Original Sang’gres reunited

From left: Sunshine Dizon, Iza Calzado, Karylle and Diana Zubiri

They’ve been planning a get-together for the longest time, but in every attempt, there’s always one person who’s absent.

The original Sang’gres—Iza Calzado, Karylle, Diana Zubiri and Sunshine Dizon—have been friends (or to be more accurate, soul sisters), ever since they met on the set of the GMA 7 fantasy series, “Encantadia,” in 2005.

Sunshine, aka Pirena the fire princess, recalled that they would often hang out, after taping, away from work, in those days when they were still young, carefree and single.

Now, two of them are married (Karylle and Diana), one is separated with children (Sunshine), and another one is in a steady relationship (Iza).

Quite understandably, they seldom get to see each other these days—busy as they are with their respective careers.

More often than not, they would rely on high technology to complete their souvenir snapshots.

“We always needed to photoshop someone into the picture because one person was always absent,” recalled Karylle, who played Alena the water siren.

But when “Encantadia” director Mark Reyes celebrated his birthday recently, the entire barkada came in full force.

“We’ve been trying to be complete for the past couple of years, and we were so happy that the stars had aligned and made our schedules meet,” Iza, or Amihan the air guardian, told the Inquirer.

Diana, who portrayed Danaya the earth warrior, was just as ecstatic. “It was like 2005 all over again. Many things may have changed in our lives, but our friendship remains the same for us.”

From left: Karylle, Iza Calzado, Sunshine Dizon and Diana Zubiri

“We were super happy,” Karylle remarked. “I feel the magic every time we are together.”

“I was glad that our costars like Alfred (Vargas) and most of our other friends from the original ‘Encantadia’ were also present at the party,” Iza pointed out.

Diana, who was widowed prior to finding love the second time around, believes that their relationship has grown deeper through the years. “We’ve all been through a lot of trials along the way, and our friendship’s foundation has become stronger, as well.”
Iza agreed: “I am proud of what we have all accomplished in our lives.”

Said Diana: “Our bond is special because our fans and supporters were part of our friendship, too. We could feel their love for us, and they never let go all these years.”

They may not see each other every day, but they are constantly in touch. “We are always chatting in our little group online,” Karylle admitted.

Perhaps they can also reunite onscreen—although two of them are with ABS-CBN (Iza and Karylle) and the other two, with GMA 7 (Sunshine and Diana)?

“We are trying to work on a project … perhaps soon,” Karylle volunteered.