 1997.
By the 1950s, Sampaguita Pictures was already an
established Philippine movie company—producing blockbuster films like Paru-Parong
Bukid, Takipsilim, Apoy sa Langit , Anghel ng Pagibig, and many more. Its
contract stars included Rogelio de la Rosa, Carmen Rosales, Pancho Magalona and
Tita Duran. But in 1951, a disastrous fire razed the studios to the ground,
leaving the founders—the Vera-Perezes—on the brink of bankruptcy. Enter TESSIE AGANA (b. 16 May 1942), daughter of actress Linda Estrella and Adriano Agana of
Tarlac—and recently cast in the tearjerker budget film, “Roberta”, written by
Mars Ravelo. During the shooting, Tessie was bribed with Max’s Fried Chicken to
put her in an acting mood. It worked; she memorized all her lines, cried at the
drop of a hat, and stole every scene she was in. When “Roberta” was shown at
the Life Theater, it became a monster hit—and the one week run was
overextended, until it broke all existing box-office records. Her convincing
performance as a poor, pitiful child endeared her to an audience who took her
into their hearts, and catapulted her to instant stardom—the first child
superstar of Philippine movies. Sampaguita Pictures managed to get back on its
feet and would eventually come out even bigger and better than it was before.
In gratitude for helping save the studio, Tessie was cast in picture after
picture, and was hailed as the Philippines’ Shirley Temple. After her stint
with showbiz, Tessie Agana married Dr. Rodolfo L. Jao in the U.S. in 1962, and
would raise a big family of 9 children. She is settled currently in Valparaiso,
Indiana.
CECILE LICAD (b. 11 May 1961), daughter of
Rosario Buencamino and Dr Jesus Vitug Licad from Lubao, began her piano studies at age
3. At 7, she made her debut as soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the
Philippines. At 11 years old, the prodigy won the
Manila Young Artists’ competition with her incredible rendering of Chopin’s F
Minor concerto, a piece that one judge assumed was not for her age. At 12, she
was accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music under the mentorship of Rudolf
Serkin, Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. At 19, she won the
prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal, one of the youngest winners ever and
attained international acclaim. Signed
up by CBS records, her Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Saint-Saëns’
Piano Concerto No. 2 made it to the Billboard classical charts. Licad, a
favorite of First Lady Imelda Marcos, has played with the world’s most notable
orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, London Philharmonic
and Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, among others.
She has also appeared in top music festivals such as Tanglewood, Santa Fe and Marlboro
Music Festival. In March 2007, she performed with her then 19-year-old son
Ottavio L. Meneses, also a pianist, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Licad, called “a pianist’s pianist” by The New Yorker, held her historic
homecoming Pampanga recital at Holy Angel University in March 1912.
The Filipina musical theater star who took West End and
Broadway by storm was born as Maria Lea Carmen Salonga (born 22 February 1971)
to Ligaya Imutan and Feliciano Salonga, a Kapampangan naval admiral. LEA SALONGA spent
the first six years of her life in Angeles City where she attended the local
O.B.Montessori school. At age 7, she
made her theatre debut in the musical, King and I. She also starred in Annie,
Paper Moon, The Fantasticks, The Sound of Music, among others. At 10, she
recorded “Small Voice” which turned her
into a certified child star. She had her own TV show ”Love, Lea”, earned a
FAMAS nomination, and made popular movies in the 1980s. But it was her casting
as Kim after a worldwide search for “Miss
Saigon” that made her an international
star in 1989. The Cameron Macintosh-produced musical gave her a coveted
Laurence Olivier Award. She reprised that role for Broadway, and won a Tony, Drama
Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards. In 1992 Lea lent her voice
to the Oscar-winning song from the Disney film, Aladdin—“A Whole New World”. She
was in the “Les Miserables” anniversary concerts (1993,1996), headlined ”Flower
Drum Song” (2002), starred in “Cinderella” and returned to Broadway with
“Allegiance”. In her 37-year career, Lea has performed for six Philippine
presidents , three American Presidents, for Diana, Princess of Wales and Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
KIMBERLY JANE CUNANAN (b.1991) made waves at the Batang
Pinoy Games held in Bacolod City in December 2001 when she won in the Under 10
Age Group category. The young princess
of the gameboard, daughter of Herome Cunanan of Apalit and Annabel de Guzman of
Dau, proved that her victory was no fluke as she collected 4 more national
titles. Cunanan would have played in international chess championships in Kuala
Lumpur and Spain had it not been for lack of funds. In 2004, she was named as a
member of the Philippine Team to the World Youth Chess Championship in Crete,
Greece (bannered by then 11-year old Wesley So), but could not compete due to
financial constraints. In 2006, she was named as Most Outstanding Kapampangan
Awardee in the field of Sports. In June 2007, Cunanan, then 15, clinched the
gold medal in the Under-16 division at the Eight Asean Age Group Chess
Championships in Thailand and led two
other Filipinos to the team bronze.
At the 2003 Most Outstanding Kapampangan Awards, ANGELI MARK DAVID BARRO (b. 1 October 1992) became the youngest winner to be
recognized for his achievement in sports—earning the coveted recognition at age
11 years, 2 months. Born in Lakandula, Dau to parents Angelito Barro and Leni
David, this taekwondo champion blackbelter is the recipient of over 21 awards
and citations in sports. He has also won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at
various editions of Batang Pinoy, a national age-group sportsfest. As the youngest
among 50 delegations to the 12th U.S. Open Taekwondo Championship in Las Vegas,
Nevada, Barro came away with a Bronze Medal. In his older years, he was named
as one of the Ten Outstanding Youths of Angeles City for 2010. Barro graduated
in 2013 from the Angeles University Foundation College of Criminal Justice
Education , and was named Most Outstanding Senior of the Year Award and Student
of the Year .
ANNIKA CHANEL PINEDA-CAYABYAB (b. 2001) comes from a
family of sports enthusiasts: her mother, Mylin Pineda is an avid golfer, while
her father, Archen Cayabayab was a former basketball player from National
University and the Philippine Basketball League (PBL). Coached by Jack Nicklaus-trained Norman Sto.
Domingo, Annyka began her career at the Mimosa golf course in Clark and started
competing age 7, and bagged her first title a year later. She has not stopped there since and continued
collecting titles—from the Future Champions of Golf International junior
championships in San Diego, California to the Veritas World Junior
international golf tournament, a crown which she has won thrice beginning in
2012. In 2014, the young OB Montessori grade schooler was recognized with a
Most Outstanding Kapampangan Awards in the field of sports. Her grandmother,
Lilia Pineda, is the incumbent governor of Pampanga and hails from Lubao.
The showbiz career of ETHAN DIZON (b. 2002, West Hills,
California) began very early at age 2, when he bagged his first commercial
roles for the national ads of Target, the American Egg Board, Taco Bell, and
Mercedes Benz. His father , actor Eric Dizon is the son of Chris Dizon who is
from Mabalacat, Pampanga. Ethan’s
mother, Corinne Chooey is of Chinese ancestry, a relative of Hong Kong actress
Kwun Ling Chow. Ethan made his acting debut in the CBS hit series, “How I Met
Your Mother” and had guest roles in “Grey's
Anatomy”, and “'Til Death”. He can be seen most recently on Awkward and
Sullivan & Son. His film credits include: “Get A Job”, “Bad Words” ( with
Jason Bateman), and the “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete”, where he is
best-known for playing Pete. In 2017, he
will be seen in “Spiderman: Homecoming”. Ethan is a member of Screen Actors
Guild since 2006. A gifted artist, he
was nominated for Best Actor at the NBCU Short Film Festival 2014 in
"Paulie", where he played the title role.
“Little Miss Philippines” is a special segment conducted
by “Eat Bulaga” , the longest-running noontime show on Channel 7. It is a
nationwide pageant search for little girls and is credited with launching the
careers of former winners and candidates as Aiza Seguerra (1987), Gladys Reyes,
Donna Cruz, Dessa, Lady Lee, Jessa Zaragoza, Pauleen Luna (1995) and Julie Anne
San Jose. In 2012, 6 year old RYZZA MAE DIZON (b. 12 June 2005) of Brgy.
Pampang, Angeles entered the contest. She was short, chubby, dark and
toothless---but she was bubbling with charm and precocity. Even so, the
audition jury ought to eliminate her—but
show hosts Ruby Rodriguez recognized her specialness and pleaded that they give
her a chance. The smart dark-horse not only advanced to the finals but won the coveted 2012 Little Miss Philippines
crown, over finalists Maria Francesca Rojas, Jenna Marie Niedens , Jhie Ann
Marie Crisostomo and Precious Angel Aceah Delda. Ryzza also was awarded Miss
Talent and “Cutest Little Miss” for getting the most “likes” on Facebook. She
went on to become a co-host of Eat Bulaga , starred in a talk show (The Ryzza
Mae Show), had her own teleserye, and appeared in blockbuster movies like My
Little Bossing and Si Agimat, si Enteng
Kabisote at si Ako.
PHOTO SOURCES
CECILE LICAD:
ANNIKA PINEDA CAYABYAB
ALL OTHERS: Alex R. Castro Collection
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