IZA CALZADO
Two GMA 7 stars show how the goodwill that the Christmas season spreads can diminish the pain of personal tragedies.
Actress Iza Calzado and first “Protege” singing tilt champ Krizza Neri have both decided to be models of triumph over sadness.
It won’t be a blue Christmas for Iza although she’s mourning the recent passing of her dad, choreographer-TV director Lito Calzado.
She told Inquirer that she was spending the holidays exactly the same way as when her father was around –surrounded by family and friends. “In the past, I always went to midnight Mass and had noche buena with my dad. I remember only a few Christmases when we were apart.”
The missing is most intense, Iza said, when show biz friends remind her how well-loved and respected in the industry her father had been. (Lito died of cirrhosis of the liver on November 11.)
Helping her cope, she pointed out, is work that keeps her preoccupied. Tomorrow, she’ll join the annual parade of floats for the Metro Manila Film Festival. She is in the cast of Carlo J. Caparas’ “Ang Panday 2,” this year’s entry from GMA Films and Imus Productions.
“Hopefully, the parade will finish early so I can rush back home, have Christmas dinner and hang out with my older brother Dash,” Iza said.
Following her dad’s burial, Iza spent time with her godparents and their daughter in Dubai. “I grew up with them,” she said. It was a much-needed R&R, to sort things out.”
For the long Halloween weekend, she travelled to Singapore with her “Eat Bulaga” colleagues, her new family.
Sharing the victory
Krizza is celebrating the season of giving in her own way. Only days after the Cagayan de Oro flashfloods, the aspiring singer, who hails from barangay Tablon, won the GMA 7 reality talent search.
Her uncle perished in a car crash at the height of tropical storm “Sendong.” Recalled Krizza: “I was devastated, but I dedicated my performance to my uncle and province mates.”
Her mentor, singer Aiza Seguerra, never wavered in her certainty that Krizza, though only 16, had the winning factor as early as the auditions. “She sang Beyonce’s ‘Halo.’ But I asked her to rap, and then sing a Lea Salonga song, so I could gauge her versatility.”
TV host Ogie Alcasid noted that Krizza “remained consistent.”
“PROTEGE” champ Krizza Neri with mentor Aiza Seguerra
Neri bested crowd favorites Lovely Embuscado from Davao and Lirah Bermudez from Iloilo. She won P1 million in cash and a condo unit from Suntrust Adriatico Gardens.
“I’m proud of who she is as a person,” Seguerra said. “She is sharing her prize with Lovely.”
Krizza confirmed this: “We’re not rich, but my relatives (aunt Jane in Canada and uncle Roldan in Dubai) help my mom, who’s unemployed. Lovely needs a lot of financial help.”
Specifically, Krizza has invited her runner-up to stay with her in the condo unit. “We will divide all expenses,” Neri explained.
She’d like to extend the same generosity to her distressed kababayans in Cagayan de Oro by volunteering with the Philippine Red Cross and the Kapuso Foundation in their relief efforts.